During this chapter i have a feeling that Van Helsing knows more about the bites on Lucy's neck than he is letting on and that he knows more about vampires affects than he is letting on otherwise how would he know what to do after seeing the bites on her neck then deciding to go ahead with giving Arther's blood to Lucy. From this Van helsing has prescribed garlic as a medicine which is very much a vampiric repellent further giving me evidence for my theory on Van Helsing's theory. Something makes me not trust Van Helsin, perhaps because he is such an eccentric character or perhaps because he knows too much about all these things therefor meaning he has had some bad experience with what is happening now to Lucy.
Lucy is now drinking mass amounts of blood draining Arther, Jack and Van dry and perhaps they are not telling her because she may develop a lust for blood. In her diaries she complains of a bat flapping outside her window (presumably Dracula). If Dracula can change forms was he the dog that came from the boat? Along with this if it flaps outside her window every night then does it come back for blood? in which case that explains the garlic on her window sill and in her window. Having said this vampires aren't aloud in people's houses without permission so this may not be true that he is coming back for blood. All very confusing!
I was very frustrated with Mrs Westenra taking all the garlic and stuff away because i wanted to see the results of it being there rather than Lucy thinking she is better while everyone keeps giving blood.
As chapter 11 goes on i grow to like the zoo keeper who not only is quite a funny man but stood up to Dracula...Dracula! Calling him a bag of bones made me laugh at this man's innocence and although his talking was quite hard to read he put i light-heartedness on such a serious situation that has been occurring throughout this novel. The whole point of Bilder's story doesn't seem to have significance as we already know that Dracula can control wolves so none of this story made me shocked at all because basically its a wolf escaping then coming back. I'm thinking that at this point Bram was trying to show small events that all have links to the eventual main climax that he is building up to but that is the only significance i can think of for this part of the chapter.
Reading further into chapter 11 and seeing the fight between Reinfield and Jack Seward was perhaps changed to make Jack look like the hero which is what we would all do of course. Apparently Jack gets cut by Reinfield who is too strong for him then Jack gets "his right in" instantly making Reinfield crumble then the aids came in. I think that actually the aids came in while Jack was in the corner crying about his wrist! From this we learn that to vampires or that of vampiric followers "blood is life" which is very Gothic and sadistic all at once.
Having just finished the chapter i was shocked at the huge amount of terror that Bram had injected after a nice zoo keepers story. Lucy is gonna die? and now i see why the wolf story was so necessary because it was the same wolf that had scared Lucy's mother to death. It was very intimidating to read about a wolf and bat teaming up in the darkness shattering windows all for Lucy which begs the question, why is she so important to Dracula? what does she have that Dracula wants? and what will become of her in the next chapter? I shall have to read on.
Monday, 19 October 2009
Friday, 16 October 2009
chapter 9
In chapter nine we find out that actually John is ok and he is getting better which for a reader felt like a great releif off my mind. I want John to explain what happened to him and see his travels written down but i feel that Bram Stoker left this adventure open to the readers imagination which therefore personlises it making the story of John even greater to think of. For me i would just imagine John running away from millions of wolves with Dracula in the centre flying towards him. John manages to jump onto a train and gets to safety although im sure it was much worse than that. After this we go back to Lucy who now i feel is becoming the main in this story which is a shame cause i would have hoped that John would still be included although so far he is not and Dr seward becomes the hero with Lucy as his woman in destress much like John and Mina who now seem resolved in their story.
My views on Van Helsing are that he seems to be a good man with good intentions yet seemingly strange in his techniques. This novel has made me weary of every character and their intentions but i do beleive that Van Helsing will help lucy in the future.
Could Lucy be turning into a vampire? or is it just the aftermath of being bitten by Dracula? Van Helsing's visit seems to be a bit of an anti-climax because all he says is that he must think which is strange and intrueging but still somehwat annoying that nothing is being done about Lucy's condition. Descriptive and lexical choices are not as artistic as Bram has been doing but i beleive this is so that the novel gets to its point quicker to give the reader as sense of constant instances that are happening therefore making them read intently through the letters.
