Notron Knatchbull English Lang+lit hopefuls venture into the St, Mary's Church

This was quite some time ago, the second last week before half-term, when Miss.Beaumont decided to take us out for an afternoon lesson to the St.Mary's Church so that we get that proper feel of gothic air. We looked around and gave ourselves a proper tour, making note of inscriptions on the gravestones and I took some pictures so anyone viewing this blog could relive our adventure into the realm of gothic.

Morbid adventures

Mina and Jonathan get married in Budapest and on return back home get asked by Mr.Hawkins to join him as family. His sole will is written down for them supplementing to their happiness but Jonathan is still mentally weak for his adventures from before. Alas! Mr. Hawkins also dies and funerals take place. In Hillingham that of the Westenra mother and daughter and in Exeter that of Mr. Hawkins. Much morbidity makes way in the story but for strange reasons Lucy makes a very beautiful corpse and seems to grow more beautiful with passing hours. The clever Dr. Van Helsing quickly takes possession of all of Lucy's diaries and the memorandum incase anyone else should get hold of it. When discovering that the all of Mrs. Westenra's will gets passed down to Arthur he asks of Arthur to keep hold of those possessions so that he may learn better of what exactly happened. He finds Mina's letters to Lucy and realises it could be a possible loophole to all the mystery. While in London Jonathan and Mina see Dracula staring at a beautiful girl and Jonathan reacts with profound horror, grabbing hold of his wife with much strength. Seeing that her husband is deeply troubled Mina desperately wants to help him in any way she can and after having read his journals does not really know what to make of the paranormal incidents. Dr. Van Helsing's letter to her then comes in answer as he might have some way or other of helping her understand what has happened. Their meeting is quite successful as both donate to each other's knowledge and the existence of the undead vampire is confirmed. The mystery of "the bloofer lady" in Hampstead catches Van Helsing's interest as children seem to be getting lured by a lady only to be discovered with a wound on the throat the next day. An animal bite is suspected by doctors but Helsing knows all too well that this again is the working of a vampire. What is most shocking then is the discovery it is actually Lucy who is behind this attack.

Van Helsing with companion Dr.Seward enter Lucy's ancestral tomb at night and open up her coffin to find it empty. Later they see a white woman walking in the graveyard and Helsing saves a child who may have been attacked in the same way. With such evidence Helsing tries to bring to Seward the full idea of Lucy's transformation into the undead but his emotional attachment to her keep him in doubt of his teacher's deductions. The next day they go again to look at the coffin where they find Lucy, prominently beautiful and healthy looking with lips bloddy red. Van Helsing opens up her lips to show to him the pointed teeth that have been the cause of the punctures in the children's throats. Later he summons the three men who loved Lucy so dearly and with them venture again to the tomb at night. He keeps them positioned in different places and crumbles the "Host" in the tomb door. Lucy in her deathly pallor and voluptuous beauty then arrives with a child in her breasts and drops it when finally aware of others in her presence. With "eyes blazed with unholy light" and "a voluptuous smile" she tries attacking Jonathan and is stopped by Helsing and his crucifix. Astounded by the ambush Lucy tries to get in the tomb and is unable to do so until Helsing recollects the Catholic wafer allowing her "with a corporeal body" to "pass in through the interstice".

All three men as shocked as they are become more sure than ever of Van Helsing's deductions and agree on helping him to the best of their abilities. The next day they arrive again to Lucy's coffin and Van Helsing produces different equipments from his bag among which are a "wodden stake, some two and a half or three inches thick and three inches thick" and a "heavy hammer". Arthur is given the task of setting Lucy's soul free so it may reast in heaven causing the "Un-dead to pass away". "Arthur took the satke and the hammer," "Then he struck with all his might." "He looked like a figure of Thor" as he did so and the thing in the coffin let out a screech of pain. The Un-dead was done away with and Lucy was put to peace again. Helsing allows Arthur to now give her a final kiss so that he is allowed a proper goodbye.

One chapter of the greusome attack brought upon by Dracula is closed but not all is over as our heroes only take off some couple days to rest before they meet again with two new companions, Mina and Jonathan so that they may find a way to terminate Dracula and relieve England of the horror.

