Line #50 Literature/TheDarkDescentOfElizabethFrankenstein


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/38255342.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:"I sought to puncture Heaven and instead discovered Hell."]]
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4	''The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein'' is a young adult novel written by Kiersten White. It is a retelling of Mary Shelley's ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}'', told in the point of view of Elizabeth Lavenza, who is [[AdaptationalIntelligence much more manipulative and calculating]] than she was in the original novel.
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6	Elizabeth Lavenza was a mistreated orphan, until one day she is brought to the Frankenstein family, where she meets Victor, a solitary, strange young boy who has no friends. Using her charms, they quickly become inseparable, especially as she is the only one to be able to handle his moods and temper. But once they get older, Victor leaves for school and seemingly vanishes.
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8	With her place in the home at risk, Elizabeth takes her friend Justine and begins to search for him. But during her search she begins to uncover secrets, and once she finds him, the darkness of her life only increases. Not only does she find out about his experiments, but murders begin to happen with alarming speed because of them. She also discovers how far Victor is willing to go for them...and that obsession and insanity may very well consume them both.
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10	!!''The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein'' contains:
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12	* AdaptationExpansion: This shows Elizabeth’s backstory, including parts of her life before she met the Frankensteins, how she met Justine, and scenes of her childhood with Victor, Henry, and Justine.
13	* AdaptationalHeroism: The Monster, or [[spoiler: Adam.]]
14	* AdaptationalIntelligence: In the original ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}'', Elizabeth is portrayed as a sweet, kind woman who is devoted to Victor. Here, she’s a calculating woman who knows how to play people very well, and who has made her personality and appearance tailor made for Victor to ensure her safety and comfort.
15	* AdaptationalJerkass:
16	** Elizabeth is a far cry from the sweet, gentle woman in the original book. She’s hardened by her unhappy early years and is very aware of her place, and using Victor and the Frankensteins to survive.
17	** Judge Alphonse Frankenstein is turned from the loving father in the original to a cold and borderline abusive {{Jerkass}} to Elizabeth, to the point where he only sees her as a drain on the family’s estate.
18	* AdaptedOut: Robert Walton doesn’t appear here.
19	* AdaptationalVillainy: [[spoiler: Victor is revealed to be a sociopathic murderer [[EntitledToHaveYou obsessed with keeping Elizabeth as his own.]]]]
20	* ArtificialHuman: The Monster, [[spoiler: Adam]], naturally.
21	* ArrangedMarriage:
22	** Elizabeth was betrothed to Victor from a young age in addition to being raised with him. She plans to go through with it for security and comfort. [[spoiler: This changes both when the truth about Victor is revealed and she learns of her family fortune.]]
23	** Elizabeth plans to someday have her friends Justine and Henry marry. Justine doesn’t agree, wanting to stay single and be governess to Elizabeth’s children. [[spoiler: It doesn’t work out both due to their deaths and Henry being in love with Elizabeth.]]
24	* AssholeVictim: Judge Frankenstein is a borderline abusive jerk who [[spoiler: only adopted Elizabeth and encouraged the marriage to get her family fortune]], but he doesn’t deserve to be [[spoiler: murdered by Victor.]]
25	* BedlamHouse: Elizabeth wakes up to find herself incarcerated in an asylum because of Victor's machinations. [[spoiler: Luckily, she breaks out with the help of Mary.]]
26	* BettyAndVeronica: Victor and Henry, for Elizabeth. Both are her ChildhoodFriends, but that's where the similarities end. Victor is the aloof genius whose high-ranking family housed Elizabeth and to whom she has devoted her entire life, while Henry is the kind son of a merchant who is more interested in poetry and whose affections Elizabeth was initially unaware. Early on, it becomes clear that Elizabeth has chosen Victor, mainly because she's really more interested in looking out for herself and has already modeled herself after being "his" Elizabeth, and has no patience to "start all over again" with Henry. [[spoiler:She regrets her choice after learning of Victor's [[SerialKiller true nature]], especially after she learns about what ''really'' happened to Henry]].
