Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society

Episode: The Truth About Mary Shelley (November 4, 2025)

Host: Dr. Kate Lister
Guest: Fiona Sampson, MBE – Poet, Biographer, Author of In Search of Mary Shelley: The Girl Who Wrote Frankenstein

Overview

This episode delves into the tumultuous, scandal-filled, and often misrepresented life of Mary Shelley, the groundbreaking author of Frankenstein. Host Kate Lister and biographer Fiona Sampson untangle the fact and folklore around Shelley’s life, her notorious lineage, her relationship with Percy Bysshe Shelley, and the origination and legacy of her creation. Expect plenty of wit, history, and “Percy bashing” as the conversation challenges the romanticized image of his genius and emphasizes Mary’s own remarkable endurance, intellect, and creativity.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Mary Shelley’s Family: Rebels by Blood

• Origins: Mary was the daughter of William Godwin (radical philosopher) and Mary Wollstonecraft (founder of modern feminism).
• Both parents:
  • Godwin was known for works inciting revolution and critiquing established institutions ([09:59]).
  • Wollstonecraft wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, was an active participant in the French Revolution, and lived boldly outside the conventions of the era.
• Family Scandals:
  • Wollstonecraft’s affairs and children out of wedlock added to the family’s notoriety ([11:28]).
  • Her public reputation suffered after Godwin’s candid memoir, complicating the social standing of her daughters ([13:34]).

Notable Quote:
"If she as well can find herself in Scandinavia because some pretty man said I love you, then, you know, you feel a little bit better about your own awful decisions."
— Kate Lister ([11:57])

Mary’s Upbringing: Drama and Disruption

• Raised amidst progressive ideals but also marked by death, poverty, and parental remarriage.
  • Loss of her mother 10 days after birth ([13:34]).
  • A fraught relationship with stepmother Mary Jane, and displacement to punitive schooling ([18:44]).
  • The household existed on the edge of respectability and financial instability ([16:51]).

Percy Bysshe Shelley: Genius or Chaos?

• Percy emerges as an erratic and borderline reckless figure.
  • Expelled from Oxford for atheism ([23:56]).
  • Charismatic, impulsive, but disastrous with money and responsibility ([07:59]).
  • His idealism often at odds with his privileged background.

Notable Quote:
"You get this kind of financial chaos that's going on all the time around this young couple…He was pretty bad at managing money as he was pretty bad at managing life."
— Fiona Sampson ([07:15])

• Had already eloped and married Harriet, who was pregnant with their second child when he met Mary ([26:07]).

Mary and Percy’s Relationship: Evasion and Elopement

• Percy, infatuated with Godwin’s ideas, finds himself in the Godwin household and becomes fixated on Mary ([24:18]).
• Their relationship is clandestine with Percy supplying Mary with poetry and intellectual discussion—while still married ([26:07]).
• The infamous story that Mary lost her virginity on her mother’s grave is addressed: “There’s gonna be at least a grain of truth in it,” though some practical doubts are raised ([29:05]).

Notable Quote:
"What do they call trustafarians when super rich kids try and do that, like giving her his poetry to read when really he should be fucking off home to his wife, quite frankly."
— Kate Lister ([26:39])

The Elopement Fiasco: Europe, War, and Weird Companions

• Mary (16), Percy, and step-sister Clare Clairmont elope across Europe ([31:08]).
• Their “ideal community” vision is chaotic, poverty-stricken, and riddled with drama. Clare’s presence adds to the confusion and suggests a triangulated relationship ([30:95]).
• Their travels coincide with war zones, and there’s a strong suggestion of a romantic or sexual relationship between Percy and Clare, though never directly proven ([36:41]).

Notable Quote:
"It is so 70s rock star, isn't it? Throw off the bonds of liberation…"
— Kate Lister ([32:07])

Frankenstein: An Act of Creation Amidst Trauma

• Frankenstein is penned in the aftermath of personal loss, pregnancy, and emotional turmoil.
• The famous Geneva summer with Lord Byron: 1816, the “year without a summer.” Byron suggests each person write a ghost story, spurring Mary’s Frankenstein — while Byron’s physician Polidori invents the first vampire story ([43:04]).
• Multiple readings of Frankenstein are explored:
  • The “overreaching golden boy” of Victor Frankenstein as a mirror of Percy ([49:49]).
  • The recurring themes of birth, motherhood, and monstrous creation as a response to Mary’s relentless cycles of pregnancy, child loss, and the trauma of her mother dying in childbirth ([50:58]).

