Chapters 10 & 11

      Chapter 10 & 11 are really focused on the decline of Lucy untill her eventual death at the end of Chapter 11. We see Van Helsing taking command of the situation in chapter 10, he talks in parabels to Dr. Seward and his vague riddles, "...knowledge is stronger than memory" leave us with a christ like impression of the good Dr Van Helsing. This is perhaps a device used by Stoker to highlight the Godly capacities of his hero. He deliberately describes Dracula as the anti-Christ and equally he needs a 'Christ like' good character to be able to defeat the evil one. Furthermore, one could suggest that the name of Dr Van Helsing- Abraham- is linked to the character having a patriarchal religious role. Van Helsing is the character that all others turn to in their time of need, specifically Lucy in chapters 10 and 11, showing that he is a father like figure in the novel. Abraham was the founding father of all 3 major monotheistic relgions (Christianity, Judaism and Islam) and as such it is a fitting name for Van Helsing as it may symbolise Stoker's intentions for the character. On the other hand, Stoker could just be being very vain by giving the novel's hero his own name.

Blood, again is the focus in these chapters. There is the blood transfusions that Dr Seward and Van Helsing give to Lucy. Given the religious focus in 'Dracula' one could compare the giving of blood in the trasfusions to the Eucharist, drinking the blood of Christ through the medium of wine. I believe the point of the Eucharist is to remind us that Christ died for us and our salvation and to save us from our sins, the transfusion given to Lucy is indeed saving her (albeit temporarily) from her fate as a bride of Dracula. Furthermore, just as Christ gave his blood Dracula takes blood and this can be seen as another method of highlighting that the character of Dracula is the evil anti-Christ. There is also the scene in which Renfield starts licking Seward's blood off of the floor in his cell after he has attacked the Dr. He proclaims, "The blood is the life! The blood is the life!" Renfield is almost Vampiric in this chapter and this adds a new, more evil dimension to his madness.

Finally we have the newspaper interview with a zoo keeper following the escape of a wolf, "Bersicker". This is rather strange as Mr. Bilder describes seeing a figure who is obviously Drac, "a tall, thin chap, with a 'ook nose and a pointed beard" talking to Bersicker  and presumably lets him out. YET, Drac can change shape himself so why he would need to release Bersicker is confusing. It could be that in order to change shape he has to do something to the animal/human/thing to become it. Weird anyhow- perhaps Mr F can explain this to me. :)