27	* BigBad: Initially, the Monster. [[spoiler:Except, it turns out he's GoodAllAlong. The true villain is Victor, who has become a SerialKiller in his pursuit to conquer death and make Elizabeth immortal]].
28	* BigFancyHouse:
29	** Frankenstein Manor is a gorgeous estate with a forest on the grounds, fine furniture and beautiful things. However, there’s almost no staff save for Justine, a cook, the housekeeper and a couple of maids and the furniture and beautiful things are getting worn out, [[spoiler: foreshadowing that the Frankensteins aren’t as wealthy as they seem. Elizabeth, Mary and Adam later burn it down after Victor kills Alphonse.]]
30	** The Lake Como house that Elizabeth meets Victor at as children and is later their newlywed home is a stunning estate with beautiful gardens.
31	* BodyHorror: How everyone describes The Monster looking like.
32	* {{Bookworm}}: Elizabeth mentions her love of books every now and then.
33	* BrainFever: Victor is in the middle of one when Elizabeth finds him.
34	* BrokenBird: Justine after having survived seventeen years of her mother's abuse. She's broken even more when she is accused of William's murder.
35	* ChildhoodFriendRomance: A dark deconstruction. Elizabeth perfects herself to become Victor's ideal person, and Victor’s love for her is more akin to obsession. It's also what Henry hoped for with Elizabeth, but [[UnluckyChildhoodFriend he didn't succeed.]]
36	* CrazyJealousGuy: Hoo boy, ''Victor.'' As a child he didn’t want to be separated from Elizabeth even for school, and he didn’t react well to Henry kissing her. As an adult, [[spoiler: he’s much worse, orchestrating Justine’s death not only for his experiments, but because he was jealous of Elizabeth's love for her.]]
37	* CreepyChild: Victor was a strange child, obsessed with death and bodies and prone to fits of rage. [[spoiler: He also killed his little brother Robert and the previous governess by the time he left for university.]]
38	* DearJohnLetter: After attempting to talk to Victor about pursuing Elizabeth, Henry sends her a letter saying that she’s better off with Victor and that he’s traveling England for a long period of time. [[spoiler: It’s actually a forged letter by Victor written after killing Henry.]]
39	* DeathOfAChild: Like in the original book, William, a little boy going missing and [[spoiler: found not only dead, but murdered.]]
40	* DeliberateValuesDissonance: It goes with the time period. Elizabeth actually takes advantage of everyone's low expectations of her more than once. There's also her upbringing, plus her marrying a boy she’s basically been raised with. Not to mention that women of any social class are denied formal education, women can be put away in a BedlamHouse on the say so of their husbands, child abuse isn’t punished and [[spoiler: Elizabeth’s family fortune is given to Victor upon marriage.]] It's portrayed as a bad time for women, which it was.
41	* DespairEventHorizon: Elizabeth nearly crosses it when [[spoiler: Justine dies.]]
42	* DestructiveRomance: Although Elizabeth's feelings are fairly ambiguous (although it is implied that she at least harbors some degree of genuine affection towards him) this is her and Victor's relationship. You can't get anything healthy from one person who is using the other in order to survive, and the other who has become utterly dependent and obsessed with the other person. [[spoiler: That's not even getting in Victor's jealousy and all the murder...and his experiments that result from his feelings for her.]]
43	* DeusExMachina: [[spoiler: Mary comes to rescue Elizabeth from the asylum just when the latter has given up hope of leaving.]]
44	* DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation:
45	** In the original novel, Victor [[spoiler: dies from illness and despair after exposure in the Arctic Circle.]] Here, he [[spoiler: is drowned by Elizabeth.]]
46	** In the original novel, Alphonse Frankenstein dies offscreen from the shock of the events. Here, [[spoiler: Victor killed him.]]
47	* DrFrankenstein: Victor Frankenstein is husband to Elizabeth Lavenza. [[spoiler:He is also [[AdaptationalVillainy depicted here as far more evil than the original book]] being a psycho SerialKiller and {{Yandere}} to Elizabeth. Adam Frankenstein's crimes from the original novel are Victor's in this version]].
