Sublime

But later, when Mary too had suffered terrible losses, she grieved over the pain she had helped Shelley inflict on Harriet, whose plight as an abandoned wife in a judgmental age was a desperate one.

To his wife’s claim that human beings could not be trusted to manage their own creations, Shelley argued that disease and disaster could be eradicated by human ingenuity. In her novel, Prometheus (Frankenstein) destroys everyone he loves. In his poem, Prometheus saves the world.

Plainpalais.

Although Shelley turned to Mary for comfort and wisdom, she could not rely on him for reciprocal support. Plagued by his own phobias, he seemed unable to empathize with Mary. If she wanted solace, she would have to look elsewhere.

mien

purloined,

Pessimism versus optimism; despair versus hope; Mary versus Shelley. They stood on opposite sides of tragedy, their conflict filtering through all aspects of their marriage, shaping not only how they coped with their losses but how they approached each other and their work.