Reader-Writer Relationship and Key Themes

Very short blog post today because I still haven't finished the sleep mind-map and, following the re-take, anything Literature related makes me want to gouge my eyes out with a blunt instrument for failing again...anyway...last lesson we discussed reader-writer relationship, how that is built up and how different texts and form of writing e.g. newspaper extracts, diary entries are use to bridge the gaps between author-character-reader (while enhancing key gothic themes of real/not real...verisimilitude). We discussed how everything appears real, with fact merging with fiction and how, through use of different writing styles (letter, diary, newpaper) meant that readers weren't trapped in the same plot - through them we are given different perspectives and accounts and different writing styles come to characterise...characters. As well as this, we discussed the impact of the epistolary form in terms of the juxtaposition of tones, the sequencing which evokes mystery and the feeling of authenticity that you get from it. I also thought that, in structuring the novel in such a way, the writer allows the reader to connect and engage with the characters and story in that, when they all get together and piece together the evidence (following Lucy's death) they essentially put together and read what we read as the novel...because it's not written as a novel and written as, supposedly, the characters would read it, it does make you question the real/not-real ideas. Mr Francis also brought up the idea of the anti-Bible structure...which ties in with the religious themes...and...I think that the reading of letters that, as stated on numerous occasions, are not meant to be read by anyone else means that the theme of infringement of privacy is reflected and enhanced.

Lastly, we discussed ideas regarding the changing role and presentation of blood throughout the novel with regard to it first being described as a trickle, then a smear, then a spurt, then a gush...changing role and 'form' of blood almost reflects the changing shape and form of Dracula.

'Madness' and 'Sleep' in Dracula

We're mind-mapping 'sleep' in Dracula for next week but just to blog about what we did in lesson...we read about and discussed ideas regarding 'madness' and 'sleep' within Dracula.

Madness
We learnt about mental illness and madness within the context of the Victorian era and how views were changing - it seems during the 19th Century people were gradually beginning to recognise madness as a mental affliction as opposed to a physical one (thanks to developments within the fields of science and psychology) and something that can be cured and helped...in this sense, society was becoming more tolerant of those classed as 'mad', searching for the reasons why and looking for solutions to the problems as opposed to simply imprisoning those branded 'mad' and making sure they're cut off from society...interestingly, those considered to be mad were confined so as to prevent them from causing any harm to the public and society however the things we discussed last lesson got me wondering whether it was society that causes the madness in the first place...external factors as opposed to internal, mental ones...as we talked about, Renfield in many ways has the mind of a sane mad (as we see in Chapter 18 as he speaks with great clarity, perception and objectivity of his own madness) and is, perhaps, deemed mad because he is being controlled and made to do things against social norms because, for some reason, Dracula is his master. Similiarly, reading the article Mr Francis posted a link to about madness in relation to women - some people, especially in Victorian times when there was a very strict social and moral code, people may have been considered mad simply because they failed to comply with social norms - Dracula, for example, follows his natural instinct in drinking blood and is considered 'mad' and a 'supernatural being' because he goes against what is generally accepted as right. Seward can be seen as representing the changes in opinion towards those considered 'mad' as (starting in Chapter 5) we see him attempting to explain why his patients (namely Renfield) have become 'mad'...reflects, to an extent, the Victorian obsession with advancing and improving...strange mix in Victorian socirty between this obsession and the fixation on simply covering things up (but I won't waffle on about facades again...)

Sleep
As I said, I won't go into this in too much detail as we're mind-mapping on the topic for next week. Basically, we discussed the importance of sleep in Dracula...with the themes of asleep/awake, dead/alive a key elements of gothic literature. We discussed and read about how sleep is a time when the mind is more 'lax' and 'unrestricted' and isn't filtered...meaning it goes with instinct as opposed to complying with social codes (no sense of propriety in sleep) which ties in with what I was saying about madness. Is to be mad simply to do things that are socially unusual or unacceptable? We also touched upon ideas regarding sleep as a mystical state, as a dark state (associated with night...and the time of Dracula) and Freud's ideas and theories on sleep being another level of consciousness.

