Classics and the Western Canon discussion
Stoker, Dracula
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Week 2 - Dracula, Chapters 5-8
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CHAPTER VIICUTTING FROM THE DAILYGRAPH, 8 AUGUST - (Pasted in Mina Murray’s Journal)
We can read the actual newspaper clipping describing a strange storm in which a ship with all sails set, manned only by a dead man lashed to the wheel, is miraculously swept into the harbor at high tide. A large dog is seen jumping from the ship disappearing into the darkness. It is reported that the cargo was consigned to a Whitby solicitor Mr. S.F. Billington. Recall Jonathan wrote of the conversation with Dracula concerning the use of multiple solicitors and noted that of some of Dracula's letters One of the letters was directed to Samuel F. Billington, No. 7, The Crescent, Whitby
LOG OF THE DEMETER
We hear of the events of Dracula's crossing in which men seem to disappear one by one. The captain reports the madness of one, who undoubtedly discovered Dracula. The captain suggests his odd behavior marks him as the likely killer responsible for the crew's demise and Dracula escapes detection when the newspaper declares it an unsolvable mystery. The weather seems to be guiding the ship toward some destination. It appears that Dracula has some control over the weather.
MINA MURRAY’S JOURNAL
If Dracula does have some control over the weather, Mina's description of the waves coming into the harbor the day after the storm takes on add significance,
the big, grim-looking waves, that seemed dark themselves because the foam that topped them was like snow, forced themselves in through the narrow mouth of the harbour—like a bullying man going through a crowd.Mina is worried Lucy will have bad dreams about the aftermath of the storm. First,
Mr Swales was found dead this morning on our seat, his neck being broken. He had evidently, as the doctor said, fallen back in the seat in some sort of fright, for there was a look of fear and horror on his face that the men said made them shudder.We are also told of a dog who would not stop barking at the suicide's tombstone but was strangely cowed after coming into contact with the seat built upon it. What is going on with Lucy's favorite spot?
CHAPTER VIIIMINA MURRAY’S JOURNAL
This entry is rich for discussion, least of which for its description of Dracula's first attack on Lucy, which most appropriately takes place at her favorite seat by the grave of the suicide. Other statements in this entry speak to the femininity issues of the day including several mentions of the New Woman, and the race to get Lucy home and preserve both of their reputations. Mina, having given her shoes to Lucy, tells us
I daubed my feet with mud, using each foot in turn on the other, so that as we went home no one, in case we should meet any one, should notice my bare feet.The severe concerns over propriety as prevent Mina from telling anyone of the events of the evening, effectively shrouding them in secrecy. Mina mistakes marks on Lucy's neck as her own clumsiness with a safety-pin. Over the next several days Lucy continues to try to sleepwalk, but only succeeds in leaning out the window, which is enough it seems as a large bat or bird has been seen by the window. A man with red eyes, passed off as a trick of the light, was seen sitting on their favorite seat. Lucy's health seems to be fading and instead of healing, the marks on Lucy's neck are larger. We also learn that Lucy's mother has been diagnosed with a heart condition and doesn't have long to live. Mina takes this diagnosis as extra added justification for not telling Lucy's mother about Lucy's sleepwalking outside the house.
LETTER, SAMUEL F. BILLINGTON & SON, SOLICITORS, WHITBY, TO MESSRS. CARTER, …17 August - A letter requesting 50 boxes and house keys, to be delivered to Carfax.
LETTER, MESSRS. CARTER, PATERSON & CO., LONDON, TO MESSRS. BILLINGTON & SON, WHITBY
21 August - Confirmation that the request above is fulfilled.
MINA MURRAY’S JOURNAL
Mina finally hears that Jonathan has been ill. Mr. Hawkins encourages Mina to go to Jonathan to help nurse him back to health, marry him there, and bring him back home.
LETTER, SISTER AGATHA
Jonathan has been suffering from brain fever for nearly six weeks due to some fearful shock for which he may never quite fully recover from. We are given one more example of the creepy local reluctance to say what is really going on,
and in his delirium his ravings have been dreadful; of wolves and poison and blood; of ghosts and demons; and I fear to say of what.DR SEWARD’S DIARY
19 August - Renfield seems to be a Dracula barameter; his behavior becomes haughty and violent, and he escapes to the house adjacent to the Asylum. At the door to the chapel on the Carfax estate he is heard saying
‘I am here to do Your bidding, Master. I am Your slave, and You will reward me, for I shall be faithful. I have worshipped You long and afar off. Now that You are near, I await Your commands, and You will not pass me by, will You, dear Master, in Your distribution of good things?’The Master has arrived at Carfax.
