Dracula+DL+Andrew

Theme
 //Female sexuality// is an indispensable theme to Victorian society, and for the novel //Dracula //, by Bram Stoker. In the novel set in the Victorian erawomen are depicted as pure, untouched, quiet, dependent, and devoted to their family who is incapable of doing anything without her husband. Lucy, like a Victorian women has all the necessary traits. For example, Lucy does not express her inner feelings externally, rather keep it to herself. Fail to meet the standards, the consequences of the society may be severe, and often brutal. In the novel, for instance, the author resorts to an unsparing penalising of turning Lucy into a vampire. In the novel, Stoker separates women into two discrete yet related kinds. Which portrays the ideas on sexuality in the Victorian era. For example, Mina would be a clear archetype of a well behaved Victorian woman, while Lucy would be the perfect archetype of a deviant one. Lucy represents female lunacy of the Victorian era. For example, the novel mentions that a lunatic woman would try to seduce any man she encounters. And one of the first important things we discover in the beginning of the book three men are extremely attracted to Lucy to a state where they propose to her (Stoker 64). Stoker collocates the acceptable version and the unacceptable version, one behaving like a lady while the other does not. Due to Lucy’s immorality compared to Mina, she becomes the subject to Count Dracula’s bite more than Mina. The battle between good and evil depends on the topic of female sexuality. Critical Passage "...there, on our favourite seat, the silver light of the moon struck a half-reclining figure, snowy white... Something dark stood behind the seat where the white figure shone, and bent over it. What it was, whether man or beast, I could not tell..." (Stoker 70)

This particular passage is significant because it is the first time, as readers, we see Dracula attack out first victim since his arrival to England. Bram Stoker accurately, yet poetically describe's Dracula's physical features to exude a certain eerie feeling to the readers. This passage also helps and causes us to think over the fact on why he is attacking Lucy, and why he has chosen her as his victim. What is it that Lucy has and Mina doesn't that caused Dracula to be more attracted and eager to attack Lucy than Mina? In addition, descriptive words such as 'snow white' is an example of symbolism in the novel. It symbolises one of the most prominent themes in Dracula, good vs evil. Snow white, indicating the good side, and Dracula's darkness symbolising the evil side.

**Literary Devices **
 //** __Simile__ **// "September 9.--I feel so happy tonight . I have been so miserably weak , that to be able to think and move about is like feeling sunshine  after a long spell of east wind out of a steel sky ." (Stoker 117)

The above quote is comparing happiness with sadness and misery. Happiness is equivalent to sunshine, and the long spell of east wind out of a steel sky indicates misry and sadness. Since it is a sentence with a figure of speech comparing one thing with another different thing, it is a simile. The above literary device makes the text more vivid and descriptive for the reader.

//__Personification__// "Ah, we men and women are like ropes drawn tight with strain that pull us different ways . Then tears come, and like the rain on the ropes, they brace us up, until perhaps the strain become too great, and we break." (Stoker 134)

Personification is the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, in this case the rope. Although it is usually vice versa, the above quote can be considered as a personification used by Stoker in the novel Dracula. It represents the abstract quality in human form. Men and women are represented as ropes drawn tight with strain that pulls in different ways, it is an interesting, unusual, yet feasible way to express the similar and different qualities of men and women, which makes them pull in different directions.

** Reflection **
We were the first ones to present and lead the discussion in the class. First tries are always frightening, and there can be a few mistakes. But I think we did well in general. The good thing about our presentation was the fact that everyone really enjoyed our activity. We chose certain passages that seemed important and that would facilitate an active discussion amongst students, and used the passage to perform a re-enactment of the novel. Couple of students were called up in front of the class, and one of our group members read the passage out loud as the students performed according to our reading. It was interesting and many student seemed to like it, for it was educational, easy to comprehend and entertaining at the same time. In addition to one of the pros of our presentation, the questions were the key factor that really catalysed the general discussion. The discussions were fruitful, many students used in-text-citations and helped students understand the novel well. We could've improved upon the pace of the discussion, though. Because everyone, including ourselves, were so engrossed with the discussion, and at times with a certain question, we delayed the whole presentation, unable to go over the other questions we prepared.