The first letter that Victor receives from his cousin,
Elizabeth, is in Chapter Six, and is delivered to Victor by Clerval at a time when
Victorsuffering from devoting himself to his work and study to his branch of arcane
scientific knowledge. As he reads Elizabeth's letter, and hears of her concern about him
because of the lack of news he has sent them, it is clear that the receiving of this
letter marks the beginning of Victor's improvement in terms of his personal health. Note
what the text tells us his response to reading her letter
was:
"Dear,
dear Elizabeth!" I exclaimed, when I had read her letter, "I will write instantly, and
relieve them from the anxiety that they must feel." I wrote, and this exertion greatly
fatigued me; but my convalescence had commenced, and proceeded regularly. In another
fortnight, I was able to leave the
chamber.
Thus we can see that
the letter Victor receives from Elizabeth has the impact of restoring Victor to a state
of health and sanity, reminding him of the love that others have for him and what is
important to him, acting as a much needed correction to his single-minded and
obsessional focus on the pursuit of scientific knowledge.
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