The Influence of William Godwin on the Novels of Mary Shelley

The past few decades have seen a revival of interest in the social philosophy of William Godwin and a revaluation of his works. Although Godwin has been viewed as a powerful influence on the works of Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Shelley, little notice has been taken of his influence on the work of his daughter, Mary Shelley. It has, on the contrary, been popular to attribute Mary's Frankenstein to the influence of her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley. Many critics have recognized a close connection between the works of Godwin and Mary, but the comments are limited and general; and most studies of Mary's novels use a biographical or critical approach.

The primary purpose of this study of Mary Shelley's novels, however, is to trace the influence that her father and his works had upon her writing. A writer and his work are so closely intertwined that it is not always possible to separate the one from the other. This is especially true of Godwin and Mary because the novels of both are filled with autobiographical and biographical elements which must be accounted for in order to reveal the influence they had on each other. For this reason, the study begins with a biographical sketch of the father and daughter with emphasis placed upon those events and circumstances in their lives which had an effect on their writing of fiction.

The present-day reader who is not familiar with Godwin's philosophy would not notice the most prevalent similarity between the two: the ideas--the philosophies--run very nearly parallel throughout their novels. The comparison between the two thus begins with Godwin's ideas and shows how they are carried out in his novels and also in Mary's. The major source used for determining Godwin's ideas is his formal treatise, Enquiry concerning Political Justice and Its Influence on Morals and Happiness (1793). Their aesthetic techniques are next analyzed by widely known and used critical criteria. In conclusion, the study reveals a striking similarity between both their ideas and techniques, thereby substantiating the claim of the author of this work that Godwin's ideas, as set forth in Political Justice, and the literary techniques of his fiction form the foundation on which his daughter's novels rest.