A few years ago, my father brought home a cheap graphic novel version of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein for my little brother to read, in an attempt to get him to read classical literature. Being the delightful older sister that I am, I promptly took the comic from him for myself. Now, this poorly colored, flimsy comic popped into my head as I read the classic version in class. Why I possess such a strong connection to this little edition of Frankenstein is questionable but ever since I believe that this version will always come to mind when Mary Shelley’s masterpiece is mentioned.
Much of the comic book cuts out fairly important scenes and characters in the story, more concentrated on the “battle” between Dr. Frankenstein and the Creature. So, I flipped ahead to see if there were any female characters and came across Elizabeth, only known in the graphic edition as Victor’s fiancée and depicted as a radiantly beautiful blonde woman. Elizabeth Lavenza is the pivotal female character in both versions of Frankenstein and from both depictions do we as readers perceive this woman to be quixotically beautiful. Victor describes her as “so expressive of sensibility and sweetness… a being heaven sent, and bearing a celestial stamp in all her features” (Shelley 34). But this beautiful woman finds herself caught in the middle of Dr. Frankenstein and the Creature’s destructive conflict. Like in so many novels and other media, the flawless female is killed, even sacrificed, as a result of turmoil. She was only present in the comic for a page before being slain by the Creature and dramatically slung over the bed with her arm on her forehead, still radiant in death. Afterwards, it seemed to me that Elizabeth’s only purpose as a character in both editions was for her brutal death, which finally made Victor take action against his creation.
A woman like Elizabeth is a classic symbol of extinguished beauty. Women are not the only example of beauty of course, beauty can in fact be found in almost anything. But with so much beauty in the world, it’s easy for beauty to be disregarded and therefore discarded. What enrages readers so much about Elizabeth’s death is how she has been depicted the entire book as so lovely and sweet natured and she is clearly undeserving of the fate she receives. When you think about it, in both popular media and real life do we often see the innocent victimized during times of conflict, and while it’s so unfair it happens all the time. There are so many examples that can be found of circumstances like that of Elizabeth’s. I’ve come across numerous monikers for women, or people in general who are put into a situation like Elizabeth’s, such as the “Too Good for this Sinful Earth” (in which a person of extraordinary beauty, goodness and innocence will invariably die in the most evil way possible) or “The Lost Lenore” (who is the deceased love interest in Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven) and my personal favorite, “The Disposable Woman”. A Disposable Woman is a woman who is present in the story just so the bad guys can get her and give the protagonist a pretext for revenge. James Bond movies apparently have an ongoing trend of beautiful women appearing for two scenes before being killed off and for one example, the sweet daughter in the Taken movie solely exists for the purpose of Liam Neeson getting revenge on her kidnappers. These two examples are a shallower example of beauty extinguished but it goes to show how ridiculous the role of women can become. My question is why. Why do women like Elizabeth have to become involved in such conflicts? And why is it so popular in media?
In real life, beauty is extinguished in many forms beyond just women. I think nature in particular is a good example, with us as humans being Dr. Frankenstein and his Creation and the Amazon Rainforest as Elizabeth. Humans’ greed and desire for money and power have resulted in the deforestation of twenty percent of the Amazon rainforest. The forest has never done anything to us, like how Elizabeth is completely unaware of Victor’s creation. They have done nothing to deserve this but it happens anyways. My theory to why women are the classic victims is because since our existence women have always been romanticized and perceived as the more beautiful gender. Why the victim is always a human is because it needs to be something we can relate to. A man can understand Victor’s pain when discovering Elizabeth’s death because he can perhaps think of his own lover. Mythology to fairytales to modern literature and movies all have an example of the Disposable Woman. I’m not trying to speak negatively of the matter but to simply grasp a better understanding. Mary Shelley used this archetype in the 1800’s. I have used archetypes in my own literature today and this is now just expanding my question even more- where do these archetypes come from? Our class has discussed many stereotypes this and we always come to that question, not able to come up with a reasonable enough answer. Some stereotypes are taken lightly, others not. As for poor Elizabeth Lavenza’s stereotype, I can imagine that there are two perspectives on the matter. I myself have a blurred opinion but I’m left with slightly amused, slightly sad feelings for Frankenstein’s disposed woman, Elizabeth Lavenza. May she rest in peace.