David wrote: "Why can’t they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want her, and save all this trouble? But this is heresy, and I must not say it.."I dunno, she sounds a bit vain (or at least a bit bragging to her friend) when she talks about the three proposals received in one day. A girl marrying three men reminds me of Jonathan getting (or almost getting) seduced by the three women at the castle. These modern technologies must have added to the reality and the immediacy of this story to the Victorian readers and reminded them that this Dracula thing has happened very recently. An urban myth/legend of the Victorian age.
David wrote: "CHAPTER VIICUTTING FROM THE DAILYGRAPH, 8 AUGUST - (Pasted in Mina Murray’s Journal)
We can read the actual newspaper clipping describing a strange storm in which a ship with all sails set, manned..."
I was sorry to see Mr Swales go so soon. I sort of liked his frank banter on the writings on the tombstones being all bs.
I thought D was being sent to England with all the dirt and soil but now I find he was sent along with clay? What's he going to do with clay?
David wrote: "LETTER, SAMUEL F. BILLINGTON & SON, SOLICITORS, WHITBY, TO MESSRS. CARTER, …17 August - A letter requesting 50 boxes and house keys, to be delivered to Carfax.
LETTER, MESSRS. CARTER, PATERSON & ..."
Was I the only one who laughed when Renfield moved on to raising spiders instead as soon as Dr Seward told him to get rid of those flies? But then... I got grossed out after he ate the bird... I don't know what he's going to do with the kitten or cat if he gets his hands on it.. I guess his master is at the top of the food chain.
I was impressed by Dr Seward's comment on his religious mania.
"The real God taketh heed lest a sparrow fall; but the God created from human vanity sees no difference between an eagle and a sparrow."
Sounds like an apt description of religious fanatics who take the rule of nature and pretty much every other rule into their own hands.
Sometimes, the past is a different country. I was so struck by Lucy's lamentation that she'll be 20 in 4 months, and she's only just now receiving her first marriage proposals! Pride and Prejudice is set what, 80 years before this, but the female characters are all also so painfully young to be so worried about getting married. And then I remember that the age at first marriage actually only started creeping up in the 1970s. My mum and all her siblings were all married before the age of 25. I think I had one friend who got married at age 24 and I thought she was crazy.
Borum wrote: "What's he going to do with clay?"
Borum wrote: "I was impressed by Dr Seward's comment on his religious mania."The real God taketh heed lest a sparrow fall; but the God created from human vanity sees no difference between an eagle and a sparrow.""
I liked that too. Dr. Seward uses Renfield's inability to discriminate as as a diagnostic criteria for religious mania. The idea is older than I thought because It reminds me of a more recent expression of it that I am familiar with:
In some ways I feel sorry for racists and for religious fanatics, because they so much miss the point of being human, and deserve a sort of pity. But then I harden my heart, and decide to hate them all the more, because of the misery they inflict and because of the contemptible excuses they advance for doing so. It especially annoys me when racists are accused of “discrimination.” The ability to discriminate is a precious faculty; by judging all members of one “race” to be the same, the racist precisely shows himself incapable of discrimination.Do we feel sorry for Renfield; is he pitiable, or should we despise or fear him for some misery he would inflict? Some say Renfield adds little to the book but he is an interesting character and I do not think the story would be as compelling without him. Maybe with a little more time we will see Renfield as a symbol for something.
Hitchens, Christopher. Letters to a Young Contrarian (Art of Mentoring) (pp. 109-110). Basic Books. Kindle Edition.
What do we think of Dr. Seward's admiration for Renfield?
If I only could have as strong a cause as my poor mad friend there, a good, unselfish cause to make me work, that would be indeed happiness.
Swales reminds me a bit of Coleridge's Ancient Mariner. He is privy to information that eludes his audience. He foresees his own death and recognizes that there is something coming that presages death.Look! look!” he cried suddenly. “There’s something in that wind and in the hoast beyont that sounds, and looks, and tastes, and smells like death. It’s in the air; I feel it comin’. Lord, make me answer cheerful when my call comes!”
