The Beginning of the book

As chapter one and two started, it didn't start happy. It introduced Alphonse, Caroline, Beaufort, Elizabeth Lavenza, Henry Clerval, and the main character Victor, who the story is being told by. Beaufort is Victor's dads bestfriend, Alphonse. In chapter one Beaufort died and left Alphonse with his daughter, Caroline who Alphonse marries two years later. I thought that was weird because it mentions that Alphonse is older than Caroline and took her because she became an orphan, but he marries her so it tells me that back then it was ohkay to do that.
"Everything was made to yield to her wishes and her convenience. He strove to shelter her, as a fair exotic is sheltered by the gardener, from every rougher wind, and to surround her with all that could tend to excite pleasurable emotion in her soft and benevolent mind." This part caught my eye because it shows how Alphonse loves her but then again treats her like an orphan or someone who should be protected.
It started to get happier though, when Alphonse and Caroline adopted a foster child, Elizabeth Lavenza who Victor calls "cousin". Caroline told Victor the day before she came that she had a present for Victor. Victor took that literally and believed that Elizabeth was his till death. They grew up together being best friends and doing a lot together, which is when he met Henry Clerval who was his schoolmate and an only child as well. As Victor grew up he started to become interested in Natural Philosophy and reading into it.
As I read Frankenstein I looked it up into depth, it mentioned that through out the story it shows that women are PASSIVE in the story. Which means throughout the novel, they rise only at the most extreme moments to demand action from the men around them.Which is true, when Beaufort died Caroline was in need, and when Elizabeth was in need Victor's parents took her in.