48	* EntitledToHaveYou: [[spoiler: Victor]] has this mindset with Elizabeth, constantly telling her that she's his.
49	* FrankensteinsMonster: It is a retelling of the original tale after all.
50	* ForegoneConclusion: Anyone who’s read the original knows that [[spoiler: William and Justine die.]] However, it's subverted with [[spoiler: Elizabeth's fate.]]
51	* GoodAllAlong: [[spoiler:The Monster, aka Adam. It turns out he's been trying to protect Elizabeth all along from Victor, thanks to his lingering memories as Henry]].
52	* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Subverted with Elizabeth. She's blonde, and plays a sweet nature to win people's good graces.
53	* HerCodeNameWasMarySue: After Mary [[spoiler: rescues Elizabeth from the asylum]], they find a journal Victor wrote that [[spoiler: uses a version of the original novel that paints him as a hero and Elizabeth as his devoted true love who is killed by Adam, resulting in a mental breakdown.]] Elizabeth and Mary are not amused.
54	* HumanResources: [[spoiler:How Victor views the people around him.]]
55	* IllegalGuardian: Elizabeth’s first caretaker after her father was taken away. She physically and verbally abused little Elizabeth and is the reason behind Elizabeth’s mentality. While she’s not named, her comments imply that she used to work for Elizabeth’s biological parents and resents them.
56	* ImpoverishedPatrician: On Elizabeth and Victor’s wedding day, it’s revealed that the Frankenstein family [[spoiler: isn’t as rich as they used to be, to the point where Alphonse nearly rented out the manor and they have almost no staff. While Alphonse blames the costs of Elizabeth’s care, it’s mentioned that his father before him sold much of their land, implying that it’s been going on for some time.]]
57	* InsaneEqualsViolent:
58	** [[spoiler: Victor.]]
59	** Justine’s mother is mentally ill and loses it after the deaths of her other children, resulting in her attacking Justine.
60	* ItsAllMyFault:
61	** Elizabeth blames herself for William's death, since she assumes he was killed by a thief for the golden locket she gave him. The guilt only doubles when Justine is framed for the crime and executed. [[spoiler:Later on, after learning the truth, she once again blames herself because she did nothing to stop Victor's descent into madness and instead enabled him by constantly covering up his misdeeds]].
62	** When Justine learns that her younger sisters have gotten sick and died, she immediately blames herself for not being there.
63	* KillTheCutie: Poor, poor [[spoiler: William and Justine.]]
64	* LonelyFuneral: Elizabeth gives Justine a (somewhat) decent burial with flowers marking her grave, not wanting her friend's body to be used by Victor.
65	* LoveMakesYouCrazy[=/=]LoveMakesYouEvil: Victor again. He began his experiments in triumphing over death after almost losing Elizabeth to illness. Plus, he [[spoiler: frames Justine for William's murder because of her friendship with Elizabeth, and mutilated Henry and left him to die after finding out he had feelings for her as well.]]
66	* MetaphoricallyTrue: After Henry's absence starts becoming conspicuous, Victor (the last person to see him in person), insists that he's alive and he's alright. [[spoiler:Technically, he's correct. While the original Henry is dead, the Monster (who has Henry's eyes) has his memories and is for all intents and purposes Henry's reincarnation]].
67	* MissingMom: Madame Frankenstein is this to her children after she dies of a fever.
68	* MurderTheHypotenuse: Basically what [[spoiler: Victor]] did by [[spoiler: framing Justine for William's murder, simply by being so close to Elizabeth.]] He also [[spoiler: mutilates Henry and leaves him to die]] after he confessed to having feelings for Elizabeth.
69	* MysteriousProtector: [[spoiler:It turns out that The Monster was trying to protect Elizabeth from Victor, partly because of pieces of Henry's memory of her.]]
70	* MythologyGag: Elizabeth is publicly declared as Victor’s cousin, a nod to the 1818 version of ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}'' portraying them as KissingCousins.
