Mary Shelley: Difference between revisions

In the [[summer]] of [[1816]], ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Storm Warning (audio story)|Storm Warning]]'') Mary left her [[Bishopsgate]] home in [[Windsor]], [[England]] ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Silver Turk (audio story)|The Silver Turk]]'') and travelled to [[Switzerland]], ([[AUDIO]]: '' [[Mary's Story (audio story)|Mary's Story]]'') where Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, John Polidori, Claire Clairmont and she stayed at [[Villa Diodati]] near [[Lake Geneva]]. ([[AUDIO]]: '' [[Mary's Story (audio story)|Mary's Story]]'', [[TV]]: ''[[The Haunting of Villa Diodati (TV story)|The Haunting of Villa Diodati]]'') She and Percy also stayed in a [[chalet]] named [[Maison Chapuis]], located on the shore of Lake Geneva. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Haunting of Villa Diodati (TV story)|The Haunting of Villa Diodati]]'') Despite not being married to Percy yet, Mary still went by Mrs Shelley at the time ([[TV]]: ''[[The Haunting of Villa Diodati (TV story)|The Haunting of Villa Diodati]]'') and the pair referred to each other as husband and wife. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Mary's Story (audio story)|Mary's Story]]'')

As she would later recount in her [[foreword]] to ''Frankenstein'' (edition [[1831]]), the incessant [[rain]] of this particular summer drew them away from the [[lake]] and kept them indoors, at Lord Byron's house, for days. Whilst reading [[ghost story|ghost stories]] together, ([[AUDIO]]: '' [[Mary's Story (audio story)|Mary's Story]]'') Byron challenged Mary, Polidori and Percy to each write a ghost story of their own. ([[AUDIO]]: '' [[Mary's Story (audio story)|Mary's Story]]'', [[TV]]: ''[[The Haunting of Villa Diodati (TV story)|The Haunting of Villa Diodati]]'')

By one account, the night of the contest, the [[Thirteenth Doctor]], [[Yasmin Khan]], [[Ryan Sinclair]] and [[Graham O'Brien]] knocked on the door, seeking shelter from the rain. This led to an encounter with [[Ashad]], the Lone Cyberman. Mary wondered if Ashad was a composite of multiple men and referred to his creators as a "Modern [[Prometheus (figure)|Prometheus]]". Even thouhg he threatened them, she appealed to him out of genuine compassion. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Haunting of Villa Diodati (TV story)|The Haunting of Villa Diodati]]'')

By another account, while writing her story, Mary saw anomalous [[lightning]] out the window and left the lodge to investigate. Despite the [[Tenth Doctor]]'s attempt to save her, she was attacked by [[Zzazik]] and fainted. The Doctor didn't recognise her face, but after she awoke, she wrote "The Modern Prometheus." ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Creative Spark (comic story)|The Creative Spark]]'')

Though Mary's account said that there were only four individuals present during the ghost story competition, the Eighth Doctor knew this was untrue. The Doctor wished she had been able to tell the ''real'' story of what had taken place ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Storm Warning (audio story)|Storm Warning]]'') at Villa Diodati. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Mary's Story (audio story)|Mary's Story]]'') In June 1816, at Villa Diodati, the 18-year-old Mary encountered two versions of the Eighth Doctor simultaneously. The older of the two versions introduced himself as [[The Doctor's aliases|Dr Frankenstein]]. When this older version appeared to have died Percy suggested to make an experiment with lightning on the Doctor's body, modelled after the experiments of signor [[Galvani]] on [[frog]]s. During the experiment, Percy called himself "the modern Prometheus". This experience, as well as Mary's later travels with the Doctor, must have influenced her science-based horror story ''Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus''. After the younger version of the Doctor has helped the older one to recover, Mary left her future husband and their friends and spent years travelling with the younger version of the Doctor. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Mary's Story (audio story)|Mary's Story]]'')