A grand entrance for the vampire aristocrat

In Whitby our typical gothic heroine resides troubled by her sleepwalking inclinations and in Whitby arrives the schooner, carrying with it Dracula, sailing against the forceful tempest. The Count from castle Dracula has now arrived in London to terrorise several lives. From the captain's logbook we discover of a "something" that has taken abode in the ship and for our prior knowledge of the story we are almost certain it is the Count himself who has done away with the ship crew. The image of the dead captain arriving with his hands fastened to the wheel and a crucifix between the inner hand and the wood, still standing conjures gothic horror to every possible extent. A dog strikes out of the ship immediately upon its arrival only to be not heard of again. Is the vampire changing forms now? Lucy becomes ever more prone to her sleepwalking adventures and on one account Mina finds her in a seat at the St. Mary's church with a dark figure with eyes red behind her. The Count is certainly upto some trick but Mina confuses the sight with imagination and lets go of the matter. We find that Lucy has "two little red points like pin-pricks" on her throat and it is easy to guess now that the vampire has begun its blood sucking quest as it may be called. News of Jonathan finally arrives calling for Mina's departure to be with her beloved.

Lucy is in very bad health and is frequently found near the window in her state of sleepwalk. She is growing paler day by day and in her sickly state fulfils a gothic heroine's role purposefully. A bat is always flapping vigorously outside the window as if calling for her. It could only be that Dracula can also change shape into a vampire bat being a vampire himself. For the sake of Lucy's well-being Dr. Seward positions himself to her caretaking. Dr. Van Helsing, the likeness of Hercule Poirot from the Agatha Christie novels, is introduced to the story and adds to much of the excitement and mystery. The fact that he has been called upon as the last resort and the only hope declares much for his abilities. He is for the moment a walking talking oracle, a wise being who keeps knowledge to his own discretion adding to his air of mystique. He seems to know very clearly of what is happening and administers blood transfusion to Lucy who is getting paler and paler having lost blood some uknown way (at least for the moment). Arthur, Dr. Seward, Q.Morris and Van Helsing himself all donate their blood to Lucy chronologically in different ocassions to keep her heart beating lest she should die of insufficient blood in her body. Renfield gives in to timley fits, taking the whole asylum by a mad force and constantly refers to someone as "Master" and we realise certainly enough that here again Dracula has been the cause of the stirrings. Renfiled also manages to break out to a house time and again calling out to his "master" and we can only rightly guess that the house is the property that had been looked upon by the Count. In one co-incidental accident Renfield cuts the wrist of Dr. Seward while a wolf siezes attack after the window to Lucy's room is completely shattered. An attacking wolf which is otherwise quite calm and domesticated and has been visited by the Dracula as accounted by the Keeper of the Zoological Gardens? The wolf controlling abilities of the fiend cannot be doubted. Even the garlic that has been till then successful in keeping Lucy under the borders of safety does not come of use. To add to our horrors Mrs. Westenra dies of a heart attack and Lucy writes a memorandum in case she should die as well.

I am writing this down after having read Miss. Beaumont's blog. If Lucy's death can be linked as punishment for her breaking down the heart of two men then can it be that Mrs. Westenra's comes as a result of her interference earlier when Lucy was set to protection with wreaths of garlic and its flowers all over the room? It does bring in this notion of Karma which is quite interesting as it could have a gothic appeal to it. Be careful of what you do because what goes around comes around and if you do something bad (if not evil) it will come to get you back. It's like a warning to the reader to be careful of their intentions and what they indulge in incase they should be faced with death...as is the result in book. Not such a happy thought really.

The next day Lucy dies as well and the twisted extension to this will be mentioned in the coming blogs. But for now we are assured of her death and her amazing transformation into a youthful beauty with her colour coming back to normal as she lies on her deathbed. In her last hours Arthur bids farewell and when about to kiss her gets flung off with amazing force by Van Helsing. Why or for what reason, it is not made clear as of yet. But Lucy's teeth becoming pointed give us definite sign that she has now turned into a vampire and could be causing possible harm.

Finally some of the drama has come to an end...
or maybe not so for Van Helsing keeps us aware "It is only the beginning!"

