Chapter 6: Miss Mina's Journal and Dr Seward's musings on Renfield

Chapter Six.


 Whitby, Miss Mina's Journals

24 July.

A lovely description of Whitby, its bay and its ruined castle.

Note how the description is full of ghost stories and murder stories and gravestones 

Mina finds the "big graveyard full of tombstones" the "nicest spot in Whitby" (p72)

She describes the "funny old man" (p72), the "Sir Oracle," who is Mr. Swales.

Read his text aloud, remember he is over a hundred years old, and hear him laughing about Judgement Day when all the bodies will try and carry their gravestones with them to show the Lord how good (cough) they were in life.... (p74)

He also points out that many of the coffins/tombs lie empty... even though the tombstones suggest otherwise (p75).

Note, he talks of ghosts, and Judgement day, and hell, and suicide, and family relations and places them all on the same level. From the way he speaks, hell and Judgement Day exist as much as anything else. In such a world, Dracula can already exist p76-77).


Dr Seward's journal of Renfield (p77).

Renfield shows "selfishness, secrecy and purpose" (p77)

He catches flies, then spiders, then ate them... saying, "that it was very wholesome, that it was life, strong life, and gave life to him" (p78)

He "keeps a little notebook in which he is always jotting something down" (p78)

There is "method in his madness" (p78)

He starts collecting sparrows and wants a kitten...or a cat!

Seward decides Renfield is undeveloped homocidal maniac."

Renfield then seems to have eaten his sparrows... as he throws them up !

Seward creates a new classification for him: zoophagous (life-eating) maniac (p80)

Note the very odd conclusion to this entry p80

He compares himself to Renfield as both collect data or 'begin new records'... and then he talks about the day the "Great Recorder" (God/Death?) "sums him up and closes his ledger".

Furthermore Seward wishes he could have "as strong a cause" as Renfield, his "poor mad friend."


Miss Mina's Journal

26 July.

She is "unhappy about Lucy and about Jonathan."

Jonathan is no longer sending mail from Count Dracula's and Lucy... has started sleep-walking again (though her anaemic look has been replaced with rosy cheeks...)..

A storm is on its way (p82) and old man Swales gives another speech (p83)

The arrival of a "strange ship" (p83)

The ship is "Russian and she is knocking about in queerest way..." (note; they have personified the ship).

Homework for next Thursday, read ch7 and ch. 8

Take notes like I taken, extracting key moments and key quotes.

Be ready to present your findings to the class.


Commentaires

Enregistrer un commentaire

Posts les plus consultés de ce blog

Key Issue Seven: Power and menace in Gothic writing (Alexis / Liam / Malo)

Key Issue Seven: Power and menace in Gothic writing (Alexis / Liam / Malo) Closely linked together, power and menace are both fundamental for Gothic Literature . Even though they are not the first criteria someone would think about after watching a Gothic movie or reading Gothic literature, power and menace are nearly always presented in Gothic art. I. Power Looking at power portrayed through Gothic writing, we can already declare that power can come in different forms: fear, torture (violence), psycological aspects (mental), etc.  Power is dependent on a constraint, someone or something that needs to feel or be submissive to this powerful character. In Gothic writing, we can see this through vulnerable characters being driven by fear, for example Lucy Westerna in Dracula.  In Gothic literature, villains (humans or creatures) usually always hold the power, and they use this power over the other characters through violence and fear, for example, Dracula, or Frankenstein.  So, we can
Lire la suite

Key Issue Eight: Melodrama and Realism in Gothic Writing (Milla and Madeleine)

Melodrama and realism in Gothic writing Melodrama and Realism are two main concepts that Gothic authors used and explored to bring the readers into the atmosphere they created.  Melodrama The Melodrama movement was born in France, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries as part of the Romantic literary period. The romantics wanted to express their emotions through art, inspired by imagination, individuality, and nature.  The word Melodrama is made from two different Greek words: Melos meaning music and drama meaning action.  A melodrama is the foundation of every American movie of our time, as it contains a story with conflict coupled with music .  This dramatic form also shows a battle between Good and Evil in three major plot elements:  1. provocation, whatever provokes the villain to act devilishly to the hero;  2.pangs, the pains that the hero suffers through because of the villain’s evil;  3. and the penalty, the denouement, the last part of the play, where the villain gets the
Lire la suite

Key Issue Six : Heroes and villains in Gothic writing (Daniel / Lilas / Eléonore)

Heroes and  Villains In Gothic writing, a specific atmosphere prevails in which heroes and villains are easily distinguishable from other literature genres.  The hero-villain relationship is often ambiguous, and in a number of works of Gothic writing, attraction and love between the two characters might even occur.  Within heroes, boundaries opposing morality and immorality tend to be vague.  In fact, heroes of Gothic writing—oftentimes characters of high social ranking—could be described as morally “grey,” as it is their own goodness—the hero’s tragic flaw—that brings them, through decadence, to villainy. On the other hand, the antagonist is, from his very outset, portrayed as a flawed, lonesome, or outcast figure who must overcome obstacles in order to re-join society.  Generally, Gothic Villains represent one of two archetypes: the Evil Father or the Dangerous Lover. Villains who embody these figures include, respectively, Victor Frankenstein and Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights
Lire la suite