Do You Know Mary Shelley? Trivia Quiz

Answer: William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft

Her parents were both distinguished individuals in their own right. William Godwin was one of the most famous and versatile writers and thinkers of the time. Her mother was a pioneer feminist, whose book "A Vindication of the Rights of Women" remains one of the best and most forceful books on sexual equality. Mary Clairmont was Mary's stepmother.

Answer: 1797

She was born in the Somers Town district of London on August 30th, 1797. Her mother died ten days late due to complications from childbirth, and Mary was brought up by her father alongside a half-sister, Frances (Fanny), the result of an earlier relationship between her mother and Gilbert Imlay, an American businessman. In 1801 her father married again.

Answer: Percy was already married to another woman

Percy Shelley was estranged from his wife at the time and had become friends with Mary's father. There was a slight age difference - he was 21 and she was only 16 - but at that time that wasn't necessarily a barrier to marriage. In fact, William Godwin was the one in debt and had been hoping Percy would help out by paying off his debts. Percy was also Mary's first serious relationship.

Answer: Four

Sadly, only one of them survived to adulthood. Their first child, a girl, was born prematurely in 1815, and died a few weeks later. A son, William, was born the following year, and another daughter, Clara, in 1817. Clara died in 1818 aged only one, and William followed her to the grave in 1819. A few months after William's death Mary gave birth to their fourth child, Percy Florence, who fortunately lived a full life and died aged 70 in 1889.

He took his second name from the Italian town where he was born: at the time it was not a strictly female name as it is now, although interestingly the more famous Florence Nightingale was born in (and named after) the same city just six months later.

Answer: George Gordon, Lord Byron

The story of the genesis of "Frankenstein" is well known. Mary, Percy, Byron and Byron's friend John Polidori, were passing a cold evening by reading from a collection of German ghost stories, when Byron suggested that they should each write a ghost story. Percy and Byron wrote short pieces which were never completed, but both Mary and Polidori came up with longer works that were subsequently published.

Hers, of course, was "Frankenstein". Polidori's story less well known but is equally interesting from a historical point of view. Called "The Vampyre", it is usually credited as the first modern vampire story in English literature, pre-dating "Dracula" by nearly 80 years.

Answer: False

The first edition was published anonymously, with the title page simply giving the full title "Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus", a quotation from Milton's "Paradise Lost", plus the standard publisher's details and date. While it was certainly common at the time for women to publish work anonymously, or under a pseudonym, works by unknown writers often did not name the author on publication either. "Frankenstein" was immediately successful, however, and the second edition, in 1823, named Mary as the author.

Answer: Her husband was drowned in a storm

In 1822, Mary, Percy and Claire Clairmont (Mary's stepsister) were staying in Lirici on the Italian coast. In July, Percy and a friend, Edward Williams, sailed down the coast to meet Byron and the writer Leigh Hunt to discuss a new journal they were planning. On the way back, a severe storm caused the boat to capsize, and Percy, Edward and a young sailor were drowned. Percy's body washed up on the shore ten days later and was famously cremated on the beach by his friends.

Although Mary and Percy's marriage was under some strain at the time, she was nevertheless devastated by his death. She moved back to London with her son and survived for a while on a small allowance from her father-in-law.

Answer: No

She wrote many other works across a wide range of subjects. These included "The Last Man" (1826), a dystopian novel set in the late 21st century, which describes how humanity is almost wiped out by a pandemic. She also wrote more conventional novels such as "Lodore" (1835) and "Falkner" (1837), several volumes describing her travels through Europe, and edited editions of Percy Shelley's poetry.

Answer: Each of them tried to blackmail her

Gatteschi was an Italian revolutionary with whom Mary had corresponded at one time. He threatened to publish her letters, but they were subsequently seized and destroyed. Next, a man claiming to be an illegitimate son of Byron threatened to publish some more letters; in this case, Mary paid the requested sum in return for the papers. Finally, Percy Shelley's cousin Thomas Medwin asked for £250 in return for his not publishing a critical biography of Percy. Mary refused, and the biography failed to appear.

Answer: Her son, Percy Florence, and his wife lived just outside the town

In her later years Mary was often unwell and died in 1851 at her house in Chester Square, Belgravia, at the age of 53, probably of a brain tumour. By this time her son, Percy Florence, was happily married and living in Boscombe, on the outskirts of Bournemouth.

He and his wife decided that Mary should be buried near their home, in the churchyard of St Peter's Church. Her tomb can be seen there to this day.