This is reinforced few lines later when we are told, "The only sail noticeable was a foreign schooner with all sails set, which was seemingly going westwards."
Heading west in literature and mythology usually signifies death.
The ship is named Demeter, which is also significant. Demeter is the goddess of the grain in Greek mythology. She is also the mother of Persephone who is kidnapped to the underworld to become the bride of death. So Demeter/the ship is carrying within her Persephone/the seeds of death.
I got a bit tired of the jabs against women by both Lucy and Mina. Ostensibly, women are not as "fair" as they should be; are more "cowardly" than men; less noble than men and unworthy of them, etc.My dear Mina, why are men so noble when we women are so little worthy of them?
Followed by attacks on the New Woman:
I believe we should have shocked the “New Woman” with our appetites. Men are more tolerant, bless them!
These jabs against women got a bit tiresome.
Tamara wrote: "attacks on the New Woman"Mina's attack on the New Woman may need to be looked at in more detail.
As for Mina, she seems to be parroting a popular attitude of the day. However, isn't Mina almost a poster child for the New Woman, at least on the education, and career fronts? She is a school teacher, she is learning marketable skills like shorthand and typewriting to assist her husband in business, and possibly other attributes we have yet to see. Coming from Mina, the comment seems to denigrate the ill opinion of the New Woman more than the New Woman herself, since it is coming from one.
My questions are these:
1. What is a severe tea; why was so shocking about it to a New Woman? I am only guessing that it was a very sparse and dainty lunch and the New Woman would have ordered something more substantial with alcohol and finished up by smoking - which by the way is not recommended behavior for any gender.
2. Is Lucy a New Woman, and if so, what are the indicators that she is?
David wrote: "1. What is a severe tea; why was so shocking about it to a New Woman? I am only guessing that it was a very sparse and dainty lunch..."Actually, I think it is the exact opposite. I think she is saying they had a hearty appetite and did some serious eating. Women were not supposed to show a hearty appetite, or be robust, or strong, or athletic. They were supposed to appear weak and frail and show a disdain for food. Books/pamphlets were written to encourage women to cultivate the appearance of frailty and weakness in order to attract a mate, i.e. she must appear weak in order to make him feel strong.
Virginia Woolf famously wrote:
Women have served all these centuries as looking glasses possessing the power of reflecting the figure of man at twice its natural size.
I think the New Woman being shocked at their appetites refers to them having the audacity to eat well in public.
Severe seems vague to me but a New Woman might be shocked in any case due to either a deficiency or an excess. A small meal would be criticized by a New Woman for conforming to the repressive social expectations of the day. And a large meal would exceed even the New Woman's guidelines for portion sizes in public.I tend to agree that they ate well because it seems to me that both Mina and Lucy are two very different aspects of the New Woman, however much they are aware of it. Given they are being repressed by society, perhaps, except for this example, they are still somewhat in the closet as New Women and what happens in Whitby stays in Whitby?
David wrote: "I tend to agree that they ate well because it seems to me that both Mina and Lucy are two very different aspects of the New Woman,.."I can see Mina, perhaps, as being akin to the New Woman because she has a career and she wants to further her education. But I don't see Lucy as a New Woman. She strikes me as a bit of a wallflower. I see her as being the weaker of the two unless I'm missing something. Perhaps that is why Dracula selects her as his victim instead of Mina.
Tamara wrote: I can see Mina, perhaps, as being akin to the New Woman because she has a career and she wants to further her education. But I don't see Lucy as a New Woman. She strikes me as a bit of a wallflower. I see her as being the weaker of the two unless I'm missing something. Perhaps that is why Dracula selects her as his victim instead of Mina.
I agree with that assumption. I also appreciate your comments on the ship Demeter & what that might signify, coupled with your not on heading west has signified death in mythology & literature. Doesn't going to the ocean or being fascinated by the sea often signify death? Both Lucy & Mina are mesmerized by the view of the harbour. Of course, that's what Dracula can do: mesmerize someone.
David wrote: It appears that Dracula has some control over the weather.
I don't remember that being part of the myth, but certainly would fit the unfolding story. Did Dracula methodically kill off the crew and keep the Captain & first mate for last to ensure the ship would make it to the coast?
