Exam One Study Questions

Question: Choose a character from any novel we have read in class and describe how their personality leads them to accept/reject Victorian society and how it benefits or leads to the destruction of Victorian society.

Notes: For example, Lucy from Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Accept/Reject:

Lucy is perfectly angelic while awake, aims to please, therefore, is trying to conform to Victorian society during the day. Her undulating desires emerge at night while she sleep walks, leaves the protection of her home barefoot and with just a night gown on, as well as needs constant watching because she cannot be trusted in the dark. She may have invited Dracula into her house, therefore, allowing a stranger into a sacred sphere. Her struggle between conscious and subconscious ends when she becomes a vampire and begins to feed off children. Becoming a vampire leads to degeneration of body and soul. Since she is determined to reject the Victorian society in her permanent vampiric state she must be removed from it by a band of her friends who kill her.

Benefit/Destruction:

Lucy is, at first, seen as a benefit to society. She does all of her duties and her aim is to please. Out of nowhere comes an internal struggle that causes her to refrain being her former self and lures her into becoming a destitute degenerate. Her character shows how temptation and corruption of the mind (internal struggle between becoming a New Woman and keeping to tradition) can lure good Victorian women out of the homes and cause them to become menaces to society. Because she is literally killing children and figuratively degenerating in mind she is embodying the destruction of the decent woman

Question: Epistolary novels like Bram Stoker's Dracula offer more than simply a story. Contrast the pros and cons of a multiple perspective novel, including the different voices each character provides in telling about life in Victorian era England. Choose whether it is a hindrance or an asset to have so many characters input their version of the story and the significance of Dracula's thoughts being omitted.

1. Dracula's thoughts omitted, allows speculation amongst the other characters, and brings more fear and mystery to the story.

2. Mina's thoughts give a female perspective outside of a swooning, thoughtless gossip.

3. Given that Lucy's character is flat and stereotypical of a Victorian woman, her letters reflect that she does not think beyond the obvious, nor consider life outside of her engagement possibilities.

4.Pros: Each character can give insight into another character such as Van Helsing and Seward's reflections on Mina, Mina's worrying over Lucy and Harker's meticulous notes on Dracula.

5. Cons: Speculations and assumptions of one character color the reader's views on their actions. The observations of Seward on Renfield make us believe that he is crazy, however by the time he dies, one would discover that he was committed due to Dracula's influence.

6. There is one or more characters from each class and gender combination, which gives insight into their daily lives by their take on a situation.
Van Helsing: middle class male, foreigner, extremely thoughtful.

Mina: Begins as a lower middle class female, working as a teacher, moves up to upper middle class through her husband, though she could be much more than a teacher with her mind.

Question: Historically, Victorian society is noted for its xenophobic nature. As a result, much of the period?s literature contained outsiders and foreigners. Use at least two texts to explain the Victorian view of foreigners. Be sure to explain how the author represents the era?s perspective within the text.

Examples from Bram Stoker?s Dracula
Dracula?s strange and animalistic behavior
Dracula?s ?criminal-like? appearance
Van Helsing?s frequent feminine breakdowns
The need to destroy and expel the dirt harbored in the coffins
Overall determination to destroy Dracula

Examples from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Chinese opium dens
?The Doctor? as an evil drug lord corrupting London
?The Doctor?s? deviant and unholy torturing and behavior
The rivalry between Imperial Allan Quartermain and Rebel
Indian Captain Nemo
Nemo?s character in general as a dangerous thief

Main Ideas to Focus on
Characterization both physically and behaviorally
Their effects on the corruption of England
The threat of cross breeding and making the English
less "English"
Their corrupting nature in regard to women

my sample essay question is:

Do you view the Victorian society as tolerant and receptive to change, or would you classify it as intolerant and repressive? Justification and analysis in your answer should be supported by references from at least two works we have studied so far.

sample response in bullet format:
-Tolerant, bends but does not break
-extraordinary pressures from many sources ,such as colonial rebellions, women, poor, scientists, influx of foreign culture.
- despite crisis of faith and identity, victorians manage to develop a distinct code of conduct, morality and value
-literacy and reading become widespread, laws governing child labor and women property rights passed
-doctrine of utilitarianism- greatest good for the greatest numbers
-doctrine of aestheticism coexisted along with its opposite, utilitarianism- couldnt happen unless society was open-minded
-blurred lines between categories and social groups
-creation of a middle class for the first time.

