After Justine's trial, conviction, confession, and execution, Elizabeth seems to lose her faith in humanity.  Originally, Shelley characterizes Elizabeth as an Idealistic, selfless girl.  She is a younger version of Victor's mother and puts her own needs aside so that she can help comfort others.

After Elizabeth visits Justine in the jail and recognizes that there is no saving her adopted sister, she becomes depressed and begins to question the existence of justice and goodness.  While Elizabeth does seem to recover some of her Romantic tendencies (she still believes that she can save Victor by marrying him), she never fully returns to the exuberant, optimistic character that she was before William's and Justine's deaths.