The Turned Taboo: Guillermo Del Toro’s Crimson Peak and Victorian Hypocrisy
In Dina Pedro’s “Challenging the Victorian Nuclear Family Myth: The Incest Trope in Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak”, Pedro argues that the film takes the tendency in NeoVictorian fiction to romanticize wealthy, nuclear families and flips the trope on its head in order to highlight the abusive dynamics within these structures. Not only does Pedro focus on the abuse of the incestuous relationship, but she looks at the trauma the siblings previously endured, both on a financial level and a domestic level. Pedro concludes that the incestuous relationship is a coping mechanism for that trauma. This is an apt analysis. I would like to expand upon it by looking at how the aesthetics of the film inform these themes, building on Neo-Victorian aesthetics to get the trauma and malice of the characters across.
Crimson Peak is a gothic romance film, following an American heiress named Edith Cushing ( Mia Wasikowska) as she is pursued by the mysterious Thomas Sharpe ( Tom Hiddleston). When Edith’s father mysteriously passes away, Cushing is convinced to live with Sharpe and his suspicious sister, Lucille (Jessica Chastain), in a crumbling, desolate mansion nicknamed Crimson Peak.
The mansion is the centerpiece of this film. On a surface level, this can be determined by the fact that the film is named after it. The horror comes from the house, as most gothic, haunted house stories do. You can not separate the apparition from their estate. Not only is this shown by how the ghosts are not seen outside of the mansion, but also by how the atmosphere of the mansion leads to their appearances. Edith will discover a rift in the house’s architecture, often accompanied by a haunting soundtrack, which leads her to the setting of the ghost. These scenes need to be in the house in order to be effective. The atmosphere’s destruction is pivotal to the central theme which leads into an intriguing contrast.
As mentioned, the house is crumbling. The walls appear to be fading away. The floors have dust piled in the tiles. Wide shots of the house show how much color is drained from it, which contrasts with the previous setting. While not all of the scenes in America are drenched in color, there is a distinct difference in the color coding. As seen in this picture, there is an air of lightness to the background. Instead of a brown color palette, there is a lighter, yellow-green atmosphere. This specific scene is set outside with people surrounding Edith and Lucille. The ground has not rotted; in fact, it blooms. In this environment, Edith thrives.
Before coming to the mansion, Edith is unfulfilled but full of life. She wears a smile when walking through her father’s business. It only dissipates when she is reminded of her expectations as a woman or when she is denied opportunities.
This is in contrast to Lucille and Thomas, but largely Lucille. In this image, we can see a visual difference between the two women. Throughout the film, Lucille dresses in dark colors, often black and brown, in contrast to Edith’s lighter colors, often white and yellow. This serves both a basic visual purpose and a deeper thematic purpose. On a basic visual level, Lucille’s darker colors note how villainous she is. Immediately the audience understands she is someone not to be trusted due to her darker clothing. Dark clothing suggests a malicious nature while the light suggests moral purity. This difference is utilized in this film: with Edith, being the heroine, consistently wearing lighter colors that make her stand out against the darkness of the house and those who inhabit it. In this image you can see that she provides the light, and thus guides the audience. Lucille rarely stands out in the house. As mentioned, her dresses indicate a malice which the house shares, both on an aesthetic and thematic level. Her dresses may not be ragged but they carry the same hue as the house. In this shot, you can see a direct parallel in the colors of her dress and the stairs. Her dress feels as if it was made in that house. When we consider that she doesn’t only wear clothes like this in the house, we can understand how tied she is to it. Outside of the house, she stands out. In the grass with Edith, she provides a darkness among the bright yellow-green landscape. This certainly contributes to her coded villainy, but another purpose is provided when we consider the location.
The only time Lucille is in white is when Edith discovers the family secret: Lucille and Thomas’ incestuous affair. The scene maintains the haunted atmosphere as Edith wanders the house at night looking for a ghost. Humming fills the halls for her to follow. Her destination seems as if it will be as horrific as her previous other-worldly encounters and in a way, it is. Moths, like those Edith has played with in the open field, cover the walls, leading her closer to the humming. She opens the door where moaning is heard with the humming. Thomas and Lucille are found in an intimate position, reminiscent of the covers of lurid romance novels, such as Lucille dressed in white and Thomas’s open shirt.
