Motherlessness and Literature
Virginia Woolf lost her mother when she was in her early teens; and Mary Shelley's mother (Mary Wollstonecraft) died in childbirth. Were they affected by the loss of their mothers? How has motherlessness been portrayed in literature?
Mary Wollstonecraft & Mary Shelley: A Famous Mother/Daughter Pair
Mary Wollstonecraft, a pioneer in feminist thinking and writing, gave birth to Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley in 1797. Her mother died soon after childbirth due to a fever. How could this have influenced Shelley’s writings? Although her mother did not live long enough to influence Shelley directly, it is clear that the Wollstonecraft and the ideas of the Romantic era greatly shaped Shelley’s beliefs. Read on.