the personal and more public conceptions of responsibility that can be traced through
the novel. Although Victor, and recently his father too, think of him as haunted by
a destiny over which he has no control (III:4:43), Elizabeth's language is firmly
rooted in the primacy of choice in all human relations. Her rejection of a male concept
of honor here seems to link it to stereotypes of behavior that at once shackle the
will and suspend the individual's ultimate responsibility for actions and their consequences.