The overall chapter has answered a few question but then has aroused new ones to mind and also has given me a new fear of how Lucy will survive and by what means Van Helsing will treat her.
My views on Van Helsing are that he seems to be a good man with good intentions yet seemingly strange in his techniques. This novel has made me weary of every character and their intentions but i do beleive that Van Helsing will help lucy in the future.
Could Lucy be turning into a vampire? or is it just the aftermath of being bitten by Dracula? Van Helsing's visit seems to be a bit of an anti-climax because all he says is that he must think which is strange and intrueging but still somehwat annoying that nothing is being done about Lucy's condition. Descriptive and lexical choices are not as artistic as Bram has been doing but i beleive this is so that the novel gets to its point quicker to give the reader as sense of constant instances that are happening therefore making them read intently through the letters.
The overall chapter has answered a few question but then has aroused new ones to mind and also has given me a new fear of how Lucy will survive and by what means Van Helsing will treat her.
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
chapter 8
Lucy is a vampire! Well to be honest im not exactly sure if being bitten by a vampire makes your a vampire in this novel but if it does then the little sweet country girl is in for a very rough and sadistic time. throughout this chapter Lucy gets worse and therefore scares the reader because they can relate back to her reflecting one of the three scary woman that came onto John.
my favourite part of this chapter was the scene with the bat (probably Dracula) between the moonlight and mina because it has so much gothic symbolism to the whole passage. You could see it as the darkness will always block the light at this time with Mina representing humanity and the bat representing darkness with only a mere window blocking a clash between the two. The whole passage is so suspended in meaning i found it quite touching to read cause it, for me, captured the whole essence of gothic writing in just a short passage. Lucy is obviously getting in a worse condition imagining Dracula's red eyes and also her restless walks makes for a very good reading as the reader doesn's know what she will do next.
Next part of the novel with the letters between two people giving and sending things i didn't understand nor did it wet my appetite enough to want to understand it therefore i read on to Mina's story.
JOHN IS BACK? how in God's name did he make it back to a hospital? is that Dracula playing naughty tricks again? and is John still in his right mind? Just when i though oh God here is another novel which has a bit of action then a whole lot of meaning behind it Bram Stoker comes and kicks that theory in the teeth with a whole new crop of action and questions for the reader. Knowing that John is alive made me read furiously more than i normally would so i could find out more.
Reinfield is more important than i thought. At first i thought that he was just a little treat to get me ready for a full blown nutter coming to england but turns out he either is or wants to be Dracula's runner boy. This is quite interesting because having thought about it Reinfield likes eating things but suggests that the life is going into him much like a vampire so maybe he is a vampire anyway like Dracula and therefore wants some sort of allegience with him. Perhaps i'm thinking too much into this but it could be a posibility.
overall very good chapter, great lexical meaning and symbolism along with vital information about how the novel could go on.
my favourite part of this chapter was the scene with the bat (probably Dracula) between the moonlight and mina because it has so much gothic symbolism to the whole passage. You could see it as the darkness will always block the light at this time with Mina representing humanity and the bat representing darkness with only a mere window blocking a clash between the two. The whole passage is so suspended in meaning i found it quite touching to read cause it, for me, captured the whole essence of gothic writing in just a short passage. Lucy is obviously getting in a worse condition imagining Dracula's red eyes and also her restless walks makes for a very good reading as the reader doesn's know what she will do next.
Next part of the novel with the letters between two people giving and sending things i didn't understand nor did it wet my appetite enough to want to understand it therefore i read on to Mina's story.
JOHN IS BACK? how in God's name did he make it back to a hospital? is that Dracula playing naughty tricks again? and is John still in his right mind? Just when i though oh God here is another novel which has a bit of action then a whole lot of meaning behind it Bram Stoker comes and kicks that theory in the teeth with a whole new crop of action and questions for the reader. Knowing that John is alive made me read furiously more than i normally would so i could find out more.