Question:

Give a brief description of the ideal Victorian lady and gentleman and then, using 3 characters from Dracula, explain whether or not you think they embody those ideals, and why.

Lady
? Angel in the house vs. whore
? Inspiration for actual achievement, but not empowered
? Women?s nature
o Delicate constitution (susceptible to degeneration)
o Desire to be protected and beloved
o Emotionally extreme (risk of nyphomania)

Gentleman
? Education
? Self-control
? Well-spoken
? Brave

Mina
? Not homosocial, goes on an adventure with the boys
? Puts mud on her feet when she rescues Lucy
? Listens to the men when they tell her she?s no longer included in the mission
? Gets bitten by Dracula & drinks his blood (sexual imagery)
? Goes alone with Van Helsing to Dracula?s castle
? Contributes to conversations
? Is learned
? Interviews with Renfield

Jonathan
? Goes out to make fortune at the castle, even though he?s been warned
? Scales the wall twice
? Overcomes emotions to kill Dracula
? Wants the three women at one point
? Needs Mina to lean on when he sees Dracula on the streets

Lucy
? Does not do much, except talk to Mina
? Receives blood from 3 different men
? Is corrupted by Dracula
? Leaves the home alone at night
? Is weak

Dracula
? More degenerative than anything else
o Physical characteristics such as red eyes
? But still well-spoken and learned like a gentleman
? Exerts power over the women (Lucy, Mina, 3 vampires)
? Is established financially
? Physically strong

Question:

What are the strengths and weaknesses of Stoker's use of journal entries, letters and newspaper clippings in Dracula?

Strengths:
-the handwritten acounts and fictional newsclippings lend authenticity
-shows us a glimpse of the inner workings of several different social classes
-Male vs. Female role in victorian society
-Lucy& Mina
-Mina: strong and resourceful, but in the end returns to her proper role, motherhood etc
-Takes on roles that are traditionally held by males
-source of information and suggestions
-Still relatively meek and defers to men of group
-Lucy: more traditional, not nearly as capable
-Even though narrators are biased, having multiple p.o.v. allows the reader to establish a less biased frame of reference
-adds to suspense:
-the reader knows from the beginning what is really going on, and is kept wondering when all of these characters will put together the evidence spread out between them.

Weaknesses:
-the observations of the narrator are naturally biased and flawed
-the different voices of the characters aren't always unique to the character.
-attachments formed to characters are weaker because the story is spred out between so many
-no special connection to the narrator
-characters that may have had the chance to grow on audience with further development dont, they just remain annoying

Question:

The Victorian Era is categorized by numerous reforms and social movements. One of the most important of these was the shifting gender roles and the emergence of women in society. Discuss how the authors portrayed inner turmoil and general societal confusion created by the coming of the New Woman in the works we've read.

* Female Stereotype

· Perceived Emotional/Psychological make-up

· Angel vs. whore

o Mina – both

* The New Woman

· Conflicting Views on appropriate behavior

· Women's changing role in society

o Part of husband vs. part of themselves

* Blurred Lines and Status Discrepancies

· Rise of the governess

· Educating of women

* Reliance on Men

· 3 sisters in Dracula – still dependent yet independent

· Goblin Market – don't need men at all

A. One of the characters in Victorian literature that does not follow the norm is Dr. Van Helsing. He is a foreigner who displays rather masculine, yet, feminine traits at the same time. While men who display feminine traits in England are looked down upon, Dr. Van Helsing gets away with it due to his foreign background. He displays masculinity by his constant bloodthirsty chase for vampires, but yet, displays a daintly caring feminine side when it comes to caring for his own companions.

Question:

The British sense of Imperialism held foreigners in ill regard. How
did their relationship with the nations they held under their control
color the everyday lives of the Victorians?

Notes:

- The Irish Problem
How did the British respond to Irish writers and citizens living in
London, like Bram Stoker and Oscar Wilde. Also, the British reaction
to the Irish Potato Famine.

- Dracula as an intruder
Dracula was a foreign man intruding into the everyday lives of the
Victorians. Even though his home in Eastern Europe was not part of
the greater English empire, his position as a foreigner coming to
London to bring harm to the English clearly would have been viewed in
the same light.

- Indian mutiny
Captain Nemo mentioning Indian uprisings in The League of
Extraordinary Gentlemen).

