Category: 2017 Blog Post

In Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula, the appearance of Dracula in London disrupts Victorian English culture thus revealing the repression and lack of freedom of romantic relationships in the Victorian era. Prior to Dracula’s appearance, Lucy receives three proposals in only one day making her the most sought after girl in the novel. In a letter to Mina, Lucy says, “why can’t they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want her, and save all this trouble? But this is heresy, and I must not say it” (67). This quote reveals that deep down, Lucy does not approve of monogamy, and that she does not understand why society says she can only be with one man. However, because Lucy is too afraid of the social norms, and does not want to commit “heresy” she does not take the idea any farther than that.

After Lucy is bitten by Dracula she needs blood to stay alive, and as a result each of her three suiters and Van Helsing give Lucy blood through a transfusion. Though in reality this is not a sexual relationship, there is something romantic about giving a part of themselves to Lucy. Dr. Seward says that “no man knows till he experiences it, what it is to feel his own life-blood drawn away into the veins of the woman he loves” (138). Dr. Seward’s description reveals how giving Lucy his blood made him feel closer and more connected to her. However, Dr. Seward would have never been able to feel closer to Lucy if Dracula had never come to London because of the strict social norms in Victorian society. Arthur compares this connection the blood transfusion creates as something akin to marriage. Arthur says after Lucy’s death, “that he [Arthur] felt since then as if the two had been really married, and that she was his wife in the sight of God” (185). Arthur thinks that through the blood transfusion he and Lucy were married, however Arthur does not know that the other three men also provided blood for Lucy, and by that logic is also married to the other three men. Thus, making Lucy a polygamist, and completely undoing the Victorian idea of what a romantic relationship should be. Though Dracula’s appearance in London is detrimental it allows for Lucy to be with multiple men thus allowing her to “save all the trouble” (67).

In chapter two, I ran into a familiar feeling that I have experienced in movies before, a cold loneliness. This feeling is prevalent in the archetype of psychological horror films called atmospheric horror. In order for a film to fall into this category, it must contain a few important attributes. It must be set in a desolate or closed off location with very limited access or egress, it must have poor weather with limited to no sunlight, and finally it must contain a mysterious antagonist who keeps his or her intentions away from both the protagonist and the viewers/readers. Bram Stoker’s Dracula is the oldest instance of a novel or film I have seen that holds all these attributes, and it is the first atmospheric horror novel I have read.

On pg.33 we are presented with a description of Dracula’s castle by Johnathan Harker. Within this description are the attributes that give Dracula it’s atmospheric horror feeling. The first attribute is the altitude of the castle “fall a thousand feet without touching anything.” This implies very limited access or egress in and out of the castle, so escape would be difficult and probably deadly. The second is the location of the castle in the Carpathian with green tree tops “as far as the eye can reach.” This implies an isolated location, without much nearby civilization to run to for help or seek refuge if escape from the castle was needed. Therefore, if one was somehow able to make it down the walls of the castle alive, they would certainly die of starvation or exposure trekking through the woods. The third and final attribute is the suspicious nature of Johnathan’s host as a result of “doors, doors, doors everywhere, and all locked and bolted.” Keeping all the doors locked creates a sense of mystery to both us the readers and Johnathan as we wonder why Dracula has those doors locked.

All of these elements combined create that cold lonely feeling that one experiences when they encounter an atmospheric horror film. The Shining directed by Stanley Kubrick and Ex Machina directed by Alex Garland are both films that I feel capture atmospheric horror perfectly and share many similar characteristics with Bram Stokers Dracula. However, what sets Dracula apart for me at least, is that you create the creepy and disturbing atmosphere in your own head, which I feel makes it even scarier.

Dracula is a text that presents several definitions for what it means to be insane. We find traces of unsettling behaviors from the Count himself and early character Jon Harker. What seems to be a case unique to the novel is how in order to be exposed to insanity, it is impossible to use our primary sense of eyesight.

Early in the novel, Jonathan Harker experiences many strange phenomena that lead him to eventually be admitted to the hospital in Budapest. After arriving at the foreboding Transylvanian castle, Harker notices that the Count has no reflection in a mirror. “It amazed me that I had not seen him, since the glass covered the whole room behind me” (p32). Immediately an association of the unnatural and the senses is created, and Jonathan, to reader’s chagrin, continues to play the fool under his eyesight for quite some time. “At first I could not believe my eyes. I thought it was some trick of the moonlight, some weird effect of shadow” (p 41). Though at this point in the novel we are not certain of the cause of Harker’s madness, it is safe to assume his visual experiences at the Count’s manor play a large role, particularly the “dream”.

