The most prominent and influential critical insight has been conducted through various thematic approaches, ranging from psychoanalytical theory, through feminist and gender studies, queer theory, political and geographical criticism and even criticism through the lens of science and technology. The research questions are: What are the unique characteristics of evil as presented in each novel?
How does the presented image of evil effect and influence the main characters in each novel? In order to find answers to the questions posed, the enquiry of the present study must base itself on several different critical approaches and interpretations respectful to each of the explored topics. The aim of chapter one, Nature and Evil, is to explore how evil is presented through the manifestation of natural and, ultimately supernatural factors that create the experience of evil.
External phenomena are received by means of the senses and induce a either positive or negative effect in the mind of the receiver. In order to highlight the significance of sensory perception and its role in creating a negative mental reaction, it is best to present the topic through an approach founded in the fundamental English aesthetic theories, such as those proposed Edmund Burke.
Modern critical insight has uncovered that writers of the Victorian age skilfully mastered the association between sensory perception and mental response and applied it in their works.
The outside world has the ability to effect a person internally by conveying itself through the senses, thus imprinting itself into memory and experience Cohen By combining seventeenth and eighteenth century approaches of the English aesthetic movement with contemporary criticism, it becomes possible to form an integral and discrete analytical method that enables a practical approach into the matter.
The notion of exceeding and transgressing moral and social boundaries has its significant presence throughout literature, and is expressed profoundly in the Gothic novel.
The idea of desiring what is forbidden, and crossing into areas that should best remain closed has great significance when taking into consideration the way in which evil can succeed or fail in its ultimate goal of corruption.
Ideas and emotions such as desire, urge, persuasion, seduction, guilt, and redemption will be greatly important when attempting to understand the specifics of excessive behaviour and the transgression that stems from it.
The third and final chapter, Monstrous Females and Female Monsters, attempts to present greatly significant phenomena pervading the entire body of not only English literature, but Western literature as a whole. The figure of the evil female has played a prominent role of symbolic and literal meaning that has through time evolved into something of an archetype.
Although a large quantity of work focus with focus on female characters has been done on Dracula, the remainder of the discussed novels have not been subjected to any meaningful critical analysis of feminine evil. The presence of such figures will prove to be vivid and greatly meaningful in each of the novels discussed. The story of Dracula, in its original version, and in many subsequent adaptations, is widely recognized and appreciated throughout the world.
Even if one is unacquainted with the details of the plot, there are particular elements that have imprinted themselves into popular culture. The plot of Dracula begins by presenting John Harker, a young, freshly trained lawyer travelling to the far away and unknown land of Transylvania to meet a new client of his - Count Dracula. The initial events are not in any way unusual, but what occurs when Harker arrives at his destination surely is.
The Count himself is somewhat awkward in behaviour and quite intimidating in appearance. Van Helsing in the lead, attempt to destroy the Count and eradicate the evil that he has brought with him.
Evil is conquered, and goodwill prevails. The story presents a more oriental picture of the Gothic, in which an enterprising Egyptologist, Abel Trelawny, undertakes the challenging endeavour to resurrect the ancient mummy of Tera, the sorcerer-queen of Egypt.
Through the use of certain means existing on the borderline of science and magic, many cryptic and unexplained events that take place in the novel are explained and final act of resurrection succeeds, albeit with tragic consequences. The novel has received some insightful critical attention, that is however quite limited in its analysis from the standpoint of horror, therefore encouraging a more concentrated approach from the aspect of the purely Gothic.
The main character encounters, falls in love, and ultimately marries a female vampire that constantly visits his bedchamber. What is unfortunate for true horror enthusiasts, the Gothic theme does not prevail through the entire novel. The initially terrifying figure of the female vampire is discovered to be only a clever disguise, and the story takes a turn in a different direction and develops an unexpected political theme.
The unusual combination of politics and vampirism is however executed successfully, forming a rather interesting piece of work that deserves critical consideration. Because of the novels associations with the vampire theme, and its vivid portrayal of romantic liaisons with the dead, it proves fruitful to omit its political aspect, and make a more in-depth exploration into those elements that are essential contributions to the Gothic mode of writing.