Reinfield is more important than i thought. At first i thought that he was just a little treat to get me ready for a full blown nutter coming to england but turns out he either is or wants to be Dracula's runner boy. This is quite interesting because having thought about it Reinfield likes eating things but suggests that the life is going into him much like a vampire so maybe he is a vampire anyway like Dracula and therefore wants some sort of allegience with him. Perhaps i'm thinking too much into this but it could be a posibility.
overall very good chapter, great lexical meaning and symbolism along with vital information about how the novel could go on.
Thursday, 8 October 2009
chapter 6 and 7
I found the descriptive choices of chapter six very interesting especially explaining the sea and the buildings around them make it sound like a very peaceful yet busy place to live in. So far in this chapter i am very bored and this is still because i am longing to know about John and feel almost used that Bram Stoker purposefully dragged me into John's story and then just decides to stop it at the point of its climax.
Anyway, i like the little old man in this chapter he is quite quirky and speaks his mind although to be honest i didn't understand a single word he was saying. I managed to get the gist that every tombstone is a lie which is a pretty bold statement and yet you let him have his theory because he is an old man.
Dr Sewards diary is really interesting especially his subject. This book has given me a lust for lunatics so when Bram gives the reader one from an actual asylum reprocutions of Dracula instantly make the reader jump into the case of Reinfield. The depth of insanity that this character has is really interesting especially since he has all these animals and seems to want to consume life, again, reflecting Dracula but on a smaller scale. Dr Sewards diary may be a good replacement for John's account as i can easily see something going wrong with this patient.
Finally this "thrilling" chapter ends with the little old man saying he is nearly dead which made me feel a bit down as i wanted him to have a bigger part in the novel (perhaps having been included in the killing of Dracula).
chapter seven kicks of with a bit of strange events. I like the fact that Bram has made a place of perfection and politeness and is now setting about making it inhumane and dark. The Russian ship is very intimidating and quite unwelcome in this happy place and the captain tied up makes the whole story even more interesting. When the reporter writes out the captains notes it really builds the tension for what actually happened on this ship.
Well by God the sly old dog is back again! I have to admit i did miss Dracula and now he has come to torment this happy village. The captain's notes were very Gothic and scary with a kind of Agatha Christies Esq about them cause of people going down one by one. Now Dracula is back my interest is back to the book and i can't wait to see what he gets up to.
Anyway, i like the little old man in this chapter he is quite quirky and speaks his mind although to be honest i didn't understand a single word he was saying. I managed to get the gist that every tombstone is a lie which is a pretty bold statement and yet you let him have his theory because he is an old man.
Dr Sewards diary is really interesting especially his subject. This book has given me a lust for lunatics so when Bram gives the reader one from an actual asylum reprocutions of Dracula instantly make the reader jump into the case of Reinfield. The depth of insanity that this character has is really interesting especially since he has all these animals and seems to want to consume life, again, reflecting Dracula but on a smaller scale. Dr Sewards diary may be a good replacement for John's account as i can easily see something going wrong with this patient.
Finally this "thrilling" chapter ends with the little old man saying he is nearly dead which made me feel a bit down as i wanted him to have a bigger part in the novel (perhaps having been included in the killing of Dracula).
chapter seven kicks of with a bit of strange events. I like the fact that Bram has made a place of perfection and politeness and is now setting about making it inhumane and dark. The Russian ship is very intimidating and quite unwelcome in this happy place and the captain tied up makes the whole story even more interesting. When the reporter writes out the captains notes it really builds the tension for what actually happened on this ship.
Well by God the sly old dog is back again! I have to admit i did miss Dracula and now he has come to torment this happy village. The captain's notes were very Gothic and scary with a kind of Agatha Christies Esq about them cause of people going down one by one. Now Dracula is back my interest is back to the book and i can't wait to see what he gets up to.
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
chapter four and five
By God that chapter was tense. The sheer plan of Dracula unravelling before the readers eyes makes us in equal shock with poor John. At this point in time i truly believe that John has not got a hope in hell and hell on earth is most surely Dracula's castle. In honesty i felt the whole hypnotising thing was not particularly necessary because it didn't really have a point in the novel for me. Although it being fantastically brilliant in lexical choices and descriptive writing it simply didn't have a point to the flow of the novel for me.