An epistolary novel

The epistolary nature of the novel fully develops as we are introduced to letters between Mina and lucy, Dr.Seward's Journal and a letter from Quincey P. Morris to Arthur Holmwood. Mina is a woman of the new century as she is an employed, educated woman. She is engaged to JH which explains much of his references to her from earlier. Her friend Lucy is a typical gothic heroine, fair and beautiful but also sickly as Mina writes 'she has got a beautiful colour since she has been here.' and subject to sleepwalking.
Interest in the contemporary modern technology such as stenographs and typewriters are suggested. Mina wishes to be able to write in shorthand and also type Jonthan's journal on a typewriter when he is back. There is a lot of talk about tombstones in the Whitby dialect which makes the bulky talk harder to understand. The only thing I found out was that not all the graves had corpses in them and the tomstones stated a lot of untrue things.
Dr. Seward's diary is kept in phonograph (modern technology) and a mental patient enters the story, a very interesting character that keeps insects as pets and eats them up when asked to get rid of them. This really is not intended for a pleasing image at all but manages to bring in the gothic effect.
Mina is very curious about Jonathan not posting any letter and suspects that something is wrong. When the letter does come she truly guesses that it is not Jonathan who has written the letter(technically). The sequel is well planned to keep the readers anticipating for news of Jonathan but it does frustrate you a lot.

The hero finally makes a move.

JH now nearly attacked by vampire women, escaping very closely from Dracula's dramatic arrival is removed of all his possessions except for his journal. If the journal were to be taken away as well that would not allow anything to happen in the story so I guess that's the intention there. The manipulation and seizure of power is clearly established when JH is forced to write letters stating his well being, departure and arrival. Frustration also seeps in when we discover that the letter he sent to Mina has been handed to Dracula.
Hypnotism comes in when Jonathan is in the tower looking towards the sky and he is aware of it. It reflects upon peole's interest in such things at that time. There is a grotesque suggestion of a child being devoured by Dracula and it only gets more horrible when the mother is eaten by a pack of wolves.
Dracula is finally discovered in his coffin, his lips red from sucking blood. The imagery here fits into everything that is typically gothic. The pale skin, red lips, bloodlust. We are given a little sense of relief when Dracula tells Jonathan he will be free to go the coming day. But what do we find? The Szgany and Slovaks arrive and he is trapped inside by a supernatural force.

Delving further into the castle: warnings should be taken heed of.

Confined within stone barriers of the castle our hero is definitely a veritable prisoner, having to abide by all that is desired by the count. JH feels himself degradaing and is aware that he has "behaved much as a rat does in a trap". The count is obviously the highermost attainment of the hierarchy amongst the two and the protagonist is merely on base levels if comparisons are to be drawn. Stoker explains his need to mention the country's history through Dracula who speaks with much pride and invoked spirit of his legendary predecessors who were kings during their era. It is very likely that the historical background has a bearing on matters that we have not been given light upon yet.

JH is getting more and more overpowered by the Count and is on the verge of complete defeat. Although speaking with much formality, the Count's use of imperatives make him a very hostile and ill-intentioned character. 'Then write now, my young friend.' is a good example of the deception in his sentence constructions where he is asking for the letter to be written with imposed force while at the same time referring to Harker as a friend. Innocence is definitley not an attribute of the Count. As is expected, Harker is forced to write letters that are moreso letters from the Count himself as everything he writes is the Count's word, embedding with his pen surrogate words. The Count also seems more busy now as he is venturing off during the night as well in important business. Also, his deep questionings of the system in keeping lawyers and interest in import us an idea of his motive to transport things of value to him to England

The hero who is an exact opposite of our menacing villain, innocent and easily mislead, is warned of taking tour in the castle and falling asleep beyond his allocated chamber. What happens? He manages to do exactly what is prohibited and falls asleep in a newly discovered room beautifully lit by the moonlight. New acquaintances are made with three sensuos ladies, resident vampires of the castle. The sensuality is induced with words like "voluptuous" and a constant mention of "lips", "mouth", "tongue", "throat" and "teeth". In this very raw encounter JH is saved from getting bit by the "fair lady" as the Count appears right in time. Harker's inability to make a distinction between reality and dream here brings in the notion of Gothic mystique.

The fury that possesses the Count here is a very essential component of the chapter for here the evil within him can be referred to with hell and the devil. "Positively blazing" eyes "as if the flames of hell blazed behind them", "face was deathly pale", " the thick eyebrows that met over the nose now seemed like a heaving bar of white-hot metal" are evidence enough to tell us what idea or imagery we are to associate it with. The boredom seized hero in travelling around the castle also manages to find a window from which he sees Dracula making an exit from the castle crawling down face down from the windows like a lizard, his cape spread like the wings of a bat. Are there still any confusions of the Count's being? I think not!