The events in the story are based on British folk tradition, namely, the legend of the Laidley worm Hughes The titular White Worm is a monstrosity; an immense serpent that has the ability to transform and take on the shape of a woman - the evil and ruthless Arabella Marsh - whose egocentric aim is to accomplish certain extremely deceitful and malicious goals.
The abomination is eventually destroyed in an immense and disgusting explosion, planned and carried out by Adam Salton, an Australian with British roots. Though fascinating, the story is compiled in a chaotic and unpredictable way, and the events presented in the plot are difficult to keep track of and at times hard to understand.
Nevertheless, Lair is a work that crowns Stokers accomplishment as a writer, and expresses the particular, peculiar and in many ways, unique nature of the man himself. The vivid and gruesome manner in which the author depicts the fight of good against evil is an extreme, though genuine and sincere attempt in producing a Gothic novel. For a number of reasons, this statement finds meaning in numerous tales of horror, gothic stories, and the literary subgenres that have their origin in them.
Fear itself is a negative sensation that is experienced by the mind, which in course, considerably effects physical condition as well. The essence of evil can be described as the abuse of a being that is capable of feeling pain - it affects the mind and is quickly felt by the emotions Russel The influence and effect of evil presented in this chapter uncovers fear and uncertainty within the main characters and brings forth a unique physical or emotional response. Evil is considered as seen through the lens of the outside, natural elements that manifest it, and how they influence the characters experiencing them.
The human mind deals in what it understands and it finds the "absolute originality and unforeseeability" of natural elements unpleasant and disturbing Bergson Evil often influences the tasks which lay before the characters - it causes organizational difficulties, hinders communication and teamwork, and sometimes totally disintegrates the decision making process, therefore making progress tough, or at times simply impossible. Dark and isolated areas are places that are initially considered as safe, where one can find refuge and hide from danger and evil forces.
Evil forces are often able to penetrate the area in which the characters have found themselves in, no matter how safe they may seem, making escape incredibly hard or impossible. Such obscure and superficially secure places are very promising and possess all the characteristics of safety, but they also illustrate the hidden unconscious threat which those who flee never discover until it is too late. When attempting to discuss natural evil stemming from the external environment, the aesthetic viewpoint cannot go unmentioned, as it has great influence on the mind, producing unique emotions and thoughts - both positive and negative.
Notions of fear and pain originating from the outside environment have a substantial effect on the human condition, and they played a critical role in the literature of the era. Aesthetic theory is inextricably intertwined with travel, and throughout the Nineteenth Century, British and European travellers began to benefit from greater freedom and the possibility of safer travel across the continent and beyond.
This created a growing interest in worldwide exploration. The aesthetic theories which emerged during the Romantic period and the Eighteenth century brought with them new ways of perceiving travel and the effect of landscape on the human mind and body.
The physical and emotional experience induced by the environment became an increasingly important subject of study for travellers. Stoker was himself an intrepid traveller - journeying through Europe and America, he held a well formed idea of the difficulties involved in travelling and passing through new and unknown areas.
He was aware of how difficult conditions can cause distress and lead to great material loss and emotional suffering. His novel Snowbound perhaps reflects his viewpoint on the topic.
The motif of travel is present in each of the novels discussed; playing a critical role in the development of the characters and the plot. An idea which emerged from the connection of aesthetics and travel in literary works of the era is encapsulated in the idea of sublimity. Traditionally, the sublime concerns natural images that inspire awe, amazement, and deep reflection upon oneself.
It is a prominent element in the descriptions of nature present throughout the plot of each story, and is surely worth mentioning when exploring ideas of terror-invoking evil. Negative emotions can come into being through the influence of more subtle factors, thus producing physical or mental sensations of lesser intensity than that of pure sublimity.
In his treatise, Burke mentions ways in which fear, pain, and terror can be induced in the body and mind through the operation of various external factors such as darkness or undesirable sounds and smell - all affecting the senses in their own unique way, but producing common negative thoughts and sensations. A human beings ability to see, hear, smell, touch and taste are critical to experiencing the world in its full richness or lack thereof.
