Influence can be a very powerful thing, especially when it comes from family. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein tells the story of a creation brought to life through the use of electricity. Percy Shelley was a major influence in Frankenstein, so much that it almost became a fictional biography of his life. Mary Shelley was influenced through Percy Shelley’s own writing techniques, his life story, and their marriage.
Shelley’s Frankenstein is one of the first science fiction novels written. It takes on a dark twist of science and the supernatural. The novel is about a creature given life through a shock of electricity by its creator, Victor Frankenstein. Once Frankenstein creates The Creature, he becomes terrified of it and takes “refuge in the courtyard belonging to the house which I inhabited, where I remained during the rest of the night, walking up and down in the greatest agitation, listening attentively, catching and fearing each sound” (Shelley 59-60). The Creature goes off on its own and tries to assimilate into society. However, he is highly rejected, due to his enormous and hideous stature, and scares off everyone he meets. Victor Frankenstein describes him as a “demoniacal corpse” (Shelley 60) and a “ hideous wretch” (Shelley 60). The Creature blames Frankenstein for making him this way and murders a few of his family members as revenge. He yells, “Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live?” (Shelley 162) towards Frankenstein in a fit of anger and self pity. Then, he isolates himself from society and lives in a hovel attached to a cottage. Eventually the family living in the cottage sees The Creature and he decides to leave due to their gross remarks. He travels to Mont Blanc and Geneva where he encounters Frankenstein again. Frankenstein is standoffish turns The Creature away. Eventually, at the end of the novel The Creature kills himself after finding Frankenstein dead.
Mary Shelley was an English novelist and biographer, who's original works showed compassion and cooperation. Mary Shelley received very little education, but the education she did receive was considered good for a woman in her time period. She devoted much of her time to assisting Percy Shelley with his writings and trying to get them published. Mary Shelley is most well known for Frankenstein, as many of her other literary works go unrecognized ("Mary Shelley Biography").
Percy Shelley was an English Romantic poet, who's works took on a grim and dark tone. He had very strong political and social views that were shared throughout his works. Often he wrote Gothic novels such as Zastrozzi, which showed his heretical and atheistical views. Percy Shelley is regarded as one of the most influential English poets of his time (“Percy Bysshe Shelley”).
Frankenstein parallels Percy Shelley's tone of writings closer than it does Mary Shelley’s. It follows his tone of a dark, grim story, rather than her tone of compassion. Even in descriptions such as, “I now writhed under the miserable pain of a wound which shattered the flesh and bone. The feelings of kindness and gentleness which I had entertained but a few moments before gave place to hellish rage and gnashing of teeth” (Shelley 169), the intenseness of the situation can be easily felt. This may be due to his influence on her through their close work together on his own literary works. Also, despite her poor education, Frankenstein is rich in unique vocabulary.
Percy Shelley was the oldest of six children. He had a fairly easy childhood, most of the time spent hunting and fishing. Percy Shelley attended Eton College where he was treated poorly and was subjected to daily mob torment. Due to the harsh treatment by the other boys at the college, he elected not to participate in group activities. This is how Percy Shelley acquired the nickname “Mad Shelley” ("Percy Bysshe Shelley"). Instead, he would spend his time studying science. One of his favorite activities was charging his door handle with friction electric current for pure enjoyment of him and his roommates. Despite the mischievous he caused, Percy Shelley made few friends while at Eton. While at Oxford he wrote many poems and an anonymous pamphlet on atheism, which caused him to be expelled. His father then stepped in and the college agreed to reinstate him if he revoked his views. However, he refused this offer, leading to the falling out between him and his father (“Percy Bysshe Shelley”). He then wrote “Mont Blanc”, which described how the enormous mountain surrounding him had such a great affect on him.