I was more engaged in the increasing foreboding aspect of the story being laid down. The sleepwalking, the storm, the story of the voyage, the introduction of quite a creepy character in Renfield, the shapeshifting ( do we all agree the dog who leapt off the ship was Dracula?), and then the repetitive blood seduction/attack of Lucy.
Renfield definitely makes the hairs rise when he is fixated on the killing of animals and goes as far as eating them live!! UGH! A perfect subject for the Master.
Did D want his place to be near an insane asylum to take advantage of the mentally weak such as Renfield? Or as a potential feeding ground of those whose loss would not be investigated or mourned?
Chris wrote: "the shapeshifting ( do we all agree the dog who leapt off the ship was Dracula?.."If vampires have the ability to change shape, then the dog is probably Dracula. Also, the bat that hovers outside Lucy's window.
Tamara wrote: "But I don't see Lucy as a New Woman"I agree that Lucy does not appear to be a New Woman like Mina is wtih her career and efforts to further her education. But what about the New Woman's demand for sexual autonomy and Lucy's disparaging remarks regarding feminine vanity and the need for it and her polyandrous wishes?
And three proposals! But, for goodness’ sake, don’t tell any of the girls, or they would be getting all sorts of extravagant ideas and imagining themselves injured and slighted if in their very first day at home they did not get six at least. Some girls are so vain. You and I, Mina dear, who are engaged and are going to settle down soon soberly into old married women, can despise vanity.and
Why can’t they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want her, and save all this trouble? But this is heresy, and I must not say it.
Tamara wrote: "Chris wrote: "the shapeshifting ( do we all agree the dog who leapt off the ship was Dracula?.."If vampires have the ability to change shape, then the dog is probably Dracula. Also, the bat that ..."
We have enough clues from Dracula's affinity with wolves to strongly suspect that Dracula was the dog that leaped from the ship. There may be more information later to confirm it, but it will be good to note here that the newspaper clipping indicated that It was now nearly the hour of high tide a little before the ship was swept into the harbor implying the dog jumped from the ship onto the land at high tide.
I have to wonder if the dog Jonathan heard under his hotel window in Bistritz was Draciula, back in Chapter 1.
I did not sleep well, though my bed was comfortable enough, for I had all sorts of queer dreams. There was a dog howling all night under my window, which may have had something to do with it. . .
One thing to keep in mind while reads this is that we are told in the preface that “All needless matters have been eliminated”, so a detail like a dog being outside Jonathan’s window along with a dog leaving the ship is significant.
Tamara wrote: "I got a bit tired of the jabs against women by both Lucy and Mina. Ostensibly, women are not as "fair" as they should be; are more "cowardly" than men; less noble than men and unworthy of them, etc..."Tell me about it. I'm listening to the audiobook that is narrated by different actors and Lucy's voice is done by Susan Duerden who sounds weirdly high-pitched and sort of frail and passive and it's simply irritating (especially the weird freakish supposedly american accent). It's even more irritating that she constantly frames what men and women are like.
I'm not sure what a New Woman is supposed to be like but if it's another restricted definition of women I think it may be possible that Mina is making fun of a fixed social invention or trend that is trying to challenge traditional female identity and ironically restrict rather than liberate a freer natural reality.
However, Stoker's intention may not be just a caricature of the New Woman, as his main woman character, Mina, is economically independent and instead of being the damsel in distress, goes to rescue her friend and assists and nurses her weakened Jonathan.
Lucy might be a more traditional foil to Mina, as she IS the damsel in distress who is helpless and so delicate (it's weird how both she and her mother are so fragile and are therefore kept from the knowledge of their sickness from each other), but she holds one aspect of the 'New Woman' in that she seems to toy with the idea of a more sexually liberated woman (If her heart is set on Arthur why is she crying and kissing the jilted one? Now I don't think it's a coincidence that her 3:1 match is mirrored in Jonathan's match with the 3 ladies). If so, Stoker might be rooting for the economically and socially independent New Woman but critical or not so sure about the sexual part.
Rafael wrote: "Borum wrote: "What's he going to do with clay?""
Oh, he IS nefarious!
David wrote: "What do we think of Dr. Seward's admiration for Renfield?If I only could have as strong a cause as my poor mad friend there, a good, unselfish cause to make me work, that would be indeed happiness...."
Also, his admiration of Renfield's reasoning: How well the man reasoned; lunatics always do within their own scope. ... He has closed the account most accurately, and today begun a new record. How many of us begin a new record with each day of our lives? Seward is wishing he can start from a blank slate like Renfield so that he can forget about his love for Lucy and just concentrate on his work.