- Large foreign population living in London (Chinatown in The League
of Extraordinary Gentlemen)
The Victorians viewed Chinese immigration as a major threat to their
civilized society because the Chinese brought opium to England.

Question:

How would Brom Stoker?s "Dracula" serve as a warning to the women in the Victorian Era?
? All bad things happen outside of the house and at night
? Be careful of non-English men
? Knowing that women were the primary readers of novels during this time the authors were sure to be able to give warnings to the women
? Stay the matronly women and do not become the whore
? Good things happen to good people (Mina getting married and starting a family, and Jonathan?s upward movement in society)

Question:

The Victorian era saw the emergence of stereotypical gender roles where there was emphasis on the strong and physical gentleman and the innocent, soft-spoken female lady. From the novels and poems we have read in class, provide examples of a character’s or writer’s thoughts and/or actions that contradict these stereotypes.

> From “The Place of Women in Society

Taylor’s The Enfranchisement of Women
o Addresses the arguments that exist against a woman holding a powerful position—incompatibility of maternity and caring for a household with an active life, hardening effect on the character, adds to the competition of an already pressured working positions
o But she also states that all of theses reasons are faulty and do not hold up under scrutiny; so, in effect, Taylor states a very controversial point of view—women are evolving from solely being caretakers of the children and husbands but being equal partners in all positions in the working/political world
o Taylor represents the enlightenment view that women have the right to seek their own happiness and develop themselves fully

Cobbe’s “Criminals, Idiots, Women and Minors”
o Using a parody, Cobbe compares a felon to a woman who gives up all possessions and identity once she is married; she implicitly states how a woman’s life is important only as a wife and caregiver and the law is unjust toward her rights as a person

Grand’s “The New Aspect of the Woman Question”
o This piece is a blatant criticism of a man’s domination over a woman’s affairs and women’s own subservience to this control
o Believes that women should not worship men as god as should seek a proper education and independent livelihood

> From “Goblin Market”

o The two sisters show curiosity toward sexuality
o Laura enjoys sex and then become obsessed with finding the goblin men and having sex again
o The two twins also experience a homosexual encounter at the end of the poem
o Men do not appear anywhere in the poem and the two sisters are a self-sufficient couple who do not depend on men similar to a Marxist economy that is independent

> From Dracula

Mina Murray
o Displays moments when she acts like a man and seems very independent-minded
o She takes it upon herself to “rescue” Lucy instead of calling a man to do so
o She joins the men in their quest to find the remaining caskets of soil and even goes with Van Helsing alone even though she is engaged and women at the time did not stay alone with another man
o She has an active professional life and can do shorthand; this exhibits many aspects of the “new woman”
o She is very intelligent and the men ask for her thoughts and opinions as if she were a man
o Described as having “the brain of a man, heart of a woman”

Dracula’s Wives
o They are nonconformists in that they have a strength because they are hunters
o They use their beauty for power instead of being demure
o They are powerful outside of the home

Jonathan Harker
o He is very emotional and at times loses control over his emotions
o His strength is lost when he is sick and must depend on Mina so he depends on a woman for his well-being
o Can’t defend Mina from Dracula

Van Helsing
o Although masculine in hunting the vampires he is also feminine in speaking to friends
o He has emotional outbursts and is very sensitive

o Arthur/Lord Godalming
o Emotional
o Obeys Lucy when she is seducing him and is at her mercy, becoming passive towards her
o Loses control over himself when he fiercely kills Lucy
o Van Helsing spares him the violent, bloody details of the circumstances the surrounds Lucy’s death and illness implying he is not enough of a “man” to handle those details

Question:

Marriage in the Victorian Period was a vital ritual for young adults. Examine texts we have studied in class to identify the purpose of marriage, the roles of each spouse, and the unique characteristics of a Victorian union, and explain how the convention of marriage reveals gender stereotypes of the period.

Thesis: Psychological, taxonomical differences between men and women meant they needed each other to compensate for the other?s weaknesses

PURPOSE OF MARRIAGE:
? ?heart of a woman, mind of a man? ? Dracula. Marriage was about the union of a woman?s heart and a mind?s man
? children for the empire
? ?marry up? ? Lucy and Arthur in Dracula
? woman?s desire to be ?beloved? ? Sarah Stickney Ellis, The Daughters of England?
? psychological, taxonomical differences between men and women meant they needed each other to compensate for the other?s weaknesses ? Appendices of Dracula.
? Women?s emotions seen as a disability, needed a balance.