The castle is a veritable prison, and I am a prisoner!

From where I last took halt, it has been disclosed that the unexplained rush of the carriage driver was in acknowledgement of Harker's reception by a strange and mysterious personality, the Count himself in disguise. As a caleche rider he comes in with forceful speed just in time to stop Jonathan Harker from being taken away, supposedly to safer grounds , and immediately is set on track to take him to the castle, the destination originally sought out for by the protagonist. The count is well concealed as he is enveloped by darkness and his face veiled by the hat, but no sooner does he smile than the lamplight fall on his hard-looking mouth revealing lips red and teeth sharp"as white as ivory" . The focus of the journey made during the dark hours of nighttime, directed towards a castle atop a winding hill is all in effect for a very gothic feel towards the buildup of the much awaited meeting with Count Dracula. Several incidents that take place during the ride in the caleche such as the howling of dogs in succession and then the wolves causing fearful anguish amongst the horses, going around the same circle deliberately and the prominent blue flame maintain the gothic nature that is very vital to this book.

The caleche driver, the alias, exits in haste before Jonathan is met by Count Dracula at the castle door. Jonathan notes of his handshake being very cold, almost like shaking hands with a dead body, and long holding with the same sort of strength as was found before in the driver. For a slight moment Jonathan thinks of the resemblance between the two, considering if both were not the same. It could be asserted that there is a link here with Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde who are split personalities from another gothic novel. The peculiar way in which Dracula first speaks sounds rehearsed and ambiguous of intentions as it is said politely but sounds very malicious and menacing at the same time, almost deceptive. 'Welcome to my house! Enter freely and of your own will!'. 'Welcome to my house. Come freely. Go safely. And leave something of the happiness that you bring.' Is he really true to his words?? Reference points can be drawn here between this weird speech and the letter written earlier to Jonathan by the Count which sounds very unrealistic as well, stressing on the fact that they are friends when they have not ever met before.'My Friend.......-your friend, Dracula'. Upto now whatever image of Dracula that we have been given stimulation to is not much on the positive side. The fact that Dracula's appearance is described as being clad in black with sharp canine teeth on either side like the fangs of a bat and a pale face with unevenly distributed hair and some growing out of his hands as well does not lighten up the Count at all. If anything it only brings upon the Count a more sinister and fearful outlook.

The castle is inevitably a gothic architectural masterpiece being abode to a noblety of the country. Clearly, Jonathan is awestruck by the beauty of the place finding himself within a hospitable confinement and the words of the Count friendly. But within this grandeur we find the beginning of much horror and obscurity. At first it does not concern him much that his host is unable to eat with him during meals but in due course he notices that the Count never actually eats or drinks with him, having made one excuse or another. It is also very peculiar that the Count is only available during hours of the night where he finds comfort in chatting with the young solicitor until the approach of dawn. It may strike ones fancy in learning of Dracula's strong desire to learn English properly like it is spoken in normal and his apt knowledge of England and the property which he is looking forward to buying. The degree of interest is certainly a ponderous matter.

The second chapter gets most exciting when Jonathan's discomfort within the castle is revealed for it is not without reason that such a change is invoked. His annoying naivety is finally disposed of. The absence of mirrors all over the castle has been mentioned with much surprise by him and hence, the confrontation between him and Count Dracula when he takes out his shaving glass is quite intense. Jonathan finds out in much shock that Dracula does not have any reflection on the mirror and startled by his finding cuts himself with the razor. Instantly Dracula is swept upon by an animalistic instinct and grabs hold of his neck, moving in closer as if to savour the blood trickling from the helpless guest, or in this case victim. He only gains self-control after an accidental contact with Harker's crucifix and fiercely throws the shaving glass from one of the windows, smashing the glass into a thousand pieces, his reason being- mirrors are instruments of vanity. No reflection in the mirror? Fear of the crucifix? All these facts definitely propose the idea that Dracula is actually a being of evil and supernatural forces, a vampire! It cannot be forgotten that our prime gothic character is also invested with amazing strength and an ability to communicate with animals (soothing the horses and the wolves). The chapter comes to an end with Jonathan discovering that his decision to come and stay in the castle has been a grave mistake for he feels more like living within a prison with doors locked everywhere and the windows the only means to escape. The castle and the Count have both seem to put on a facade for an easy deception and the underlying motive and what actually lies beneath the fake exterior is beyond our protagonist's comprehension.