Dracula - AO3 Context/critical Analysis Flashcards
What is the narrative style the novel is written in (give a specific name)
Epistolary - it means the novel is composed of diary entries/letters
Which important religious sacrament do vampires subvert?
How do they subvert this?
Holy communion
They drink human blood to have physical live - whereas catholics drink Christ’s blood to have spiritual life
(Links to the sin of greed, soulless existence, amorality, secular degeneration of society, moral collapse of society)
The uncanny can involve the __of qualities which shouldn’t be mixed
Juxtaposition
Describe a simple version of freud’s model of the uncanny
The uncanny is where something familiar is proved not quite right
What does Ray Cluley describe Dracula as and why
‘The ultimate patriarchal fantasy’ - as he usurps the female role of child bearing by creating vampires through biting them
- and hence removes the only power women have which men don’t, and is strong enough to completely dominate them
What are the 5 aspects of Samantha Morse’s definition of masculinity?
Virility
Chivalry and morality
Intent to exclude the Other
Asceticism
Autonomy (financial and emotional)
Give an example of a book written about the topic of physiognomy, the author, the date published
Degeneration
Max nordau
1892
What are the two possible readings of the symbolic meaning of the castle Dracula
The castle brings out Harker’s subconscious desires
Or brings out Harker’s primal fear of enclosed spaces
Who defined the terror versus horror dichotomy and how did they define each of the terms
Ann Radcliffe
Terror = dread/anticipation which precedes an experience and can be drawn out
Horror = revulsion that follows the experience
Who wrote a book on the concept of the sublime, when did they write it and what was it called
A philosophical enquiry into the origin of our ideas on the sublime and beautiful
1757
Edmund Burke
According to Burke, the sublime can make us feel___, ____ and feel ___pain
Why?
Insignificant, terrified, negative pain
Insignificant - as the sublime is so Great
Terrified - as there is such a potential for danger
Negative pain - as the potential for pain/death demonstrated by the sublime object/experience leads us to delight in our own safety and lack of pain
According to Burke, ___is an important aspect of the sublime as it promotes terror.
Obscurity
According to Burke, sublimity can be a positive force for good: why?
It makes us feel insignificant, and gives us perspective. An important source of sublimity is religion (under threat from secular science in the Victorian period)
When was a book about geology published, what was it called, and who wrote it and why was it important?
Sir Charles Lyell
The principles of geology
1830-33
It disproved literalist/creationist Christianity as it suggested the earth was millions of years old (this didnt fit with the biblical timeline)
What was Catholicism associated with for many English Protestants
Foreign customs and superstitions
