Chapters 10-16 - complete Flashcards
what is van Helsing’s first name?
Abraham
what does Seward’s inability to diagnose or stop the progress of Lucy’s illness show?
○ This shows how Dracula exposes the limits of Western science and the power of rational thinking, as even modern medicine proves useless
§ People are made vulnerable to Dracula by a lack of understanding/an unwillingness to believe in superstition: they are blinded by the confines of rationality
□ This doesn’t mean that Stoker is saying we should all be irrational, its more that rational thinking within a limited space of experience/knowledge sometimes fails to discover underlying truths
® The Victorians were exploring the limits of rationality, and the relationship between the surprising, weird and supernatural-seeming advancements in science could be married with the razor rationality they were brought about by?
what main quality makes Van Helsing the strongest/most heroic character?
- However Van Helsing, combining an open mindedness to superstition, a deep understanding of the techniques of modern medicine, and a strong rational capability (shown by his ability to perform blood transfusions), proves the strongest/heroic character
ANSWER SUMMARY: He is not limited to either superstition or enlightenment thinking, and instead embodies the best of both
what do the blood transfusions given to Lucy demonstrate (3)?
- they demonstrate the bravery and chivalry of the men who donate their blood, as well as their moral righteousness
- symbolic of sex between the men and Lucy
○ It could also show how Dracula is drinking not only Lucy’s blood but the blood of all men who donated their blood to her
§ This could mean that he is slowly subsuming the male population, emasculating them as they slowly grow to ‘belong to [him]’
give a quote showing Arthur Holmwood’s blood in particular (and actually all of the men’s blood) is pure and morally strong
Holmwood’s blood is described as ‘so young and strong and of blood so pure that we need not defibrinate it’ (remove fibrin which causes clotting) by van Helsing
what does the blood transfusion symbolise in relation to marriage with a) Arthur and b) all the other men
§ For Arthur, giving blood to Lucy was like the consummation of their relationship and was a pure/good act, as it made them truly of one flesh
§ For the others, Van Helsing says that the blood transfusion made him a ‘bigamist’ and made Lucy a ‘polyandrist’ (a woman who is married to multiple men at the same time)
□ This perhaps shows the corrupting influence of Dracula or Lucy’s own immoral corruption
- As Arthur says goodbye to Lucy (as Van Helsing realises she is dying fast), she puts on an ____ and ____ voice
give a quote about this moment
uncanny and seductive
○ It is described as ‘a sort of sleep-waking, vague and unconscious state’, and she speaks in a ‘soft, voluptuous voice’, saying ‘Kiss me!’
when Jonathan sees Dracula what does he do
- he is overcome with fear and falls into a deep sleep and has forgotten everything when he wakes
- he is still pale and dizzy when he wakes
what is Lucy called (as a vampire) by her child-victims
the ‘Bloofer Lady’
when Lucy becomes a vampire, she becomes the monstrous antithesis of the victorian ____as she preys on whom?
mother
young children
what does Dracula say to Jonathan before he enters the castle Dracula which tells us that Dracula cannot enter a home unless invited - how does this show that Lucy is complicit in her own downfall
‘enter freely of your own will’
how is Dracula sucking Lucy’s blood akin to the sexual act?
§ It involves her inviting him into her bedroom, him penetrating her and drawing a little blood
§ It also leaves marks on her - which is perhaps akin to the mark of cain that the narrator receives in the bloody chamber?
as a vampire, what does Lucy look like?
‘radiantly beautiful’
§ ‘sweetness was turned to adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous wantonness’
§ Lucy’s lips were ‘crimson with fresh blood’ and there is a ‘stream’ of blood trickling down her chin which ‘stained the purity of her lawn death-robe’
§ The men see her with ‘horror’
§ She is repeatedly described as ‘voluptuous’
what is Lucy carrying when the men see her as a vampire and awake? what does Lucy do when she sees Arthur? how is she repelled in this scene?
a child
§ She drops the child she had been holding and demands sex from Arthur, saying her ‘arms are hungry for you’ and ‘come, my husband, come!’
§ She ‘recoils’ from the golden crucifix held out to her
vampire Lucy is described as a ‘___which had taken Lucy’s ___ without her ___’ and she has a ‘___appearance’
Thing shape soul
carnal
van helsing prepares to kill Lucy with ‘___’ (adjective) using what instrument
methodicalness - a stake
- combined rational scientific thinking and superstition
how does the influence of the Undead (vampire) spread? (give quote)
like ‘ripples from a stone thrown in the water’
killing Lucy will free Lucy’s soul so it can go to who?
the ‘Angels’
who finally kills Lucy and how
Arthur - drives a stake through her heart
give 2 quotes from Lucy’s death scene
§ Lucy ‘writhed’ and a ‘screech came from the opened red lips. The body shook and quivered and twisted in wild contortions’
after Lucy is killed - what does Arthur do to her?
he kisses her - as Helsing encourages him to do
which 4 key parental figures are killed after Lucy is killed and just as the novel is reaching its climax
○ Mr swales (the old man in Whitby, a kind of father figure for Mina)
○ Mr Hawkins (Harker’s boss and father figure)
○ Lord Godalming Senior (Arthur’s father)
Mrs Westenra (Lucy’s mother)
what does the death of the 4 key parental figures do for the atmosphere at this point in the novel?
○ Death is pervasive in the novel - the atmosphere is very dark
○ No parent figures remain
§ There is a sense of vulnerability, isolation and lack of guidance
§ There is space for the characters to grow - Bildungsroman
Van Helsing becomes a sort of symbolic father figure for all characters
what kind of christianity does Helsing represent
muscular christianity