The first time John goes into Dracula's room i felt that i couldn't read on because it seemed so intense at the time. Having read on i was greeted with an anticlimax with the only shocking sight being that of Dracula sleeping.
The next part is what really did it for me because Dracula talks of John leaving the next day. John tests him saying he wants to leave now and Dracula calls his bluff opening the doors to his castle. At this point i thought that suddenly there would be salvation but standing at the doorway was wolves. The end was so near i could taste, feeling how John felt at the same time which for me makes a great novel that not only can you get into a book but you can also feel what the character is feeling as though you are the character yourself. John waits another night but the next day tries to kill Dracula with a spade, suggesting to me that he has hit the height of his desperation to try and kill a man with obvious supernatural abilities with a spade!
Finally John decides to cut his losses and attempts to escape saying goodbye in his diary. This frustrated me i wanted him to keep writing, i wanted to know what happened to him but no, instead i am greeted with a letter to Lucy from John's girl Mina.
Now to be honest this further extended my frustration because i don't want to know about women writing each other letters i want to know what the nutter with the red eyes is going to do about his prisoner escaping. I felt like simply stopping reading cause i found these letters dull and pointless except Lucy's three proposals because i kept thinking one of the men that proposed to her could have been Dracula.
After these dull letters I'm given confusing passages that at first i could not understand but after reading on the fog had cleared and i know that one of the men is the asylum doctor that proposed to Lucy and the other is Lucy's actual husband.
So far i don't see where this is going and to be honest i don't really want to know because all i cared about was John's troubles and not anyone Else's.
The first time John goes into Dracula's room i felt that i couldn't read on because it seemed so intense at the time. Having read on i was greeted with an anticlimax with the only shocking sight being that of Dracula sleeping.
The next part is what really did it for me because Dracula talks of John leaving the next day. John tests him saying he wants to leave now and Dracula calls his bluff opening the doors to his castle. At this point i thought that suddenly there would be salvation but standing at the doorway was wolves. The end was so near i could taste, feeling how John felt at the same time which for me makes a great novel that not only can you get into a book but you can also feel what the character is feeling as though you are the character yourself. John waits another night but the next day tries to kill Dracula with a spade, suggesting to me that he has hit the height of his desperation to try and kill a man with obvious supernatural abilities with a spade!
Finally John decides to cut his losses and attempts to escape saying goodbye in his diary. This frustrated me i wanted him to keep writing, i wanted to know what happened to him but no, instead i am greeted with a letter to Lucy from John's girl Mina.
Now to be honest this further extended my frustration because i don't want to know about women writing each other letters i want to know what the nutter with the red eyes is going to do about his prisoner escaping. I felt like simply stopping reading cause i found these letters dull and pointless except Lucy's three proposals because i kept thinking one of the men that proposed to her could have been Dracula.
After these dull letters I'm given confusing passages that at first i could not understand but after reading on the fog had cleared and i know that one of the men is the asylum doctor that proposed to Lucy and the other is Lucy's actual husband.
So far i don't see where this is going and to be honest i don't really want to know because all i cared about was John's troubles and not anyone Else's.
Tuesday, 29 September 2009
chapter 3
This chapter really hits home how Gothic this novel has the potential to be. Just when i was relaxing into a tale of two men in a castle trying to work out life's little foibles one of the men turn into the scariest being i have ever seen written on paper. and to make things worse he is holding John in the castle as prisoner with wolves on the outside and three vampire women on the inside. At this moment in time i cant help but feel utter despair at the fact that John simply cant get a break. At last for the first time i feel completely and utterly stuck into the novel by the neck (what a pun!)
I feel i am so interested because the secrets of Dracula seem to be coming out of the seems with passages of him crawling out of his window in a lizard fasion and seeing the true insanity and fear striking look of him as he throws the woman across the room. Along with this there are two other intimidating figures along with Dracula that seem to be closing in on poor John. The three women seem to grasp the Gothic feeling of dream-like erryness and lust that intertwines into a fantastically thrilling passage. i like the three women in a strange way because unlike Dracula they have an obvious lust for blood which is shown when they will go so far as to actually eat a baby. the wolves seem to just be on guard as if they are makign a symbollic statement to keep John away from any chance of escape. this intimidates me and they haven't even really done anything yet.
right now i'm loving the book and will be reading on as soon as i have finished this blog. hopefully the action and underlying tension rise and rise and rise until i can't contain my excitment about the novel.
