Content Warning: This section of the guide describes and discusses the source text’s treatment of alcohol, substance, and gambling addictions.

Clockwork Angel follows Tessa Gray as she discovers her power to Change, or shape-shift, her appearance at will. Her journey to embrace this magical power mirrors her internal journey to accept and use her power to fight for the people she cares about. Among the obstacles to Tessa embracing her power are the patriarchal norms of Victorian society, which pressure women to be passive and focus on domestic pursuits such as marriage and child-rearing. The female secondary characters like Jessamine and Charlotte act as foils for Tessa’s journey to reject her society’s restrictions on women.

At the start of the novel, Tessa moves from New York to London because, as a young, unmarried woman in 1878, her options for housing and money are limited. She assumes she will need to rely on a man, her brother, to provide for her needs. Once the Dark Sisters capture her, and she learns about her magical power, she still only uses it when commanded: “Tessa still didn’t understand what happened inside her to make it possible, but she had memorized the series of steps the Dark Sisters had taught her” (21).