Course Blog

Close Reading of Goblin Market:

Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market is an incredibly sexualized poem, even though she openly wrote this for children. The depiction of the change that happens when the goblins find out that Lizzie wants to take the fruits to her sister in hopes of curing her becomes very climactic. The goblins early on in the poem were portrayed as being very happy “chuckling, clapping, crowing,” “hugged her and kissed her, squeezed and caressed her.” For some reason, this changes as they become increasingly evil and violent. In both cases, the goblins comparable to animals, however, the comparisons are vastly different. When Lizzie and Laura first meet them, they are “wagging” and “purring” like other animals, later on when Lizzie encounters them, they lash their tails, bark, and become more vicious. The goblins represent a binary; they embody both innocence and corruption. When the goblins attack Lizzie, the text makes it appear that their intentions are most likely far worse than we were lead to believe though. The goblins “held her hands and squeezed their fruits against her mouth to make her eat.” The fact that they held her down and “squeezed their fruits against her mouth” suggests that this act was performed without any consent and was the use of brutal force. Along with that, the goblins “tore her gown and soiled her stocking” which to suggests that she was violated in some way by the goblins. The author includes this scene to make a statement about the evils of men and how this affects women in the Victorian era.

The opinions of Mr. Hyde, as seen through other characters in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, have not been particularly positive. For example, Mr. Utterson declares “I never saw a man I so disliked, and yet I scarce know why” (Stevenson, 5) and later believes, “the man seems hardly human!” (Stevenson, 10). However, Dr. Jekyll’s views on Mr. Hyde are especially interesting and revealing.

When Mr. Utterson first mentions Mr. Hyde to his friend, “the large handsome face of Dr. Jekyll grew pale to the very lips, and there came a blackness about his eyes” (Stevenson, 13). Someone tends to “grow pale” when he/she becomes scared, stressed or sickened. In many cases, this paleness results from a feeling of anxiety. Therefore, before even responding to Mr. Utterson’s claim, the reader has an indictment of how Dr. Jekyll will reply.

Even with the new “abominable” (Stevenson, 13) information Utterson has uncovered about Mr. Hyde, Dr. Jekyll refuses to speak more on the subject. He tells the lawyer, “This is a matter I thought we had agreed to drop” (Stevenson, 13). Most people tend to love hearing about gossip, especially when the subject isn’t themselves. However, Dr. Jekyll appears to want nothing to do with it and consistently asks to move onto a new topic. This raises the impression that perhaps Dr. Jekyll already knows what Mr. Utterson is about to tell him. Furthermore, what if the doctor’s lack of curiosity is because he’s actually hiding something?

This idea would go along with Dr. Jekyll’s mention of “my position is very strange—a very strange one” (Stevenson, 13). He goes on to tell the lawyer that “It is one of those affairs that cannot be mended by talking” (Stevenson, 13); which has the reader thinking about whether the doctor’s “affair” is one that Mr. Utterson must see for himself in order to believe.

Once again, Dr. Jekyll urges Mr. Utterson that “this is a private matter, and I beg of you let it sleep” (Stevenson, 13), before finally telling him, “I do sincerely take a great, a very great interest in” (Stevenson, 13) Mr. Hyde. Connected to the last point, perhaps people cannot see Mr. Hyde the same way as the doctor does because he is withholding the truth. Dr. Jekyll has seen something in Mr. Hyde that no one else has, an interesting point considering these two characters have yet to be in the same place at the same time in our novel so far.

In the short novel the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, the idea of physiognomy is used to show that Mr. Hyde is not a trustworthy person. Physiognomy is the idea that a person’s outer appearance could reveal something explicit about a person’s character. After Mr. Utterson asks Mr. Hyde to reveal his face the narrator describes Mr. Hyde as, “pale and dwarfish; he gave the impression of deformity without any namable malformation, he had a displeasing smile, he had born himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness… all of these were points against him” (Stevenson 10). The description of Mr. Hyde is very interesting because of how it focuses on his appearance as evidence for him being evil. Mr. Hyde is described as “dwarfish” and possibly having a mild disability. However, the language of the passage causes the reader to wonder if maybe Mr. Hyde is possibly insane. The use of the word “impression” shows that part of what makes Mr. Utterson think Mr. Hyde is deformed comes not only from his appearance but also from his actions. Mr. Hyde’s “displeasing smile” also could be the result of his physical appearance or how he chooses to present himself to the world. The description of Mr. Hyde also reminded me of a woman since he is said to be small, and timid. All of these words reveal that because of how Mr. Hyde looks and carries himself, he is perceived as abnormal.

