Keyword Guide · study-guide
Elizabeth Frankenstein is a central supporting character in Mary Shelley’s novel. She helps reveal key themes about family, gender roles, and the human cost of ambition.
Elizabeth is raised alongside Victor Frankenstein and later becomes his intended wife. She represents warmth, moral stability, and domestic care within the Frankenstein family. Her character is often contrasted with Victor’s isolation and obsessive focus on scientific goals.
Elizabeth functions as an emotional anchor in the novel. She maintains family bonds through letters and concern for others. Her presence highlights what Victor neglects as he prioritizes his experiments over relationships.
Elizabeth is closely linked to themes of family, responsibility, and the idealized home. She also reflects 19th-century expectations of women as nurturing and self-sacrificing. Her fate emphasizes the destructive consequences of unchecked ambition.
Focus on contrast: compare Elizabeth’s empathy with Victor’s ambition. Discuss how her role supports larger themes rather than driving the plot. Use her relationships to analyze the novel’s view of responsibility and moral duty.
She is adopted into the Frankenstein family and raised as Victor’s cousin, though the exact relationship varies by adaptation.
She represents emotional connection and moral balance, helping readers see what Victor sacrifices through his obsession.
She helps illustrate themes of family, gender roles, responsibility, and the consequences of neglecting human relationships.
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