The novel Frankenstein closely resembles Percy Shelley’s life. Throughout the entire novel there is a reoccurring theme of science and electricity. Victor Frankenstein admits, at the beginning of the novel, that he has a “predilection for that science” (Shelley 35). Similarly, Percy Shelley spent most of his time in college and his early life studying science. He used to charge his door knob with a friction electrical current, just as The Creature is brought to life by a shock of electric current going through its body. Once The Creature is made, Victor Frankenstein completely abandons him. This resembles the fall out between Percy Shelley and his father over differing views. Also, The Creature is excluded from society and goes to live in isolation. Similarly, Percy Shelley is bullied throughout his time at Eton College and spends his time alone studying science. A common complaint by The Creature is the increasing loneliness he experiences throughout his life. Percy Shelley can relate to this loneliness because he barely made any friends at Eton. As some say, “The restlessness and brooding, the rebellion against authority, the interchange with nature—all of these Shelley exemplified in the way he lived his life” (“Percy Bysshe Shelley”). This is the same way The Creature lives his life in Frankenstein. Also, Mont Blanc is one of the main places Frankenstein visits in the novel to reflect on his life. This is also the name of a poem that Percy Shelley wrote about the affect it had on his life. He eventually dies on a sinking ship during a storm. Coincidentally, at the end of the novel Victor Frankenstein dies on a ship while running from The Creature.
Mary Shelley was Percy Shelley’s second wife. During their marriage they traveled all over Europe. Exploring nature and going on adventures was a main part of their relationship. They spent a summer in Geneva, where Mary Shelley first got the idea for Frankenstein. While there they got the news that Mary Shelley's sister and Harriet Shelley both committed suicide weeks apart from one another ("Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley"). This caused much grief for the couple, after they had already lost their first child who died prematurely. Then they left for Italy and their second and third children died.
Victor Frankenstein and The Creature spend most of the story traveling all over Europe, just like Mary Shelley and Percy Shelley did in their marriage. Nature is a major topic in Frankenstein and is frequently mentioned as impacting the story greatly. The Creature has several unpleasant experiences with nature, such as, “Nature decayed around me, and the sun became heatless; rain and snow poured around me; mighty rivers were frozen; the surface of the earth was hard and chill, and bare, and I found no shelter” (Shelley 167). This stems from the couple’s interest in nature and traveling. Just as Mary Shelley and Percy Shelley spent a summer in Geneva, Victor Frankenstein spends much of his life as a child growing up in Geneva. While Mary Shelley and Percy Shelley are in Geneva they have a few deaths in the family. In Frankenstein, the Creature kills some of Victor’s family members as revenge for being abandoned. When the couple’s second and third children die, Percy Shelley is struck with grief and depression. Much like this, Frankenstein spends a good part of the novel ill with a “nervous fever with which I had been seized just at the time that I dated my creation” (Shelley 85).
While Mary Shelley and Percy Shelley were in Geneva visiting Lord Byron, they would go camping. For fun, Percy Shelley and Byron would tell ghost stories. They kept telling this reoccurring story about a monster and built upon it night after night. Mary Shelley would listen into their stories and became fascinated with them. One day, “Byron suggested each member of the group write a ghost story in the same vein” ("Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley"). Mary Shelley created a story surrounding this monster she had heard Percy Shelley and Byron talk about, using the knowledge of science she gathered from helping Percy Shelley in his studies. Originally it was supposed to stay a short story, but Percy Shelley and Byron were intrigued by the story and convinced her to turn it into a novel (“Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley"). In doing so, it appears that she paralleled it to Percy Shelley’s life and their marriage. It so closely resembles Percy Shelley’s life and has such a contrast in tone from all of Mary Shelley’s other literary works that some even believed that Percy Shelley wrote Frankenstein and Mary Shelley just took credit for it.
Writers typically have a great deal of influences when creating literary works. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein tells the story of a monster, his creator, and the unique relationship shared between them. Mary Shelley was influenced in writing this novel by her husband, Percy Shelley, in his own writing technique, his upbringing, and their relationship. Mary Shelley helped Percy Shelley in many of his own writings, and his dark tone is shown in her novel. The novel as a whole parallels Percy Shelley's life very closely. Finally, their relationship and the places they traveled are mentioned in Frankenstein. Not only is Frankenstein one of the first novels of its kind, but it also resembles a fictional biography of Percy Shelley's life and their relationship together.