“I thought at the time I must be dreaming when I saw them, for, though the moonlight was behind them, they had no shadow on the floor” (p 44). This dream presents a time in which Harker is disconnected from his conscious, and therefore his eyesight holds much more reliability than it does when he is fully aware of himself, or how we would typically define “sane”. However, Jonathan remains adamant that he is losing his mind, or asleep, because how could his eyesight, a sense that has never given him cause to feel he cannot rely on it, be mistaken?

Because of how brief yet descriptive Jonathan Harker’s time in the Counts castle is, it is both difficult and simple to unpack how his senses affect his perception of the truth in the novel. However, it is safe to say that in order to be in touch with the insane or unnatural, Jonathan has to step away from what he understands consciousness or sanity to be.

 

Lady Audley’s Secret and The Hound of the Baskervilles are both classic mystery tales that captivate readers by setting up central questions and problems for them to solve.  They share the same themes of death, murder, missing persons, and crime.

A huge difference between the two novels is the involvement of the supernatural in The Hound of the Baskervilles.  Lady Audley’s Secret focuses more on the complexity of humans, what they are capable of,  and what they could be hiding.   When trying to figure out what happened to George or what exactly Lady Audley’s secret was, we turned to and looked at the characters themselves as suspects and to break them down to see if they really are who they say they are.  In The Hound of the Baskervilles, there is also the element of human deception however the book also introduces the idea of the evil hound and the supernatural.  When Watson asks Holmes about the his belief in the possible supernatural explanation of Sir Charles’s death he says “The devil’s agents may be of flesh and blood, may they not? … Of course, if Dr Mortimer’s surmise should be correct, and we are dealing with forces outside the ordinary laws of Nature, there is an end of our investigation” (29). The introduction of the demonic hound gives a whole new level to the mystery and calls into question the veracity of everything that happens in the story and whether or not we can believe it to be real.

The utilization of the concept of the supernatural is what separates Lady Audley’s Secret and The Hound of the Baskervilles into two different genres.  The idea of the supernatural vs real is a main trope in Gothic literature  whereas family and domestic issues are a part of sensation literature.

There are quite a few similar themes that can be detected out between the novels of The Hound of the Baskervilles and Lady Audley’s Secret. For example, the “bromance” or the relationship between Sherlock Holmes and Dr.Watson is undeniable just like in Lady Audley’s Secret with Robert Audley and George. “There is a delightful freshness about you, Watson, which makes it a pleasure to exercise any small powers which I possess at your expense”( Page 28). In this quote, Holmes has predicted where Watson has been for the last three hours. Watson seems to be always surprised on how Holmes always knows exactly where he is. This shows how remarkable Holmes is a detective or simply the close bond he has with Watson. It is quite interesting how Watson takes pleasure in Holmes is sassiness towards him. All friendships have a few unique aspects that make the relationship more special.

     Another concept I saw using the lens between The Hound of the Baskerville and Lady Audley’s Secret is the focus on how much detail is put into the description of the grounds of Baskerville Hall and Audley court. Both these authors could have focused on this topic because it is an essential part of where the mystery unfolds. Both these novels taken place in the Victorian era, they have the similar vibe of being massive in size, yet only a few people live and occupy the space It leads to questions of could there be someone or something lurking in the spaces that aren’t occupied? It is going to be interesting to see in the novel what will be discovered “Beyond, two copses of trees moaned and swung in a rising wind. A half moon broke through the rifts of racing clouds. In its cold light, I saw beyond the trees a broken fringe of rocks and the long, low curve of the melancholy moor” (page 61). This quote gives me the sensation that the hound is sulking around near Baskerville Hall. With all the mysterious sudden deaths and disappearances in both novels, the detectives of these novels are able to shine and show what they are really capable of discovering. Essentially every detail of information plays a huge part in any type of mystery. 

