Connections

One large theme or issue raised throughout the book is empiricism versus relativism. Victor's family, especially his father believed that in order for something to exist, it must be proven through sense experience. Therefore, they did not believe in God. Elizabeth however, prayed to God and went to church every Sunday. This is also why Victor's father heavily believed in the power of scientific methods to solve everything such as finding a cure to Konrad's illness. Victor was amazed by the things alchemy promised that he was blinded into believing it without concrete evidence through experiments. It promised things beyond his wildest dreams such as making Elizabeth fall in love with him instead of Konrad that he was willing to take a chance. As the saying goes, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, while alchemy only offered extraordinary claims. A real world issue that was addressed in the novel is the fight for equality between men and women. There are countless times in the novel where Elizabeth is seen to be weak by male characters and she continuously tries to prove herself equal if not better.