I feel i am so interested because the secrets of Dracula seem to be coming out of the seems with passages of him crawling out of his window in a lizard fasion and seeing the true insanity and fear striking look of him as he throws the woman across the room. Along with this there are two other intimidating figures along with Dracula that seem to be closing in on poor John. The three women seem to grasp the Gothic feeling of dream-like erryness and lust that intertwines into a fantastically thrilling passage. i like the three women in a strange way because unlike Dracula they have an obvious lust for blood which is shown when they will go so far as to actually eat a baby. the wolves seem to just be on guard as if they are makign a symbollic statement to keep John away from any chance of escape. this intimidates me and they haven't even really done anything yet.
right now i'm loving the book and will be reading on as soon as i have finished this blog. hopefully the action and underlying tension rise and rise and rise until i can't contain my excitment about the novel.
chapter 2
From the start i felt the meeting of Jonathan and Dracula was a bit of an anti-climax which may have been on purpose by Stoker. he spent a whole first chapter in detail talking of the views and linking in Gothic styles of writing to inject shallow fear into the reader of what is about to come and then when the meeting did come i found myself reading it twice to look for some sort of depth or double meaning to it but as yet there was none. he is referred to as "an old man" completely taking away his intimidating reputation the reader has made in his head and replacing it with an image of my grandad handing me a worthers original. there is no explanation to his face at the first meeting and regarding speech Jonathan gets a hearty welcome from Dracula. this perhaps makes the reader relax a little which makes me feel even more that this was on purpose of stoker because obviously it is meant to be a dark novel. i feel at this stage there is much more to Dracula and that he will rebuild his reputation quickly into something that is worse than it was originally
the full description of Dracula is very impressive i personally like the line "his face was a strong-a very strong-aquiline." this makes the features scary but Dracula's overall speaking and ways seem to be that of a gentleman which makes me as the reader trust him which again i feel was done on purpose.
i have read on and see that Dracula is not as nice as i had hoped. quite frankly he likes blood so much so he can't control himself when Jonathan cut his chin through shaving. it was a exciting passage because so far it had been all pleasant and polite then suddenly this side of Dracula just jumps out on Jonathan and the reader making me feel stupid for trusting him in the first place. luckily the woman gave Jonathan the cross otherwise things would have been worse.
the chapter ends with examining the beauty of the place around him. i feel that this is an unnecessary place to be explaining beauty when Dracula has just tried to bite John's neck off but once again i feel this is done on purpose.
so far my problems with the novel are that the description seems too precise not leaving much to the imagination and the actual action in the novel seems too far and few in between. Saying this i feel the description is very good and intrigues me and when the action does happen it makes me more excited than if it were happening constantly.
the full description of Dracula is very impressive i personally like the line "his face was a strong-a very strong-aquiline." this makes the features scary but Dracula's overall speaking and ways seem to be that of a gentleman which makes me as the reader trust him which again i feel was done on purpose.
i have read on and see that Dracula is not as nice as i had hoped. quite frankly he likes blood so much so he can't control himself when Jonathan cut his chin through shaving. it was a exciting passage because so far it had been all pleasant and polite then suddenly this side of Dracula just jumps out on Jonathan and the reader making me feel stupid for trusting him in the first place. luckily the woman gave Jonathan the cross otherwise things would have been worse.
the chapter ends with examining the beauty of the place around him. i feel that this is an unnecessary place to be explaining beauty when Dracula has just tried to bite John's neck off but once again i feel this is done on purpose.
so far my problems with the novel are that the description seems too precise not leaving much to the imagination and the actual action in the novel seems too far and few in between. Saying this i feel the description is very good and intrigues me and when the action does happen it makes me more excited than if it were happening constantly.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)