What does Elizabeth write in her letter to Victor in Volume III, Chapter 5 of Frankenstein?
In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Elizabeth's letter comes to Victor as he travels home from the horror of Henry's murder, his own imprisonment and his subsequent illness.
First Elizabeth speaks of her excitement that Victor and his father draw closer to home. She worries, also, about his poor health, fearful that he may seem more poorly than he did when left Geneva. She admits the winter has been a difficult one, waiting for him, but hopes that he has found some tranquility in the meantime.
The central focus of her letter, however, is her question to Victor about their relationship. Elizabeth recalls the years they spent together as children: playmates and great friends. She knows Victor's parents had always assumed they would marry. However as Victor has been so preoccupied, she fears that perhaps he does not feel the same way she does. So she asks him where his heart...
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is:
Do you not love another?
Elizabeth wonders if his need for seclusion in Ingolstadt came from a sense that he was honor-bound to marry her. She admits that she loves him, and without him she would be miserable. However, she explains that his happiness means everything to her.
I confess to you, my cousin, that I love you, and that in my airy dreams of futurity you have been my constant friend and companion. But it is your happiness I desire as well as my own, when I declare to you, that our marriage would render me eternally miserable, unless it were the dictate of your own free choice.
She cautions him not to write of this if it will make him unhappy, for she will get news of his condition from Alphonse. However, if she sees him with a smile on his face when next they meet, she will know his heart, and that will be all she needs.
What does Elizabeth write in her letter to Victor in Chapter 6 of Frankenstein?
In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, after Victor creates the monster and becomes ill, Elizabeth (his adopted cousin and sweetheart) writes to him.
In Elizabeth's letter she first asks after his health, telling him that he should not even attempt to write because of her concern for his fragile health. Elizabeth also comments on how much his brother Ernest has grown, that Victor's father's health is strong, and that even the youngest of them, William, is growing tall, laughing and handsome. (There is a great deal of foreshadowing in this letter, a good bit is this section.)
Elizabeth then draws Victor's attention to Justine Moritz, who had been brought into the Frankenstein home through a gesture of charity on the part of Victor's mother. Justine had been less a servant and more a companion to the children. Elizabeth shares how Justine had, with sadness at her necessary departure, returned home to care for her invalid mother who had been very unkind to her as a child. It was a difficult time for all: for Justine in caring for her difficult mother, and the Frankenstein household for missing Justine, as one would miss a member of the family. When Justine's mother passes, Justine returns again to Geneva, and there Elizabeth has welcomed and cared for her. (There is a great deal of foreshadowing here, as well.)
Elizabeth describes Geneva, and even shares some town "gossip." In closing, she now begs one penned line from Victor to know that he is well, sending along her deep appreciation to Clerval for his care of Victor during his serious illness.
Victor does indeed write back to her, and this moment seems to signal a significant improvement in his recuperation.