In Bram Stoker's Dracula, sleep is a prevalent theme throughout the novel. The characters of have a large connection with sleep. Although sleep is part of life, for the characters of Dracula it is much more. Sleep is rest, it is peace but it is also fear and unease.
Dracula gets his guest, Jonathan Harker, on a nocturnal schedule and speaks of sleep several times through out his visit to the castle. After talking to Jonathan all evening about London, Dracula's future home, Dracula says, "Why there is morning again! How remiss I am to let you stay up so long. You must make your conversation regarding my dear new country of England less interesting so that I may not forget how times flies by us" (Stoker, 55). This happens several times. This shows that Dracula does what is in his control to have Jonathan on his nocturnal schedule of being awake in the evenings and asleep during the day. As a way to discourage Jonathan from exploring more of Dracula's castle, Dracula warns Jonathan by saying, "Should sleep now or ever overcome you, or be like to do, then haste to your own chamber or to these rooms, for your rest will then by safe" (Stoker, 64). By saying this to Jonathan, Dracula sends the message to Jonathan that he can not safely sleep anywhere else within the castle walls besides the room Jonathan has for his stay. Sleep does not come easy to Jonathan in the castle, this can be determined by his journal entry that states, "I shall not fear to sleep in any place he is not. I have placed the crucifix over the head of my bed - I imagine that my rest is thus freer from dreams; and there it shall remain" (Stoker, 65). This shows that Jonathan can not sleep peacefully if Dracula is present; instead he worries and keeps himself awake.
Dracula proves his nocturnal existence as readers learn his habits through the journaling of Jonathan Harker. Jonathan's breakfast would sit on the table awaiting for Jonathan to wake up for the day and Dracula could never be found during the light hours to keep Jonathan company as he did during the evenings. In the evenings they do not stay up speaking of England, Jonathan sees Dracula crawling in a lizard like fashion along the exterior castle walls. Jonathan does exploring through the castle to find, "There is one of the great boxes, of which there were fifty in all, on a pile of newly dug earth, lay the Count! He was either dead or asleep, I could not say which -for the eyes were open and without the glassiness of death - and the cheeks hard the warmth of life through all their pallor, and the lips were as red as ever. But there was not sign of movement, no pulse, no breath, not beating of the heart" (Stoker, 80). This shows how Dracula rests, whether it is defined as sleep or not we can determine that this takes place during the day. This shows the nocturnal pattern Dracula takes on.
For Lucy, sleep is a constant battle. Mina learns that Lucy is walking in her sleep through Lucy's mother, "Lucy, although she is well, has lately taken to her old habit of walking in her sleep. Her mother has spoken to me about it, and we have decided that I am to lock the door of our room every night" (Stoker, 105). This quotes shows that Lucy has sleep-walked throughout her life by the word choice of old habit meaning that it happened long ago and frequently. Mina sees this herself when she visits Lucy and notices, "It is a strange thing, this sleep-walking, for as soon as her will is thwarted in any physical way, her inanition, if there be any, disappears, and she yields herself almost exactly to the routine of her life" (Stoker, 12). After Mina leaves, sleep becomes more difficult for Lucy as she becomes ill.
Lucy expresses her fear of sleep when she becomes ill. As Dr. Seward stays to keep Lucy company, he notices, "After a long spell she seemed sinking off to sleep, but with an effort seemed to pull herself together and shook it off. This was repeated several times, with greater effort and with shorter pauses as the times moved on" (Stoker, 161). This shows Lucy fighting off sleep the best she can even though she is exhausted. When Dr. Steward questions Lucy about her sleep, she says it is a "presage of horror!", and, "All this weakness comes to me in sleep; until I dread the very thought" (Stoker, 161). This shows Lucy is afraid and uneasy when it comes to sleep because as soon as she feels better, he strength is taken from her during the night. Lucy expresses her fear again in her diary when she writes, "How blessed are some people, whose lives have no fears, no dreads; to whom sleep is a blessing that comes nightly, and brings nothing but sweet dreams" (Stoker, 169). This shows Lucy's unrest even when she does sleep. Here she implies that she is envious of people with sweet dreams.