Chris wrote: "Did D want his place to be near an insane asylum to take advantage of the mentally weak such as Renfield? Or as a potential feeding ground of those whose loss would not be investigated or mourned? ..."Good point. It would be easier to take advantage of the abandoned instead of eating the children of mothers who come demanding their child back at the gate. I was sort of imagining Renfield as an Igor character to Dracula's new experiments in England.
Tamara wrote: "Heading west in literature and mythology usually signifies death.."Interesting! I looked up 'go west' in the Cambridge English Dictionary and in UK, if something goes west, it is lost, damaged, or spoiled in some way.
Also from a Eurocentric point of view, there seems to be a connection with the Celtic Otherworld with the western sea. (Whereas in Asia, Journey to the West is a buddhist pilgrimage to gain spiritual insight)
It's interesting that this Eastern invasion of the West was happening at the time of British colonialism of the East.
Tamara wrote: If vampires have the ability to change shape, then the dog is probably Dracula. Also, the bat that hovers outside Lucy's window.Oh definitely!! The bat has long been the go-to animal form for a vampire. Even the stereotypical clothing of vampires in their mortal form are a nod to bats. The black with a flowing cape shaped like bat wings.
Borum wrote: "Tamara wrote: "Heading west in literature and mythology usually signifies death.."Interesting! I looked up 'go west' in the Cambridge English Dictionary and in UK, if something goes west, it is l..."
I have to agree this was a conscious choice for Stoker. Dracula could have much more easily have landed in the South of England or much closer to London and Carfax. Instead he manipulates the ship up the Channel, 250 miles to the North of London. One might justify the move by assuming customs issues would not be as great in a small town that far from London. The newspaper takes some time to explaining a lot of red tape and salvage crews were held off by the coast guard arriving at the scene of the wreck first.
The fact that a coastguard was the first on board may save some complications, later on, in the Admiralty Court; for coastguards cannot claim the salvage which is the right of the first civilian entering on a derelict.
Mike wrote: "One thing to keep in mind while reads this is that we are told in the preface that “All needless matters have been eliminated”, so a detail like a dog being outside Jonathan’s window along with a d..."That is a great point to remain mindful of, Mike. Everything we read is going to be relevant in some way.
I do like Stoker's dark sense of humor with the addition of,No trace has ever been found of the great dog; at which there is much mourning, for, with public opinion in its present state, he would, I believe, be adopted by the town.
Borum wrote: "Tamara wrote: "I got a bit tired of the jabs against women by both Lucy and Mina. Ostensibly, women are not as "fair" as they should be; are more "cowardly" than men; less noble than men and unwort..."Mina and Lucy are really exasperating and boring at this point, I feel that Stoker is not even trying to give them any interesting features. I would rather spend the evening with the three sisters from Dracula's Castle than have a conversation with Mina or Lucy.
Emil wrote: "Borum wrote: "Tamara wrote: "Mina and Lucy are really exasperating and boring at this point, I feel that Stoker is not even trying to give them any interesting features."Maybe Stoker is trying to give them uninteresting features? While there have been a few mentions of the New Woman from them, which does pique some interest, they are just that, mentions, questions, socially obligatory criticism, or wishes only told in private and overall we only see a lot of traditional behavior from them or expected from them, pushed to the background by the men, e.g., (mem., get recipe for Mina.) Could Stoker be setting us up by demonstrating the manifestation of the femininity status quo is less than, implying it could be improved?
David wrote: "Emil wrote: "Borum wrote: "Tamara wrote: "Mina and Lucy are really exasperating and boring at this point, I feel that Stoker is not even trying to give them any interesting features."Maybe Stoker..."
I also think Stoker wanted to portray them as ordinary as possible. There is nothing really interesting about Jonathan either, maybe Stoker's idea was that extraordinary events are more interesting when they happen to ordinary people...
I’m seeing some parallels between Jonathan and Mina. They both seem a bit dim and insipid. Just as Jonathan misses all the clues about Dracula until it is too late, Mina misses a lot of clues about what is happening with Lucy. She focuses a lot on Lucy’s looks. She attributes Lucy’s erratic behavior and sleep-walking to disappointment that her fiancé has had to delay his visit and is convinced all will be well when he shows up.