Finally...seeing as Rosie's started a trend of YouTube video links on her blogs...and tying in with the idea of talking to yourself being the first sign of madness (see...it is relevant!), here's the real Count talking to himself, rifling through Jonathan Harker's letters (he says he wrote them himself...yeah right...he's just plain nosey) and calling his bats 'my children'. My personal favourite moment is the Count's joke about the mirror...it's a terrible joke really but terrible enough for it to be funny. Well...I laughed anyway.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xunXQPEcoHM&feature=related

Superstitious/Religious Themes in Dracula

We began the lesson by discussing Whitby Abbey and its relevance both to Dracula and to the gothic genre in its entirety (hence the picture of my cousin and I standing next to the Abbey looking scared while visiting Whitby last Summer...the cars in the background enhance the gothic feeling, don't you think?!). There's an element of mystery and intrigue surrounding Whitby Abbey as, in seeing the ruins of the abbey while still being able to appreciate how grand it once was (through structure and architecture), you find yourself drawn to the story behind the disrepair - how and why the abbey ended up in such a bad way. I think this idea of wanting to know stories behind ruins and disasters links with the gothic genre as, essentially, many gothic protagonists, such as Dracula are, in a way, 'ruins' of people. The 'shell' of the Abbey can be seen to reflect Dracula and his emptiness and inhuman nature. Despite being the ruins of an abbey, Whitby Abbey maintains its imposing, typically gothic qualities and it's easy to understand why Stoker was inspired by it - I've blogged about facades within Dracula before and I think Whitby Abbey is a really good image to associate with this idea - it's the facade of the Abbey that remains - although just stone ruins, it maintains a grand appearance and demands attention, like the Count himself. And although appearing grand from the outside (as Dracula does), it can just hold rats and boxes of earth! In a way, it tricks you into it's better and grander than it is when, inside, it's hollow.

We then attempted to define religion and superstition and distinguish between the two - while bearing in mind that, in Stoker's day, the two would have been more clearly defined and sepearate than they are in our minds today. One of the ideas that we discussed in relation to superstition was that it was like religion but pushed to excess and born out of fear - this was certainly something that is touched upon in the text, with Jonathan saying in relation to the superstitious people he comes into contact with on his way to Castle Dracula that 'it was all very ridiculous'...however...as he becomes more scared and suspicious of the Count and the goings on in the castle, he starts to buy into the superstitions and finds comfort in the crucifix given to him...'I suppose the general superstition about midnight was increased by recent experiences'. It's also suggested that superstition in some way linked to the idea of being in a foreign place - in England, Jonathan is able to dismiss superstitions and superstitious behaviour as 'ridiculous' and the stuff of imagination as opposed to reality - whereas, when he finds himself in the Carpathians, in a foreign country, he's left unsure as to what to believe and what's true and what's not ('I read that every known superstition in the world is gathered into the Carpathians, as if it were the centre of some sort of imaginative whirlpool') - ties in with the conflict between logic and mysticism (and believing in the 'not possible') that runs throughout the novel. Interestingly, the superstitious inhabitants of Transylvania use religious symbols to fight against the the supposedly negative superstitious things...as Van Helsing does in using the crucifix to ward off Dracula and Seward ends up doing with the wafer and crucifix when he comes face to face with the Count - the battle between logic/mysticism is closely linked to the one of religion/superstition and we see this conflict played out between Van Helsing and Seward's differing opinions...VH spends the novel encouraging Seward that not everything can be explained logically and sometimes you just have to believe and not just dismiss things as silly superstitions and the sign that he learns this lesson is his use of wafer and crucifix as weapons in the first direct fight against Dracula. The science man...with the religious 'weapons'. Without the invest of belief in the 'impossible', the mystical and the fantastical, the technological weapons used against Dracula are nothing - they have to look to the past to fight him (typically gothic idea) - links with the reader's relationship to the novel as, as the characters do in order to fight Dracula, the reader must feel the fear and buy into the mysticism of vampires in order to get the full impact of Stoker's novel.