Campo Cestio

Also Known as Cimitero Acattolico, Cimitero Degli Inglesi, rome Testaccio Cemetery.

This is the burial site of William Shelley. This is one of the many deaths that occurred in Mary Shelley's life. The death of her three-year-old son promoted the inspiration for the name and death of Victor Frankenstein’s youngest brother William. According to find a grave:

"Son of renowned writer Mary Shelley and poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. He died of an infection (malaria, cholera, or typhus), on June 7, 1819, while the Shelleys were living in Rome. He was buried there at the Cimitero Degli Inglesi, sometimes called the Protestant Cemetery. Percy and Mary were distraught at the death of William, who was the third child they had lost. Mary approached a nervous breakdown. Percy immortalized his son in his poem "To William Shelley". The exact location of William's grave is in question. It was reopened in January 1823 with the intention of interring there the ashes of his father, which had been stored for some months in a chest in the wine cellar of the English Ambassador. Gravediggers discovered the bones of an adult in William's grave and it was closed. Percy's ashes were interred in another spot, close to the resting-place of his friend John Keats”

This is the sad fate of a young boy, who died away form home. To be born in London and to die in Italy is within itself a bit of sad fate. This is part of the reason why Mary Shelley made Victor travel so much in her story. Frankenstein is reminiscent of Mary Shelley’s personal life.

 

Parent Map

Age of Romanticism - Collaborative Map - Fall 2021

Coordinates

Latitude: 41.876442500000
Longitude: 12.479094000000

Timeline of Events Associated with Campo Cestio

Date Event Manage
The end of the month Winter 1816 to The start of the month Summer 1819

The Tragic loss of William Shelley

The Death of William Shelley was at around the same time as the creation of "Frankenstein". This harsh moment in Mary Shelley's life is seen in the way that she writes Frankenstein; she write as if she was in deep pain. The way she makes Victor loose most of his family to the creature, can be compared to the way in which Shelley loses the lives of her family. During this time resurrectionist were on the prowl for fresh bodies so they could rake in tons of cash. This worry must have been weighing on her mind following the death of her own child. This makes her connection to Frankenstein a bit more emotional and thought provoking than thought before.

Percy and Mary were distraught at the death of William, who was the third child they had lost. Mary approached a nervous breakdown. She even modeled the name of Victors youngest brother as William. In the novel the creature strangled Willaim Frankenstein, but in real life William Shelley's son died from an illness

 This is a picture of Mary Shelley's three year old Son. William Shelley