‘Why do you hesitate?’
‘There is a realm in which the most acute and most experienced of detectives is helpless.’
‘You mean that the thing is supernatural?’
‘I did not positively say so.’
‘No, but you evidently think it.’
‘Since the tragedy, Mr Holmes, there have come to my ears several incidents which are hard to reconcile with the settled order of Nature.’ (Doyle 24)

I found this paragraph interesting because it seems to suggest one of the significant issues of the novel-the tension between form and matter. At first sight, it feels strange to discover the most supernatural kind of narrative-myth that is passed down along certain lineage-from the most reasonable kind of narrative, detective novel. However, it can provide the readers with interesting hypothesis that even in the time of rationality, certain superstitions were still needed to calm people’s anxiety about fast changing society and its instability. No matter how social/economic progress has positive impact on the crowd, as long as progress itself is a form of change, instability is inevitable in the process. So there existed some temporal gap between people’s spiritual life and the real life.

I also contend that the text may bear some other implications depending on one component that finally beats the other. Although the two contrasting components leads readers to go along the plot of same mystery, for the story to come to its end only one component survive to culminate the novel. As detective novel is a product benefiting from the modernity itself, I would make a guess that the novel will finally end in supporting science and reasoning, the values that Sherlock Holmes symbolizes through his whole character.

Both The Hound of the Baskervilles and Wuthering Heights have elements of the gothic. One motif that both novels have in common is the role that houses have on its characters.  Baskerville Hall presents a foreboding setting for its inhabitants, as Baskerville “looked up the long, dark drive to where the house glimmered like a ghost at the farther end. . . a window or a coat-of-arms broke through the dark veil [of the ivy].  From this central block rose the twin towers, ancient, crenelated, and pierced with many loopholes. . .” (Doyle, 58).  This description of Baskerville Hall suggests that it is almost otherworldly.  Comparing the Hall to a “ghost” suggests that the evils that happened behind its walls are omnipresent.  The actions of Hugo Baskerville cast a shadow on the Baskerville family that is extended to the appearance, mood, and atmosphere of the house itself.  The house’s past weighs heavily upon the characters in the present.  Although in a modern age, the house is described as though it has not changed for hundreds of years.  Despite the fact that the kind, and charismatic Charles Baskerville once lived there, its setting appears more fitting for the likes of Hugo.

In Wuthering Heights, as in The Hound of the Baskervilles, the mansion has a palpable effect on the characters of the novel.  First of all, the name of the mansion is “Wuthering Heights.”  “Wuthering” is an adjective for the weather found at the manor; it is dark, unwelcoming, harsh, and windy, much like the personality of the foreboding Heathcliff, whose personality closely mirrors that of Hugo Baskerville (both Hugo and Heathcliff kidnap women and keep them in their manors as prisoner).  In both novels mansions serves as a reminder of past atrocities.  Figuratively and literally the manor is stuck in the past.  “Before passing the threshold, I paused to admire the grotesque carving lavished over the front, and especially about the principal door; above which, among a wilderness of crumbling griffins and shameless little boys, I detected the date ‘1500’” (Bronte, 2).  Here, the sense of decay in the manor is evident with “crumbling” ornaments and the fact that it was built in “1500.”  Likewise, in The Hound of the Baskervilles, Baskerville Hall is described as “ancient,” so much so that Henry’s first thought is to install electric lighting (bringing modernity to a building that is evidently stuck in the past).  In Gothic literature, houses can be as much of a character as the actual humans in the novel.  In Wuthering Heights the crumbling manor represents the wicked heart and depressing history of Heathcliff, while in The Hound of the Baskervilles, Baskerville Hall remains a stark reminder of the immoral past of the Baskerville family.

 

The  Hound of the Baskervilles contains many similarities to Lady Audley’s Secret. Many of the tropes we discovered in Lady Audley’s Secret appear in the novel.  In both novels we have crimes of passion, murder, there is familial ties which we see with both the Audley’s and the Baskervilles, there is excitement as the mystery unravels, there is a subtle power structure and place and time are also important factors. While there are few similarities between the novels, there is one key difference that presents itself from the start of the novel.

Lady Audley’s Secret was not a Gothic novel because it was missing some elements, one key element it was missing was the supernatural.  From the very beginning of the novel we are introduced to the supernatural with the character of Hugo Baskerville. Hugo unlike Lady Audley is immediately characterized as the evil, godless, wild and profane individual. There is moment in the manuscript where after Hugo discovered that the maiden he had kidnapped fled, he told his company that he would “render his soul and body to the  Powers of Evil if he might overtake the wench” (14). This is unlike Lady Audley’s Secret, in that novel evil took shape in human form. There was no great evil power, the evil in Lady Audley’s Secret was Lady Audley. She was the evil that people had to fear. That is not the case in this novel.

