Mary Shelley's Upbringing

According to Brandies.edu, Mary Shelley was born in 1797 to two great intellectual rebels of the 1790's. She was born to Mary Wollstonecraft, who died 11 days after her birth, and to father, William Goodwin. By the time Mary Shelley was 19, she published one of the most popular novels ever existed. Her book, Frankenstein, was first published in 1818 and it still stands as a powerful example of creative imagination. In addition to Frankenstein she wrote six other novels, a novella, mythological articles, and bibliography studies. She died in 1851 and by then had established a reputation as an excellent author.

Mary Shelley was raised solely by her father until age three when her father remarried. Her new stepmother resented the relationship that Mary had with her father and was jealous of the interest that visitors had in her. Because of the resentment held for her by her stepmother, she was subjected to doing house chores and did not recieve any formal education. She learned to read after following the advice of her father, which was that the proper way to learn is to read two or three books simultaneously.