Why is the whole of 'Dracula' written in journals and letters?

Right, I'm basically just going to copy out what I wrote down in class on Tuesday...

One of the reasons why the text is written in journals and leters is to try and put across the idea of versimilitude, that the text itself is real. We know that Bram Stoker wanted Dracula to seem like a true story as he writes a foreword saying, "All needless matters have been eliminated, so that a history almost at variance with the possibilities of latter-day belief may stand as simple fact." Making the story seem real, is key to the novel as the reader must be forced to suspend their disbelief, through an appearance of non-fiction, "12 May- Let mebegin with the fact", so as to enjoy the text and the supernatural content that it covers, "...thus using every projection and inequality move downwards with considerable speed". Dracula is a book about Vampires so Bram Stoker had to persuade his aidience to distrust their Victorian sensibilities in order for them to fully engage with the text. The letters and diary entries that Soker uses are the mechanisms that they could have related to and trusted.

I would write a little more about how the form of the text uses diary entries and letters to give a sense of privacy (and also invasion of privacy by the audience being party to these personal documents) HOWEVER Ronnie currently has my copy of Dracula. I leant it to her out of the kindness of my heart when she no-showed on Tuesday and it's yet to be returned. Disgraceful behaviour I know. But the sum of her actions basically are I can't reference the text as I haven't got a clue how to get the kindle version back to chapter 5 without losing my current place soo... that will have to wait for another time.
Toodles.

Dracula, Dreams and Sex-Freud what have you done? 17/11/2011

So basically, we've been asked to blog on Freudian symbolism in dreams in Chapter 3 in Dracula. Can I just start by saying, I completely don't buy any of Freud's analysis myself. He strikes me as a man who was completely and utterly obsessed with sex but he takes his obsession to the point where literally everything in the ENTIRE WORLD is reducable to sexual objects and actions. This is just absurd/ridiculous/nonsensical/stupid etc. etc.

I guess the key point is, however, that Bram Stoker would undoubtedly have heard about the raving lunatic that was Freud so he may have allowed the theory to influence the way he presented the dream sequences throughout the book and the descriptions that he gives.
Here's a  revision orientated list of things in CHAPTER 3 that may be linked to Freudian symbolism:

• "The castle","the valleys and gorges" (p.37)- female genitalia
• "I behaved much like a rat does in a trap" (p.30)- mechanism of the trap male genitalia
• Compares the Count to a lizard, "just as a lizard moves along a wall", "the Count go out in his lizard fashion"(p.38)- reptiles are, again, male genitalia
• Describes the count climbing down the castle, "thus using every projection and inequality move downwards with considerable speed" (p.38)- climbing (and I would assume descending)  are Freudian symbols of the act itself.
• Jonathan being trapped in his room, with all the doors (female genitalia) locked, "They were all locked as I had expected" (p.38)- the lack of "key" is made an issue and I reckon a key fits a description of what normal object has to look like to be reduced to male genitalia.
• "passages"- (p.38) female genitalia (again)
• Mountains described as "jagged" (p.39)- fits with the whole 'sharp' thing.
• The journal itself, 'paper'- female genitalia
• The encounter with the two female vampires-"the hard dents of two sharp teeth" (p.42)- penetration, "went down on her knees", "deliberate voluptuousness", "licked her lips"
• Voices of the women described as "musical" (p.41)- musical instruments obviously equal masturbation

'Transylvania is by far the most romantic and inspiring of Romania's provinces'- WHAT? 15/11/2011

So we were asked to find out a fact about Transylvania and according to Romania's tourism board Transylvania is:

"by far the most romantic and inspiring of Romania's provinces" - not exactly what initially sprung to my mind either. My more serious interesting fact is that Bran Castle in Transylvania (the region to the West of the Carpathians) is also known as Dracula's castle. Here are some pretty pictures :)  Transylvania  Bran Castle

Ooh and on one final note, they absolutely loved killing each other in Transylvania in the 14th century, Vlad Draul III's (Vlad the Impaler) older brother was buried alive. It sounds like they were all (well maybe not quite) as bad as each other. :S

Vampires :D

Vampires :D

1. The little vampire (2000)

A human kid called Tony, moves to Scotland from California, and gets bullied by his new class mates. After dreaming of Vampires, he meets a little vampire called Rudolph (who becomes his best friend) and his vampire sister Anna. Some evil guy wants to send Rudolph, Anna and his family to the underworld by getting hold of a mystical stone. This stone can also turn Rudolph, Anna and their family into humans. Because of Tony and his Dad's bravery, they kill the evil guy and the vampires are turned into humands. It was an epic film when I was 7 :)


