Author: Shimmy

Christina Rossetti wrote Goblin Market to stress the importance of women sticking together, which helped them avoid the social mishaps of the mid 1800’s. Throughout the poem, Lizzie continuously tries to protect her sister Laura from the enticing goblin men. As the sisters were collecting water from the brook, Lizzie did everything in her best effort to warn her sister not to fall weak to the temptations. When Laura ate the fruit, Lizzie could have returned home, away from her sister and the goblin men. Instead, she decided to fall asleep that night cradling her sister in her arms. “Cheek to cheek and breast to breast Lock’d together in one nest” (Rossetti). Even after Laura disobeyed Lizzie, the two continue to profess their love for each other. I believe Rossetti’s purpose of writing was to illustrate that women were already at a disadvantage due to double standards, and unjust social expectations. Mistakes are unavoidable, but that should not diminish the sisterhood between all of the women. Rossetti wanted to get the message across to her female readers that a strong bond was necessary to keep them safe and free from all temptations during this time period. 

At the end of the poem, Lizzie sacrifices her own free will to help Laura escape from the ravenish temptations. “They trod and hustled her, Elbow’d and jostled her, Claw’d with their nails, Barking, mewing, hissing, mocking, Tore her gown and soil’d her stocking, Twitch’d her hair out by the roots, Stamp’d upon her tender feet, Held her hands and squeez’d their fruits Against her mouth to make her eat” (Rossetti). Lizzie went to retrieve fruit to save her sister despite knowing the danger it brought. Her selflessness strengthened their sisterhood. Women sticking together during 1800, rural England was very important. Rossetti believed in feminine individuality and fighting gender discrimination. She wrote Goblin Market so female readers would see the hardships and temptations of society were inevitable, but sacrificial love for one another will always protect their sanctuary. 

Bram Stoker uses vampirism to show different vulnerabilities in women. In opposite fashions,we see Mina and Lucy fall prey to the aggressor in Dracula. Lucy faces a quick decline from her normal self, whereas Mina’s transformation drags on throughout the whole novel. Lucy Westenra turned victim to Dracula immediately. “My own heart grew cold as ice, and I could hear the gasp of Arthur, as we recognised the features of Lucy Westenra. Lucy Westenra, but yet how changed. The sweetness was turned to adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous wantonness” (Dracula XVI). Stoker portrays Lucy with an alter-ego. Her once kind, heartfelt personality drifted to a soulless, powerful vampire. Stoker writes this to show how some females were hurt by the expectations of society. Once Lucy transitioned to a vampire, she became a hopeless, broken woman, hence Van Helsing and Holmwood finally taking her life. Stoker breaking Lucy’s character shows the reader how women that fell vulnerable to the expectations of Britain society became the complete opposite of the ideal nineteenth century woman. 

Opposingly, Mina spent her journey fighting off the evil spirit of Dracula. Stoker writes, ”She was so good and brave that we all felt that our hearts were strengthened to work and endure for her, and we began to discuss what we were to do” (Dracula XXII). This quote describes Mina in a completely different manner with respect to Lucy. Mina symbolizes the strength of women to persevere throughout 18th-19th century Victorian society. During this time period, most women were looked at as weaker than men. They were often viewed to be controlled by their emotions, modest, and self-deprecating. Mina’s impressive ability to fight the vampire’s power was Stoker’s purpose of writing. He wanted Mina to be an inspiration to all women reading this novel. As Mina became more and more “powerful” by avoiding Dracula’s possession, the men in the story felt more impelled to take care of her. Stoker’s showing of feminine power represented what all women in the 19th century could be if they did not fall vulnerable to proprietary men.

I believe one claim from Stoker is “everyone is a prisoner.” Simply put, every character in this novel is a prisoner in a unique way. There are two characters that really make this claim evident. First off, the obvious example is Jonathan Harker, who directly claims he felt like Count Dracula’s prisoner. At the end of Chapter II, Harker yells, “The castle is a veritable prison, and I am a prisoner” (Stoker Ch. III). This example of a prisoner is right in front of our eyes. Stoker has Harker directly tell the readers he feels captured… but why? Stoker is doing this to increase the gothic elements of the story. The Count poses as a friendly, quiet, simple man when Harker first enters his estate. A few chapters later he turns into a possessive, hostile, blood-sucking vampire. This quick switch of egos, along with Harker explaining he is a prisoner, helps dramatize and gothicize the story. As this quick switch happens, the reader is then left guessing what vampires were really like in the 19th century. Were they once kind, caring humans who could not fight their darkened transformation or were they always evil bloodthirsty killers who were born into it? The way Stoker describes Harker as a prisoner, it seems like we will never come to an answer.  