ROLES OF EACH SPOUSE
? Woman: ?rule, not battle?
? domestic sphere, pleasing husband, making sacrifices for spouse and children. Main goal/reward in life is children
? Ex: Mina at the end of Dracula and Goblin Market
? Emotional self-sacrifice, influence a virtue, ?Angel in the House? ? Coventry Patmore
? ?making the garden wherever she goes?
? Emotional influence on men: morally renew their men at home
? Opposite of ideal man: Hyde in LOEG

? Man: gentlemanly, self-control
? healthy, strong provider ? Arthur in Dracula
? Intelligent, furthering career? Harker, Seward
? Loyal to women, women are the inspiration ? Dracula

UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS
? No property rights for women- she and husband have one identity in the law ? Cobbe
? Class disconnect, only upper class could afford a divorce ? Cobbe
? Awkward time between leaving school and marriage, girls had to be instructed on what to do. Be a governess? (?Hints on the Modern Governess System?) and time between needed to be dealt with, afraid of free time (?Between School and Marriage? Girl?s Own Paper)
? Reaction against conventions; Cobbe: ?Criminals, Idiots, Women and Minors? Fraser?s Magazine. Marriage compared to the graveyard, jail.

Question:

Q: In Bram Stoker?s Dracula, in what ways does Mina shift from Victorian ?angel? to ?whore.?

Class notes:

Victorian world
Angel = taking care of others ? altruism;
Conform to Victorian ideals of femininity
Whore = self-involved, does not keep chastity, pleasure from sex not merely duty to reproduce

Mina and Lucy are both initially viewed as ?angels?
Mina worries about being out at night, unaccompanied, without shoes and in a nightdress
(Fears not being ?feminine?)
Mina transitions to a ?whore? after Dracula blood-sucking episode
Seduces Mina

At the end of the novel, Mina left as a mother
Becomes an angel once again
No diary
Solely the heart of a woman

Question:

How were gender and cultural identities related in Victorian literature?

Van Helsing is allowed to blur gender roles by having hysterical fits without losing his dignity.
Dracula, an Eastern European, threatens the English ideal of the masculine protector.
As English women, Lucy and Mina are only pure and virtuous while they remain at home.

Question:

What was the role of men during the Victorian Era? Do they live up to their expectations? Who is ultimately the stronger gender?

- Men is supposed to stand for Protection, they are supposed to have everything under control.
_ From both of the books we have read we know that the women are behind any smart ideas, but men get to claim them.
_ Men are strong public figures, but not so much the case in reality. Women keep everything together.
_Women are stronger.

Question:

> In the Victorian Era, science was becoming more and more legitimate. We've got Darwin, Freud, and numerous others making great leaps and bounds in science, to varying degrees of actual merit. However, new things always upset those Victorians. Trace the tension between science and superstition in recent texts, and even how science was used to enforce superstition (or just plain bigotry, as it were).
>
>
>
> In Dracula:
>
> Science and Class - note which class is portrayed as using science, and which uses superstition
>
> Scientific classification by physical description – Renfield and insanity, Dracula and bestiality/sexuality (and the child-brain), Van Helsing and brain size, three sisters and bestiality/sexuality, appendices on degeneracy, et al
>
> Was Bram Stoker for or against science, and take into account the year of Dracula's publication (early vs late Victorian?)
>
> Consider: did the upper classes of Victorians use Darwin's findings to further distance themselves from the lower classes (the animalistic, ape-like poor)?
>
> Science and morality – think of the transfusions: science saved Lucy's life, but it also tainted her and made her a whore; hypnosis helps our posse, but it also brings Mina closer to Dracula in mind and spirit
>
>
>
> BUT—
>
> Note: how strong a role does superstition play in Dracula ?
>
> Crosses, wild rose branch, holy wafer, stakes…seemingly contradicting Stoker's apparent pro-science stance unless we consider the science and morality point again—does he say instead that we must not trust always to science? Or something else?
>
> Van Helsing/Mina use SCIENCE to discover Dracula's flaw (child/criminal-brain…!!!) and SUPERSTITION to destroy him (cut off his head, drive a stake through his heart)
>
> Poll: who is smarter, Jonathan Harker or the Transylvanians who warn him away from the count?
>
> Also consider that something truly demonic like a vampire has to be killed with superstition, while the knowledge of how to catch Dracula is all about science. Science is of the mind and superstition of the soul? Can these two opposing forces peaceably coexist in a very dichotomous Victorian era? (not sure where this one was going)

Question:

Dracula is a story about transitions: social, economic, spiritual,
moral, and even physical. What transitions were occurring in the
Victorian Age that may have prompted Stoker to write on this theme and
how were those transitions addressed in the novel?

