The Hamlet connection

What is the Hamlet connection to the first few chapters of Dracula?

Well, JH refers more than once to the character - so I thought it would be good to elucidate the references.

Hamlet is a prince in a play of the same name by Shakespeare. He returns home to discover his dad is dead, and his mother is married to his uncle. Annoyed? You betcha. And it doesn't stop there. His dad, or rather, his dad's ghost visits him, telling him that his uncle actually killed his dad - and ... you guessed it - wanting Hamlet to avenge his death. 

So ... the connection with Dracula? Well - JH refers to the fact that "everything has to break off at cockcrow - or like the ghost of Hamlet's father". In the play, Hamlet's dad's ghost (also known as Old Hamlet!) first appears to night watchmen - but disappears on the crowing of the cock. 

Connection 2? JH writes: "Up to now I never quite knew what Shakespeare meant when he made Hamlet say:-

'My tablets! quick, my tablets!

'Tis meet that I put it down,' etc,."

The part of the quotation that is missing is actually the most relevant - for it should read "Tis meet that I put it down that one may smile and smile and be a villain". At this point, Hamlet has just been told that his uncle killed his father, and he is talking about his uncle - who smiles as his mother's new husband, despite underneath being the dastardly villain. Just like I discussed in my last post: Dracula is polite at face value, but yet has JH as prisoner, and his smile is to become 'a grin of malice which would have held its own in the nethermost hell'.

Interestingly... the second text we will read (The Woman in Black) - also refers to Hamlet. Keep an eye out when we get to it!

Doors, doors, doors...

It has been interesting to read the first posts on Dracula - they express a variety of responses, all valid, and often perceptive. 

As JH's journal continues into the later chapters, the drip feed of information continues; slowly he uncovers the stereotype of a vampire that we, as modern audience recognise: no reflection, staying up all night, the sudden lust for fresh blood, the repelling power of the crucifix. And, despite ourselves, the terror that grows within him is effective in arousing our own tension - he is prisoner, and trapped by the count, with no feasible means of escape. 

The Count's voice is an interesting one to track - he is dominant yet polite. He knows he has the upper hand, and allows this to be known, but is never really aggressive to JH. He 'allows' him to leave, albeit when the wolves are baying at the door, and indeed, protects him from the vampire women. There is thus a dual layer of interaction: the veneer of courtesy and polite conversation, and yet, under the surface (and seen only from JH's perspective) this restriction and fear seethes. Would this be an effective coursework topic? Dracula's perspective of events? How would he see it differently from JH? How much sympathy can we really show him? There is that interaction with the women where they say 'you yourself never loved'... Dracula denies this... so what's the story there? Another interesting backstory waiting for the telling...

How about these women? Are we on more familiar ground here? We have discussed bloodlust in class: where better to find it than this particular chapter? The description of the women's approach to Harker's neck is undeniably sensual. But how is this effect created?

First, look at the repetition of comparative adjectives: ' lower and lower went her head'; 'nearer - nearer' and then the verb - summarising the drawn-out pace of the paragraph - 'waited - waited with beating heart'. 

Then, look at word classes - are there patterns? Well, yes. The nouns focus on body parts: 'lips', 'lips', 'tongue', 'teeth', 'lips', 'breath', 'neck', 'skin', 'throat', 'flesh', 'hand', 'lips', 'skin' and then...'teeth'! Look how 'lips' are repeated! The adjectives in the paragraph add to the sensuality: 'thrilling', 'scarlet', 'red', 'hot', 'soft, shivering [touch]', 'supersensitive', 'languorous' 'beating [heart]'.

What a change then, just as JH succumbs to their presence - he is saved by the Count in all his demonic glory - 'fury','rage','passion'. 'His eyes were positively blazing. The red light in them was lurid, as if the flames of hell-fire blazed behind them. His face was deathly pale, and the lines of it were hard like drawn wire; the thick eyebrows that met over the nose now seemed like a heaving bar of white-hot metal.' The overwhelming image here? FIRE - and not just a little one - but the fire of hell itself.

Contrast these images then with JH's grotesque discovery in Chapter 4 - 'swollen', 'bloated', 'gorged', 'like a filthy leech'. But what is the greatest horror? Not that which can be seen. No - for JH the greatest horror is worse than a visual image: it is the thought that he has played a part in assisting Dracula - the very thought 'drove me mad'. 

So we leave Jonathan, as Dracula leaves for London, planning his escape down the castle walls... next stop Mina's letters - a new voice, a new location, new concerns...

What manner of man is this? (Ch. III)

This blog, written by the teacher, forms part of an experimental exploration of Stoker's Dracula for English Language and Literature AS Level students. 

As part of the course, students must write a piece inspired by the novel. This forum allows students to form a virtual book group or reading journal, in which they may track ideas and inspirations for future writing.

So... what do we find in Chapter 1?

We find traits of typical gothic fiction: a narrator who dismisses warnings in the name of reason or 'business to be done' yet finds himself rather uneasy. This uneasiness, in turn, builds tension in the reader. Tension also rises because, in some ways, we may find the narrator naive - he trusts Dracula; sees nothing strange in being his 'friend'; takes his advice on places to stay. The undercurrent of fear runs deep - Jonathan's landlord 'refused to speak further'; his wife 'implored' him not to go; the people talk of were-wolves or vampires... and yet... what is Harker's response? To make a memorandum... 'must ask the Count about these superstitions' Convincing? Hmm.... possibly not! 

Stoker not only builds tension - he also appeases it, calling upon the 'sublime' to inform his descriptions of the countryside: 'the lofty sweeps of the Carpathians', emphasised by Harker's companion's response - 'he crossed himself reverently', but this awe of God's creation is needed... soon the descriptions become more familiar in their gothic overtones - note the shining 'silver' birch stems, the cart with the 'snake-like vertebra', the 'darkness closing in', the 'ghost-like clouds'. As they approach the Count, there is a final drum roll - an increase in frantic activity, accompanied by the 'dark rolling clouds'. A storm is afoot. Wait for it....

And there he is, in disguise... did you spot him? Driving the coach of four coal black horses, the lamplight, of course, falls on his mouth: 'with very red lips and sharp-looking teeth, as white as ivory'. And, as if this wasn't enough - note his welcome by the choir of wolves! (my words - not a quote!)

How does Stoker use this? Look at the way the wolves affect the horses, the dogs and the narrator. It is often thought that animals have a sixth sense - they're often used to up the tension - how do the horses respond? Meanwhile, the narrator, from whose perspective (however naive) we are forced to view events, feels a 'paralysis of fear'. Despite ourselves we read on. We may find his call to the coachman rather foolish, and be less than surprised that the coachman seems to have a tone of 'imperious command', but there is a sense of satisfaction when we arrive at the the 'courtyard of a vast ruined castle, from whose tall, black windows came no ray of light, and whose broken battlements showed a jagged line against the moonlit sky.' Why? Why is it that we feel satisfied by this description? Would we have felt as satisfied if the first chapter ended thus: 'at the pebble strewn driveway of a white pillared mansion, surrounded by sculptured trees'?