Elizabeth as a Typical Victorian Woman in Frankenstein Essay

Elizabeth as a Typical Victorian Woman in Frankenstein Elizabeth is an important character in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. She is also the most important person in Victor’s life for many reasons. Not only is she beautiful beyond belief, she is also submissive and meek. Elizabeth knows her role in the household and she fulfills her duties without hesitation or complaint. Always concerned for Victor, she is willing to do anything to ensure his happiness. Elizabeth is Victor’s prized possession, that which he must value and protect above all other things. She is his faithful love. Elizabeth’s many qualities classify her as a typical woman of nineteenth-century Victorian England. Subservience is one of the main characteristics of†¦show more content†¦Elizabeth merely contemplates with a serious and satisfied spirit the magnificent appearances of things, while Victor delights in investigating their causes (Shelley 42). As Victor says: I was capable of a more intense application, and was more deeply smitten with the thirst for knowledge. She busied herself with following the aerial creations of the poets; and in the majestic and wondrous scenes which surrounded our Swiss home--the sublime shapes of the mountains; the changes of the seasons; tempest and calm; the silence of winter, and the life and turbulence of our Alpine summers--she found ample scope for admiration and delight. (Shelley 42) It is quite apparent in this passage that Elizabeth is viewed as the inferior and passive being. She is busy, but she is only following, being delighted and admiring, whereas Victor is capable, applying himself intensely. The most elementary aspects of the physical world--the changes of the seasons, the sublime shapes of the mountains, and the silence of winter--are more than enough for her, in contrast to Victor, who has a deep thirst for knowledge. Elizabeth is content to passively admire, but Victor is driven to investigate, to learn. In addition to being subservient and passive in nature, women in nineteenth-century England were considered sentimental, meek, fragile, and docile. They were always sentimental, in whom at all times the emotional element is more awake and moreShow MoreRelatedVictorian Novel9605 Words   |  39 PagesTHE VICTORIAN NOVEL SPIS TREÃ…Å¡CI INTRODUCTION 1 I THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NOVEL 2 II KEY AUTHORS 3 III KEY TEXTS 3 IV TOPICS 3 INTRODUCTION Many associate the word â€Å"Victorian† with images of over-dressed ladies and snooty gentlemen gathered in reading rooms. The idea of â€Å"manners† does sum up the social climate of middle-class England in the nineteenth century. However, if there is one transcending aspect to Victorian England life and society, that aspect is change. Nearly every institution of society