Chelsey

I love celebrity gossip.

The thing is, I know it’s a bit invasive, and parasocial, and there are real life repercussions when it comes to celebrity gossip.

I also love classic literature, and as it turns out, a lot of my favourite writers also had messy, scandalous romances. They all died over half a century ago, too, so there’s not the same ethical question that comes from engaging with modern gossip.

For February, I want to talk about some of my favourite literary love stories, with all the messy and complex relationships, scandals, and affairs.

First up is Mary Shelley and Percy Bysshe Shelley. I learned a lot about their relationship when I wrote my dissertation on Frankenstein, and in fact, a lot of the novel was affected by their romance. 

*My information for this has predominantly come from Anne K Mellor’s Mary Shelley: Her life, her fiction, her monsters and The Cambridge Companion to Frankenstein edited by Andrew Smith.

Percy Shelley was originally a friend of Mary Shelley’s father, William Godwin, as they both had similar philosophical ideas, and wrote to each other often. Mary and Percy first met in 1812, when Percy was 20 and Mary was 15 (although this first meeting is not confirmed, and many believe they did not actually meet until 1814). That age gap is icky now, but at the time it was relatively normal. What was less normal, however, was that Percy was already married to Harriet Westbrook at the time. He had two children with Harriet, born in 1813 and 1814, but by the time he eloped with Mary in 1814 , he and Harriet were estranged.

The most iconic part of their relationship, and the thing you’ve most likely heard about, is the rumour that Mary lost her virginity to Percy on her mother’s grave. We’ll never know if that was true or not, but they did spend a lot of their time walking through the graveyard where her mother was buried.

Since Percy was already married, he was unable to marry Mary at first. Instead of marrying, they eloped to Italy, effectively escaping from the scandal of their relationship.

In February 1815 Mary prematurely gave birth to their first daughter. She died within a month, and many people (including myself) believe that her grief led to her coming up with the idea for Frankenstein. In her diary she wrote of a dream she had that her daughter was brought back to life, an eerily similar sentiment to the dream she had in Geneva during the holiday that she began writing Frankenstein. Of course, it’s just speculation, but Frankenstein is full of grief, and the relationship between parents and children, so to me, it seems like the death of her daughter must have at least partly inspired the story.

Their second child, William, was born in January 1816, and later that same year, Harriet Westbrook died. With Percy now a widower, he was free to marry Mary in December 1816, and the following year, their second daughter, Clara, was born.

However, tragedy struck only a year later. Percy spent a lot of time with Lord Byron, and he requested Mary traveled across Italy with their children to join them. Baby Clara was ill, though, and she died in 1818, and William died in 1819. These deaths put a strain on Mary and Percy’s relationship. Firstly, because Mary blamed Percy for their deaths. He had been the one to make them travel so far, and when they arrived, she felt that he neglected them to be with Lord Byron, and didn’t seek adequate medical care for Clara until it was too late.

After their deaths, Mary (obviously) grieved her children, but Percy distanced himself from her. He spent most of his time writing or taking long walks, which only further upset Mary. Despite their distance, they had one more son, Percy Florence, who was born in November 1819, and (you will be relieved to know) survived to adulthood.

Percy Shelley, however, drowned in 1822. So much happened in their relationship, especially considering it only lasted eight years after their elopement. By the time she was 25, Mary had given birth to four children, lost three of them, married, lost her husband, and published one of the most influential science fiction novels of all time.

Mary and Percy’s relationship can be seen reflected in Frankenstein; Victor Frankenstein’s family resembles Percy’s, and William Frankenstein’s physical description is reminiscent of William Shelley. After Percy’s death, the revised edition of Frankenstein displays Mary’s grief. Elizabeth’s death on her wedding night now takes place in Lake Como, where Mary and Percy lived for a while in Italy. The circumstances of Caroline’s death also change, and maternal love becomes associated with self-destruction – reflecting Mary’s own relationship to maternity, and the loss of her children.

Other changes to the revised edition stem from her relationship with Percy, but in a more politicised way. After Percy’s death, Mary was given an allowance by Sir Timothy Shelley, Percy’s father, and this allowance served as a means of control, in a way. Mary’s works became less political, or, political in different ways, after Percy’s death, as her own beliefs were revolutionary, like those of her mother and father’s, and to keep her allowance, she had to appease Sir Timothy’s wishes. She relied on her allowance, and the sales of her novels, to provide for herself and Percy Florence. As such, a lot of the overt politics in the first edition of Frankenstein became softened.

After Mary Shelley died, Percy’s heart was discovered in her belongings. While Percy had been cremated, Mary had kept his heart as a memento of their love. Allegedly, she kept it wrapped in one of his poems. For all the scandal and drama in their relationship, I think their ending was pretty romantic.