Dracula - context

Question 1

Origins of Gothic Literature

Answer 1

• Came from the Romantic movement - concept of revering of natural world and exploring it’s darker side
• First Gothic Novel - The Castle of Otranto (1764 - Horace Walpole)

Question 2

Initial reception of Gothic Literature

Answer 2

• Not taken very seriously
• Sue Chaplin suggested it was ‘perceived to be read by women’, so considered an ‘inferior literary mode’ against ‘higher intellectual aspirations of the romantic movement’

Question 3

Gothic Architecture

Answer 3

• Inspires gothic writing
• Antiquated buildings in rugged locations
  e.g. Castle Dracula (Carpathian Mountains) and the ruined abbey at Carfax

Question 4

Key Ideas in Gothic Literature - Rational vs irrational

Answer 4

• Key aspect
• Religious doctrines questioned, due to scientific discoveries

Luigi Galvani and Frankenstein
- 1780 - Luigi Galvani was able to channel electricity through disembodies frogs legs - galvanism
- This, and her recent miscarriage, caused Mary Shelley to write Frankenstein (1818)

Jekyll and Hyde and Dracula
- Scientific dangers are explored in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde (1886)
Whereas, Dracula comes from a superstitious place (The Land Before the Forest), but causes scientists (Dr Jack Seward) to question all he knew and was told ‘to believe in things that you cannot’

Question 5

Key Ideas in Gothic Literature - Fears about society

Answer 5

The Reign of Terror
- September 1793- July 1794
- Violent period of the French Revolution
- 1793 - radicals took over government
- Maximilien Robespierre (the radical leader) declared terror would be ‘the order of the day’
- Extreme measures taken against suspected enemies of the revolution
- 17,000 executions

• Influenced Gothic Literature through characterisation of violent, abusive aristocrats and power misuse
  By the end of the 19th century, there was concern around the 20th century, specifically about women’s roles, British empire status, European relations and USA emergence - all of which are explored in Dracula

Question 6

Gothic Genre Conventions in Dracula - The past

Answer 6

• In setting and narrative
• Relies on superstition

Question 7

Gothic Genre Conventions in Dracula - Supernatural Beings

Answer 7

Ghosts, monsters and demons

Question 8

Gothic Genre Conventions in Dracula - Real-life locations

Answer 8

• Isolated buildings, castles, country manors, etc
• Contain dark family secrets and hidden knowledge

Question 9

Gothic Genre Conventions in Dracula - Dreams and nightmares

Answer 9

• Boundaries between reality and illusion more or less disappears

Question 10

Vampire Literature - The Vampyre: A Tale

Answer 10

• 1816 - John Polidori (Lord Byron’s Physician) participated in the famous writing competition in which
• Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, and wrote The Vampyre: A Tale
• It was published in 1819
  Vampyre - Lord Ruthven - terrorises Aubrey (young Englishman), marries and kills his sister

Question 11

Vampire Literature - Arnold Paole’s story

Answer 11

• A Siberian soldier in the Austrian army (referred to in Vampyre introductions)
• Claimed he was bitten by a vampire, and so killed it
• Tried to reverse effect by eating dirt from the vampire’s grave and covering himself in its blood
• Died from a fall (after returning home)
• People claimed to see him around town and get attacked by him after his burial - 4 people died
• His grave was opened and his body was (allegedly) completely undecomposed, and had blood at his lips
  Declared a vampire, and was staked, decapitated and burned

Question 12

Vampire Literature - Carmilla and Dracula: The Undead

Answer 12

• 1872 - Carmilla published (Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu)
• Created the lesbian vampire
• Laura (narrator) preyed upon by Carmilla (vampire)
• Believed his and stoker’s inspiration was Countess Elizabeth Bathory (antagonist in Dracula: The Undead (official sequel)) - co-written by his great-grandnephew Dacre Stoker
• Bathory was a serial killer who (apparently) bathed in virgin blood to maintain youth
• Dracula’s original title was The Undead, until it was published

Question 13

Gothic Terror - Ann Radcliffe

Answer 13

• Successful gothic writer (18th Century)
• Relied on terrifying readers
• Indirectly evokes supernatural and explains it away at the narrative’s resolution

Question 14

The Mysteries of Udolpho

Answer 14

• A black veil appears and covers gruesome secrets
• Female protagonist draws the veil and collapses
• Revealed to be a wax mannequin

Question 15

Critical analysis of Ann Radcliffe

Answer 15

• Readers grew frustrated at ‘terror’
• Wanted something supernatural
  *Walter Scott recorded the ‘reader feels tricked’ by the rational explanations of the supernatural events

Question 16

Gothic Horror - The Monk

Answer 16

• Gave rise to ‘horror’ sub-genre
• Ambrosio (a monk) is seduced by Matilda (a woman in the monastery)
• He plots the rape of Antonia (one of his charges) but his first attempt is foiled by her mother, whom he strangles
• His second attempt is successful, and he stabs her
• Him and Matilda are brought before the Inquisition
• Matilda confesses and is condemned to be burned to death, but he insists she’s innocent and is tortured
• In his cell, a vision of Matilda visits him and gets him to give his souls to lucifer (like her)
• He asks Lucifer to save her, but it’s at the cost of his soul
• He reveals that Antonia was his sister, adding to his sins and that it’s always been his plan to get his soul, and that Matilda was his servant
• He carries him up and drops him on rocks
• Ambrosio suffers six days, dies alone and is damned for eternity

Question 17

‘Terror’ and ‘Horror’ in Dracula

Answer 17

• Satan, hell and vampire are all introduced to Harker in chapter 1
• Van Helsing explains Dracula’s family as having ‘dealings with the Evil One’ in chapter 18, which would have made Christian reader fearful of the character