We see that the supernatural will be a very important trope in this novel because our murderer is a an evil creature.

“There in the centre lay the unhappy maid where she had fallen, dead of fear and of fatigue. But it was not the sight of her body, nor yet was it that of the body of Hugo Baskerville lying near her, which raised the hair upon the heads of these three dare-devil roisterers, but it was that standing over Hugo, and plucking at his throat, their stood a foul thing, a great, black beast, shaped like a hound yet larger than any hound that ever mortal eye has rested upon” (15).

Just when you were starting to believe that Hugo was the evil in our novel, we discover that there is creature more sinister than him. A creature that you might side with for he murdered a man who was trying to harm an innocent woman. It is interesting that the author would paint Hugo in a despicable light and then have him killed by something else despicable. Thus, causing the audience to wonder is Hugo a character worth sympathizing with or did the beast do the world a favor.

“The fresh beauty of the following morning did something to efface from our minds the grim and grey impression which has been left upon both of us by our first experience at Baskerville Hall. As Sir Henry and I sat at breakfast the sunlight flooded in through the high mullions windows, throwing watery patches of color form the coats-of-arms which covered them. The dark panelling glowered like bronze in the golden rays, and it was hard to realize that this was indeed the chamber which has struck such a gloom into our souls upon the evening before.” (Doyle 62).

 

When comparing the text of The Hound of the Baskervilles with that of Lady Audley’s Secret through a lens of theme and night/day language, I notice similarities between their depictions of night versus day.  In the night, the atmosphere surrounding the country estate carries a scary, secretive, and murderous vibe. But as the daily cycle continues and the sun rises, a happy vibe accompanies its return.  In Lady Audley’s Secret, darkness and night time cast a shadow over the mysterious Lady Audley’s hidden secrets. But as daytime returns, Lady Audley appears to be a frivolous and happy woman. In The Hound of the Baskervilles, as Watson and Sir Henry approach Baskerville Hall in the night time in the “dark against the evening sky,” they sense a dark and evil atmosphere (Doyle 61). Sir Henry hopes that “things may seem more cheerful in the morning,” just as Lady Audley appears more cheerful in the daytime, but ultimately is the same person in day and night.

A difference between these two texts include the secrets which characters are hiding. Even before we read the first page of Lady Audley’s Secret, we can infer that Lady Audley has a secret from the title.  But in The Hound of the Baskervilles, we know that there are secrets being hidden but we don’t know who is withholding what information. I have suspicions about Dr. Mortimer, who was present the night of Sir Charles’ death.  

“I will not bias your mind by suggesting theories or suspicions, Watson… I wish you simply to report facts in the fullest possible manner to me, and you can leave me to do the theorizing.” (pg. 53)

 

The Hounds of the Baskervilles and Lady Audley’s Secret are both starkly different novels. For instance, there is a significantly less amount of women in the previous. However, both novels do have a strikingly similar thing in common: when reading the Hounds of the Baskervilles though a lends of Lady Audley’s Secret, one is able to see a dominant homosocial power exerted in both novels.

In Lady Audley’s Secret, there is a significant homosocial relationsip between George Talboys and Robert Audley. While at a surface’s glance Robert and George seem to be on an equal status, there is evidence throughout the novel that proves that their homosocial relationship is slightly unbalanced. Even though Robert has his own setbacks, he is seen as a parental figure to George, whether it is longing to care for him again or constantly being on the lookout to make sure he is okay.

While there is no sexual power present between Holmes and Watson, there is defenitely a homosocial relationship where Holmes is slightly more autoriative. While both rely on each other heavily, Holmes still tends to be slighltly more condescending towards Watson. Holmes is able to work with Watson as long as Watson does not crack the case himself; that is why Holmes tells Watson to only report the bare facts and nothing else. Earlier in the passage, it mentions that Holmes is almost “parenting” Watson, as if Watson is still learning from Holmes. It is mentioned earlier in the passage that Holmes said this to Watson as some “parental advice”, almost as if Watson is being trained, or “raised” by Holmes.

In conclusion, when looking at Hound of the Baskervilles through the lens of Lady Audley’s Secret, there are some strinking similarities that can be pulled from the two novels.