in his survey of the letters of the godwins and the shelleys, pollin comes to the conclusion that imlay was not depressive. she is frequently described as happy and looking toward the future and describes herself this way. the mentions of melancholia and sadness are specific and related to particular events and illness. richard holmes, in his biography of percy shelley, argues that "her agonizing and loveless suspension between the godwin and shelley households was clearly the root circumstance" of her suicide. godwin biographer and philosopher don locke argues that "most probably because she could absorb no more of the miseries of skinner street, her father's inability to pay his debts or write his books, her mother's unending irritability and spitefulness", all of which she blamed on herself, she committed suicide.