2. The Vampyre (1819)

A guy called Aubrey has a mate called Lord Ruthven (characterised after Lord Byron). Wherever Aubrey goes with Lord Ruthven, bad things happen i.e. people die. The pair end up being attacked by bandits and Ruthven is mortally wounded, he makes Aubrey promsie not to tell anyone of his death for a year and a day. However.... when Aubrey returns to London he discovers Ruthven is there- He's still alive!!! Aubrey puts two and two together and realises Ruthven is a vampire! Duh, duh, duh!! Unfortunately, Ruthven starts to woo Aubrey's sister and he is powerless to do anything about it. A year and a day later when Aubrey is free to speak he rushes to tell his sister that her fiancee is a vampire but discovers her dead in a pool of blod, he was too late! 
Significance? The original vampire tale, sorts out the original characteristics of a vampire e.g. high status and intelligence. Interesting fact: Polidori wrote The Vampyre because of a challenge set by Lord Byron which Mary Shelley also accpeted resulting in her writing Frankenstein.

3. Varney the Vampire

Varney isn't quite as nice a vampire as his name may make his seem. What is particularly interesting about Varney is that he hates his condition, very similar to 'modern day' Vampire. He was cursed with vapirism after turning over a Royalist to Oliver Cromwell in the 1600s. It seems like the author wanted his audience to feel sympathetic towards Varney as they gradually learn more of his origins as a 'priest' and the unfortuante death of his son whom he kills during a fit of anger (after being changed into a vampire). I quite like Varney :D  

Faustus: funny or scary? (3/11/2011)

So, I've been pondering the question that Mr. Francis asked us to look into last week and I think the answer lies completly in the context of the production.

Historically, when Faustus was put on in Elizabethan times and the years following Faustus would undoubtedly scare the audience. I can only really think of one scene which might now be described as truly frightening (the last one) but the very concepts involved in Faustus, Lucifer and Hell would be all so real to an Elizabethan audience. No longer do the majority of the population believe that Faustus' fate is one that they too could endure, but back then most people believed that going to hell a place, "where we are tortured and remain forever" a possibility.  This prevelant Christian belief would have brought a terrorfiying realism to Faustus and I think that this would have caused people to have shivers down their spine. Because of the levels of belief held in the 1600s I would imagine that the play would be performed in a much darker manner. In the sceptical 21st century the concepts that forge the making of this play are not regarded with such seriousness, yet I am positive that an Elizabethan production of the play would have to present the seriousness of Faustus' actions completely- after all Faustus is as much of a warning as it is any other type of play. The humour that is written into the play acts as a light relief to the otherwise scary nature of the play, but it must be noted that Marlowe never makes light of what Faustus has done.

Nowadays, however, I think Faustus is more of a comic play. No longer does a 'life and death' realism have a grip of the play and the audience that view it. This allows more humour to creep in, which in turn grants a kind of 'comic license' to the actors who perform the various roles. The rise in the playing on humour in Faustus such as the scene where "[The Pope] cross[es himself] and Faustus hits him with a box of the ear." has to take a greater precedence in the play because the fear that once played a large part in the production is lesser. Why is it lesser? Well, not only because of the increasing levels of agnosticism and aetheism but also because people's expectations about what is scary have moved on too. Horror movies are what 21st century people watch when they want to be scared not Elizabethan plays. Unfortunately, Faustus can't quite keep a modern audience on the edge of their seat through horror alone and so it has somewhat morphed... into a comedy.

On a lighter note, just got a kindle- it is awesome :D

So is Faustus a Goth? 1/11/2011

So we have beena sked to blog about whether Faustus is truly a Gothic character or a tragic one instead.
I would argue that he is a mixture of both as he has a number of tragic and gothic character traits:

Gothic Traits

1. At the very start of the play Faustus has a strong passion for knowledge, particularly in the 'gothic' art of necromancy-dark magic. His desires for 'power', 'honor' and 'omnipotence' at the start of the play could be described as obsessive through the fact he sells his soul to the devil as a means of achieving them. What is tragic however is that once he has sold his soul, the passions and ambitions that Faustus held at the start of the play ebb away and he is content to be satisfied by Mephistopheles taking control and doing everything for him.
2. Faustus is an intelligent man, this can be seen through his dismillas of great subjects of knowledge including 'law', 'medicine' and philosophy and belittling the works of the great masters of these subjects e.g. 'St Justinian'. Tragically by the end of the play he wishes he had never opened a book, 'never read book!'[act 5] showing that he recognizes his intelligence has caused his downfall.
3. Linked to an idea of corruption- Mephistopheles corrupts Faustus throughout the playthrough: getting him to sell his soul and not allowing him to do the things that he desired when the bargain was made.
4. Inhuman in some way- he sells his soul!

BIG TRAGIC TRAIT

1. Hubris!!- Faustus' arrogance and pride causes him to sell his soul and prevents him from repenting at the end of the play.