She has seen Lucy seemingly become mesmerized by a bat outside the window. She has seen Lucy sitting on a bench in the middle of the night with a dark figure leaning over her. She has seen the pin pricks on Lucy’s neck getting larger. I’m not suggesting she should conclude there is a vampire on the loose. But to attribute all this to a Lucy pining away for her beloved seems a bit daft, to say the least.
Could some of their blindness to these issues be due to their Western scientific and social mindset and biases? Dracula's old world supernatural knowledge and powers may be effective in more ways than their direct application if they are unknown, ignored as impossible, or their symptoms are seen as inappropriate and suppressed for the sake of reputation like a venereal disease, i.e, why is Lucy's seen holding her hand to her throat, as though to protect it from cold.? Maybe the fact that nobody in England looks for, believes in. or shamed by vampires should be listed as one of Dracula's super-powers? This would have the effect of making these ordinary characters seem a bit like sheep in need of a sheepdog to prevent their being preyed upon by the wolf.
David wrote: "Could some of their blindness to these issues be due to their Western scientific and social mindset and biases? Dracula's old world supernatural knowledge and powers may be effective in more ways t..."I think that's possible. But Mina has seen enough disturbing behaviors and events surrounding Lucy that she should at least be asking questions, digging a little deeper to find out what's going on with her. Even if she is not attuned to the old world supernatural knowledge, she has seen enough to worry her about Lucy and could approach the issue with a western scientific and rational mindset. She doesn't even do that.
Mike wrote: "One thing to keep in mind while reads this is that we are told in the preface that “All needless matters have been eliminated”, so a detail like a dog being outside Jonathan’s window along with a d..."The dog, I would agree, heralded the arrival of Dracula.
As for no needless matters though, I thought the inclusion of the correspondence relating to the arrival of the boxes and delivery and then payment seemed to go on at more length than to let us know they had arrived, and at the time I wondered to myself, why?
Borum wrote: "Chris wrote: "Did D want his place to be near an insane asylum to take advantage of the mentally weak such as Renfield? Or as a potential feeding ground of those whose loss would not be investigate..."Borum wrote: "Good point. It would be easier to take advantage of the abandoned instead of eating the children of mothers who come demanding their child back at the gate. I was sort of imagining Renfield as an Igor character to Dracula's new experiments in England. ..."
Things might have been getting a bit hot for Dracula in his homeland and he wanted fresh blood, so to speak, an unsuspecting people, without the protective superstitions, for him to prey upon. I wonder if there is any other reason he would leave his beloved historic home for England I wonder.
David wrote: "Maybe the fact that nobody in England looks for, believes in. or shamed by vampires should be listed as one of Dracula's super-powers? This would have the effect of making these ordinary characters seem a bit like sheep in need of a sheepdog to prevent their being preyed upon by the wolf. *."
None of the protective superstitions and lore to alert them, they are just ordinary modern young people focused on a respectable life.
Does Stoker gently mock the English gentry, in the form of the earlier Jane Austin, with their focus on social standing and for many woman, Lucy for example, economic security through marriage.
As Tamara wrote, Mina is a bit more of a modern woman. She is working and learning new technologies to improve her abilities although some of that focus is to be useful to Jonathon.
I'm actually quite impressed with how good the story is put together. Yes, some disturbing things happen and perhaps both Mina and Jonathan act a bit naive. Then again: how prone would they be to immediately expect something like vampires? For the reader it is quite obvious that the different incidents aren't mere incidents, but in real life one wouldn't readily put some things together.Also: we get to read the excerpt from the newspaper, but we aren't told wether Mina has read it. And, when she has, what she would've believed about it.
In this respect I think the old man they befriend is quite important. He shows that, although there are a lot of stories, already for a long time they are viewed as mere superstition. If a 100-year or so old man already believes that those things are superstitious, how would a young, modern woman react to stories about vampires or other supernatural stuff?
Also, their favorite hang-out being on a graveyard already signifies that she doesn't adhere much to ghost stories, I believe
We are told that Mina pasted the story in her diary.The story is very well made. We get a lot of pieces. Have we gotten to Van Helsing yet? (Definitely Mel Brooks.)
The pin pricks, which Mina thinks she has caused, but we know differently. So the characters in the story are starting to catch up to the reader.
