"He came like a protecting spirit to the poor girl, who committed herself to his care; and after the interment of his friend he conducted her to Geneva. . . Two years after this event Caroline became his wife" (Shelley, Pg 15).
In the novel, Mary Shelley portrays women as beautiful yet helpless and defenseless creatures. She does little to empower the women, leaving them as mere "damsels in distress".
Example:
Caroline Beaufort is found by Alphonso Frankenstein crying over her father's dead body. Caroline, who is now orphaned, poor, and emotionally distraught, can not fend for herself, so Alphonso rushes to her rescue and saves her from the misery she would have had to live.
Once married, Caroline becomes extremely dependent on Alphonso and overly devoted to her family. She becomes the perfect "house-wife", but Shelley strays away from giving her any responsibility outside of her home.
Towards the end of her life, Caroline spends her time taking care of Elizabeth, who has scarlet fever. As a caretaker, she relieves Elizabeth of her sickness, but sadly catches the disease. Powerless to the disease, she dies.
In the beginning of the novel, Elizabeth is an orphan living with an extremely poor family in Italy. The Frankensteins adopt the blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty, and she becomes one of the family. If it had not been for her adoption, beautiful Elizabeth would have lived an impoverished, starvation-filled life.
Like Caroline, Elizabeth becomes over dependent on the Frankenstein family and devotes all her time to them.
When Justine is accused of William's brutal murder, Caroline attempts to prove her innocence, but is shot down and ignored. As a woman, nobody believes her.
Unable to take arms against the Monster and without Victor's help, she is tragically murdered.