Stoker categorizes Lucy as a prisoner of her own true self. In chapter XVI, she resurrects and escapes from her grave. The story reads, “It pleases me that the Un-Dead, Miss Lucy, shall not leave to-night, that so on the morrow night she may be more eager. Therefore I shall fix some things she like not—garlic and a crucifix—and so seal up the door of the tomb” (Stoker Ch. XVI).  From this, I see Lucy’s old self stuck as a prisoner to her current, vampish self. If she were to be in control of her rebirthing self, the men would not be able to restrict her. Something else that portrayed Lucy as a prisoner was when the men drove a stake through her heart. Chapter XV reads, “I shall cut off her head and fill her mouth with garlic, and I shall drive a stake through her body” (Stoker Ch. XV) Her own husband was now mutilating her in the most inhumane way. The men believe this act of violence will save her. I believe Stoker writes this so we will ask ourselves: do men have power over women? Does violence to women save women? So far, the gothic literature we have read contained a lot of feminine power, which seemed to be quite common in 18th-19th century Britain. Stoker portraying Lucy as a prisoner to herself helps him show power from the opposing gender creating a two-sided dispute of who the dominant gender was in 19th century Victorian literature.  

“It swelled up louder and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the sleepers from their beds” (Doyle 150).

This passage is taken from page 150 of Arthur Conan Doyle’s, The Speckled Band. To start, a small phrase that stood out to me was “that cry raised the sleepers from the bed.” This dark imagery allows the reader to fully understand how loud Doctor Roylott’s scream was. (When I closely read this passage, it instantly made me think of Disney Pixar’s, Monster’s Inc, and how sleeping robots would vertically sit up due to the intensity of the Monster’s screams.) But what is Sir Doyle’s purpose for even including the villagers reaction from the distance? This might be crazy, but I think Doyle wanted the readers to believe that everyone in the village was afraid of Doctor Roylott, not just his two step-daughters. When it raises the sleepers from their bed, it portrays the trauma everyone has from his evil crimes. The author wants us to know that Doctor Roylott was evil enough to traumatize people outside of his family. This relates to the plot of the novel as a whole, because it adds the question of whom the scream may be from? There is a chance it is from the man who deserves to die, and that would give a thrill to the reader. That thrill is the exact purpose Conan has when writing a sensational novel, thus his reason for including the villagers awakening. 

Another interesting part of this excerpt is the way the word “anger” is being used. There was anger in the Doctor’s scream right before he died. Doyle’s decision to sneak in this word helps the reader to better understand Doctor Roylott’s short-tempered personality throughout the story. There were several other instances where Roylott lost his mind quickly. For example, when he finds out Holmes and Watson are investigating Miss. Stoner, he flips instantly. Anger is included in this description, and matters, because it amplifies the grand finale on the Doctor’s demise. As a reader, Conan writes this story to make out Roylott to be the antagonist, with flawed morals, and an evil fixation with killing people. The reader starts to hate him, because who wouldn’t? The author includes that one final lengthy scream because when it finally stops, and the reader realizes the evil man is dead- they feel a sense of relief! This excited feeling the reader now gets along with Roylott’s noticeable anger from his failure boosts the “sensation” we get as readers seeing the antagonist fall.

 

Rocco DiRico

ENGL 101

Blog #1

“Why do I go on with this,” he said, “when I know that it is leading me, step by step, day by day, hour by hour, nearer to that conclusion which, of all others, I should avoid? … Should I be justified in letting the chain which I have slowly put together, link by link, drop at this point, or must I go on adding fresh links to that fatal chain until the last rivet drops into its place and the circle is complete? I think, and I believe, that I shall never see my friend’s face again; and that no exertion of mine can ever be of any benefit to him. In plainer, crueler words I believe him to be dead. Am I bound to discover how and where he died? or being, as I think, on the road to that discovery, shall I do a wrong to the memory of George Talboys by turning back or stopping still? What am I to do?—what am I to do” (Braddon Chapter 19).

I decided to closely read an excerpt from Chapter 19 of this novel. The first thing that stood out to me was the periodic repetition in Robert’s words. He uses phrases such as “day by day” and “hour by hour”. This amplifies how tired and disheartened he feels throughout the tedious journey of searching for George. Yet, throughout the novel as a whole, Robert continues to look for George Talboys! I feel like at this moment, Mary Braddon’s dramatic use of repetition complemented by Robert’s commitment to find his friend displays how genuine of a character he is. 

Also, I noticed Mary Braddon’s phrasing technique in this passage was quite interesting. Technically, Robert is talking to Mrs. Maloney, but is he really? He asks contradictory questions like, “Am I bound to discover how and where he died? or being, as I think, on the road to that discovery, shall I do a wrong to the memory of George Talboys by turning back or stopping still” (Braddon Chapter 19). He uses the word “bound” which has a connotation of being placed under legal or moral restraint or obligation. This phrasing makes it evident Robert is unsure of what he should do. Should he stop searching or keep going?

Looking at other specific words, Robert uses the words fatal, crueler, and never. All of these words depict his dark and pessimistic tone. On a broader note, this behavior/tone somewhat foreshadows, or simply portrays, his inability to trust people for the remainder of the novel (e.g. he becomes sketchy about Lady Audley after seeing her handwriting on one of the three inscriptions from George’s trunk of belongings).