"They consulted their village priest, and the result was that Elizabeth Lavenza became the inmate of my parents' house -- my more than sister -- the beautiful and adored companion of all my occupations and my pleasures" (17).
Elizabeth's character is likely used by Shelley as a contrast to the monstrosity of Victor’s creation, used to explore the human regard for appearance through the way the two are treated. Elizabeth’s character is never truly discussed in terms other than her appearance; she appears beautiful, so therefore she must be good. The monster is generally assumed to be a similar case: he is ugly, therefore he is evil, while in reality the monster is of true and noble heart.
While exploring the morality of basing goodness on appearance, Shelley fails to give a character in her novel the opposite issues of the monster: a beautiful appearance with an evil heart. This may be because Shelley is never truly driving at this issue, she may merely be trying to get across that parenting matters; if one gets treated well, they will usually behave well. For instance, a large part of the reason Elizabeth ends up how she does is because of the people that take her in as a child. Victor’s monster, on the other hand, has at least as much, if not more, brain potential to become good and kind and wise, yet his appearance hinders all good relations to him. In this way, Shelley may be speaking out against institutions like insane asylums (also called lunatic asylums), which are now known for being places of social alienation. These institutions were generally thought of as being good, until depiction in popular culture, like Francisco de Goya's The Madhouse (painted between 1812 and 1814), told otherwise. Shelley's discussion of the morality of judging on appearances alone may have been influenced by this painting.
http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/g/goya/7/711goya.html
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