Bram Stoker’s Dracula seems to touch a lot on the themes that we’ve talked about so far in this class. Whereas Wuthering Heights had some Gothic elements that were pretty spooky at time, I think that Dracula has more obvious gothic themes, which in turn keeps the book pretty scary. The wolves, the creepy old castle, the count himself—it seems as though these are all things that stuck with us through years. I mean, look at Halloween.
I also had no idea how much sexual repression played into the development of vampirism. Seeing female vampires licking their lips in vampire movies used to just give me the impression that Hollywood added that aspect to vampirism and vampire movies with the whole ‘sex sells’ thing in mind. It’s very interesting to see that the sexuality in vampirism actually comes from a much more interesting social situation.
Considering the way that sexuality was perceived in Victiorian culture, I would imagine that the ‘brides of Dracula’ were downright terrifying when this book was first published. The way that Jonathan was simultaneous repelled and drawn in by them was a good example of the power that people thought that sexuality had over people’s minds. Also, I think they provide a strong counterpoint to the much purer female protagonists of the story. Seeing what ‘good’ Victorian women were supposed to be like made the ‘bad’ vampire women that much scarier.
Overall, I am enjoying this movie for multiple reasons. It’s pacing is a bit quicker than some of the other readings we’ve done, which is nice. Also, it’s pretty spooky, which is also nice (especially with Halloween right around the corner). Most importantly, though, I think that Dracula is really helping to drive home some of the themes and ideas that we’ve been talking about. I think that Carmilla made it easier to understand the themes of sexual repression in Victorian culture, and it’s similarities to Wuthering Heights is helping me to understand many of the themes associated with gothic literature.
I too saw the similarities between Dracula and Wuthering Heights. I noticed that the settings was the same and some of the language used was similar. I also thing that Dracula and Heathcliff have some similarities. I think that both characters are both crazy and selfish. Heathcliff was selfish for obvious reasons but Dracula was selfish because he wanted Jonathan all to himself and wanted him first. When the three women vampires found Jonathan Dracula told them that they would have to wait till he was done with him.
ReplyDeleteI also see similarities with Carmilla. I think that the way Dracula attacks Lucy reminds me a lot of the way Carmilla attacked Laura. They both preyed at night and without the victim knowing. Another thing that was a similarity was that two small marks were left and doctors in both stories did not know what it was. The doctors both saw the marks and did not know what to do. They also both consulted a second doctor.