This has always been one of favorite images of Lizzy, and I had always thought it so telling of her. Here she’s show as a pretty, young girl; just innocent enough to look right holding a toy in her arms. She’s surrounded by material items that could also be seen as pretty such as hats, shoes, dresses, flowers, etc. The swords are the only contrast, the hint of Lizzy’s inner strength, but even they have attempted to be disguised by flowers and ribbons. This picture so perfectly represents Lizzy, but when I happened to look at it again, I realized something that I hadn’t considered previously.
The swords are pinning Lizzy to her place.
Lizzy is trapped in her beautiful, material world. She is being forced, by society, to appear like a cute girl who wants nothing more than flowers and perfume. The swords are the only oddity, but even they have been covered by flowers and ribbon so they look more like decorations than weapons.
Madam Red’s advice to Lizzy has been criticized, and rightly so. Telling a girl that she should only appear cute, naïve, fragile, and less intelligent is the only way to find wrong is wrong, but it’s actually not too far from the way of thinking of the time period. Honestly, you’ll still find people with these ideas today. This is what society expected of Lizzy.
At the same time, she knew she had to strong in order to protect Ciel. She was a genius with the blade, but she still trained. She gladly accepted the role to protect someone she loved. This created a dilemma however. Society wanted her weak. Ciel needed her to be strong. She couldn’t be both, but she felt she had to be. She was trapped.
However, being trapped wasn’t what caused Lizzy’s anguish. What upset her was that she was worried she couldn’t be both the wife Ciel wanted while still being the wife that he needed. She somehow had to manage to be both extremes, and she was willing to try.
midnight-in-town 