The Gothic novel is known to be greatly concerned with representations of nature, and its associations with pain, terror, fear, and most profoundly, with sublimity. Burke contrasts certain sensations by juxtaposing their similarities and differences with regards to human mental and physical reaction.
In contrast, pain is presented as a reaction that can be associated with widely understood suffering. Suppose, on the other hand, a man in the same state of indifference to receive a violent blow, or to drink of some bitter potion, or to have his ears wounded with some harsh and grating sound; here is no removal of pleasure; and yet here is felt, his every sense which is affected, a pain very distinguishable. Pain and fear both result from a moto-neural, or psychosomatic response to an external stimulus.
It is not difficult to imagine how such influence can promote the negative influence of evil, be it natural, supernatural. No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear. For fear being an apprehension of pain or death, it operates in a manner that resembles actual pain. The ideas of pain, fear, and terror being presented coherently, Burke moves on to note specific examples of external factors that may work to invoke such sensations. The negative appeal of a dark and gloomy location is often complimented by more subtle elements such as odious smells and the sounds of wild and dangerous animals that may be roaming in the surrounding environment.
Such sounds as imitate the natural inarticulate voices of men, or any animals in pain or danger, are capable of conveying great ideas; unless it be the well-known voice of some creature, on which we are used to look with contempt. The angry tones of wild beasts are equally capable of causing a great and awful sensation. Burke The forces of animated and still nature are uncontrollable, and indeed, often unfathomable to ordinary man.
It is the impossibility of sensible comprehension of the world that instils fear in an individual. In his book Embodied: Victorian literature and the senses, William Cohen presents his research into how sensory perception influences the body and mind in Victorian literature. By joining human existence with nature, Cohen acknowledges that external experience is essentially what makes and identifies mankind.
For Victorian writers, attending to sense perception serves several purposes. In physiological terms, it provides a mechanism for showing how the world of objects—including other bodies—enters the body of the subject and remakes its interior entities. Cohen Particularly relevant for my purposes are the proximate senses of smell, taste, and touch, which bring the external world into or onto the body; equally so are the distance senses hearing and vision when they are felt to involve tangible contact between subject and object.
The indefinable location of certain sensations, especially those which are negative or undesirable, only make their experience stronger and potentially more terrifying. The interaction between the receiving subject and the observed object becomes the essence of human experience in its most primal form; it affects fundamental instincts that create anxiety while simultaneously merging one with the world.
Such interactions are what make up the essence of the Gothic experience, and are also found expressed in the works of Bram Stoker. A passage from The Cambridge Companion to Gothic Fiction lists the most prominent themes present in gothic novels.
Stoker, by representing the presence of evil through the illustration of horrid settings, allows the audience to witness the physical battle between good and evil taking place in Dracula, such as when Jonathan first lays eyes upon Draculas castle. Jonathan, upon first arriving at Draculas massive castle, records in his journal, the driver was in the act of pulling up horses in the courtyard of a vast ruined castle whose tall black windows came no ray of light, and whose broken battlements showed a jagged line against the moonlit sky Stoker As Jonathan notes in his journal, Draculas castle is overwhelmingly dark, jagged, and ruined, images that are all associated with corruption and evil.
Shortly after, as Jonathan fearfully enters Draculas terrifying, eerie castle, evil is quite literally attempting to consume good, therefore representing the one of the many physical clashes between good and evil in Dracula Wood While Draculas castle is corrupted by evil throughout the entire novel, the once peaceful town of Whitby is contrastingly attacked by evil upon Draculas arrival.
The tranquil, serene town of Whitby, where Mina and Lucy would often spend their days contentedly overlooking the bordering sea, is suddenly turned sour and dark upon the sudden arrival of the beast Dracula. According to a cut out from THE DALIGRAPH that Mina Market pasted in her journal, a terrifying tempest had overtaken the town and sea, as the waves rose in growing fury the wind roared like thunder and the whole sky overhead seemed trembling under the shock of the footsteps of the storm Stoker Dracula, who was on board the ship arriving at Whitby during the horrible storm, had thus infested the once tranquil town of Whitby with his infectious horridness Senf Therefore, through the rapid change in state of Whitby, nature is reflecting Draculas evilness invading a setting of peacefulness and good.