• Emergent middle class – moral judges of society, Reform Bill of1832
Jonathan & Mina move from lower middle class to landed upper middle class
• "New Woman" and Suffragette Movements
Mina's role in the group, Mina & Lucy's vacillations between angel and whore
• Legitimization of Medical Profession
Dr. Seward & Dr. Van Helsing's treatments and the respect they were given
• Britain losing control over colonies
Foreign threat in Count Dracula, descriptions of Transylvanians as
more primitive than English
• Concept of "Gentleman" (based on class, land, behavior, occupation?)
Differing backgrounds of Seward, Harker, Morris, Godalming

Question: Compare and contrast the way that the authors of Dracula and Goblin Market use gender roles of the Victorian period to convey their point of view.

Thesis Statement: Stoker and Rossetti take opposing viewpoints, one trying to uphold the status quo while the other goes outside the bounds of Victorian society.

Outline:
Social Expectations:
? Victorian society thought that the woman?s place was in the domestic sphere.
? Lizzie and Laura quote pg. 521 list of domestic chores
? Mina?s consciousness about her social expectations (her feet being dirty, her place in her relationship with Jonathan)
? Women should sacrifice themselves to save others; Mina saves Lucy, Lizzie saves Laura.

Sexuality:
? Lucy pictured as the epitome of innocence but then invites Dracula inside.
? Moral depravity pictured externally (both Lucy and Laura)
? Distinction between Mary and Eve
? Lucy and Laura seek out their rapists.

DIFFERENCES
? Stoker?s purpose: to keep the social standards; end of the novel we don?t hear Mina?s voice but Jonathan?s. Man is the dominant figure. Mina can only be restored through Jonathan.
? Rossetti?s purpose: to show that men aren?t needed; purpose at the end of the novel ?sisters are all you need.? No men?s voice; all women. Women can find absolution from sinful behavior in other women.

Question:

The issue of gender was extremely important to many Victorians. The demand of being seen as a lady or gentleman directly affected the actions of many authors and their characters. Using two sources from any of our past readings, describe either the ideal ?angel? and ?whore? or the perfect gentleman and villain.

Lady
1. Mina, "Dracula"
a. Beloved
b. Cared for Jonathon
c. purity at the end with children

2. Lizzie, "Goblin Market"
a. Appearance
b. Does housework like a good woman
c. Beloved

Non-Lady
1. Lucy, "Dracula"
a. Ravished by several men
i. Dracula sucking her blood
ii. Other men putting blood IN her
b. Description of mouth while in grave

2. Laura, "Goblin Market"
a. Fails to do housework
b. Seeks men instead of female company
c. Enjoys sex
d. Has ?relations? with sister

3. Mina, "LEG"
a. Bossy
b. Takes charge of the group
c. As intelligent, if not more so, than the men

Gentleman
1. Quartermain, "LEG"
a. Brave (give examples from closer to the end)
b. Imperialistic
c. Fights to protect woman and nation

2. Any good guy from Dracula, ? "Dracula"
a. Brave
b. Fights for loved one, that must be female
c. Appearance
d. Successful

Non-Gentleman
1. Goblin Men, "Goblin Market"
a. Appearance
b. Temptation of virgins only
c. Deals with commerce and business in a corrupt and evil fashion

2. Dracula, "Dracula"
a. Foreigner
b. Appearance
c. Ravages women

Hyde
1)appearance
2)animalistic behavior
3)treatment of women (before Mina "tames" him a little)

Question:

A major theme that can be found in Victorian literature is the idea that people can only fit into one of two preset groups. For instance, the Victorians believed that women could only be classified as either the angel figure or the whore. Other contrast groups found in Victorian literature include the gentleman figure versus the ?non?-gentleman, the foreigner versus the native, and the upper class versus the working class. Choose one of these themes and compare and contrast certain characters from the various works we?ve studied and the molds/identities they fit into.

