Elizabeth Lavenza in Frankenstein (I): From the Beast to the Blonde? (1818-1831) - Archive ouverte HAL Accéder directement au contenu
Article Dans Une Revue Représentations : la revue électronique du CEMRA Année : 2018

Elizabeth Lavenza in Frankenstein (I): From the Beast to the Blonde? (1818-1831)

Résumé

deal of critical attention (e.g. Mellor 170-76; Baldick 61-62; Poovey 133-42; O'Rourke) 1. However, one of those alterations, the rather drastic change undergone by the character of Elizabeth Lavenza, Victor's betrothed and the monster's last direct victim, has not to my mind been sufficiently remarked on. As is well known, 1831 Elizabeth is an adopted child, noticed by Victor's parents while holidaying in Italy, whereas her 1818 namesake happens to be Victor's first cousin, the daughter of Victor's father's sister. As is less well known, her physical appearance changes with her circumstances, as Mary Shelley's original dark-eyed, dark-haired protagonist becomes an angelic blue-eyed blonde, which, as I will argue here, has an impact on the reading of the novel, and not merely from an ideological point of view, although it is hard not to see the 1831 Elizabeth as blander, more proper and less outspoken than her predecessor. If the socio-political implications of 1831 Elizabeth's new origin and lack of opinions have been studied (I will return in particular to the silencing of 1831 Elizabeth), as far as I am aware, the significance of her physical makeover has only been addressed by H. L. Malchow and James O'Rourke. Malchow interprets it from a post-colonial perspective, arguing that the starker contrast between the "master-race 1 I will here focus on the two best-known texts of Frankenstein, leaving aside the 1823 edition, which differs very little from the original one.
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hal-02348246 , version 1 (05-11-2019)

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  • HAL Id : hal-02348246 , version 1

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Anne Rouhette. Elizabeth Lavenza in Frankenstein (I): From the Beast to the Blonde? (1818-1831). Représentations : la revue électronique du CEMRA, 2018. ⟨hal-02348246⟩
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