Draculas evilness is furthermore reflected in the setting of Dr. Sewards asylum. Seward often notes the horrid state of his asylum, recording in his diary, It was a shock to me to realize the grim sternness of my own cold stone building, with its wealth of breathing misery Stoker Sewards asylum, after being invaded by the monster Dracula, is the place in which Mina is bitten by Dracula and marked impure. Mina, being loved by all her human peers for being humble and pure, is thus taken advantage of in her vulnerable state by being corrupted by Dracula in this horrid asylum, thus marking the asylum as the arena for a psychomachia in which the madman is simultaneously the locus of the edifices vulnerability Roth Draculas evil actions of preying on Minas state of vulnerability and innocence are reflected in the overall appearance of Dr.
Sewards asylum, the setting in which Draculas vicious actions took place, solidifying the settings role in reflecting the actions of evil corrupting good. In Dracula, physical objects are repeatedly mentioned and vividly described to symbolize several contrasting elements between good and evil.
The crucifix, being repeatedly utilized and mentioned throughout the novel, symbolizes the idea of goodness and purity itself, as the crucifix literally repels Dracula and all forms of evil away from it. Jonathan, recalling Draculas peculiar encounter with a crucifix, remembers that the crucifix made an instant change in him, for the fury passed so quickly that I could hardly believe that it was ever there Stoker Dracula, worshipping his ego and taste for blood and chaos above all else, cannot stand to bear the sight or touch of the crucifix, as it represents the purity and cleanliness that he does not have within himself Herbert The crucifix, with its power to repel all forces of evil in Dracula, symbolizes the idea that purity and goodness will always triumph against evil, as the sacred crucifix acts as a barrier against the evil creature Dracula.
Alike the symbol of the crucifix in Dracula, mirrors similarly represent the rejection of evil by an object of good. When Jonathan peers into his mirror he sees a reflection of himself, as he is a character of pure good, but when Dracula looks into the mirror he is met with a blank reflection.
Jonathan recalls Draculas lack of reflection upon peering into the mirror in his journal, writing, there was no reflection of him in the mirror…There was no sign of a man in it, except myself Stoker Henceforth, the mirror in Dracula symbolizes the idea of truthfulness and sincerity, as when Jonathan, a man of truthfulness, peers into the mirror he is able to see his reflection, while when Dracula looks into the mirror he finds himself unable to reflect in the mirror of Truth Herbert The mirror in Dracula therefore symbolizes the rejection of evil and acceptance of good, as the mirrors reflection of Jonathan, a character of good, contrasts with its immediate rejection of Dracula, a character of evil.
The symbol of blood in Dracula contrastingly represents the physical and psychological transition from good to evil.
Mina, while being in a vulnerable dream-like state in Dr. Sewards asylum, is forced to drink Draculas tainted blood, as she shakenly describes to her fellow humans, recalling, he seized my neck and pressed my mouth to the wound, so that I must either suffocate or swallow some of the-Oh, my god!
As soon as Minas mouth touched Draculas impure blood, Mina began her transition from good to evil, as when she is seduced by Dracula, she is unclean tainted, and stained Roth Minas newfound impurity is later reflected in her appearance as her forehead becomes stained in the shape of a crucifix as her body, now filled with Draculas impure blood, cannot handle the touch of the pure, holy crucifix. Minas mind is similarly corrupted as she becomes continually disassociated from reality by forming a mind link with the creature Dracula, thus exemplifying the symbol of blood in transitioning Mina from a woman of good to a woman corrupted by evil.
He soon realizes the gravity of his mistake. Professor Van Helsing explains to the others in the group the difficulty of destroying vampires. Rather than being punished for or weakened by the evil acts they commit, vampires only become more powerful with each new victim. This cause and effect renders even the strongest forces of good weak against the powers of the vampire. Ace your assignments with our guide to Dracula!
SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. Why does Jonathan Harker first travel to Transylvania?
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