Portrayal Of Male Homosexuality Under Queen Victoria Is Oscar Wilde 's Gross Indecency And Sodomy Trial

In the book, Marry Shelley described everything in great detail. She included details that may not pertain to novel’s storyline directly, but more to the timeframe of the novel.

Born as Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin to William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft on August 30, 1789, Mary was the only child of her father and mother.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was born in 1791 in London. She is the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft and William Goodwin. Wollstonecraft was a radical feminist writer, and Goodwin was a writer as well as a philosopher. It was said that this couple's combined intellect was dangerous to society; however, days after Mary's birth, Wollstonecraft died due to complications from the pregnancy. Mary spent a lot of time visiting her mother's grave when she was growing up. Her father taught her how to spell her mother's name by having her trace the letters on the headstone with her fingers, an interesting yet morbid way to teach a seven year old how to spell. Goodwin raised Mary by himself for the early part of her

“These scholars note that Victorians often bowed to conformity, concealing their true natures and tastes and pretending to adhere to social norms. Some Victorians passed themselves off as more pious or moral than they really were. But in reality, pornographic literature and prostitution were common phenomena during the late nineteenth century, showing that some Victorians only pretended to lead chaste lives.”(Joyce Moss)

Mary Shelley used this poem to show the freedom of one's future and the change(s) that will come with it. The poem also mentions one little thing such as a dream or a “wandering thought” can ruin a bigger idea. In the story, it was recently addressed that before the poem, “If our impulses were confined to hunger, thirst, and desire, we might be nearly free”. This passage can be implying that the non-essential things in life are the things that poison us or make us change. The poem’s purpose in this part of the book is to amplify the speaker's last words of the paragraph that state, “...we are moved by every wind that blows and a chance word or scene that word may convey to us.”. It makes the message of “things will change” very clear to the

During this era men and woman was bound by Victorian codes that were strict on what they can and cannot do. Men

    "I turned half way around and saw Dorian Gray for the first time. I knew that I had come face to face with someone whose mere personality was so fascinating that, if I allowed it to do so, it would absorb my whole nature, my whole soul, my very art itself" (7). During the Victorian era, this was a dangerous quote. The Victorian era was about progress. It was an attempt aimed at cleaning up the society and setting a moral standard. The Victorian era was a time of relative peace and economic stability (Marshall 783). Victorians did not want anything "unclean" or "unacceptable" to interfere with their idea of perfection. Therefore, this quote, taken from Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray,

On the time of conception of Frankenstein, Mary and Percy Shelley were living outside Geneva at a cottage on water at Cologny. They were the visitors at a nearby “villa diosatui” where Lord Byron and his physician, Clair Clairmont and John Polidori were living at that time. The group remained indoors due to an incessant rainfall. One of the evenings, when they were sitting around reading ghost stories, they agreed to write their own terrible tale (Zimmerman, 2007, 65-123). Mary tried to imagine such a story for several days to come with Frankenstein. Provided the very unconventional group of friends assembles that June, there is no surprise that a unique story of Frankenstein was created.

Author Mary Shelley was born August 30th, 1797 to philosopher and writer William Godwin and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. Mary’s mother passed away early in Shelley’s life and wasn’t a prominent figure. Her father remarried another woman named Mary Jane Clairmont. Shelley and her stepmother rarely got along so a female role model was not something Shelley received in her early years. Clairmont refused to send Shelley to be educated at a school but has no hesitation when sending her own daughter. Even without a formal education Shelley would still attempt to seek knowledge through books and would often daydream to escape the everyday struggles of her life at home. She also took up writing as an activity in which to

Born on the 30th of August 1797, Mary Shelley’s Mother died 11 days after birth. At 16 years of age Shelley was married to Percy Bysshe Shelley, a romantic poet, who was a follower of Mary’s philosophical father. In the summer of 1816, Mary and Percy visited the poet, Lord Byron, in Lake Geneva, Switzerland, where the idea of Frankenstein was conceived. During her stay at Byron’s villa, Shelley and other house guests was challenged by the poet to write a horror story, after reading one

Lake Geneva in the summer of 18161. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, best known for her gothic novel Frankenstein; Or the Modern Prometheus was a part of an artistic relationship, which later would be known as the Byron- Shelley- Circle. Among the visitors and travelers of Lake Geneva were namely Mary Shelley her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, Leigh Hunt and Thomas Love Peacock2. Amongst the members of the circle arose a strong mutual influence. Having the greatest benefit of being a circle composed of authors, they tried to challenge each other to their best3. Please note that during 1816 Lord Byron was finishing his poem Prometheus and shortly after the publication of his wife’s novel, Percy Shelley would compose Prometheus Unbound, a semi-sequel to Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound. In conclusion, Percy Shelley and Lord Byron had spirited conversations, whereby Mary Shelley was and attentive listener. (cf. Sailer 85- 86).

In this century, the 3 categories of classes couldn’t be more different and separated. The upper class enjoyed leisure, operas, balls and everything what had to do something with luxury and what none of the lower classes could afford. Aristocracy was well known by their morals and etiquette in the Victorian ages. The Victorian Aristocratic views on morals were extinguished which was even prudish. Prudery went as far as sexuality was a taboo, human body must have been covered and talking about body was inappropriate. In the Victorian Era society started to have different values in morality. Upper class people had low tolerance for sexuality and crimes, and isolated from any of the lower class members. Thus sexuality, especially prostitution was not acceptable and eminently discriminates in the Victorian high society.

One can infer that Shelley attempted to expand on this reference by drawing parallels between Rosalind and Mathilda. Just as Rosalind took to the forest to be reunited with her father, so too does Mathilda, as she waits for her father’s arrival "in the solitude of the woods imagining the moment of our mutiny" (1345).

On of the most influential romantic English poets of the 19th century was Percy Bysshe Shelley. He was born August 4th 1792 to Sir Timothy and Elizabeth Pilford Shelley in Field Place, Horsham, Sussex, England. (Crook) Shelley was the oldest of six children. He had one brother, John and four sisters, Mary, Elizabeth, Hellen, and Margaret. His family lived a very comfortable lifestyle, especially his dad’s father, Bysshe Shelley whom owned quite a few estates. Shelley’s father was also a member of parliament.

The Victorian Age's morality also condemned any kind of sexual reference in literature. Victorian critics demanded from "serious" literature a didactic content and respect to the Victorian conventions which established that sex