Wednesday 2 February 2011

Introductions..

“Dracula’s liar lies in that place between waking and sleeping” – Consider Dracula’s relationship with sleep and consciousness.

The idea of sleep is a commonly recurring theme throughout Bram Stokers Dracula. It becomes seemingly obvious throughout the novel that Dracula holds a certain control over his victims, one which is put up on them during a merging state of reality and dreams, which suggests that Dracula’s lair, his domain, remains within the element he is most powerful. However it could also be argued that Dracula is also most vulnerable in his time of sleep, where he appears to be beyond the place of dreams, hanging in the balance of death, which in turn suggests otherwise. Jonathon Harker is the first character to be subjected to these bizarre events and the merging of a dreamy state and reality...

To what extent do you agree with the view that Dracula is a novel with xenophobia at its heart?

I forgot what xenophobia means so looked it up and it said this – “an intense fear or dislike of foreign people, their customs and culture, or foreign things” so please note that my introduction was based on that particular understanding of the word.)

Dracula is arguably a novel with xenophobia living at its heart. Not only does Bram Stoker introduce the reader to a un-recognised species, a long side it comes a completely different way of life which contradicts all of societies norms and values of the Victorian era in which it was written...

Dracula serves as a warning against the movement away from superstition to a wholly scientific culture. Consider the place of superstition and science in Dracula in light of this comment.

Dracula was written during the Victorian era; a time where the idea of technology was filled with optimism, a time for scientific discovery and a time of change. The inner cities provided less and less influence from the Church and the Church’s power was more prominent in rural areas rather than industrial. Religion was being undermined by theorists such as Charles Darwin and his natural selection theories which began to uproot people’s belief systems. However during the novel, Dracula seems to corrupt the idea of technology...

“In Dracula the men are set pieces, void of any personality that does not support their purpose, to pursue the evil and to protect the women” – Consider the role of men in light of this comment.

In Dracula the male characters are seemingly there to fulfil a certain role, without any traits which support their purpose, only to fight the evil and protect the women. In light of the context of production it could be argued that the role of men reflect the way in which Bram Stoker saw the roles of the ‘normal’ man, during the Victorian era. Men were expected to bring in the money, the ‘bread winner’ of the household, they did manual work and protected their wives and family, whilst the women stayed home with the children, cooked and cleaned and fulfilled her role as the passive one within the relationship. In Dracula Jonathon Harker immediately supports this, leaving Mina his wife to travel in light of his job to the home of Count Dracula...

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