Top 10 times Mary Shelley's life was goth AF

Thursday 02-04-2020 - 10:38
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Mary Shelly lived a pretty Goth life, seriously, she was basically Morticia Addams. But how many goth facts do you know about the mother of Science Fiction? Here’s our top 10 list of times Mary Shelley was goth AF

10. A scandalous love

At 16 years old, Mary eloped to France with Percy Bryce Shelley, despite the fact he was already married. This might not sound all that goth but in the 1800’s this kind of scandal nearly ruined them both.

9. A daring escape

In 1827, Shelley helped Mary Diana Dods and Isabella Robinson obtain fake passports and escape Britain for Paris, under the guise of Mr and Mrs Douglas. Mary Dods lived out the rest of her life as Mr Walter Douglas husband of Isabella and father of her illegitimate child

8. We don’t need no education

At the age of 20, Mary published her novel, Frankenstein, despite having almost no formal education. In lieu of school, she would sit with her father and listen to his conversations with guests, such as the great poet William Wordsworth.

7. In the family

Mary’s father was William Godwin, a novelist and philosopher who is considered to be the father of Anarchism, and her mother was Mary Wollstonecraft, an 18th Century feminist whose views on equality and critiques of femininity caused a huge scandal

6. The stuff of nightmares

Mary came up with the idea for her novel from a nightmare. She dreamt of the dead being risen with electricity and the rest is history

5. A crowded crypt

Upon her death in 1851, Mary was buried in the vault that already housed both of her parents and was later joined by her son, daughter-in-law and the heart of her husband

4. Tracing death

Mary’s mother died when she was only 10 days old and it is said that she learned to read and write by tracing the letters on her gravestone

3. Well that’s just weird

As Mary spent so much time hanging out at her mother’s grave (as you do), there is a lot of speculation that she actually lost her virginity ON TOP OF IT! Yeah seriously, look it up it’s very weird

2. A lifelong love

Percy Shelley died when Mary was only 24 years old, she lived for another 30 but it wasn’t until a year after her death that her secret was discovered. Inside the drawer of her writing desk Mary had kept Percy’s calcified heart wrapped in pages of his poetry. I can’t decide if that’s horrifying or romantic... mostly horrifying

1. Be right back just gonna revolutionise literature

Frankenstein is widely considered the first Science Fiction Novel and Mary the founder of the genre but did you know she wrote it on a dare? Whilst on holiday, in Geneva with her husband and Lord Byron the literary minded group were challenging each other to tell ghost stories. Mary was only 18 but she certainly won that challenge with her story of monsters and mad scientists.

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