I never knew that The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde  was a Victorian era short story, but now that I do, Victorian era themes are quite apparent throughout the story. One theme that is exceedingly present in the first two chapters is that of the supernatural. Although there are no explicit hints at the supernatural throughout the story, Stevenson includes some supernatural elements in order to make the ending less jarring. When Einfield describes his encounter with Mr. Hyde he claims: “He is not easy to describe. There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something downright detestable. I never saw a man I so disliked, and yet I scarce know why. ” (Stevenson, 10). This is an unusual way to feel about someone, and Einfield’s inability to pinpoint what exactly is strange about Hyde hints that there is something not of this world at play. This is also seen when Utterson encounters Hyde: “There is something more, if I could find a name for it. God bless me, the man seems hardly human!” (Stevenson, 19). Utterson even goes as far as to classify Hyde as “hardly human” which hints even more heavily that something sinister may happen. These mentions, though, are subtle, and surrounded by decidedly normal text and happenings, with Utterson leading the reader to believe Hyde’s role is in the mundane blackmail. Including these subtle supernatural elements is an effective way for Stevenson to allow the reader to be surprised by the ending, while still feel like it did not come out of nowhere.

In my post, I am going to be comparing the women in La Belle Dame sans Merci to Dracula. What I found similar about these two characters were first the fact that they have the persuasive ability to make people fall in love with them in an unhealthy way. Another similarity is the effect of their “love” has on the individual after they have been caught in their trance. The lady in La Belle Dame sans Merci, uses are beauty and affection to seduce men. By seducing the men she sees, she takes away his life in order to satisfy her needs. “ And this is why I sojourn here, alone and palely loitering, though the sedge is withered from the lake, and no birds sings” (Keats). An example of this for Dracula would be when he lured Lucy with his affectionate ways. Dracula is the cause of Lucy’s death,  he uses her for satisfaction for himself. Dracula and the lady are similar to how they get what they want, but once the person serves no purpose it results in death. I would what would happen if these two characters met. Would they kill each other with their seductive lust? Or would one gain more than the other?

A difference between Dracula and the lady would be their reputation for the character in the novel and poem. Dracula is portrayed as a powerful and handsome man who is known for his beastly character. While the lady seems innocent and is dancing around with flowers in the field. Men flock to her because of how pure she looks. But overall these two characters still have the same intentions and similar outcomes result for their victims.

One element that connects many of our texts is the explicit binary between science and the supernatural. This becomes especially apparent if one compares Robert Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Stevenson’s Dr. Lanyon – a minor characters in the narrative that still serves an immense purpose in its progression – does not believe in the supernatural. He is the voice of reason in an essentially mystical Victorian London. Dr. Jekyll – like Dr. Lanyon – is a respected and successful doctor but he chose a different path. Unlike his colleague Dr. Lanyon, he experiments with the human soul which Dr. Lanyon dismisses as “unscientific balderdash” (17).  In this regard Lanyon reminds me a lot of the other – often medically or otherwise scientifically – inclined male characters in our class readings. Examples include Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and Dracula’s Dr. Seward. While Holmes’ disbelief in the supernatural is confirmed when the apparently supernatural hound in The Hound of the Baskervilles turns out to be nothing more than an illusion, Dr. Seward and Dr. Lanyon are equally confronted with the actual presence of the supernatural in their Victorian world. Both men are medical doctors who doubt the spiritualism of some of their contemporaries – in this case mainly represented by Stoker’s Van Helsing and Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll respectively. The main difference between Seward and Lanyon, however, is how these two men deal with their new knowledge of the supernatural. Dr. Seward learns about the existence of bloodthirsty vampires and without hesitation joins Van Helsing and Jonathan Harker in finding and fighting Count Dracula. In Dr. Lanyon’s letter towards the end of the narrative, we are told that Lanyon is in fact the first person to observe the transformation of Mr. Hyde into Dr. Jekyll. Being present and observing this mystical transformation makes Lanyon’s whole worldview collapse, his “life is shaken to its roots” (102). He tells Utterson that he “sometimes think[s] if we knew all, we should be more glad to get away” (56). Accordingly, Dr. Lanyon prefers to leave a world in which the supernatural exists and suspends science and reason – the main principles that govern his life.