Notes:
? Angel v. Whore
o angels: Lucy ? the quintessential angel before she is ?tainted? by Dracula
Mina ? also fits into the angel category, but she is not the same type of character as Lucy; Lucy takes the typical woman?s role, living for whoever supports her, whereas Mina takes on a more masculine role and speaks of the ?new woman? (recall that by the end of the novel, once Mina becomes a mother, her ?brain of a man? is erased and we don?t hear from her)
Lizzie (?Goblin Market?) ? unlike her sister, Lizzie does not give into the goblin men; they try to force her to eat the fruit, yet she refuses to open her mouth, thus she keeps her purity
o whores: Lucy ? after being transformed into a vampire, she loses her purity and innocence and begins to prey on the innocent
Mina ? takes on the part of the whore identity because of her sexual impurity after sucking Dracula?s blood; the scar on her forehead represents this impurity
Dracula?s three women ? stereotypical whore figures because they are sexually impure and their power lies only within their beauty
Laura (?Goblin Market?) ? she is tainted by the goblin men when she eats their fruit; however, she is able to gain back her purity because of her sister

? Gentleman v. ?Non?-gentleman
o gentlemen: Jonathan Harker ? starts out in the other category but his
turning point is when he reads Mina her burial rights because he is experiencing self-control of his emotions, a quality that the Victorians attributed with gentlemen
Arthur Godalming ? the Victorians saw all upper class men as being gentlemen in the beginning of the era (the middle class began taking on this role later in the era); since Godalming is upper class, he fits the mold for this role
o ?non-gents?: Arthur Godalming ? he exhibits un-gentlemanlike qualities
when he loses self-control of his emotions and breaks down to both Dr. Seward and Mina at different points in the novel
Van Helsing ? sometimes very masculine but other times feminine; has a lot of emotional outbursts; however, because he is a foreigner, he is allowed to have these feminine qualities and not be seen as a bad man
Dr. Seward ? takes a backseat to Van Helsing, so he becomes more feminine in this sense; also, emotional when it comes to Lucy

? Foreigner v. Native
o foreigners: Dracula ? animalistic qualities goes along with Victorian view
that foreigners were barbaric; we don?t get any diaries from him (foreigners aren?t given a voice in this novel)
Quincey ? aggressive cowboy from America; always takes action; we don?t get any of his inner thoughts
o natives: all characters from England

? Upper class v. Working class
o upper class: Arthur Godalming ? a lord, but is not your typical aristocrat; he is an active British man
o working class: Jonathan Harker ? starts out in lower-middle class ? he is a clerk, but he works his way up to partner and becomes upper-middle class (Mina also fits into this category because she is Jonathan?s wife and thus takes on the same class standing as him)

Question: How does the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen defy the normally accepted gender roles of the Vicorian Era?

Answer: Examples of how Miss Murray establishes her role as a leader despite being surrounded by imposing men, scenes where the men appear subservient to Miss Murray's commands, events that portray men as being inept, and the undeniable references to women as being promiscuous versus proper and refined.

Question:

Many Victorian authors incorporated supernatural elements into their texts as a way to comment on various public issues or to represent specific aspects of society. Choose one text we have read that contains a supernatural factor and apply it to the following questions. What issue or issues does the supernatural component in this text address? Explain how the supernatural is employed to represent this issue and what significance this representation has. What does the issue?s representation tell readers about Victorian society?

Answer-

(I've included some notes on each text that applies.)

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen:
-supernatural employed to showcase the consequences of advancing scientific studies
-cavorite: a new technological advance that is being used for evil, to harm England instead of helping England become a greater world power
-Hyde is the result of an experiment gone wrong, a physical representation of the effects of tampering with nature, takes on the characteristics of a degenerate illustrating the archetypal degenerate in Victorian society.
-invisible man is also an example of the consequence of scientific tampering with nature?s laws, has no morals and no conscience, showing readers what might happen if they too attempted to change the natural world
-Victorian society is afraid of how technology might change society and the world they know and are accustomed to

