Elizabeth Lavenza in Frankenstein

Humans tend to be influenced by the most prominent elements in their lives, such as people and the environment that they are living in.   Therefore, when writing or developing a character, authors make sure to include an influential and inspirational element or person into their work of literature.   Often this character helps develop the main character, and at times can even be held accountable for the main character’s actions or well being.   The above-mentioned type of character is eminently notable in the novel Frankenstein.   In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the main character Victor Frankenstein, is greatly influenced by a woman named Elizabeth Lavenza.


During the primary stages of the novel, Victor succumbs to his unethical urge to create life from a dead corpse.   Upon completing his project, he realizes that he has created evil, yet continues to indulge in his dark side by keeping his monster a secret, despite all the evil which the monster creates.  


On the other hand, Elizabeth Lavenza is a woman whom the Frankenstein family adopts while both she and Victor are young.   After their mother Caroline passes away, Elizabeth takes her place and is the source of love in the family.   She plays the role of the “bright spark,” keeping everyone’s spirits alive and kindred. Elizabeth’s role as the lover in Victor’s life   keeps Victor’s feelings and emotions human.   Although his secret creation clearly displays his dark and gloomy personality, he also possesses a different, more compassionate side, a side provoked by the mutual love between him and Elizabeth.   The kind and caring side of Frankenstein is crucial in the plot of the story, because it the side which creates a great sense of guilt within Victor, a sense which eventually eats him away and leads to his insanity. It is also the caring side of Victor’s personality which almost gives into, but eventually declines, the monstor’s request for the creation of an additional monster as a mate.   This...