Friday, March 8, 2019

To what extent is Dracula a conventional Gothic protagonist?

Within the Gothic genre, features of the Gothic protagonist include astutely severalize character traits, some degree of tragic elevation, a contact physical strawman, an element of the sexual, and an association with the bestial. relief pitcher presents genus genus genus genus Dracula with greatly contrasting traits, from the impeccably polite and courteous host who greets Harker at the door, to a unfounded psychopathic monster.The aristocratic and noble nature of Draculas heritage gives him charisma and credibility, on first encounter he seems strange scarce eccentric, however this lulls Harker, and plainly his female victims, into a false sense of security The light and heat of the Counts courteous welcome seemed to have dissipated all my doubts and fears. Stoker reveals Draculas straight self slowly and subtly, so as to build tension, such as when Dracula touches Harker and he feels a horrible feeling of nausea.This vision hints at the horror of Draculas true charact er, which is in the desire run revealed when he encounters the Brides But the count neer did I imagine such wraths of fury, even in the demons of the pit Stoker presents the count as being lapped in a storm of fury, embrasureend the terrible storm at Whitby when Dracula arrives on English soil. Stokers uses the imagery of hell to describe Draculas rage, writing his eyes were positively blazing as if the flames of hell-fire blazed in them. This imagery of a fiery furnace is similar to Miltons description of match in Paradise Lost as the infernal serpent, dwelling in a penal fire. However despite Satans high spot and charisma, he does not have the extreme contrast in personality, and the genteel almost uncouth persona that Dracula has. Stoker presents Dracula as having tragic stature through and through his loneliness and sadness that his erst noble family have been destroyed. Dracula tells Harker that he longs to be in the midst of the whirl and rush of humanity, to dower y its life, its change, its death, and all that makes it what it is.But alas This desire demonstrates how isolated Dracula feels, as he has been left behind, an unwanted remnant of the ancient world. His immortality means he give noticenot relate to modernity, and the fast pace of life, and he is stuck in an endless cycle, a pseudo-purgatory for the Un-dead. Stoker presents Dracula as talking with great pride of his heritage, which he is determined to reinstate in England We Szekelys have a right to be proud, for in our veins flows the blood of many brave races who fought for lordship. Milton also presents Satan as a tragic character, because of his doomed destiny to live forever in the fiery pits of Hell, but also that he has an overwhelming hubris that ultimately makes his dip so much more difficult to accept for this infernal bosom shall never hold celestial spirits in bondage. When Dracula is finally killed, myna bird writes that even in that moment of final dissolution t here was in the face a look of peace. Reflecting Draculas release from his eternal suffering, video display that despite lamias intrinsic evil, they did not relish their life of pain and death. some other aspect of the conventional protagonist is their striking physical social movement, and Stoker presents Dracula as conforming strongly to this, with his strong jaw, aquiline nose and extreme paleness. He has thick eyebrows, wild hair, a heavy moustache and unco ruddy lips. Almost immediately Harker notices aspects of Draculas character which are not sort of normal, describing Dracula as cruel-looking, with his moustache hiding his cruel mouth. This underlying inquietude demonstrates how Draculas physicality reflects and warns of his internal evil.Stoker presents Draculas specific appearance as actually typical of the genre, as in The monk, Matthew Lewis describes Ambrosia in an almost akin way to Dracula He was a man of noble port and commanding presence. His stature was l ofty, and his features uncommonly handsome. His nose was aquiline, his eyes large dumb and sparkling, and his dark brows almost joined together. His complexion was of a deep but clear brown study and watching had entirely deprived his gall of colour. This similarity shows how conventional Draculas physical presence is, his stature reflecting his high status and aristocracy like Ambrosias.Stoker presents Dracula as having an element of the sexual, through his attacking of women, and his uncontrollable desire to overpower and control others. Harkers interaction with the Brides of Dracula demonstrate the confusing relationship between pleasure and pain that the Vampire embodies that we somehow desire what we know may or will accidental injury us. This connection is seen in one of Draculas weaknesses that he cannot enter a sign without being invited first, which could be a metaphor for his role as a sexual predator, as a woman has to somehow desire or want Dracula to feed from them in order for him to suck their blood.When Mina discovers Lucy after Draculas attack, Stoker describes her using post-coital imagery her lips were parted, and she was breathing- not softly, but in, long heavy gasps demonstrating how Lucy possibly enjoyed her attack by the handsome stranger. In The Monk Ambrosia is undone by his carnal lust for Matilda, and then his pamper of Antonia, as he is transformed from a pious monk into a sexual predator With every moment of the Friars passion became more ardent, and Antonias apprehension more intense. However Lewis presents Ambrosia as being full of self-loathing and curse once he had dishonoured Antonia The very excess of his former eagerness to throw Antonia now contributed to inspire him with disgust. Stoker presents no such sense of contriteness from Dracula, whose uses his sexuality primarily to further his control over England. Finally, Stoker presents Dracula as associating with the bestial, through his control over animals and nature, his connection with the other, and his animalistic consciousness.When Harker arrives at the castle, Stoker immediately connects animals with the Count through the images of wolves All at once the wolves began to howl as though the moonlight had some peculiar event on them. Draculas control over animals is one aspect of his foreign and unfathomed nature, reflecting Victorian fear of the barbarianism of the supposedly unrefined central Europeans. Dracula can transform himself into a giant bat, which appears as a menacing presence throughout the novel there was a sort of scratching or flapping at the window. Draculas strange social behaviour and physical presence demonstrates how he is not quite human, and it seems that he certainly relates to animals more than he does to other people Ah, sir, you dwellers in the city cannot enter into the feelings of the hunter. Ultimately it is Stokers word picture of Dracula as a character completely driven by primal desires that associ ates him with the animal, and any feelings he represses ultimately become apparent. This characteristic on with the others demonstrate how Dracula is primarily a conventional protagonist in his looks and character traits, his doom and his desires.

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