Question 18

Vlad the Impaler

Answer 18

• seen as the inspiration for Dracula
• Had a reputation associated with graphic, grotesque violence, clearly linking him with Gothic horror
• Romanian monarch in the 15th Century - ruled over Transylvania
  Famous for brutally impaling his enemies

Question 19

Suspending Disbelief and Gothic Narration - Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s view

Answer 19

• Advocated for gothic literature when other critiques were dismissive
• Urged a ‘willing suspension of disbelief’ to engage with gothic literature
• ‘suspending disbelief’ enables readers to become immersed in the gothic narrative
• Gothic literature’s written in the first person, adding possibility to events, as they’re told by someone who’s experienced them
• This realism is furthered by Dracula’s epistolary format, using journals, letters, newspapers, ship logs and diaries
• The opening note explains how the epistolary elements have been deliberately arranged to add a realism to the novel
  This is furthered in chapter 11 with the Pall Mall Gazette clipping hints towards the count letting the wolf escape that scares lucy’s mother (causing her to die)

Question 20

Victorian Society and the Fin de Siecle
- The Great Exhibition

Answer 20

• 1851
• Showcased new Industrial Revolution technology
• Crystal Palace, Hyde Park

Question 21

Victorian Society - Population growth in London

Answer 21

• Massively increased during the industrial revolution (1760-1840)
• Caused more slums to be made throughout the city

Question 22

Victorian Society - London in Dracula

Answer 22

• The count may act as a threat to societal functions
• The count lives in the ‘extreme east’ - as far from Victorian civility as possible

Question 23

Victorian Society - Fin de siecle

Answer 23

• Means ‘end of the century’ (synonymous with 19th century)
• Brought uncertainty, fear (of degeneration) and hope
• Duality reflected between East and West, superstition and religion, horror and terror, within the novel

Question 24

The ‘New Woman’ in Victorian Society
- Mary Wollstonecraft

Answer 24

• Published ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Woman’ (1792)
• Advocated for gender equality
• Inspired suffragette movement and feminism

Question 25

The 'New Woman' Concept

Answer 25

* Middle-class women aspiring for more than domestic/ parental roles * Mina refers to this in chapter 8; 'shocked the 'New Woman' with our appetites' (said with Lucy) * Mina may fulfil the 'New Woman' role - She's an assistant schoolmistress - She's an aspiring writer - She uses shorthand * Some think the 'storm' article was written by her * Female written work was often anonymous, due to the belief that knowledge of female success would be ridiculed by male readers - Mina organises the documentation of the count * Acts as Van Helsing's secretary

Question 26

Fear of Independent Women and Americans - Sexual promiscuity

Answer 26

- Sexual promiscuity of female vampires (in Dracula) could demonstrate Victorian fears of increased female independence

Question 27

Fear of Independent Women and Americans - Mina's wariness

Answer 27

* She's very helpful and said to have a 'man's brain' * She's not included in all of their plans (after being bitten) * The men become wary of her

Question 28

Fear of Independent Women and Americans - The Gibson Girl

Answer 28

* American concept of idealised feminine beauty * Drawn by Charles Dana Gibson * May be linked to the beauty of the female vampires

Question 29

Fear of Independent Women and Americans - USA Threat

Answer 29

* Was in it's infancy at the time (eventually challenged the empire) * It's growing influence acted as a threat to the traditional status quo

Question 30

The Contagious Diseases Act - Prostitution in London

Answer 30

* 1841 - estimated 9,500 known London prostitutes * Created concern * Women expected to only lose their virginity after marriage * 1864 - Contagious Disease Act was passed * Let police officers arrest suspected prostitutes * Had to undergo compulsory STD checks

Question 31

The Contagious Diseases Act - Feasting on blood

Answer 31

This reflects the Victorian fears of sinful prostitution and it's (potentially) fatal consequences

Question 32

James Thomson: The Seasons

Answer 32

* 1730 * uses blank verse = meditative mood, contemplates 'vapours, clouds and storms' 'that exalt the soul to solemn thought' - the sublime

Question 33

Edward Young: Night Thoughts

Answer 33

* 1745 * Edward Young * blank verse about death * illustrated by William Blake

Question 34

William Collins: Ode to (fear)

Answer 34

* 1746 * describes emotional torment and fear, similar to 'aweful pelasures' of gothic terror and longs for fear with 'throbbing heart', allowing experiences like the sublime

Question 35

Tobias Smollett: 'The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom'

Answer 35

* 1753 * creates character that acts as trademark for gothic villains and anticipate gothic themes

Question 36

Seven Years War

Answer 36

* 1754-1763 *fought over 5 continents, restructured Europe's political order and paved the way for world domination

Question 37

Cock Lane Ghost report

Answer 37

* 1762 * possessed Elizabeth Parsons, causing debates of religious difference premarital sex, fraud, murder and superstition

Question 38

Walpole's 'The Castle of Otranto' published

Answer 38

*1764 * created family secrets, haunted castles and the supernatural

Question 39

Walpole's 'Mysterious Mother'

Answer 39

* 1768 * tragedy in blank verse - play deals with remorse of titular mother for committing incest with her son

Question 40

'The Pleasure derived from objects of terror'

Answer 40

* 1773 *John Aikin and Anna Barbauld argues observing others' pain creates moral stimulation that brings pleasure and social betterment * argument based on sentimentalism (valued appropriate emotional reaction to plight of other's for social change)

Question 41

Johann Wolfgang's Sturm and Gang movement

Answer 41

*1774 * nature, feeling and human individualism (romanticism)

Question 42

Clara Reeve's: The Old English Baron

Answer 42

*1777 * response to Otranto * argued it should be realistic - presented as old, translated manuscript

Question 43

US Colonies leave Britain