The Themes Of Percy Bysshe Shelley

He was one of the most famous artists and many writers went to him to create compelling works

Mary Shelley was a young, well-educated woman from England. She was born on August 30th 1797, in London. Her mother Mary Wollstonecraft, was the author of “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman”. She died giving birth to Mary, leaving her daughter in the care of her husband, William Godwin. The atmosphere that Mary Shelley grew up in exposed her to cutting-edge ideas, which are shown all throughout the novel. Mary Shelley’s lover, Percy Shelley was a young poet, and as he was already married, her relationship with him wasn’t the smoothest.

“As I read, however, I applied much personally to my own feelings and condition, I found myself similar yet at the same time strangely unlike to the beings concerning whom I read and to whose conversation I was a listener. I sympathized with and partly understood them, but I was unformed in mind; I was dependent on none and related to none. ‘The path of my departure was free,’ and there was none to lament my annihilation. My person was hideous and my stature gigantic. What did this mean? Who was I? What was I? Whence did I come? What was my destination? These questions continually recurred, but I was unable to solve them.” (Shelley 109)

Shelley often would use poetry as a means to promote his social and political philosophies. Shelley had a disdain for British government. Through the use of the fallen pharaoh, Shelley is able to warn against the dangers of arrogance and power. The inspiration for Ozymandias is more than likely George III, the king of Britain in the late 1700s. Evident in many of his works, Shelley did not approve of King George III’s ways. Ozymandias is most often read in a political light, however, there is more Shelley in the “shattered visage” (Shelley,

“I also became a poet, and for one year lived in a Paradise of my own creation; I imagined that I also might obtain a niche in the temple where the names of Homer and Shakespeare are consecrated. You are well acquainted with my failure, and how heavily I bore the disappointment” (Shelley

he was a unique person who affected many people’s lives. Some would identify him as a rebel,

the rest of the art world. He was a very social man. He was social with his good friends. He

Through the relationship between the characters of Victor and his creature, Shelley challenges nineteenth century values about the role of science, the benefits of ambition and fame and the

Before delving too deep into Shelley's novel, it is very important to label the ideologies and connections behind Romanticism as a literary period, and a literary movement. The poetry and prose of the Romantic movement meant to show a obvious connection to the imagination. Romanticism, at it's most basic understanding, which was mainly active through the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth century, can be separated from the preceding Enlightenment by recognizing that in the Enlightenment, there was a “preoccupation with reason in

helley was born at Field Place, West Sussex, England. He was educated at Eton College and Oxford, and went on to lead an unconventional life coupled with uncompromising idealism.

One of the purposes that are displayed by Shelley’s particular writing style is the romanticizing of nature. This viewpoint is forced to be admired and spotlighted in human interactions as an example of a greater and bigger truth. “The immense mountains and precipices that overhung me on every side, the sound of the river raging among the rocks, and the dashing of the

William’s glittering career spanned over sixty years and saw him attain acclaim and stardom worldwide. However, as is so

When she went to bed that night, and laid her head on her pillow, she could not sleep. “I saw – with shut eyes but acute mental vision – I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together” (Mary W. Shelley, 104). Mary wrote that she wound announce that she had thought of a story in the morning. In the same year that Mary visited Switzerland, her half-sister and Percy’s first wife both committed suicide. In 1818 Mary published Frankenstein as an anonymous author. In 1819 Percy Florence was their only living child. Mary’s husband drowned while out sailing in 1822. Even though her marriage was filled with heartache and cheating, she still mourned Percy’s death. Mary devoted herself to caring for her father in his old age and educating Percy Florence. In 1839 and 1840 Mary edited her late husband’s works. It took many years for her father-in-law to allow her to publish Percy’s edited work because he did not approve of Percy’s lifestyle. In 1840, 1842 and 1843, Mary and her son traveled to Germany and Italy. Mary Shelley died on February 1, 1851, at St. Peter’s Church in Bournemouth, United Kingdom. Her father and mother are buried there. She was laid to rest by them and with the cremated remains of her husband’s heart. I think if her father, mother and step-mother were alive to see her accomplishments, they would be proud and surprised at what she

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was an english novelist and poet, who is well known for works such as Frankenstein and Prometheus. Shelley grew up during the enlightenment period in england. This period was a period of question and advancement in technology/ science. Shelley was always skeptical of this new technology and in her novels such as Frankenstein she in directly warns people of the dangers of what this new technology could do. Frankenstein is a novel about a scientist named Victor Frankenstein. Victor brings to life a monster made from the body parts of dead humans. Throughout the entire book this monster torments and consumes Victor’s life, killing everyone that he loves. That is Shelley's warning to the reader, when you try and play god bad things will happen.

Through the tale of Victor Frankenstein and his creation, Shelley allowed the reader to see her insight on the idea if science should create life. The repercussions that Victor faced after the creation of this monster answered that question. Along with the idea of creating life came the thought of bringing back people from the dead and what would happen if man did not have to die. By proposing these new ideas Shelley was also giving her readers a precaution as to what would happen if these events were to take place. These thoughts and questions were relevant in her time because they pertained directly to the science that was accessible in this era. As discussed by Silke de Wilde, “All in all, Shelley truly made us think about the future science holds for us. And although Shelley’s work is almost 200 years old, she asked us ‘what-ifs‘ that are still relevant today.” (Wilde, pg. 3) The concepts that she discussed in this novel prosed important questions that would teach the readers of her time as well as continue to teach science fiction writers and readers in our society today. She revolutionized the novels of her time as well as set up scientific and morality principles that would last well into the