Overall, ‘men of science’ can be found in most of our Victorian readings. Due to the established binary of science and the supernatural, these men’s’ principles are usually tested and pushed to their limits. Yet, the characters react to this revelation in very different ways. Dr. Seward takes action and fights the supernatural vampire, Dr. Lanyon becomes passive and resorts to silence. He chooses not to speak about what he has observed and only tells his friend Utterson about it in a letter that Utterson may read after Lanyon’s death. The reason for these varying reactions to the supernatural might be found in the general setups of the two narratives. In Stoker’s Dracula, Dr. Seward plays a crucial role and can be considered one of the main characters. Stevenson’s Dr. Lanyon, however, is only a minor character that has few appearances in the narrative. Accordingly, he does not become an essential part of the story’s resolution like Dr. Seward in Dracula. Generally, one can say that Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde does not have a resolution at all. After the confessions of Dr. Lanyon and Dr. Jekyll, the narrative ends and there is no climactic ending in which the evil supernatural being is hunted down and killed. Thus, Dr. Lanyon reacted to the supernatural in a very different way than Dr. Seward because the two men, despite their similarities, serve very different purposes in two rather differently structured narrative.

 

Works Cited:

Stevenson, Robert. Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. C. Scribner’s Sons, New York: 1886. Print.

In both “La Belle Dame” by John Keats and “The Lady of Shalott” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, female leads take action to pursue and provide pleasure for themselves in the form of a male companion. This directly contrasts the passive role of middle class women during the Victorian era, where despite having opportunities to receive education and social skills, these were limited to whatever men found pleasing. In other words, women were expected to “doll themselves up” and then wait for a suitor to notice. Yet in the aforementioned poems, the Dame and the Lady decide to skip this middle step and pursue a man on their own. Both cases lead to devastation, yet in different ways.

The secondary narrator of “La Belle Dame” is a knight destroyed by the Dame. He was used by her for her enjoyment and now wanders the lake in a dazed lost state. It is made clear by the Knight’s dream of “…pale kings and princes too, pale warriors…” (lines 35-36) that he is not the only victim of the Dame. Clearly this is a woman well practiced in pursuing her interests, particularly those of sexual nature.

The tale of the Lady from mythical land of Shalott runs along a similar theme, but with a significantly different end. In the poem, the Lady consistently tends to her weaving; a notably common domestic trade during the era of Sir Arthur (when the poem takes place) and the Victorian Era (when the work was written). When the Lady sees handsome Sir Arthur in her mirror, she does not prune herself to try and lure him, but rather turns from the mirror and gazes upon him directly. If the mirror can be taken to provide for the “lens” of a father or older brother a Victorian woman would have to “look through” to really have better opportunities in life, then here we see the Lady turn a literal 180 degrees from this form of containment. Because normally a single woman would have only the opportunities given to her by her closest male relative, this scene demonstrates the Lady’s moment of retracting from the crutch of masculine dominance over a women’s freedoms in a relationship / marriage. Unfortunately, the tale ends with the Lady floating along a frozen river “till her blood was frozen slowly” (line 147) all alone, with not even family to see her off.

Both poems, notably written by men, seem to be cautionary tales about giving women too much freedom – at some point they may seize it for themselves and only devastation will occur. This is clearly no greater tragedy for the patriarchy of the Victorian Era.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula presents the character of Dracula as a metaphor for the cultural paranoia of physical and moral decay surrounding syphilis and the author’s own experience with the debilitating illness. Social changes such as the emergence of “the New Woman” and progressive ideas about gender roles prompted a societal fear of declining female virtue and chastity. Syphilis was most prominent in Whitechapel, a district in London notorious for its high levels of prostitution and made famous by the Jack the Ripper murders. Many 19th century scientists believed that prostitutes conceived syphilis in their sexual organs as a result of their promiscuity. While encompassing society’s disapproval of prostitution, Dracula also demonstrates Stoker’s belief that swapping fluids with a stranger at night leads to a life of misery. The likeness of vampirism to syphilis are similar in their foreign origin, the way they spread, and the effects on the victim. Stoker demonstrates how a lack of a moral values leads to contracting foreign disease.