By looking at Jonathan, Dracula and Lucy, sleep is shown as a love-hate relationship for the characters. For Johnathan, it is the matter of being kept up all night with the company of a vampire and sleep during the day is interrupted by the thought of Dracula's presence or where within the castle he is permitted to sleep. Dracula is a prisoner to his nocturnal lifestyle of being a vampire that includes being away during the day a coffin and soil setting as he rests with his eyes open and at night hunts or keeps his guest company by speaking of London. Lucy, even when asleep, is up and changing clothes or walking around the house. When she gets ill, rest does not come easier even though her exhaustion and need for it is greater. Instead, she feels all her strength leaves her during the night and experiences only horror during sleep.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Stoker and Catholicism
In Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, the
protagonists use a wide range of weapons to fight the vampire menace plaguing London.
The weapons range from garlic and rose branches to crucifixes and holy wafers. By
giving Catholic artifacts as much power over the undead as superstitious
artifacts, Stoker equates Catholicism to superstition. Throughout English
history Catholicism and Protestantism have been at odds with each other. Dracula
was originally published in 1897, only 68 years after the Roman Catholic Relief
Act of 1829, which emancipated Catholics throughout the United Kingdom and
repealed laws which required Catholics to swear allegiance to the crown and prevented
them from being elected to parliament (Roman Catholic Relief Act 8).
Since the famous split between
Catholic Church and England led by King Henry VIII, there has been much tension
between Protestants and Catholics within Great Britain. Queen Mary I, daughter
of King Henry VIII, was originally removed from the line for the thrown by her
brother, King Edward VI, due to her Catholic views; however, she took the
thrown after his death. During Mary I’s reign she revived a law making it a
crime “to believe in a different religion than the sovereign,” and burned
around 300 Protestants in 3 years (Mary I). After the reign of Queen Mary, the
Church of England was restored by her successor, Queen Elizabeth I. Along with
the revival of the Church of England came “the arrival of Jesuits and Catholic ministers from
the European continent…
coupled with a national anxiety
and fear of continental Catholicism
and the papacy…
the English government
[began] persecutions against
Catholics” (Scott 6). Even today, “No Roman Catholic, nor anyone married
to a Roman Catholic, [can] hold the English crown” according to the Act of
Settlement passed in 1701. The split from the Catholic Church along with the
retaliation of Queen Mary I led to distrust and enmity between Catholics and Protestants
in England.
Throughout the novel, Stoker dances
with the reader on the line between faith and superstition. Before Jonathan
Harker leaves the inn for the Borgo Pass and, what is meant to be his final
destination, Dracula’s castle, he is begged by the inn keeper’s wife not leave
on St. George’s day, and given a crucifix for protection. Harker writes in his
journal, “as an English Churchman, I have been taught to regard such things as
in some measure idolatrous”, and in the same entry he notes that he is unsure whether
his feeling of uneasiness stems from the strange traditions of the village or
the crucifix (Stoker 4). Later in the
story, Van Helsing plans to place a rose branch on Dracula’s crate to prevent
him from getting out. Similarly, while attempting to slay the vampire who had
been Lucy, Van Helsing places clay containing a holy wafer around the door to
prevent Lucy from getting into her tomb. In the Catholic faith, it is the believed
that bread is turned into the body of Christ through transubstantiation. The
rose and the holy wafer that is thought to be the body of Christ both have
equal power over the vampires.
The history of Catholics in Great
Britain is one full of enmity and persecution. Although the world is a different
place today and tolerance is easier to come by, the tradition of distrust and
tyranny of the majority can still be seen in England’s Act of Settle. Stoker’s
Dracula is another reminder of the attitude towards Catholics that was so prevalent
in his time. While Van Helsing discusses the the rose branch, he says “to
superstition must we trust at first; it was man’s faith in the early, and it
have it’s root in faith still” (Stoker 281). Perhaps Stoker believed that the
Catholic ideology was applicable before, but felt that it was time for a more
efficient form of Christianity, such as Protestantism.
Stoker, Bram. Dracula. London:
Constable & Co., 1897. Print
Act Of Settlement. The Royal Household,
2008/09. Web. 18 November 2012.
Roman
Catholic Relief Act 1829. National Archives, n.d. Web. 18 November 2012.
Mary I. The Royal Household, 2008/09.
Web. 18 November 2012.
Scott, Mitchell. “The Marian and Elizabethan
Persecutions: How England Was Prepared for Persecution
and Defended From Martyrdom.”
