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Caroline is Victor's mom, and, like any boy raised right, he really loves her. After she dies of scarlet fever, he has nothing but good things to say: she "possessed a mind of an uncommon mould" (1.3); she had a "soft and benevolent mind" (1.5); she was full of "tender caresses" (1.6) and "fortitude and benignity" (3.1); she was a "guardian ...
Elizabeth is not biologically a part of the Frankenstein family, but rather an adopted child, “fairer than a pictured cherub,” who becomes Victor’s constant companion, as well as a female support system for the Frankenstein family (Shelley 17). Elizabeth functions as the Eve
- Summary: Chapter 6
- Summary: Chapter 7
- Summary: Chapter 8
- Analysis: Chapters 6–8
Elizabeth’s letter expresses her concern about Victor’s illness and entreats him to write to his family in Geneva as soon as he can. She also tells him that Justine Moritz, a girl who used to live with the Frankenstein family, has returned to their house following her mother’s death. After Victor has recovered, he introduces Henry, who is studying ...
On their return to the university, Victor finds a letter from his father telling him that Victor’s youngest brother, William, has been murdered. Saddened, shocked, and apprehensive, Victor departs immediately for Geneva. By the time he arrives, night has fallen and the gates of Geneva have been shut, so he spends the evening walking in the woods ar...
Justine confesses to the crime, believing that she will thereby gain salvation, but tells Elizabeth and Victor that she is innocent—and miserable. They remain convinced of her innocence, but Justine is soon executed. Victor becomes consumed with guilt, knowing that the monster he created and the cloak of secrecy within which the creation took place...
Victor’s incorporation of written letters into his story allows both Elizabeth and Alphonse to participate directly in the narrative, bypassing Victor to speak directly to Waltonand the reader. However, at the same time that the letters increase the realism of the narrative, allowing the reader to hear the characters’ distinct voices, they also mak...
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An ideal of femininity. Caroline serves primarily to establish an ideal of femininity that will then be reproduced in other female characters. Before her marriage she has a certain hardiness and independence. Her father's pride makes him willing to remain idle and suffer, and let his daughter suffer, while he waits for employment suitable to ...
The independent woman. Through the more positive representation of Safie, Shelley critiques the idealisation and spiritualisation of women. Like Caroline, Safie's mother is rescued by a man; in her case, however, it is more obviously an exchange of one form of slavery for another and she rejects both. Instead of resigning herself to a life-long ...
Elizabeth is Frankenstein’s adopted sister and his wife. She is also a mother-figure: when Frankenstein’s real mother is dying, she says that Elizabeth “must supply my place.”. Elizabeth fills many roles in Frankenstein’s life, so when the Monster kills her, Frankenstein is deprived of almost every form of female companionship at once.
All Elizabeth can do, as Kate Ellis has suggested, is display her own goodness. The life of women in “Frankenstein” does frequently seem extremely limited: they are rescued, they suffer and they die. If they are really good, they are completely resigned to their lot. Both Justine and Elizabeth show the same submissiveness and self-sacrifice ...
