Dracula+DL+Deborah

Chapters 21-24
 * by Deborah K.**

THEME **Sexuality of women creates conflict for the male characters**. Although not obviously stated, Dracula presents women’s sexuality and how it affects men. (It is also interesting to know that only two female characters are introduced and they both become abused by Dracula in a ‘sexual’ way.) During the time, it was expected of women to be clean and pure, or other wise fully devoted solely to her husband. Women had to be innocent towards sexuality and if she was not a virgin or a wife/ mother then she was considered to be a whore and mistreated in such a society that expected everyone to present themselves in a mannerly and proper way. Prostitution was named “The Great Social Evil.” Both Lucy and Mina were virtuous women of the Victorian Era and were devoted to their fiancee and husband. Dracula manages to target both Lucy and Mina and seize a part of them. This also leads to the significance of blood in which it represents purity, innocence, or chastity. In chapter 21, Dracula drinks blood from Mina several times, and one night, is discovered by Van Helsing, Seward, and others//. “With his left hand he held both Mrs Harker’s hands, keeping them away with her arms at full tension; his right hand gripped her by the back of the neck, forcing her face down on his bosom. Her white nightdress was smeared with blood, and a thin stream trickled down the man’s bare breast which was shown by his torn-open dress.”// (247) Not only does Dracula drink Mina’s blood, he forces her to drink his own blood. The exchange of blood represents sexual activity, which is observable in previous section in which Lucy receives blood transfusions from other men after being bitten by Dracula. Mina understand what happened to her is something that she should be ashamed of and describes herself to be //“ ‘Unclean, unclean! I must touch him or kiss him no more.’ ”// (248) and feels guilty toward Jonathan, her husband. After finding out what had happened to his wife, Jonathan probably feels outraged to know that his wife, someone that belongs to him, was vandalized by Dracula, especially in a way that represents sexuality which is something that should only be shared between husband and wife. However, on the surface he tries to stay calm and strong like Victorian men were supposed to present himself. //“I told him exactly what had happened, and he listened with seeming impassiveness; but his nostrils twitched and his ees blased as I told how the ruthless hands of the Count had held his wife in that terrible and horrid position, with her mouth to the open wound in his breast. ...whilst the face of white set passion worked convulsively over the bowed head, the hands tenderly and lovingly stroked...”// (249) The attack of Lucy and Mina does not only concern Jonathan but all the men as well. After Lucy was attacked, the men even took the action to execute her from being the ‘undead’ in order to purify her back from the vixen she had become. The male characters kept watch on Mina so they do not loose another woman to the evil side of woman hood. The men fear the association with the socially scorned, so they are devoted to the protection of women’s sexual behavior. Even Renfield, the madman becomes upset at the fact that Dracula took ‘the life out of her’ and when the other learn about this from Renfield, they immediately check upon Mina. //"We men pledged ourselves to raise the veil of sorrow from the head of her whom, each in his own way, we loved;and we prayed for help and guidance in the terrible task which lay before us."// (259 )Men in this section are influenced by women’s sexuality although not directly stated because the process is symbolized through blood.

CRITICAL PASSAGE //" 'Unclean! Unclean! Even the Almighty shuns my polluted flesh! I must bear this mark of shame upon my forehead until the Judgment Day.' They all paused. i had thrown myself beside her in an agony of helpless grief, and putting my arms around held her tight. For a few minutes our sorrowful hearts beat together, whilst the friends around us turned their eyes that ran tears silently. Then Van Helsing turned and said gravely; so gravely that I could not help feeling that he was in some way inspired, and was stating things outside himself:-- "// (259)

This is a critical passage because it points out how Mina and Jonathan feel about the situation, and it also incorporates religious ideas. Mina repeats that she is 'unclean' because there was an exchange of blood between her and Dracula and that represents that Mina is no longer pure and she believes she should be punished by God, which reflects upon the beliefs in the Victorian Era. This passage also leads onto Van Helsing's speech that calms and gives hope to Mina and Jonathan, and Van Helsing is represented as a fatherly, or a leader-like figure who is strong in any situation.

LITERARY DEVICES “‘When Mrs Harker came in to see me this afternoon she wasn’t the same; it was like tea after the teapot had been watered.’” (page 245) “The attitude of the two had a terrible resemblance to a child forcing a kitten’s nose into a saucer of milk to compel it to drink.” (page 247)
 * Simile **

“I could almost hear the beating of my own heart; and the blood surging through my temple sounded like blows from a hammer.” (page 243)
 * Metaphor **

Stoker uses many literary devices, and one of them includes the frequent use of similes and metaphors. His use of similes adds an effect in which the reader is able to understand or interpret the situation better through the experience of familiar circumstances. For example, the second quote from page 247 allow the reader to take in how Dracula was forcing Mina to drink his blood like a child would do to a kitten. We have an understanding of how a child may be impetus toward a helpless kitten, and through this simile it is easy to comprehend how Dracula’s attitude is toward Mina. Metaphors are often encountered throughout this section as well. The metaphor used in page 243 is how Seward describes how he felt during the intense and silent moment of which he and some others were waiting to see if the injured Renfield would be able to recover. He describes the sound of his heart pounding to be like ‘blows from a hammer’ which we can relate to for a understanding of how loud or powerfully his heart must have been pounding (like a hammer) in the severe situation.

REFLECTION

I enjoyed working with my group members because we were able to communicate well and distribute and contribute the work equally. I personally enjoyed our activity which was a jeopardy game all of (our members provided questions for the game) because I thought it engaged our classmates better than other activities might have. However, I did not expect the game to face the problems we met such as the participants getting aggressive or the technical problems. In the end, it was a good review for the students and I hope they were able to understand the section better. Preparing for the discussion was helpful for me because I had to think deeper about what I read to create the questions and point out critical passages, themes, and literary devices. I was captivated by the theme I chose which was how sexuality of women creates conflict for the male characters, and it was interesting how //Dracula// portrayed (especially when I was looking for evidence). I wish we could have had more time to discuss the questions as a class but hopefully the game and the analysis section our group shared helped improved the understanding of this section for other students. Our group discussion was successful, but I wished we had a bit more time.