Diss. U of Louisville, 2002. Web. 18 November 2012.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
dracula and the devil
Count Dracula and the
Devil
Eugene Hernandez
Who
could Bram Stoker’s evil antagonist, Count Dracula, be compared to in the
Bible? In many ways Dracula is very
similar to the bible’s adversary Satan. Dracula and the Devil, these immortal
beings that torment humanity, share specific similarities by the way they are
depicted and of their desperate attempt to capture human souls and lead them in
a path away from God.
In the novel Dracula, the vampire named Count Dracula
is a very powerful creature who feeds on human’s blood but he does so especially
on the women of the novel such as Mina Harker (Stoker 307). Satan from the
Bible is also a powerful immortal that thrives on taking human’s lives. In
Christianity it is believed that he derails humans from following God’s ways,
thus denying their chances of living forever. He too went after Adam’s wife Eve as stated in
Genesis 3:1-5 where Satan influenced Eve into disobeying God by eating from the
forbidden tree. It is interesting to see the comparison of how both Dracula and
the Devil went after the women first to get to the men as well. Dracula sucked Lucy’s blood several times
prompting the men in the novel to give blood to Lucy as well (Stoker). Dracula
ended up consuming their blood as well through Lucy. Eve was able to convince her husband Adam to
disobey God as well, but Satan had only spoken with Eve.
Both Dracula and
Satan are described as beings that can transform into different kinds of
animals. The Devil transformed himself
into a serpent when he talked to Eve. In
the novel, Van Helsing describes Dracula, “He can transform himself to wolf, as
we gather from the ship arrival in Whitby… he can be as a bat, as Madam Mina
saw him” (Stoker 259-60). Whenever it was necessary, Dracula would transform
himself into a bat or wolf to his benefit.
In the Romanian language, “Dracul” means dragon (Ioana) and this is
important as in the Bible, Satan is described several times as a dragon. “The great dragon was hurled down—that
ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole
world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him” (Rev.
12: 9, NIV). Here Satan is described as
a serpent and a dragon. Stoker may have
used the name Dracula to compare the Count to the Devil. Author Bram Stoker also described vividly
Dracula’s face to that of Satan as “His eyes flamed red with devilish passion
the great nostrils of the white aquiline nose opened wide and quivered at the
edge; and the white sharp teeth, behind the full lips of the blood-dripping
mouth, champed together like those of a wild beast” (Stoker 307). In this dramatic description of the Count,
Stoker uses the color red to convey the image of the vampire. The Devil has also been depicted as being red
in a burning inferno.
These are some
comparisons of the Devil and Dracula. Why would Bram Stoker consider it
important to describe Dracula as this evil demon who is the opposite of God? Was Dracula forgiven when he was killed?
Fear of Religion
In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the
character of Dracula is often seen depicting the devil or in some cases God,
but Dracula more accurately represents Stoker’s fear for organized religion
with the showing of the dangers in spreading yourself around and using women to
put children under Dracula’s spell in blind faith.
In Dracula Bram Stoker uses the character
of Dracula to represent a new religion just beginning with showing the
relationship between using crates of soil to help Dracula travel with mission
trips where students will travel around the world trying to convert people to
their certain religion. In Dracula Bram
Stoker shows that Dracula can only travel and sleep in soil from his homeland
of Transylvania making it so he must pack of crates of soil and disperse them
across England because that is the territory that he wishes to move to for the
fact that he would be able to make more vampires in the area. This brings a big
parallel with mission trips made both a while ago when Christian missionaries
were exploring new parts of the world and even today with churches of all denominations
sending school aged students on missions across the world. Mission trips are
used by every large secular religion to spread their religion to all parts of
the world but since Stoker was born into an Irish Protestant family church we
can believe he is mostly talking about Christian missionaries for the story of
Dracula. Christian missionaries are known for travelling to many parts of the
world to spread the Christian faith but one criticism that seems to arise from
the mission trips is that Christians are westernizing these cultures that did
not have Christianity instead of simply teaching the faith. This fear seems to be
what Stoker is advising with Dracula showing that if you go around spreading
your own culture and beliefs you are taking away the culture of those you are
trying to help.
