Bram Stoker’s Dracula A tale of two women: The chauvinistic Novel of the 19thCentury OR A subversive feminist call to action? Cover art of penguin classics was a painting called “batwoman”. The painting is female, naked, and has a dangerous look in her eyes and hands. She’s known as a succubus. A female demon who prays on men as they sleep. She was on the cover of Dracula (1993), a book of a man demon. An incubus is a male demon who prays on young women as they sleep. Next edition (2003) was called “The vampire” (1893-1894) by Edward Munch. This painting looks as if a woman is comforting a man but really she is biting his neck and killing him. Narrative Point of View This novel is, in essence, a collection of diffuse documents: journal entries, letters, recordings, newspaper clippings, captains log, etc. In other words, this narrative is completely fractured and does not give us an opportunity to even contemplate a central authority. This fracturing of the narrative (that is, the lack of a central authority is important for 3 reasons. 1.This narrative choice, in itself, suggests the central problem of the story: the lack of cultural authority and the attempt by the western characters to assert an old fashioned sense of their masculine/Christian authority in the face of the modern world that really no longer recognizes it. 2.This point is made manifest in the profound disjunction between what the men of this story say and what they do with respect to the women of this story. 3.In noticing the fracturing of the narrative, we must also note the number of first person narratives contained within the text. We’ve all heard the saying, “perception is reality”. In these first person narratives we are privy to the perceptions of a range of characters; we are privy to their perceptions of reality, we are privy to the way each defines and thinks about reality. Rather than being a story of competing realities, the plot of Dracula is propelled by the conflict between objective reality and acculturated ideology. The exposition (chapters 1-4) What the exposition DOES NOT DO oIntroduce us to the main characters—only two minor ones. oIntroduce us to the primary setting of the story—contemporary England: Whitby, London and its suburbs. What the exposition DOES DO oIntroduces us to a typical/acculturated way of thinking and assumptions about Cultural superiority: Trains Tribes Superstitions Traditional male authority Women oDefines the central conflict of the story Reflections on traveling east Physical description of count Dracula Initial conception of women—ideas that pop into Jonathon Harker’s mind apropos of a domestic setting. (image of woman sitting at table writing a poorly written love letter) Experience with the vampire women oHe has desire for them but also deadly fear.
Want to read all 5 pages?
Previewing 2 of 5 pages Upload your study docs or become a member.
Want to read all 5 pages?
Previewing 2 of 5 pages Upload your study docs or become a member.
End of preview
Want to read all 5 pages? Upload your study docs or become a member.