Zeena Frome Character Analysis

Victor Frankenstein and Zeena Frome both had needs, wants, and dreams. The two are almost total opposites when coping with their desires and wants, and have different outcomes based off their decisions. Victor’s balancing of his innermost desires, or ID, his dreams and needs grew into a festering wound in his soul that could be cured with only one purpose: destroy the evil that he created. Zeena, on the other hand, seemed fixated on regression, and depended on others to do everyday living for her. Her method of balancing did not end her life, but did ruin her relationships with her cousin and her husband, Ethan. Victor and Zeena are different characters, who both represent some form of mental illness that can take over one’s personality and life. Throughout the story, it was evident that Zeena was a coarse woman. Originally, she was a normal, functioning human, just like Ethan. Once she married, she became a hypochondriac, and fell into a psychological coping mechanism known as regression. According to Changing …show more content…
She became “sick” after she married Ethan, and remained sick to have his full attention along with care. This is also a regressive trait, since she is pretending to be sick not only for attention, but to avoid problems, such as money as well as social status. Once Ethan is not enough, she musters up the strength to travel to another town for a doctor’s visit. Normal people do not do this. She regresses into a childlike phase frequently since she felt like it was the only way to have her needs met. She received what she wanted daily, along with having nothing to complain about until her cousin showed up. Once Ethan stopped caring about Zeena, she worsened her condition to no avail until the accident that left Mattie bedridden, leaving Zeena to, ironically, care for