Notable Quotes:
"Frankenstein is a young, ambitious man who is full of ego and narcissism and has these ridiculously overly romantic dreams. But actually what happens is it ends up destroying everyone and everything around him. And I just read that and I wonder, was she thinking of Percy? I think she might have been."
— Kate Lister ([49:22])

"I think whether she knew it or not, the motive for that portrait of Frankenstein is Percy…"
— Fiona Sampson ([49:49])

Death, Suicide, and Scandal

• Throughout these years, repeated tragedy dogs Mary and her circle:
  • Multiple pregnancies, frequent infant deaths ([40:22]).
  • Percy’s estranged wife Harriet and Mary’s half-sister Fanny both die by suicide, stories wrapped in shame, alienation, and possible cover-ups ([53:56], [54:32]).
• Percy’s own death in a boating accident, after a life marked by emotional and sexual chaos, leaves Mary isolated ([58:01]).

Memorable Moment:
"He dies after modifying his boat because he has got a boat envy because Byron has a bigger, better boat. That’s a bit Freudian, isn’t it?"
— Kate Lister ([58:01])

After Percy: Mary’s Later Life and Enduring Legacy

• Left widowed and near penurious, Mary works as a professional writer to support her son, Percy Florence Shelley ([59:39]).
• Despite her many losses, Mary preserves Percy’s reputation for posterity, editing and publishing his works ([07:05]).
• She is buried in Bournemouth with what’s believed to be Percy’s heart—a symbol, or perhaps just “a bit of gristle,” as Kate and Fiona sardonically note ([61:42]).

Notable Quote:
"She keeps it in her writing desk and in a little bag…It may not have been his heart, but it was a bit of gristle…"
— Fiona Sampson ([61:33]-[62:52])

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Quote | Speaker | | --- | --- | --- | | 11:57 | “If she as well can find herself in Scandinavia because some pretty man said I love you, then, you know, you feel a little bit better about your own awful decisions.” | Kate Lister | | 07:15 | "You get this kind of financial chaos that's going on all the time around this young couple…He was pretty bad at managing money as he was pretty bad at managing life." | Fiona Sampson | | 26:39 | “What do they call trustafarians when super rich kids try and do that, like giving her his poetry to read when really he should be fucking off home to his wife, quite frankly.” | Kate Lister | | 29:05 | "[The story of losing her virginity on her mother's grave] ...there's gonna be at least a grain of truth in it. Because clearly her mother's grave was a significant place..." | Fiona Sampson | | 49:22 | “Frankenstein is a young, ambitious man who is full of ego and narcissism and has these ridiculously overly romantic dreams. But actually what happens is it ends up destroying everyone and everything around him. And I just read that and I wonder, was she thinking of Percy? I think she might have been.” | Kate Lister | | 58:01 | “He dies after modifying his boat because he has got a boat envy because Byron has a bigger, better boat. That’s a bit Freudian, isn’t it?” | Kate Lister | | 61:33-62:52 | “She keeps it in her writing desk and in a little bag…It may not have been his heart, but it was a bit of gristle…” | Fiona Sampson |

Important Timestamps

• 03:18 – Introduction of Mary Shelley as an iconic, scandal-tinged subject
• 09:59 – Mary Shelley's radical family background
• 16:51 – Mary’s difficult and unsettled childhood
• 23:56 – Percy Shelley’s backstory and first meeting with Mary
• 26:07 – The start of Percy and Mary’s relationship (and his marriage to Harriet)
• 31:08 – The European elopement with step-sister Clare
• 36:41 – Possible sexual relationship between Percy and Clare debated
• 39:47 – Mary’s pregnancies, childloss, and relationship woes
• 43:04 – The Geneva summer, Byron’s influence, the birth of Frankenstein
• 49:22–52:20 – Analysis of Frankenstein as a reflection of Mary’s life
• 53:56–54:32 – The suicides of Fanny and Harriet and their impact
• 58:01–61:26 – Percy’s death, Mary’s widowhood, and her later life
• 61:33–62:52 – The legend of Percy’s heart and Mary’s memory

Tone & Style

The conversation is playful, irreverent, and often bitingly sarcastic—especially when discussing Percy’s failings—but underpinned by deep scholarly insight and empathy for Mary Shelley’s struggles.

For Further Exploration

• Guest Fiona Sampson’s biography: In Search of Mary Shelley: The Girl Who Wrote Frankenstein
• Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and The Last Man