The Lady and Her Monsters by Roseanne Montillo

Author:Roseanne Montillo [Montillo, Roseanne]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2013-01-31T23:00:00+00:00

Frankenstein observing the first stirring of his creature; print from the 1831 edition.

Chapter 7

FRANKENSTEIN; OR, THE MODERN PROMETHEUS

Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay

To mold me man? Did I solicit thee

From darkness to promote me?—

JOHN MILTON, PARADISE LOST

In the days following the start of Byron’s ghost story competition, John Polidori spent a lot of time with the Shelleys, particularly with Mary. His diary entries include short notes about walks he took with Mary, as well as descriptions of the animated dinners and numerous conversations they shared. There is little detail about their creative minds; one entry, from June 28, says only, “all day at Mrs. Shelley’s.”

What did they speak of during these times together? The contest’s participants had agreed not to reveal anything about their stories in progress while the writing was being done. But did Mary mention, even in passing, that she had begun to write? Did she tell Polidori what direction her writing was taking? Did she ask him for any scientific and anatomical information only a doctor might know? She had to have been aware of his feelings for her, but did she, in any way, take advantage of Polidori’s infatuation to sharpen her tale? If so, Polidori never made note of this in his diary, or if he did, his sister may have put it in the flames because she thought it was too salacious.

By early June, Claire had told Percy about her pregnancy, though it’s unclear when they told Mary. But once Lord Byron became aware of the situation, he was not pleased. He knew Claire would need money to care for the child, and instead of accepting his responsibilities, he seemed offended and affronted. Observing this situation, Shelley had legal papers drafted that allocated a portion of his inheritance to Claire and her child.

Byron had never been entirely fond of Claire, and now he felt conned by her. He went so far as to doubt the child’s paternity: “I never loved her nor pretended to love her, but a man is a man, and if a girl of eighteen comes prancing to you at all hours there is but one way—the suite of all this is that she was with child—and returned to England to assist in peopling that desolate island,” he later wrote to his friend Douglas Kincaid. “Whether this impregnation took place before I left England or since I do not know; the [carnal] connection had commenced previously to my setting out—but by or about this time she is about to produce—the next question is, is the brat mine? I have reasons to think so, for I knew as much as one can know about such a thing—that she had not lived with S. during the time of our acquaintance—and that she had a good deal of that same with me.”

With summer quickly coming to an end, Mary, Percy, and Claire left the shores of Lake Geneva on August 29. Claire and Lord Byron, though mostly Byron, had decided that Claire’s child would remain with one of its parents until at least the age of seven.

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