Mary Shelley (1797-1851)
As the daughter of political philosopher, William Godwin, and feminist, Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Shelley was exposed to an education and level of discourse which was exceptional and which fostered in her a keen imagination and awareness of contemporary socio-political issues. Her father described her as “singularly bold, somewhat imperious, and active of mind”.39 Her passion for writing began in childhood and, during the course of her literary career, she was a novelist, dramatist, travel writer, essayist and biographer. Her marriage to the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley inspired her, brought about opportunities for collaboration, and widened her circle of Romantic literary friends.
