Title: Mary Shelley
Author: Helen Edmundson
Date of First Staging: 2012
Place Staged: Shared Experience, Nottingham Playhouse & West Yorkshire Playhouse tour
Bibliographic Reference: Mary Shelley (London: Nick Hern Books)
Type: Play
Character: Mary Shelley; Lord Byron; Percy Shelley; Claire Clairmont; William Godwin
Themes: BYRONIC HERO; WOMEN WRITING MONSTERS
Critical Summary: Coming from a psychological and biographical approach, Helen Edmundson’s play, Mary Shelley, gives her audience insight to crucial moments in Mary’s early life to show how her life influenced the creation of her work Frankenstein.
In the beginning of the play, the relationship between Mary and her father, William Godwin, is introduced as warm and highly regarded, one where she is moved and inspired by his philosophies and written works, specifically the works surrounding her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft. As her mother died days after her birth, Mary desires to know her deceased mother through her mother’s works and becomes inspired to live as she did, though society looked down upon her life.
Nevertheless, Mary’s sense of mind, fight for political justice, and courage to face the world honestly is obvious from Edmundson’s first scene. These positive characteristics are shared and encouraged by her father—the reason why they have such a cherished relationship. However, it is this appreciation towards truth and knowledge that seems to distance her and her father from others, for others do not view the world as openly as Wollstonecraft, her father, or Mary do, dissociating themselves from “small-minded” individuals.
The plot begins to unfold when Percy Shelley, a devoted disciple of Godwin, meets Mary. Shelley and Mary fall in love despite Percy being married to Harriet, who is pregnant with their second child. Harriet confronts Mary in order to show her that being with Percy will break up a family and deprive her children of a father. While first agreeing to break off her entanglement, Mary later becomes conflicted upon discovering Percy’s mental state and reflecting on her mother’s example. She breaks her promise and elopes with Percy to Europe, along with Jane (later Claire Clairmont), her step-sister. Her father, Godwin, feels betrayed, angered and appalled by her action, cutting all communication off with Mary.
Despite their initial financial struggles, Mary and Percy hold firmly to their liberal ideals to live richly as Mary’s mother did. However, Mary and Percy do not think of the consequences of their scandalous elopement: Godwin, Mary’s half-sister Fanny, and other bystanders are subsequently effected; Fanny and Harriet, both commit suicide. However, it is Harriet’s suicide that seems to reconcile Godwin, as Percy properly marrys Mary—but not before Mary talks to her father after years of silence. Their discussion revolves around her novel, Frankenstein, and its powerful themes driven by her own experience.
Edmundson brings light to Mary being raised in a dysfunctional family, with a scandalous elopement, and being confronted with significant deaths, from the death of her mother, Wollstonecraft, the death of her first child (Clara), Fanny committing suicide, and Harriet drowning herself while pregnant. These deaths caused a fear of dying upon giving birth to her firstborn and having a dream of warming her baby’s body by the fire to bring her back to life. Despite the deaths and turmoil, Mary ends powerfully by speaking about the dangers of “putting principles before emotional needs” and finding strength in living life richly.
Administrative Notes: Monica Mercado, CSUF; Editor: Gareth O’Neal and Adriana Lora, CSUF