\tThe moment in chapter 14 when Van Helsing is speaking to Mina about her health and happiness caught my attention for several reasons. Van Helsing states to Mina on page 198, \u201cNow you must eat. You are overwrought and perhaps over-anxious. Husband Jonathan would not like to see you so pale; and what he like not where he love, is not to his good. Therefore, for his sake you must eat and smile\u201d.
\nI found this passage particularly striking because it is employing the use of Mina\u2019s body in different ways. It also shows a significance surrounding the importance of consumption. As Van Helsing speaks to Mina one can see how her body is portrayed as a kind of consumptive remedy for her husband Jonathan. Mina\u2019s health is something that is clearly important to her husband as she is described \u201coverwrought and perhaps over-anxious\u201d something that \u201cis not to his good\u201d. Therefore, Van Helsing tells Mina that she must \u201ceat and smile\u201d in order to be in good health for her husband\u2019s \u201csake\u201d. Rather than being in good health for Mina\u2019s own personal benefit, here the stress for Mina to achieve her health back is expressed as something that needs to be done for Jonathan. Once Mina\u2019s body is back to health no longer \u201cso pale\u201d she will then bring Jonathan happiness. Jonathan\u2019s needs within this passage can be identified as the top priority through Van Helsing\u2019s words as he dictates Mina what to do. It is also interesting that just as Mina is able to give happiness to Jonathan by being a healthy body to him, she can only become \u201chealthy\u201d through consuming food herself. Van Helsing tells Mina to \u201ceat\u201d which brings her back to health. In this sense Mina can be viewed as a kind of consumption material to her husband. However, while not being able to literally consume Mina like food, her body still creates a remedying effect upon her husband. To the Count however, Mina is able to embody literal food. Therefore, her body serves as a purpose to be consumed both literally and figuratively depending upon whomever is viewing her. This idea reminded me of the expression that is used today, \u201clooked at like a piece of meat\u201d often times used in order to describe the ways in which men stare at women. To be \u201clooked at\u201d like a piece of \u201cmeat\u201d would be exactly how the count stares at Mina within the book as literal food to be consumed. Today we know that there is no such thing as vampire\u2019s yet, we still use this idea more similarly to how Jonathan figuratively consumes Mina. This whole consumptive idea, whether figurative or literal is still existing today despite this book being written within the 19th century. The handout in class from Walter Pater\u2019s The Rennaissance surrounding the Monet Lisa cements the idea surrounding this consumptive view of the female that is seen today as well as in the Victorian Era. Lisa is described within the last line as an \u201cembodiment of the old fancy\u201d yet still \u201cthe symbol of the modern idea\u201d however, in this context the \u201cmodern idea\u201d or modern female can still be viewed often times as a consumptive. I feel saddened to think that the ideas surrounding the female body as a consumptive are both old and current just as the article states, \u201cThe fancy of a perpetual life, sweeping together ten thousand experiences, Is an old one;\u201d Is there ever a way to rid the past? Why is it that the female is still described as a piece of meat? Or could we see a possible empowerment within the fact that without Mina\u2019s healthy body Jonathan would then not be \u201chappy\u201d does that empower her body?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The moment in chapter 14 when Van Helsing is speaking to Mina about her health and happiness caught my attention for several reasons. Van Helsing states to Mina on page 198, \u201cNow you must eat. You are overwrought and perhaps over-anxious. Husband Jonathan would not like to see you so pale; and what he like … Continue reading Looked at Like a Piece of Meat<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2615,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[123782,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2016-blog-post","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2615"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}