Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein delivers more than gothic horror and stunning visuals—it features a casting choice so psychologically brilliant, it redefines the entire story. Mia Goth doesn’t just play Elizabeth Harlander, Victor Frankenstein’s love interest. She also portrays Baroness Claire Frankenstein, Victor’s deceased mother. This isn’t a gimmick—it’s the key to understanding Victor’s tragic obsession.
Table of Contents
Frankenstein’s Character Overview
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Actress | Mia Goth |
| Role 1 | Lady Elizabeth Harlander (Victor’s love interest) |
| Role 2 | Baroness Claire Frankenstein (Victor’s mother) |
| Significance | Represents Victor’s two great loves |
| Thematic Device | Explores Oedipal complex and obsession |
| Color Symbolism | Red (mother/home) haunts Victor throughout |
| Film Availability | Netflix (Streaming Now) |
The Freudian Brilliance Behind Dual Casting
When del Toro asked Goth to take on both roles during their 2023 meeting in Los Angeles, it wasn’t a last-minute creative decision—it was calculated psychological storytelling. By casting the same actress, del Toro visually links the two most important women in Victor Frankenstein’s life, revealing Victor as a man haunted by the first woman he ever loved: his mother.
The idea crystallized when Goth mentioned she had recently become a mother herself during initial conversations with del Toro. In that moment, the director realized he could merge Elizabeth and Claire into a powerful thematic statement about Victor’s arrested emotional development.
Victor’s Oedipal Complex Explained
Costume designer Kate Hawley and del Toro himself have described Victor’s relationship with his mother as “quite Freudian,” strongly suggesting Victor has an Oedipus complex—Sigmund Freud’s theory about boys developing feelings toward their mothers and hostility toward their fathers.
In interviews, Oscar Isaac revealed a telling detail: “The only woman he’s ever really seen is his mother, and Guillermo very Oedipal-y cast the same actress to play both of those parts. The only thing we ever see Victor drink is milk.” Yes, milk—not wine. This visual metaphor reinforces Victor’s psychological regression and longing for maternal comfort.
Victor’s childhood memories reveal he loved having his mother to himself and resented his father Leopold for monopolizing her attention. When Claire died during childbirth with his brother William, Victor blamed his physician father, spawning his obsession with overcoming death itself. Elizabeth becomes the echo of that lost maternal love.
The Red Color Symbolism
Del Toro uses the color red as Victor’s emotional prison: “The mother and the home are red. So if Victor loses that, that’s the color that should haunt him the rest of the movie. He’s the only character that wears red; red gloves, red scarf. The red chases him through the movie.”
Elizabeth carries a red crucifix throughout the film, and when she meets the Creature, she wears a large green veil reminiscent of the red veil Claire wore when greeting Leopold. These costume choices subtly connect the two women, foreshadowing Elizabeth’s maternal relationship with the Creature—the very relationship Victor refuses to provide.
Elizabeth’s Maternal Connection to the Creature
While Victor is repulsed by his creation and punishes him for existing, Elizabeth offers the Creature his first brush of kindness. Goth describes Elizabeth as the only character in Frankenstein who sees the Creature without viewing him as a monster: “When she sees the Creature for the first time, there’s an immediate connection there. She understands him.”
Elizabeth is designed to evoke a butterfly or moth—”fluttering and trying to find her place in this world.” Her costumes, inspired by entomology and botany, reflect her ethereal nature and nurturing spirit. She becomes the mother figure the Creature desperately needs—and the maternal love Victor lost but can never recreate.
How Mia Goth Prepared for Both Characters
Goth found her way into the characters through the film’s elaborate wardrobe: “I only ever really felt like I was truly connected to her once I was in the costumes and on the set and everything was working in alignment.” Having previously played dual roles in Ti West’s X trilogy (Maxine and Pearl), Goth brought experience to the challenge, but these roles required different emotional registers.
Claire represents idealized maternal warmth and Victor’s lost childhood innocence. Elizabeth embodies present-day salvation—intellectual, nurturing, and tragically caught between Victor and his creation.
Why This Casting Changes Everything
Del Toro’s dual casting reveals Victor’s emotional arrested development, making the resemblance between Elizabeth and his mother both unsettling and inevitable. Every romantic attachment Victor forms becomes an echo of his mother, and Elizabeth’s luminous, nurturing qualities mirror Claire’s exactly.
The genius lies in how this visual choice deepens the tragedy. Victor isn’t just playing God—he’s trying to resurrect his mother through science, and when Elizabeth shows the Creature maternal kindness, it exposes Victor’s ultimate failure: he cannot give what he never properly received.
Watch Frankenstein now streaming on Netflix. For more Guillermo del Toro coverage, gothic horror analyses, and film deep dives, check out our movie reviews and streaming guides at TechnoSports.
FAQs
Did Mary Shelley’s original novel have Elizabeth connected to Victor’s mother?
Yes, though not through dual casting. In Shelley’s 1818 novel, Victor has a nightmare where he embraces Elizabeth, but she suddenly transforms into his mother’s corpse in his arms. Before Claire dies, she entrusts Elizabeth with nurturing Victor’s younger brothers, essentially passing her maternal role to the young woman. Del Toro’s decision to have Goth play both parts visually represents this psychological connection that already existed in the source material.
Has Mia Goth played dual roles in other films before Frankenstein?
Yes. Goth is no stranger to playing multiple characters in the same film. She portrayed both Maxine Minx (the protagonist) and Pearl Douglas (the antagonist) in Ti West’s X horror trilogy: X (2022), Pearl (2022), and MaXXXine (2024). However, those roles were two completely different characters across different timelines, whereas in Frankenstein, her dual roles are thematically connected, representing the two defining women in Victor’s life and his psychological inability to separate maternal love from romantic obsession.
