Van Helsing Quotes Flashcards
“Knowledge is stronger than memory, and we should not trust the weaker”
Knowledge about non-scientific happenings is a more powerful thing to have than memory, which is based off of reasoning and logic, of which needs to be lost in order for the men to succeed. You should not remain in the rigid mindset that is rational science. Just because there’s something that can’t be explained by science doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
“I want to cut off her head and take out her heart”, “May I cut off the head of dead Miss Lucy?”
Van Helsing speaks to Arthur for permission to finalise Lucy’s death as a vampire. If Arthur cannot get past his love for Lucy, then Lucy will run rampant and cause mayhem with her newly acquired anti-Victorian attitude.
“We learn from failures, not from success”
Van Helsing said this to John Seward when they were checking up on Lucy right before Arthur came in and contributed his efforts to the blood transfusion. Alerting John to keep an open mind to the causes of Lucy’s illness.
“But we are strong, each in our purpose, and we are all more strong together”
Van Helsing says this to Jonathon as inspiration. Although Dracula is powerful with his powers over nature, animals, and life, they have each other - the human capability to have loyalty and trust.
“There are darkness’s in life and there are lights, and you are one of the lights, the light of all lights”
Van Helsing directs his compliment at Mina for her cleverness and intelligence. Her recording of the discourse between Lucy and her shed more light on the whole situation for the professor.
“There are things done today in electrical science which would have been deemed unholy by the very man who discovered electricity, who would themselves not so long before been burned as wizards”
Van Helsing says this to Dr Seward in order to get him to understand that the science we know today would’ve been considered witchcraft and impossible centuries ago. So should keep mind open to new possibilities.
“It is a strange world, a sad world, a world full of miseries, and woes, and troubles”
Van Helsing says this in a seemingly burst of hysterics - even Van Helsing, who is the leader of the ‘good’, is breaking down - evil nearly triumphs.
“We go out as old knights of the Cross to redeem more. Like them we shall travel towards the sunrise. And like them, if we fall, we fall in good cause”
Van Helsing describes the party as a parallel to the crusaders, carrying out the will of God - an exaggeration of their own importance.
“It is the fault of our own science that it wants to explain all; and if it explain not, then it says there is nothing to explain”
Van Helsing argues that the flaw of mankind, as seen in much Gothic literature, is society’s ignorance to what is not explained and backed up by science, and logical reasoning, is simply deemed as untrue and false, thus is ignored.
“I want you to believe… to believe in things that you cannot”
Van Helsing directs this statement at his past student, Dr Seward, to get him to see for himself that the cause of Mina’s sudden degradation of health is not within the scope of science to diagnose
“Souls and memories can do strange things during trance”
Van Helsing says this about Mina’s diminishing ability to see Dracula’s location while hypnotised using their connection that was established after she was given the vampire’s blood baptism. There is a juxtaposing mix of both pseudoscience, hypnotism, and a supernatural force, telepathy, which shows how the crew of light must combine their own knowledge and power with the old and ancient powers of the supernatural.