Stoker
shows a fear of organized religion and blind faith by showing that Dracula uses
Lucy to bite children and turn them into vampires after she is turned into one
herself. When Lucy gets turned into a vampire in the novel and leaves he grave
at night she is trying to bite others around her but she isn’t going after
older adults that can fight her off she is going after weak and innocent
children that she knows she can infect. When children are young they start to
develop a personality for themselves but it never starts out as something they
really explore more of just adhering to what their parents believe. This is
known as a time in development called “Identity Foreclosure” which is defined
by “the status of adolescents who prematurely commit to an identity without adequately
exploring alternatives” (Feldman 388). This can also be seen as blind faith
where children will latch onto the religion of parents and guardians simply
because they are in an environment where that’s all they know. Using Lucy to attack
children can be seen as making them blindly believe in this vampire way of life
with no real idea of what they are doing or trying to accomplish. Using sucking
the blood out of children shows the fear that Stoker sees in organized religion
being a danger to society.
Stoker’s
fear of organized religion is manifested in the things Dracula does to keep his
legacy alive, with sucking the blood out of children and using foreign soil to
draw parallels with blind faith and missionaries. One thing I was trying to
look at was maybe more of Dracula representing a perversion of religion with
Mina drinking his blood against Christians drinking wine at communion, as well
as more research into Stoker’s religious background and missionaries in the
past.
Works Cited
Feldman, Robert. Development Across the Life Span. Upper
Saddle River, New Jersey: University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 2011. 1-724.
Print
Stoker, Bram. Dracula. London, England: Puffin Books,
1887. Print
Dracula vs Voldemort
In Bram Stokers
Dracula. Dracula needs the soil from Translvania that he was buried in to
properly rest and maintain his immortality. In J.K Rowlings Harry Potter, Lord
Voldemort puts his soul in seven items of importance known as Horcruxs to
achieve immortality. How does Dracula’s Craters of Soil compare to Voldemorts Horcruxes
and their effect on immortality.
Dracula is a
vampire and eats humans to maintain his power, as a vampire he is immortal and
can live forever. But is his immortality limitless? When Dracula travels to
England he brings along coffins full of native Transylvanian soil that he was
buried in. why does he do this? There is soil in England that he could use, but
he brings along his own. There must be something in the soil that maintains his
powers and his immortality. If Dracula were truly immortal then he would not
have to bring his soil with him.
Lord Voldemort is
a powerful and evil wizard, he is so feared that wizards refuse to call him by
his name, and instead refer to him as He who must not be named and wants to get
rid of Muggles(non-magic folk) in the Wizarding world and be supreme ruler.
Voldemort was scared of death, so in order to achieve immortality he put his
soul into 6 different objects known as Horcruxes. Helga Hufflepuff’s cup,
Rowena Ravenclaw’s Diary, Tom Riddles diary, Marvolo Gaunt’s ring, Salazar
Slytherins locket and his pet snake Nagini. He also accidental put his soul
into Harry Potter the night he tried killing him. He split his soul 7 times and
each time Voldemort lost more of his humanity. By splitting his soul, he was
able to achieve immortality. In order to
kill Voldemort you would have to destroy all 7 Horcruxes. He made this task
difficult by hiding them in separate areas.
Both Dracula and Voldemort
hid away the items that kept them immortal and spread them out to keep them
safe. So does this make them truly immortal or is their immortality tied to
their sacred items? Their downfall was thinking their immortal. Believing your
immortal gives you a cockiness that you cant be defeated, but there not Gods,
they could be defeated, even though it was extremely hard it was done. Both
Dracula and Voldemort despite achieving immortality were killed.
Dracula needed the
soil to properly rest and maintain his powers, but it didn’t hold his soul. If
it was destroyed he could go back to Transylvania and seek more. But in order
for him to travel he would have to have it with him. In my opinion the old
Dracula at the beginning of the novel was a Dracula that hasn’t been sleeping
in his soil and he starts to age, giving the appearance that he is an old man
to Jonathan, later in the novel Dracula is a young, the soil must help with
maintaining a youthful appearance and achieving immortality.
Voldemort uses the
horcruxes to keep parts of his soul in them to achieve immortality. By doing
this he loses his human appearance and becomes more monster than man, the
opposite of Dracula and his soil. If the horcruxes are destroyed he cant just
recreate a part of his soul, its gone for good. He could always take the risk
splitting his soul more but he will continue to lose his humanity. Voldemort
does not have to travel with his horcruxes and keeps them hidden. This gives
Voldemort the ability to travel anywhere and not be held up with carrying his
sacred items.
Both Dracula and
Voldemort go through great lengths in order to achieve and maintain
immortality. Unfortunately for them its not true immortality and only limited.
Both Dracula and Voldemort have similar characteristics and drive for power
that the sacrificed their humanity to live forever.
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