How Is Frankenstein Similar To Mary Shelley's Life

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Through her work, Frankenstein, Shelley relays her struggles in life and this is evident in how she portrays the monster. At the beginning of the novel her life parallels more with the doctor,Victor Frankenstein, but once the monster is created and we see how the public reacts to him we see that Mary is more closely related to it than Victor. Frankenstein has many elements that are similar to Shelley’s life, his quest for love, desperation for acceptance, and depression. Shelley was born on August 30, 1797 in London, England. Born Mary Wollstoncraft Godwin, she was the daughter of philosopher William Godwin. Her mother died shortly after her birth leaving her father to care for her and her half-sister, Fanny Imlay. The dynamic of her family soon changed when her father remarried. Mary was treated poorly by her new stepmother, and her quality of life was less than satisfactory. Her step-siblings were allowed to receive an education while Mary stayed at home. She found comfort in reading, and created stories in her father’s library. She even got lost in her imagination, and was often found reading beside her …show more content…

“The Last Man serves as a tribute to Shelley’s deceased friends, and explores Shelley’s own feelings of isolation after their loss” (skullsinthestars). This novel greatly compares to her circle of friends. In this novel, Shelley intricately describes Percy Shelley and Lord Byron through the characters of Adrian and Lord Raymond. With this novel particularly, readers can easily identify the pain that Mary must have felt when she lost her friends in such a short period of time. After marrying Percy Shelley, her father went months without speaking to her and Percy’s father hardly ever spoke to Mary because he did not agree with the life that Percy lived. Her friends were all she had, without them she felt extremely isolated and