yap regarding aracnide ahead, this is OC bs, its almost midnight i apologize in advance for anything that is grammatically incorrect or senseless, also my limited vocabulary probably cannot do the movie justice as much as id like it to, its beautifully written and i recommend everyone to give it a watch
im starting to develop an unhealthy obssession regarding this movie. i've never read mary shelley's original source novel, but i do intend on doing exactly that because gdt's frankenstein has awakened something in me; on my first watch, i already felt attached to victor because victor at his core reminded me of my viktor, aracnide's father. the whole desire of bringing life into this world, conquering death and taking control of something nobody else could was scarily parallel to how i wrote him as well—viktor, young and naive, tried to escape his past and sin of murdering his father in cold blood by running away with the one he loved and murdered his father for, only to have his past come back to him in the form of his child, the thing that was meant to redeem him as a person. yes, they thought about the concept of breathing life into something and have succeeded, but what comes after? that was not something they thought about, and consequences followed quickly after. not for them, as the creators, but for their creation.
aracnide (lyanne), and the creature are brought into the world and the first thing they are met with is kindness, love, warmth from their creators. their creators are their whole world to them, much like children cannot separate themselves from their mothers and only later on learn that they are their own person. the creature repeats victor's name because that word, truly, means everything to it, it knows nothing else. lyanne attaches herself to her father in search of similarity and most importantly love from him, though that quickly becomes something she realizes she'll never receive. that they, both the creature and lyanne, realize they will never receive. upon showing no developmental progress (the creature's lack of vocabulary, advanced speech, lyanne's emotional impediment/inability to feel things on an emotional level), they are met only with hurt and the cold shoulder (to put it lightly) from their creators. to their creators, they instantly become something to despise, to fear; they are sources of disgust, because they did not live up to the expectations placed upon them. (“to you i am obscene, but to myself i simply am.”) as they are resented by one party, they are additionally loved by another; elizabeth heavily reminded me of lyanne's mother, liliya, the woman viktor ran away with and the indirect culprit behind viktor's father's death. their gentleness and patience for the creature/lyanne overlap with one another, they are the ones to show them what true kindness, and unconditional love mean.
not gonna dive in too deep from here on out, but elizabeth's relationship with the creature can be interpreted in two different ways most commonly, one being that she is much like a mother figure, the gentle soul to victor's hatred, or that she is the bride, the second misfit who's never found a place in the world she lived in, and the companion the creature has longed for and inevitably lost too. for aracnide this could apply to both her mother and her husband, the sole two people who have ever shown her what to be loved feels like and what her life could look like if she was surrounded by acceptance, not resentment and shame. aracnide's memories of her mother may be lost, but she has tartaglia to teach her things she's never been taught by the person who was responsible for her conception in the first place: pride, acceptance, and as aforementioned, love. aracnide and tartaglia are two misaligned pieces in the puzzle of perfection, but by themselves, they fit perfectly, not to be separated. they both understand what it's like to have the world turn against you, and understand eachother best as a result, two birds of a feather, souls intertwined. while surviving through violence and hurt, they show eachother that gentleness can still be found within one another, they show that gentleness to eachother everyday they spend together, attempting to grow into somewhat better people, slowly but surely. but i digress!!
that love they received from strangers is taken away from them soon after—when the first opportunity arrives, lyanne and the creature are abandoned by those who meant everything to them. they are banished, forced to fend for themselves like never before, despite just having been taught how to live, not to thrive, to live, to survive. they're both taken in by people that will teach them everything they'll come to know and be aware of, and end up losing them too (the old man, mauled by the wolves, signora, killed by the shogun in the duel before the throne, though aracnide was not there to witness it), once again left to fend for themselves and believe that the world is only capable of hurt, nothing more, nothing less.
in the end, the creature's and aracnide's paths diverge. the creature finds forgiveness and makes peace with victor, because he can still find that forgiveness in his heart. aracnide, driven exclusively by hatred and bloodlust, has long forgotten how to forgive, and if she were to see viktor after so many years following him abandoning her in the forest that night... it wouldn't end well for both parties involved. that is, too, a path the creature could've taken, but that is exactly what gdt's frankenstein is about; choosing to be kind despite the obstacles and pain the world has thrown at you. aracnide's story is just the opposite; she indulges in that pain. she hurts others to never be hurt herself again, and that is, ultimately, what will drive her to an agonizing, lonesome death.
