DRACULA: Role Confusion

One of the many staple elements of the Gothic Novel diet is the uncanny issue of distorting the boundaries of roles. In Dracula there are a few sentiments that leave this distinct taste. The three characters that mix up their roles are Jonathan, Mina and Dracula.

From the start, Jonathan has come across as a rather feminine male character. He takes a lot of time to explain his feelings and to talk things through with his diary, which is generally perceived as a feminine activity. He does not spare many thoughts no matter how irrelevent they may seem. Thus his feminine quality of writing out all of his observations and feelings serves as an effective narrator but also reveals his character as one that is more feminine. Jonathan also finds comfort in the prison/castle by staying in a room in which he assumes was occupied by women at one time. Jonathan explains that he would rather disobey the Count in order to sleep in a room where, "old ladies had sat and sung and lived sweet lives whilst their gentle breasts were sad for their menfolk away in the midst of remorseless wars" (Pg. 41). Jonathan would probably have preferred any place of another connotation than a jail, but it is strange that he should find comfort in a woman's room than to continue searching for a manlier resting place. His decision to stay in this room expresses his desire to be like those women and detach themselves from the horrible situation they were really in. Jonathan's excess of feminine qualities blurs the line of defining him as a man and gives off the uncanny feeling of gender crossing.

Ironically, Mina, Jonathan's bride to be, comes across as more masculine when compared to her expected role. This is especially apparent when she is writing to her childhood friend, Lucy. In stark contrast, Mina neglects to use any italicizing, which is foot noted to, "announce that... she is a traditional Victorian Lady" (Pg. 56). Mina also holds a job, where Lucy is free to be pampered and adored. Lucy is the embodiment of the the woman's expected roles at the time and Mina seems to be everything that Lucy is not. In comparison to Lucy, Mina is very masculine.

Dracula also experiences some role reversal. As one of the few occupants of his castle, Dracula must tend to the work that servants would normally take on. The foot notes attempt to explain to us modern folk that, "Dracula [as] his own servant... may have looked evilly unmasculine, and thus inhuman, to some Victorians" (Pg. 32). This may seem noble and self sufficient of Dracula, but it wasn't taken that way when it was written. The point is that being a servant and a master are polar opposites and are uncanny to exist together in one person.

The characters of Jonathan, Mina, and Dracula distort the boundaries of their character roles. They take their given appearances and flip them upside down to be seen as something they are not. To be accepted as one title but to exibit behavior that is socially unexpected is to whip up a recipe for a very uncanny novel.

Wuthering Heights: The Women are to Blame?

Who is it that should be blamed for what happened between the families of Earnshaw, Linton and Heathcliff? The book has made it difficult to put any single person at blame. The fault is an entire web of connections. It is striking that some of these connections could have been avoided and the diabolical plan foiled instantly. These points are held by Catherine, Nelly, and Cathy.

Catherine's change in the beginning from tyrannical child to socially acceptable lady is what ultimately drives Heathcliff to destroy everything that revolves around her social happiness. Immediately, Catherine belittles Heathcliff for being so dirty when they are reunited. Heathcliff at first wants nothing to do with being civil, but he tries to in order to be with Catherine. She does not appreciate his attempt and this deters him from accepting himself as being able to join her in society. The blow of Catherine leaving Heathcliff for Edgar made him resent himself, for not being able to make her happy, and her, for denying that he could ever satisfy her. Catherine explains to Nelly, "It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him;" (Pg 63). If Catherine had been true to her heart and married Heathcliff for love, then the majority of Heathcliff's revenge would have been negated.

Nelly is also a major connection of the web. Her importance is spurring on this hellish cycle is allowing it to proceed. Her earlier acts of negligence were granting Heathcliff and Catherine to indulge in their sick romance. Nelly watches silently as they kiss at the Grange while Edgar is not home. Nelly knew that Edgar would not be pleased to have Heathcliff in his home and also knew that Heathcliff's presence would stress Catherine. Later on, Nelly is granted a second chance to deter the chaos of Heathcliff's wrath by influencing Cathy. However, Nelly yeilds to the child's whims instead of being firm with her. Nelly discovered the love letters between Cathy and Linton and would have shown them to Edgar, but Cathy pleaded for her to burn them instead. Nelly thought, "I esteemed it all girlish vanity, I at length relented in a measure..." (Pg. 175). Had Nelly been firm in her giving the notes to Edgar, he would have been better at stunting Cathy's pursuit of Linton.

Cathy's part in this web of blame is her disobedience and wild passion. Her instances of defiance, issued at her father and Nelly, had undoubtably secured Heathcliffs plan of ultimate revenge. The first defiance that started the snowball effect was inspired by Cathy's thurst for adventure and she came across Wuthering Heights by accident. Had she simply regarded Edgar's and Nelly's wishes for her to remain on Thrushcross grounds she would have never allowed Heathcliff to initiate his scheme to use her. Cathy's wild passion for Linton drives her to disobey even further. She takes full advantage of her guardian's illnesses to go and see Linton in secret. These visits allowed for her to become more and more attached and, simultaneously, succeptible to Heathcliff's powers of manipulation.

