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Dracula (Oxford Playscripts)

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It is through your support of visiting Book Analysis that we can support charities, such as Teenage Cancer Trust. Most critics agree that Dracula is, as much as anything else, a novel that indulges the Victorian male imagination, particularly regarding the topic of female sexuality. In Victorian England, women’s sexual behavior was dictated by society’s extremely rigid expectations. A Victorian woman effectively had only two options: she was either a virgin—a model of purity and innocence—or else she was a wife and mother. If she was neither of these, she was considered a whore, and thus of no consequence to society.

Sarah Midnight Trilogy by Daniela Sacerdoti is set in Scotland and Poland, with a teenage girl struggling to accept her gift for hunting demons. Library copies available. Some writers believe that vampires were inspired by real life illnesses from times before medical understanding. You can read about some examples here. Rights Respecting SchoolsThe fictional book ‘Dracula’by Bram Stoker contains a number of important themes that reflects Stoker’s philosophies and attitudes and, by extension the sensibilities of the period he lived in. Within the narrative, these themes are revealed in the manner in which the characters in ‘Dracula’ interact, as well as in the outcomes of certain events. Count Dracula is equipped with many supernatural powers that make him a formidable enemy. However, Stoker is also quite pragmatic about the fact that part of what makes Dracula dangerous is his wealth, and his ability to engage in systems of economic exchange. Dracula buys his new home in England through a perfectly legal and commonplace financial transaction, and he pays for his voyages to and from England, rather than using any sort of magical ability to travel. When Harker is imprisoned in the castle, he observes finding “a great heap of gold in one corner,” evidence of Dracula having the money he needs to carry out his plans. While Dracula’s ancient origins and supernatural powers seem to make him a figure from the past, he is able to seamlessly navigate the modern cash economy and use it to his advantage. So long as he has the money to pay, many characters, including Harker himself, are willing to overlook his eccentric and menacing behavior. Read about the related theme of social change in nineteenth-century Russia in Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. The Threat of Female Sexual Expression The horror builds up from the increasing eccentricities of the natives, the horror of his hosts at the hotel he stays in at Borgo Pass, and climbs up when he is transferred to the mysterious coach driver with strange features. It reaches a fever pitch as Jonathan gets deeper into the forest in the dead of the night, in the midst of the terrifying howling of Wolves. This careful ascendance of the horror constitutes a neat plot device that creates tension and suspense. When Bram Stoker sent Dracula to his publisher, he wanted to present it as a true story. The publisher said it would cause panic and refused. It was eventually published on May 26th 1897, which is now #WorldDraculaDay. Further reading

After Lucy’s death, Van Helsing leads Holmwood, Seward, and Quincey Morris to her tomb. Van Helsing convinces the other men that Lucy belongs to the “Un-Dead”—in other words, she has been transformed into a vampire like Dracula. The men remain unconvinced until they see Lucy preying on a defenseless child, which convinces them that she must be destroyed. They agree to follow the ritual of vampire slaying to ensure that Lucy’s soul will return to eternal rest. While the undead Lucy sleeps, Holmwood plunges a stake through her heart. The men then cut off her head and stuff her mouth with garlic. After this deed is done, they pledge to destroy Dracula himself. Transylvania represents the exotic and the strange. For Stoker, it is important Vampirism is not native to England but is instead imported from some far away, exotic place. The little-known heartlands and far reaches of Transylvania, with their strange people and customs happen to fit the bill for Stoker. So it so happens that evil would come from far away Scandinavia to try and corrupt innocent England and that it would be brave, resourceful, intelligent, and above all, innocent Englishmen (plus an American and a Dutchman) who would combat it.While ‘Dracula‘ cautions against a mindless adoption of modern technology and ideas at the expense of our stash of traditional knowledge on cultures, superstitions, and religions, he still nonetheless recognizes the import of technology in the world. The keeping of diaries and journals, the telegram, the science of hypnosis, transcription, and the art of using a stenograph are some of the valuable skills that help in dispatching Dracula. Jonathan Harker is warned by an old peasant woman in Bistritz against going on to Dracula’s castle. He accepts the gift of a rosary from her. This version is designed for easy and economical staging, yet it retains the chilling atmosphere and the familiar characters that have made Dracula a favorite with producers, actors and audiences everywhere. When Dr. Van Helsing, a specialist in obscure maladies, discovers that beautiful Lucy Westenra is the victim of a vampire, suspicion falls on a mysterious neighbor, Count Dracula, and his frighteningly beautiful wives, who receive special emphasis. The large cast contains many fine acting parts, from the haunting vampire wives to the ever-popular Renfield, who fancies a diet of flies and spiders. There are young lovers, comic staff members, sanatorium guests and Jonathan Harker, first to fall victim to the vampire's thirst. The story of his journey to Dracula's fortress will have your audiences on the edge of their seats. Intermingled with the drama is a fine thread of comedy that helps relieve mounting tension and chills. Tim Kelly has developed a classic masterwork that always terrifies—and delights—cast and audience. Notes Livestream and Record & Stream Rights Available

Dracula, practically as old as religion itself, stands as a satanic figure, most obviously in his appearance—pointed ears, fangs, and flaming eyes—but also in his consumption of blood. Dracula’s bloodthirstiness is a perversion of Christian ritual, as it extends his physical life but cuts him off from any form of spiritual existence. Those who fall under the count’s spell, including Lucy Westenra and the three “weird sisters,” find themselves cursed with physical life that is eternal but soulless. Stoker takes pains to emphasize the consequences of these women’s destruction. Jonathan Harker, a young English lawyer, travels to Castle Dracula in the Eastern European country of Transylvania to conclude a real estate transaction with a nobleman named Count Dracula. As Harker wends his way through the picturesque countryside, the local peasants warn him about his destination, giving him crucifixes and other charms against evil and uttering strange words that Harker later translates into “vampire.”

The folk legends and traditions Van Helsing draws upon suggest that the most effective weapons in combating supernatural evil are symbols of unearthly good. Indeed, in the fight against Dracula, these symbols of good take the form of the icons of Christian faith, such as the crucifix. The novel is so invested in the strength and power of these Christian symbols that it reads, at times, like a propagandistic Christian promise of salvation. When Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania, he is going to a real place. Transylvania is an area of Romania in eastern Europe. The town mentioned by Harker, Bistritz, is now called Bistrița. Mina Murray is the ultimate Victorian woman. Van Helsing’s praise of Mina testifies to the fact that she is indeed the embodiment of the virtues of the age. She is “one of God’s women, fashioned by His own hand to show us men and other women that there is a heaven where we can enter, and that its light can be here on earth. So true, so sweet, so noble. . . .” Mina stands as the model of domestic propriety, an assistant schoolmistress who dutifully studies newfangled machines like the typewriter so as to be useful to her husband. Unlike Lucy, she is not most noteworthy for her physical beauty, which spares Mina her friend’s fate of being transformed into a voluptuous she-devil.

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