Title: The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein
Author: Keirsten White
Date of First Publication: 2018
Place of Publication: Delacorte Press
Type: Novel
Characters: Victor Frankenstein; The Creature; Elizabeth Frankenstein; Justine Moritz
Themes: BYRONIC HERO; MAD SCIENTIST/MONSTER; SYMPATHETIC MONSTER; WOMEN WRITING MONSTERS; ANDROID; POSTHUMAN
Critical Summary: The story begins with Elizabeth and her best friend, Justine, traveling to Germany to try and find Victor Frankenstein, who left for university two years prior after his mother’s death and has not been heard of in six months. It is revealed in flashbacks throughout the novel that Elizabeth Lavenza, orphaned and mistreated at a young age, was purchased to be a playmate for the dangerous and socially isolated Victor. Desperate to escape her life of misery, Elizabeth devotes herself to becoming the perfect companion for Victor, teaching him how to participate with the outside world, being his rock during his temper tantrums and mood swings, and indulging in his twisted desires. She is constantly on edge that she will outlive her usefulness and be sent back to be penniless and without a family. It is this fear that drives her to continue to search for Victor, despite no one hearing from him recently. With the help of Mary, a local bookkeeper, Elizabeth manages to track down Victor. Unfortunately, she is too late and The Creature has already been created.
Once Elizabeth and Victor are back in Geneva, William is found murdered and Justine is executed for the crime. Meanwhile, Elizabeth continues to be stalked by The Creature, whom she overhears threatening to ruin her and Victor’s wedding night. Determined to destroy The Creature and move on with her life, Elizabeth anxiously awaits the eve of her wedding only to discover that it was not The Creature who killed William and framed
Justine — it was her husband. Victor finally confronts Elizabeth with the truth; he killed Henry to make The Creature, and William so that he could steal Justine’s body. He has gone mad trying to thwart death, all to keep Elizabeth for himself forever. Fearful, Elizabeth lashes out against him, only to be sent to an asylum to wait until Victor perfected his experiment. It is there that Elizabeth truly evaluates her life and sees the evil she has let manifest out of her own abandonment issues. The tides turn when Mary (angry at Victor’s killing of her uncle), Elizabeth, and The Creature – now named Adam – team up to take Frankenstein down. With her husband unable to hurt her or those around her, Elizabeth is free to live a life of her own.
This novel contains many of the characters from the original novel, including the entire Frankenstein household, Justine, Elizabeth, and Henry. Many of the major plot points also are consistent with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: including the death of William, the execution of Justine, and Victor’s travels to Scotland to create a mate for The Creature. However, The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein paints a darker picture of Victor than the original. A Byronic Hero, Victor is deeply introspective and doesn’t get along well with others; he is instead entirely focused on science, the sublime, and his obsessions. Additionally, Adam (The Creature) is much more sympathetic in this portrayal. He does not kill and only wishes to have a family to accept him. Overall, the large number of characters borrowed from Frankenstein and the themes of Sympathetic Monster and Byronic Hero all connect with the central idea of the novel: women writing monsters. The story starkly ventures from the source material in that it is told from the perspective of Elizabeth Frankenstein: who was, in the original novel, just a secondary character written off as part of Victor and The Creature’s game. Her changing views of her husband, his work, and her role in the events surrounding the creation of the creature paints Victor as a Byronic Hero gone mad with lust for power, and Adam as a creature forged from the dead and unwillingly brought back to life.
Administrative Notes: Sarah Stucky, CSUF; Dr. Dabvid Sandner (editing)