Dracula and Women

I am going to go off of what someone else in the class has written for their blog because I am in complete agreement and had alot of the same ideas. This blog can be found here... http://samjanssen.blogspot.com/ ... When I was reading Dracula by Bram Stoker I was also noticing how he only seems to prey on women. The first time I noticed was when the three women vampires showed up. There is obviously a reason for the use of the number three in the novel as well because it comes up many times. Everything seems to be three or five. i am not quite sure why this yet though. Anyway back to the women. Sam says in their blog, "He is obviously attracted to all these women, since they are all described as beautiful, but is a beautiful woman the only thing he is looking for?" I think that he is looking for more than just beauty, but I think beauty is definitely part of it. Dracula does say, "Yes, I too can love; you yourselves can tell from the past." (pg 43) Dracula says this in response to the three women vampires because they are laughing and saying he can't love. This statement from Dracula seems to suggest that he has been in love before. This makes me think that maybe he is only preying on beautiful women because he wants more than their beauty. He wants their love. The footnote on page 43 suggests that this statement means that Dracula can only have "erotic contact" with humans, not other vampires. This makes me wonder if both Sam and I are wrong in thinking that Dracula is attracted to these women that he changes. If this were true and he can only have erotic contact with human women, why would he change them? Why make Lucy into a vampire if he is attracted to her? I do think that he preys only on women because of sexuality mostly because of the example Sam used about Lucy before and after her change. "She goes from being girlish to voluptuous, a woman to a slut. The men fear her and want to return her to a pure state." I completely agree here. Lucy was seen as being a beautiful, innocent women. Now she is the opposite. "Lucy's eyes in form and colour; but Lucy's eyes unclean and full of hell-fire, instead of the pure, gentle orbs we knew." (pg. 188) There is definitely a reason for Dracula only preying on women. Maybe he wants to show his power over these beautiful women; maybe he wants them; maybe they remind him of the one he once loved and so he thinks they need to lose all humanity. It is hard to say.

Frakenstein

I am going to start off by saying that the ending of Frankenstein does not sit well with me. I could not see the ending coming and I in no way agree with it. I feel like Mary Shelley left room at the end just in case she wanted to add a sequel. Yes, I know that Victor is dead, but we never really know if the Creature is dead. It gives me that weird, I guess you could call it uncanny, feeling not knowing if the Creature really does die in the end. I think I feel this way because he is kind of human, yet kind of of supernatural in his abilities and obviously very dangerous. He takes on that character that I know is fictional, yet in the book is made to seem so real. Kind of creepy.
The Creature says, “I shall die. I shall no longer feel the agonies which now consume me, or be prey of the feelings unsatisfied, yet unquenched.” (pg 155) He says he is going to die, but I am sure eventually he will. That does not mean he is going to die rigt now. Then he brings up that his feelings throughout the book, the feelings that drove him to murder innocent people and kill his creator, are still unsatisfied. This says to me that he still has these feelings. Yes, Victor, his creator is dead and he was the only seemingly knowing person in how to make another creature come alive, but he may find another. We cannot trust the creature that he is going to go off and never see another human again and he will die.
Why did Walton let the creature live? He could have very easily seized he opportunity given when he was alone in the room with the Creature. The Creature seemed to be pretty distracted by Victor’s death. All Walton would have had to do was to seize this opportunity. He should have listened to Victor when Victor said, “He (the Creature) shewed unparalleled malignity and selfishness, in evil: he destroyed my friends, he devoted to destruction being who possessed exquisite sensations, happiness, and wisdom; nor do I know where this thirst for vengeance might end.” (pg 151) Even Victor on his death bed is not convinced that the Creature will stop killing and being evil once Victor dies. Why did Walton believe the Creature? Even after knowing everything he knows about this Creature and how evil it is, he still believes it and lets it live. I think this was a terrible choice and the book ends with me wondering and leaving a feeling of uneasiness. It is a Gothic novel so I guess I should expect these feelings at the end and throughout the book. I felt uneasy about the Creature throughout the book, but I guess I always just assumed that at one point he would be killed or I would somehow know that he was dead and gone forever. Neither of these happened and it bothers me. Shelly really gave this novel a very Gothic, uncanny feeling, especially the ending, at least for me.