A Lack Of Romanticism In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

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Recommended: Frankenstein romanticism elements

Phoebe Wu
Ms. Monson
AP Lit Period 1
13 January 2014
A Lack of Femininity is “Not-So-Romantic”
In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Elizabeth Lavenza is characterized as expendable, passive, and serving a pragmatic function. Placed to provide nothing more than a channel of action for the male characters in the novel, Elizabeth’s presence is usually for the sake of teaching a male character a lesson or sparking an emotion within him. Through Shelley’s heavy emphasis on Romanticism and disrupting the novel’s chronological order with the use of flashbacks, Elizabeth is portrayed as a submissive female with a demeaning characterization.
As the fiancé of Victor Frankenstein, Elizabeth is viewed as a passive character whose empathy for her fiancé leaves her vulnerable to the manipulative actions of Frankenstein and his monster. Frankenstein’s proprietorial objective of seeing “Elizabeth as mine- mine to protect, love and cherish. All praises bestowed on her, I received as made to a possession of my own” (Shelley 31) exemplifies passivity by his authority over her as a young child. Prior to their wedding, he writes, “I will confide this tale of misery and terror to you the day after our marriage shall take place; for, my sweet cousin, there must be perfect confidence between us. But until then, I conjure you, do not mention or allude to it. This I most earnestly entreat, and I know you will comply” (187) to convey his ongoing control of her. Through Victor’s power over Elizabeth, she also becomes an object to be manipulated by Frankenstein’s monster. The monster, penetrated with insanity from parental negligence, murders Elizabeth in an attempt to devastate his creator. When such happenings were occurring, Frankenstein vitalized, foremost,...

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...in states her love for him and hopes for equal affection. “I could not help supposing that you might regret our connection, and believe yourself bound in honour to fulfill the wishes of your parents although they opposed themselves to your inclinations. But this is false reasoning. I confess to you, my friend, that I love you” (186) allows for intuition of her vulnerability without a man. The introduction, preface, and letters throughout the novel display the amenable approaches of Elizabeth.
Elizabeth’s function as a tool of communication in Shelley’s Frankenstein is a direct reflection of the Romantic time period and her own experiences within it. Through her Gothic elements and heavy use of flashbacks, Elizabeth is portrayed as a submissive female, irrelevant unless channeling actions and acting as the physical embodiment of love or revenge for the novel's men.

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