Their reaction to Edith’s discovery is similar to other romantic betrayals. Thomas begs her to believe that she doesn’t understand what she saw while Lucille attacks her with vicious jealousy. She chases Edith down the hall, pushing Edith off the stairwell, taking Edith’s ring. Through this gesture, Lucille indicates that Thomas belongs to her.
There is something to be said that the siblings are found just as the ghosts are. The ghosts in this film are grotesque, meant to evoke horror by their intense, gory designs. The ghost scene before this reveal features Pamela Upton’s ghost, with intestines barely being held together by a rotting ribcage. Upton was Thomas’ first wife, later revealed to have been killed for her money. Another ghosts which appears is that of Enola Sciotti, Thomas’ third wife. Her ghostly figure includes a dead baby in her arms, seemingly attached to her body. Trauma lies with them. Death by itself does not destroy a body or soul to that point. Their clothing is eviscerated, implying that their wealth is taken from them which is later confirmed to be the case. Families were destroyed, as evidenced by the dead child. There is a reason they reach out to Edith. Compounding that aspect with Edith’s intense reaction, renders Lucille and Thomas’ relationship as unnatural as an apparition. But it further highlights for viewers the abuse, incest, and violence at the core of wealthy English families. Viewers are not allowed to simply see that it is happening, but rather are made to understand the taboo under the surface of this seemingly sexually conservative family upon Edith’s discovery.
Lucille is as restrained in her expression of sexual desire as she is with every desire. She keeps it to herself and throws judgment at those who openly express their wants. Even though Edith and Thomas are married, Lucille expresses anger for their engaging in intimacy. With the reveal of her sexual relationship with Thomas, the viewer sees how those reactions connect to her jealousy. Her persona is that of a sexually reserved person. She dresses modestly for the times. She wears make-up, but it is toned down in comparison to others. As noted earlier, her dresses are bleak. They rarely leave skin visible. Considering her participation in an inherently abusive taboo, the darkness of her clothing thus reflects ongoing trauma not only her inner malevolence. The only exception to the darkness of her clothing is when her relationship is revealed and she wears a white dress and makeup. When she is committing a taboo act, she allows herself to let go of that repression. The repressed dress is used as a cover for the taboo.
When discussing Lucille’s gothic, repressed clothing, it is important to note the abuse within her family. As mentioned, incest by itself is an abusive dynamic as the family ties make it nearly impossible to escape any dangerous situations, not to mention the grooming which can happen when one is around another person since they have been alive. Consent is nearly impossible to determine with factors like this.
The Sharpe’s inherited other abusive structures. Lucille notes that her father abused her mother. Lucille says “Father was a brute. He hated mother. Broke her leg. Snapped it in two under his boot. She never quite healed.” Lucille was forced to care for her mother during that time, keeping her consistently aware of the abuse family can inflict on you as well as the consequences. This point was further enforced in Lucille’s life when her father left. Her mother became the sole authority of the household, replacing the masculine violence with feminine violence. Lucille and Thomas are attacked from both parental figures, bringing them to turn to each other for love. The feminine role in this violence makes Lucille’s repression of more overt feminine presentation clear. She can not act as bright as others as she will be hurt otherwise. Women are hurt by their husbands, turning them into monsters, therefore a woman must act authoritative immediately to avoid the cycle. However, her repression leads to more violence being perpetuated, both on her brother and Edith.
Too often, Neo-Victorian works can focus too much on aesthetics without considering the themes meant to be put across. Del Toro opened up a beautiful avenue with Crimson Peak, giving a great example of how aesthetics can be utilized to foreshadow and execute themes. This accomplishment is furthered by the new ground he covers with the themes. Pedro smartly points out the importance of discussing these taboos through modern narratives. These discussions can be held back or made poignant depending on how they are presented. Through cinematic language and aesthetics, we can determine which road Crimson Peak and films like it, go down.
Works Cited
Pedro, Dina. “Challenging the Victorian Nuclear Family Myth: The Incest Trope in Guillermo Del Toro’s Crimson Peak.” Journal of the Spanish Association of Anglo-American Studies, vol. 42, no. 1, 2020. Challenging the Victorian Nuclear Family Myth: The Incest Trope in Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak | Atlantis. Journal of the Spanish Association for Anglo-American Studies (atlantisjournal.org). Accessed 2 Feb. 2022
