Keyword Guide · study-guide
For literature students unpacking Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the link between Victor Frankenstein and Justine Moritz is a key detail that ties personal drama to the novel's core themes. Understanding their connection helps contextualize Justine's tragic arc and Victor's moral failings. This guide breaks down their relationship and gives you actionable study tools for assignments.
Victor knew Justine as a long-time servant in the Frankenstein household. She was taken in by the family as a child after her own mother rejected her, growing up alongside Victor, Elizabeth, and Ernest. To Victor, she was a familiar, trusted presence in his childhood home—someone he thought of as a dedicated, kind member of the extended family.
Justine's ties to Victor make her death a direct consequence of his actions. When the creature frames her for murder, Victor knows she is innocent but stays silent to protect his own secret. Their pre-existing bond amplifies the weight of his cowardice, highlighting how his obsession ruins not just his life, but the lives of those he’s known and cared for since childhood.
For class talks, organize your thoughts around three points: 1) The nature of Victor’s childhood relationship with Justine (was he a friend, or did he see her as a subordinate?). 2) How his silence about the creature exposes his lack of responsibility to people close to him. 3) What Justine’s fate reveals about class and power dynamics in the novel’s setting.
For essays, use their relationship as evidence for a thesis about Victor’s moral decay. Focus on contrast: Victor’s treatment of Justine (a loyal, marginalized person) vs. his fixation on his creature (a being he rejects). For quizzes, memorize the core facts: Justine was a Frankenstein household servant taken in as a child, and Victor’s silence leads to her execution.
No, Justine was not blood-related to the Frankenstein family. She was a servant taken in by the household as a child after being abandoned by her mother.
No, Victor never publicly defended Justine, even though he was certain of her innocence. He feared exposing his secret creation would ruin his reputation and social standing.
Their relationship is a critical example of Victor’s moral failure—he prioritizes his own ego over the life of someone he has known since childhood, which is a core theme of the novel.
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