Really the tale is beautifully told. Different angles. Different viewers. Renfield, the madman's side story. Sugar on the ledge to draw flies. Seward the scientific observer. Great characters. Trips from London to Amsterdam. Mina is very strong, though naive, she just hops off to Budapest with one change of clothes.
It's really a wonderful story and I am enjoying it.
I'm enjoying it, too! I thought Stoker did a great job of building the fear and suspense in the first section, and I agree with Marieke that suspecting vampires wouldn't be at all likely in "real life." I have more trouble with the Renfield sections. I just keep thinking about how you wouldn't be able to tell the story this way today. Stoker (and, I suppose, his contemporaries) has no real concern for those suffering from mental illness. We have to be willing to tolerate the author's cavalier attitude toward and stereotyping of a mentally ill character who's being created for the purposes of sensationalization. Obviously, there's a lot we have to tolerate in older works of literature, but I find this distracting when it comes to the characters of Seward and Renfield. I'm not even sure yet what purpose Renfield serves.
When I read Seward's brief mention of "unconscious cerebrations", I thought this would anticipate Freud, whom I had thought "discovered" The Unconscious. But I was wrong about that. The Unconscious had been known for a long time, if not thousands of years. What Freud did was to emphasize it to such dominance as we are aware of today. Freud's Interpretation of Dreams was published in 1900, so Stoker did not yet have the chance to take advantage of Freud's revolutionary documentation of it. That explains why it is only briefly mentioned. Imagine what Stoker could have done with dreams. But I don't mean to minimize what he did do. It's a terrific story without qualification. It's only that now, today, we can look back on it with that lens. What do we get from Lucy's dreams?
Sam wrote: "What do we get from Lucy's dreams?"I get a little creeped out from her dreams. I understand them as not being dreams at all but dream-like impressions she is left with from her encounters with Dracula.
A note in my text on unconscious cerebration indicates
this term, which denotes the unconscious or subconscious workings of the mind, was introduced in 1842 by W. C. Engledue. Ideas about the unconscious developed throughout the nineteenth century, culminating in the revolutionary theories of Sigmund Freud. Freudians, of course, have had a field day with Dracula. But even before Freud published his works, psychiatry was a current and fascinating subject, and many of the themes Freud would elaborate were already in the air. Stoker’s reference to unconscious cerebration as well as to other medical and psychological novelties shows that he had a keen awareness of the subject and its relevance.
CHAPTER V
LETTER FROM MISS MINA MURRAY TO MISS LUCY WESTENRA
We are introduced to Jonathan's fiancée, Mina Murray, through her letter to a childhood friend, Lucy Westenra. Mina is a busy assistant schoolmistress looking forward to a vacation by the sea with Lucy. She is learning shorthand and typewriting in order to assist Jonathan and improve her recall of events and verbal exchanges. Kodak cameras, shorthand, typewriters. All these young people and their miracles of modern technology.
2 LETTERS, LUCY WESTENRA TO MINA MURRAY
Lucy confides to Mina that she has received 3 proposals in one day, and while she happily accepts the proposal from Arthur Holmwood, she is genuinely heartbroken at having to reject the proposals from Dr. Seward who runs a nearby lunatic asylum, and a Texan, Quincy P. Morris. At one point Lucy mirror's Dracula's attitude regarding excessive pride in one's self and foul baubles of man's vanity when she writes,We should also take careful note of Lucy's wish in the form of a question,Is this the Victorian England Era's version of the setting up the serial killer trope of murdering the young kids because they sneak away to have sex, or will things play out a little differently?
DR SEWARD’S DIARY - (Kept in phonograph)
A phonograph. More modern technology in use by the younger generation. We learn Dr. Seward is a crushed by Lucy's rejection and decides to bury himself in his work and accordingly takes a special interest in an unusual lunatic named R.M. Renfield.
LETTER, QUINCEY P. MORRIS TO HON. ARTHUR HOLMWOOD and
TELEGRAM FROM ARTHUR HOLMWOOD TO QUINCEY P. MORRIS
Through Quincey's invitation and Arthur's telegram in response, we find all three men are friends, having shared both good times and trying adventures in the past. While it seems the bro-code had not been invented yet and all three men have proposed to the same girl, the men project a great outward enthusiasm for their friendship. Is there any possibility for ill-feelings over Lucy's decision to marry Arthur to boil over?