Mary Shelley Page #3

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Hmm.

[distant thud]

Someone's here.

[distant thud]

Percy.

Percy.

[Shelley] So the Judgement

Day is upon us already.

[Deacon]

Hello?

Is anyone there?

[laughing quietly]

[music swells ]

[music fades]

Oh, Mr. Shelley,

it is a real book.

Your name looks so good

in that gold typeface.

I'm sure it will be

more popular

than your treatise

on the virtues of atheism.

[Godwin] Ghost stories and romance

novels might sell, my dear,

but it's books that

challenge the common doctrine

and superstition

that will truly endure.

We rely on brave works

like this

to push the world out of

its misery and delusion.

Well done, sir.

I hope you like it,

Miss Godwin.

I'm sure I will.

[Shelley, whispering]

Read it when you're alone.

Oh, give it to me!

[laughs]

Give it to me.

Please, Mary.

Mary.

"The sunlight clasp the Earth

And the moonbeams

kiss the sea

What are

all these kissings worth..."

[Claire]

"If thou kiss not me?"

[Harriet]

Miss Godwin?

Yes?

[people chattering]

I am Mrs. Shelley.

Harriet Shelley.

And this is Ianthe,

our daughter.

[quiet, dramatic music ]

How can I help you,

Mrs. Shelley?

I am searching for my husband.

He's not here.

My father works alone today.

I cannot help you any further.

Miss Godwin!

Stay away from Percy.

I have not seen him in weeks

but I have heard rumors.

Surely a wife of Mr. Shelley

would be impervious to gossip?

Evidently you are a stranger

to scandal, Miss Godwin.

Did you know I ran away

with Percy when I was a girl?

Idealism and love

give us courage.

But they do not prepare you

for the sacrifice

required to love a man

like Percy.

Your husband

is my father's student.

Nothing more.

If I see Mr. Shelley,

I will let him know

you are looking for him.

Goodbye, Mrs. Shelley.

[bell on door chimes]

Claire?

[music fades]

Your wife is very pretty,

Mr. Shelley.

I didn't know you were married.

Yes.

Yes, I've been married

for five years now.

[Mrs. Godwin]

Well, well.

We look forward

to meeting Mrs. Shelley.

Perhaps she would like to

join us for dinner one evening?

[Shelley] Your offer is

most kind, Mrs. Godwin.

However, Mrs. Shelley and I

are man and wife in name...

...only.

I continue to provide

for Harriet

and my daughter Ianthe

financially but that is all.

It is an intolerable tyranny...

...to bind husband and wife

to cohabitation

after the decay

of their affection.

Yeah.

I remember saying something

like that when I was young.

How could you do such a thing?

- What did I do?

- You told her.

I had to.

How could you not speak

of Harriet and Ianthe?

My marriage was a mistake.

I believed that I'd found

in Harriet a kindred spirit.

But time revealed only

an empty, heartless cynicism

that consumed the both of us

in a spiral of hate and anguish.

But when I met you...

...for the first time since

my marriage, I felt alive.

And had you known

I was married,

propriety would have gotten

the better of you.

Propriety has never

been a concern of mine.

I promise you it can

be very easy to say that,

but it can be very different

to live it.

Which is what I challenge you

to do now.

You challenge me to what?

- To do what-

- Shh!

To do what your heart

is telling you to do

and to come away with me.

And let us both find...

...new air to fill our lungs.

[quiet, dramatic music ]

A new sun to warm our faces.

See a new life that is

actually worth the living...

...together.

[Mary] The air in this

house was stifling

long before Shelley,

but the fact

that he comes here every day

makes it even less bearable.

Feels like I'm suffocating.

I just want to get away.

[Claire]

At least you went to Scotland.

I've never been anywhere.

Next time we'll

go somewhere together.

We'll set off around the world,

just you and me.

And we'll meet amazing people

and go to wonderful places.

And none of this,

or any of these people,

will matter at all.

They won't mean a thing.

I promise.

I can't imagine anything

more wonderful.

[chatter]

[clock tower bell ringing]

Done so soon, Mr. Shelley?

I thought you and Mr. Godwin

would be working

through the afternoon.

I'm afraid I don't feel up

to much of anything today,

Mrs. Godwin.

Mr. Shelley seems

to be suffering

from some sort of

emotional anguish.

Perhaps he was disappointed

to find that...

...you do not cultivate the

same public feats of wantonness

as your dear departed mother.

I would ask that you not

speak ill of my mother.

Oh, but of course.

How dare anyone utter one

word out of turn

about a deceased person

of such eminent merit?

At least you have not inherited

that strange deficit of hers.

That foolish impulsiveness

which mistook wretchedness

with emancipation.

I have inherited nothing

but a fire in my soul

and I will no longer allow you,

or anyone else, to contain it.

Are you really involved

with that whoremonger?

I hope those rumors

prove to be false.

Just when we have found

an avenue for our salvation,

you go and turn our fortunes

into yet another scandal.

Do you believe I care at all

for my reputation?

Or yours?

I fear nothing but letting

your meaningless words

scare me away from my desires.

[panting]

[dramatic music ]

[Shelley, voiceover]

The sunlight clasps the Earth

And the moonbeams

kiss the sea

What are

all these kissings worth

If thou kiss not me?

[Shelley]

Mary.

What do you mean?

But you're already married.

We love each other.

We don't need to be married.

[Mrs. Godwin]

I told you your warped ideals

would come back to haunt us.

Mrs. Godwin, please.

We are only living

by your beliefs.

- Your principles.

- What do you know of living your beliefs?

You had no problem

with my mother

wanting to live

out of wedlock.

[Godwin]

Do you really think

you can withstand

the consequences of this?

Your mother was tortured

by her impulses.

The very passions she thought

were holding her together

were working just as

diligently to tear her apart.

Don't let them get the better

of you, Mary.

And you forget whatever fantasy

you've woven with my daughter.

Are you really suggesting

I could only be with your

daughter if we were married?

How dare you?

Come into my house,

you accept my hospitality

and seduce

my 16 year old daughter!

Is it not you

accepting my money?

Go back to your wife!

Never set foot

in this house again.

My love, I will return for you.

If you ever

see Mr. Shelley again,

prepare to lose the love

of a father, forever.

[music fades]

[Claire, whispering]

Mary!

Mary!

Don't look back, Mary.

Remember, once you are gone...

...none of this,

or any of these people,

will matter at all.

But please, Mary,

take me with you.

You promised next time

we would go together.

[dog barking]

[carriage approaching]

I hope I haven't kept you

waiting long!

[mysterious, dramatic music]

I guess you come as a pair.

I couldn't leave her.

[Shelley]

Come!

[Mary]

Where are we going?

To St. Pancras.

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