71	** After [[spoiler: escaping the asylum]], Elizabeth and Mary find a story that [[spoiler: Victor]] wrote that mirrors the original story.
72	* NiceMeanAndInBetween: Henry (nice), Victor (mean) and Elizabeth (in between) were this as children.
73	* NotBloodSiblings: Elizabeth and Victor were raised together, but were always planned to be married eventually. Publicly, they’re declared to be cousins.
74	* NouveauRiche: Henry’s father is a successful merchant who rose up to a station high enough for Alphonse to approve of their sons playing together.
75	* OhCrap: On her wedding night, Elizabeth realizes with all of her planning to confront the Creature, she never thought about what ''else'' goes on that night…especially since they’re away from danger.
76	* PapaWolf: Henry’s father is ''furious'' when his son goes missing in London, blaming the Frankensteins.
77	* ParentalAbandonment: Elizabeth’s biological mother died in childbirth and her father was later imprisoned, leaving her in the care of an abusive guardian before she met the Frankensteins. Her fear of returning to that situation drives Elizabeth’s actions and relationship with Victor.
78	* {{Patricide}}: [[spoiler:Victor murdered his own father.]]
79	* PetTheDog: When Alphonse [[spoiler: tells Elizabeth that she can use her inheritance for payment for her care, Victor protests and says that Elizabeth has a right to choose how the money is used.]]
80	* PutOnABus: Ernest, Victor's middle brother, is sent to school in Paris after Justine's execution and is barely mentioned in the story afterward. [[spoiler:He ends up being the sole survivor of the Frankenstein family after Elizabeth drowns Victor in the final chapter]].
81	* {{Reincarnation}}: [[spoiler:That's the best way to describe what the Monster is. He has lingering memories from all the people whose parts were used to make him, including Henry Clerval and Mary's uncle Carlos Delgado, but is wholly his own person. Hence, rather than take on one of those names, he takes a new one of his own: Adam]].
82	* RightForTheWrongReasons:
83	** Ever since William and Justine's deaths, Elizabeth believes she is in grave danger because of a murderer or monster. However, [[spoiler:it isn't until her wedding night that she comes to discover Victor is the real threat]].
84	** After Henry goes missing, his father blames the Frankensteins for his disappearance and threatens to call in the debts Alphonse owes him. [[spoiler:It turns out he was technically correct -- Victor ''is'' responsible for Henry's disappearance, as he murdered him out of jealousy and mutilated him for his eyes so he could use them in his creation of Adam. The rest of the Frankensteins, however, had nothing to do with what happened to Henry]].
85	* SiblingMurder: [[spoiler:Victor killed his own younger brother, William, as part of his plan to get rid of Justine. He also killed Robert as a child, but he claims it was an accident.]]
86	* SinisterSuffocation: [[spoiler:The method Victor used to strangle William, and later on strangle his own father.]]
87	* ShoutOut: Mary Delgado is clearly named after Creator/MaryShelley.
88	* SpottingTheThread: On her wedding night with Victor, Elizabeth realizes that [[spoiler:the Monster ''couldn't'' have murdered William or framed Justine, as the handprints on William's neck are far too slender to be his. Elizabeth quickly realizes the real murderer was Victor, who framed Justine in order to claim her body for his experiments]].
89	* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: ''Justine.''
90	* UsedToBeASweetKid: Averted with both Elizabeth and Victor. Elizabeth has always been calculating and deceptive even when she was five, even comparing herself to a sour strawberry. Victor was always a bit strange and had a strong temper, and it's later revealed that [[spoiler: he killed his brothers' governess after Elizabeth saved Justine by offering her a job as a governess, forgetting there already was one. He also killed his brother Robert, supposedly by accident.]]
91	* {{Yandere}}: If you haven't guessed already, [[spoiler: Victor has a deep obsession with Elizabeth and is willing to do anything to keep her as his, even frame and indirectly kill her closest friend by murdering his youngest brother.]] This line basically says it all:

Context Literature / TheDarkDescentOfElizabethFrankenstein