Dracula:
-uses the supernatural element vampirea and the act of transforming into a vampire to address various societal issues about gender codes and a woman?s sexuality
-after bitten, Lucy and Mina are tainted because they are no longer simply angelic, blurs the lines between the pure angelic woman and the dirty whore-like woman perhaps commenting on the harsh severity of the difference between these two roles for women and illustrating the dilemma with having such strict classifications, no one fits perfectly into either one
-if a woman leaves her house alone after dark, she will encounter supernatural evils like vampires and perhaps end up like Lucy, amplify the Victorian rule that the house is a woman?s safe-haven
-the supernatural exaggerates the consequences of breaking gender codes and gives the men in Dracula the chance to exemplify the quintessential gentleman, always brave

Goblin Market:
-the supernatural goblin men and their fruit market represent sex, supernatural is used as a means to address sex in Victorian society since it could not explicitly be discussed
-all of the symbols in the poem correspond to various sexual issues?desire, virginity, impurity, homosexuality
-Victorians did discuss sex in literature, only it was disguised to make it less scandalous

Question:

What was the importance of the aesthetic movement?

-It was seen as a danger to British culture and society because the movement wanted to dissociate art from politics, ethics and religion
-It was seen to focus too much on research and curiosity, and said to be immoral
-The movement inspired poets, painters, playwrights and many others to consider the purpose of literature and art
-The movement influenced architecture and design (ornate and decorative motifs
-It began in Britain 1868, because of the publishing of the Westminster Review which encouraged ?the pursuit of a passionate experience?
-It helped break the Victorian loyalty to realism and moral aestheticism
-Leading Aesthetes were Algernon Charles Swinburne and Oscar Wilde--they did not allow their literature to be determined by the bourgeois standards
-Arthur Symons established himself as the leading writer of the Aesthetic Movement
-Critics characterized the movement as ?decadence,? which became synonymous with Aestheticism
-German social theorist Mac Nordau described Decadents as "disease..immoral..anti-social" who wrote Degeneration in 1892, a deterioration of Western society and culture
-It became increasingly associated with sensuous beauty and the decorative arts, and also a subject for parody in operattas and magazines

Question:

Bram Stokers "Dracula" touched on some major issues that were previlient
during the Victorian Era. At the time, the Empire was trying to hold on to
their colonies while fighting off foreign values and other aspects of
unbritish life. How did Stoker represent the fear of foreign invasion in
"Dracula"? And once it was all over did the Empire succeed?

Notes toward the answer:

-Main point was that Dracula was a foreigner
---he was "corrupting" the British women
-Was beast like; control over wolves
---The further East one goes the more savage like the people became
-Big point of bringing his dirt
---big point of purifying the dirt
-----purifying their nation of foreign influence
-Dracula was killed in the end
---The empire was saved

Question:

In what ways is Count Dracula immasculated and dehumanized according to Victorian standards?

-The return to the primative (use of dirt)
-Breast feeding of Mina
-Homosocial (however Dracula's companions are women)
-Ingestion of blood through the mouth (the symbol of the mouth)
-Act of shape shifting

Question:

How does Lucy from Stoker's "Dracula" embody both the Victorian female gender roles of "angel" and "whore"?

Angel-
+Very homosocial. Much more so than Mina.
+Seems to live for her engagement.
+Has virtually no personality of her own.

Whore-
+Leaves the domestic sphere.
+Is given the blood of three different men.
+Drinks Dracula's blood in a highly sexual manner.
+Once a vampire, she preys on children who represent innocence.

Which of the characters in Dracula display ambiguity and anxieties
about gender? How does he resolve these issues in the novel?

Lucy
? While at first an angel of the house, becomes tainted
? Receives blood of three men- meaning sexual promiscuity
? Becomes a vampire
? Resolved- she must die and does because her purity cannot
survive such iniquity
Jonathan
? When he is ill he acts hysterical and emotional- more like a
woman
? Dracula emasculates him by raping his wife
? Jonathan is unable to protect Mina from Dracula
? Resolved- his emasculation is resolved by avenging Mina and
killing Dracula, thus taking back his role as male
Van Helsing
? Emotional, somewhat hysterical at times
? However- this can be explained by the fact that he is a
foreigner
Godalming
? Breaks down in front of Mina- emotional display
? Dracula emasculates him as well by tainting his fianc?
? Resolved- saves Lucy?s immortal soul by killing her tainted
self
Mina
? Heart of woman, brain of man
? Becomes a stained woman because of Dracula
? Resolved- Mina must be saved from damnation through a man,
Harker,
? By having kids and disappearing from the discourse, she becomes
a respectable woman again