Mathilda

‘Mathilda’ is the second long work of fiction by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, written between August 1819 and February 1820 and first published posthumously in 1959. It deals with common Romantic themes of incest and suicide. The narrative deals with a father's incestuous love for his daughter.

Mary Shelley wrote this novel to distract herself from her grief after the deaths of her one-year-old daughter Clara in Venice and her three-year-old son William in Rome. Narrating from her deathbed, Mathilda, a young woman barely in her twenties, writes her story as a way of explaining her actions to her friend, Woodville.

Her narration follows her lonely upbringing and climaxes at a point when her unnamed father confesses his incestuous love for her. This is then followed by his suicide by drowning and her ultimate death; her relationship with the gifted young poet, Woodville, fails to reverse Matilda's emotional withdrawal or prevent her lonely death.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797–1851) was an English novelist, short story writer, essayist, and editor best known for writing Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, a novel that is widely regarded as one of the first works of modern science fiction. Her writing explored profound questions about scientific ambition, human responsibility, love, loss, and the consequences of unchecked curiosity. Today, she is celebrated as one of the most original and influential authors in English literature.

Mary was born on August 30, 1797, in London, England, into an extraordinary intellectual family. Her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, was a pioneering advocate for women's rights and the author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, while her father, William Godwin, was a renowned philosopher and political thinker. Tragically, her mother died shortly after Mary's birth, and she was raised by her father, who encouraged her education and introduced her to many of the leading writers and thinkers of the time.

In 1814, Mary began a relationship with the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, whom she married after the death of his first wife. The couple traveled extensively across Europe, sharing a deep interest in literature, philosophy, and the natural sciences. During a stay near Lake Geneva in Switzerland in 1816, Mary participated in a famous storytelling challenge with Lord Byron and others. Inspired by discussions about science and the nature of life, she conceived the idea for Frankenstein, which was published anonymously in 1818. The novel became a landmark in world literature for its imaginative storytelling and enduring moral questions.

Following Percy Shelley's death in 1822, Mary devoted herself to raising their son and preserving her husband's literary legacy by editing and publishing his works. She also wrote several other novels, including The Last Man, Valperga, Lodore, and Falkner, along with travel writing, biographies, and essays.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley died on February 1, 1851, in London at the age of fifty-three. Today, she is remembered not only as the creator of one of literature's most iconic stories but also as a brilliant and thoughtful writer whose works continue to inspire discussions about science, ethics, imagination, and what it truly means to be human.