Had any one of these points been severed in the process, the web of Heathcliff's revenge should have failed. These women could have stopped his evil rampage at any point, but instead they seemed to have no choice but to play along in his scheme. Should Heathcliff be blamed, then it is the fault of everyone who created him. The women of the story had the power to end the reign of this bitter creation, so then it is their own fault that he succeded.

Wuthering Heights: Catherine

Regarding Catherine's character, she gets herself into a pretty situation by the hundredth page. The story becomes filled with lies, confessions and all around blasphemy! I am not sure whether or not I feel sorry for her, support her or resent her.

Should we feel sorry for Catherine? For starters, she lead an unfortunate childhood. She grew up very attached to Heathcliff which bred a sense of mischievousness in her. Nelly relates to us that, " [Catherine] laughed if I told her to say she was sorry for her faults, and beg to be forgiven" ( Pg. 34). On top of that social hindrance, her father died while she was still young and that would have undoubtedly scarred and stunted her growing personality. Heathcliff seemed to be the only one that could console her, or at least Nelly nor Hindley did not try, so is probably why she holds him so dearly. The affect they had on each other was most obvious after Mr. Earnshaw's death, ""The little souls were comforting each other with better thoughts... no parson in the world ever pictured heaven so beautifully as they did, in their innocent talk;..." (Pg. 35). The strange relationship that Heathcliff and Catherine had when they were children, one that was detrimental yet friendly, makes me unsure of whether or not to feel sorry for her. It's true that she grew up in a sorry way, but she was content to be with Heathcliff. I say that I feel sorry for her because she could not have known any other way than Heathcliff.

Should we support Catherine? Her scheme seems to be keeping Heathcliff to herself. Initially, I do not support her since she was so mean and heartless to Heathcliff. She confessed to Nelly, while Heathcliff eavesdropped, "It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him;...Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same,..." (Pg. 63). It was tense for me to read that part, as I felt the foreshadowing that Heathcliff would want revenge for her selfish declining of her love for him. After three years of separation, she gratefully welcomes him over despite her husband, Linton, and his obvious discomfort. They all should have nothing to do with each other yet she persists. The mixture while at tea is described as, "The meal hardly endured ten minutes. Catherine's cup was never filled, she could neither eat nor drink. Edgar had made a slop in his saucer, and scarecely swallowed a mouthful" (Pg. 76). Heathcliff's presence is so unnatural to their regular lives. I rather feel sorry for Heathcliff for wanting to come back to suffer their harshness. As far as Catherine's support goes, I feel she should be at least granted the chance to see Heathcliff and be able to discover his true intentions so she might move on.

Should we dislike Catherine? To this I say she is as succeptible to the pitfalls of every human being. She is selfish of her friend and has a quick temper, which are not uncommon faults. However, they are so extreme when she learns of Isabella's affection for Heathcliff. She tells Heathcliff in an exaggerated tone about Isabella's apparent obsession with him and forces Isabella to witness her rant. This is a too-cruel thing to do and I do not blame Isabella for resorting to violence in order to free herself from the situation. I fear that is the reaction Catherine was waiting for so that Heathcliff would come to detest Isabella for her rashness. This is contradictory, though, because Catherine was being so much more rash that Heathcliff should come to dislike Catherine more than Isabella because of this encounter. By using this underhanded tactic and taking advantage of her reknown bad temper, I dislike Catherine.

Frankenstein: The Climax (?)

At the conclusion of the story Frankenstein, I became disappointed at the lack of a solid climax. With some difficulty, I strove to come up with where the climax of the story was and came up with a few possibilities. The climax may have occurred at Victor's destruction of the female monster, Elizabeth's death, and Victor's promise to live in order to take revenge.

I felt that the obliteration of the female monster by Victor's hands was a contender in the contest for the climax of the story. My main reasoning for this is that it is the only act of violence read as it happened. Victor described the event as, "trembling with passion, [I] tore to pieces the thing on which I was engaged. The wretch saw me destroy the creature on whose future existence he depended for happiness, and, with a howl of devilish despair and revenge, withdrew" (Pg 115). Since it was so emotionally charged and the events that followed afterward were not entirely predictable, I felt that it satisfied the peak of intensity.

Elizabeth's murder by the monster may also be considered the high point of the story. Knowing that the monster wished to expose Victor to the same loneliness and despair that he felt, it was foreseeable that Elizabeth would be a prime target to meet this end. At destroying the monster's desired mate, he swore to be there at Victor's wedding. Victor puts so much emphasis while he tells his story on this threat, I believe he repeated it more than three times, and laments before telling it, "Great God!if for one instant I had thought what might be the hellish intention of my fiendish adversary, I would rather have banished myself for ever from my native country, and wandered a friendless outcast over the earth..." (Pg 132). This excessive build up to the event is why I consider the event to be a climax.

The other situation I feel is climax worthy is when Victor finds himself at the tomb of his departed family, friend and wife. Victor says, "I swear to pursue the daemon, who caused this misery, until he or I shall perish in mortal conflict...." (Pg. 140). For me, this was a great relief. I was disappointed in how he and the monster were regarding how their lives were not worth living and that they would rather die. The declaration of Victor saying that he would live, despite it being for the sole purpose of destroying the monster, was a nice and well overdue twist. Also I liked how it foreshadowed an impending meeting between Victor and the monster in an exciting end.