Mary Shelley and Women in Victorian Society

Work Cited

Mellor, Anne K. "Shelley, Mary." Europe 1789-1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of Industry and Empire. Ed. John Merriman and Jay Winter. Vol. 4. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006. 2168-2169. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 3 Nov. 2014.

Shelly, Mary. Frankenstein. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004. Print.

Sachar, Abrhaml. "Victoria,Queen (1819, 1901). "The New Book of Knowledge." Grolier Online, 2014.Web, 3 Nov. 2014

Women in Victorian Society

Women in Victorian Society

How it relates to present day

Queen Victoria

Women in Victorian Society

• We can see the Victorian times shining though to our modern way of dressing down to what we watch.
• The Victorian women used to wear bussels which is our modern adaptation of a gertle and a push up bra.
• They would insert pads to the back of their dresses by their butts to, make them appear bigger. much l the modern day booty pop.
• There was series that aired on HBO all about Queen Victoria and the life of an 18th women.

How it relates to Frankenstein

• She represented the middle-class with her taste in art and music, clothing style, and religious views. She stayed true to her morals.
• She was a huge turning point for fashion
• Women wore corsets that were stiffened with bones to create a bell-shaped skirt. Queen Victoria started this trend.
• Their heavy attire was the start of the nasty gang green disease
• Big heavy dresses would dig into their hips and ribs.
• This was a huge turning point for women, they were starting to have a place in society.

• Mary Shelley was a women in Victorian society trying to further her literary career.
• Thanks to her wealthy merchant father, and prominent literary figure of a mother she was able to publish Frankenstein under her own name, which was extremely uncommon at this time.
• Frankenstein was Mary Shelley's most successful novel.

How It Relates

Frankenstein

Mary Shelley's mother died at a young age, and her step mother favored her step-siblings. Frankenstein caused so much destruction because he felt alone, and a lot of Mary's childhood she felt alone. She also had 3 of her children die, and she had to have felt utterly alone when that happened. Mary relates with the character Frankenstein because of how alone she felt from some of the unfortunate things that happened to her. (Mellor)

Mary Shelley and the Women in Victorian Society

How It Relates

How it relates

18th century

Mary Shelley was one of the first women to really stand up to society so to speak. She had her own career, was highly educated, published under her own name, challenged religion, and openly had an affair with a married man, who she went on to marry when his wife killed herself. She marries for love, not social status or political gain. She is one of the first examples we see of a modern women.

Present Day

Mary Shelly was one of the first examples of a modern women that we saw. She kind of paved the way so to speak for women to be taken more seriously. Women can marry who they please, and go after any career they want, write books, vote, etc. A lot of that has to do with Mary Shelley not caring what people were going to think of her and going after her dreams, which is not something a lot of women think twice about now. There is still some things between men and women that are not equally fair, but it is a lot better than it was, and that is due to Mary Shelley and people like her.

http://ijpr.org/post/frankenstein-tinfoil-hats-and-nsa

Mary Shelley

Literary Career

Mary Shelley

Childhood

• 1808, Mary published Mounseer Nongtongpaw anonymously
• 1816 Mary starts Frankenstein
• 1817 Mary and Percy publish their co-written History of a Six Weeks' Tour
• 1818 Frankenstein is published
• 1819 Mary begins Mathilda
• 1820 Mary writes Prosperine and Midas
• Mary goes on to publish 7 more novel from 1823-1838
• Mary publishes a revised edition of Frankenstein in 1831
• (Shelley)

• Born on August 30, 1797
• Daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin
• Mary Wollstonecraft was one of the first feminist and ahead of her time
• Mary Wollstonecraft died 11 days after giving birth to Mary
• Father married Mary Jane Clairmont, who already had two children who she showed favoritism towards
• Mary is one of the first concepts of Cinderella being unloved by her step mother
• (Mellor)

https://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist257s02/students/Lindsay/friends&family.htm

http://www.biography.com/people/mary-shelley-9481497

Mary Shelley

Adulthood

https://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist257s02/students/Lindsay/friends&family.htm

• At the age of 16, Mary eloped with married poet Percy Shelley in France
• Got pregnant immediately after with a baby girl who was born on February 22, 1815
• Baby was premature and died two weeks later
• Mary got pregnant three more times, and only her last born survived
• Percy and Mary married on December 30, 1816 after Percy's first wife committed suicide
• Mary's sister and Percy had sexual encounters
• Percy drown July 8, 1822
• Mary dedicated her life to giving Percy a posthumous literary life, collecting and editing his poetry, and writing his biography
• Mary died February 1, 1851 from a brain tumor (Mellor)