 

Both vampirism and STDs are believed to have started outside of London and arrived in London via ship.  According to Mark Rose, syphilis has New World origin and was transported across the Atlantic back to Europe following Columbus’ visit to the New World. Vampirism originated in Transylvania and was transported via Dracula to London by ship. Dracula arrives in England and “has succeeded after all, them, in his design in getting to London” (Stoker 200). He moves throughout the streets of London, undetected. Dracula appears as any other Londoner: “a tall, thin man with a beaky nose and black moustache and pointed beard” (Stoker 183). Syphilis could lay dormant for up to 25 years, so someone could have syphilis but no one would know.  Both vampirism and syphilis lurked in the streets of London and could be unnoticed.

 

Mina’s idea that “some of the ‘New Women’ writers will some day start an idea that men and women should be allowed to see each other asleep before proposing or accepting” posed a shocking and progressive proposition upon conventional Victorian marriage norms (Stoker 99-100).  Upon receiving three marriage proposals on the same day, Lucy expresses her frustration that she cannot engage in polygamous marriage and marry all three of her suitors. Lucy writes Mina, “why can’t they [Victorian society] let a girl marry three men, or as many as want her, and save all this trouble?” (Stoker 67). Due to Lucy’s promiscuity, Dracula views her as an easy target and Lucy is vulnerable to his evil powers and vampirism. Conversely, due to Mina’s chastity and her “traditional Victorian qualities of determination and loyalty towards her husband,” she is protected against the risk of contracting Dracula’s lure to vampirism (Buzwell).  British society frowned upon both parties involved in prostitution, that being the prostitute herself and the man likely cheating on his wife to engage in the exchange. Stoker believes that if one lacked moral values to prevent falling to the sexual lure of adultery, one would contract a sexually transmitted disease as a result. Stoker, whose writings demonstrated signs of guilt and sexual frustration within his marriage, likely had sex with a prostitute and contracted syphilis himself.

The similarities between syphilis and vampirism demonstrate Stoker’s belief that moral virtue will protect one against the harm of foreigners.

 

Works Cited

Buzwell, Greg. “Dracula: vampires, perversity and Victorian anxieties.” Discovering Literature: Romantics     and Victorians, British Library, 15 May 2014, www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/dracula#.

Rose, Mark. “Origins of Syphilis.” Archaeology Archive, version 50, revision 1, Archaeological Institute of America, Jan. 1997, archive.archaeology.org/9701/newsbriefs/syphilis.html.

Stoker, Bram. Dracula. Penguin Group, 1993.

 

Works Referenced

Hall, Lesley A. “’The Great Scourge’: Syphilis as a medical problem and moral metaphor, 1880-1916.” Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, 23 May 1998, www.lesleyahall.net/grtscrge.htm.

 

What are the Authors of Dracula and Goblin Market getting at with their writing? Well, we can ignore the very valid meta-narrative that exists in the subtext and cultural context of the work. We could instead obsess over a postmodern interpretation, lacking real understanding and become extremely neurotic. I’d like to give a deconstruction  of this apprehension and misunderstanding regarding the legitimate concerns of Victorians who by the way are human beings, not the evil monsters it seems we are so fond of making them out to be. Ironic so many are so quick to “other” Victorians over “othered bodies”.

Why is it that there is anxiety surrounding “reverse colonization” or more accurately the colonization of one’s country? Well on a material level the more people you include in your country the fewer resources are distributed to its individual citizens. The world is a zero-sum game, there are not infinite resources. So when “foreign bodies” are introduced there are more competitors for the limited resources you possess within your country. We can connect this to Dracula’s desire to move to England: he is looking for a greater pool of resources to pull from. “This was the being I was helping to transfer to London, where, perhaps, for centuries to come he might, amongst its teeming millions, satiate his lust for blood, and create a new and ever-widening circle of semi-demons to batten on the helpless. The very thought drove me mad.” (4.62). Then there is the question of sovereignty. When you accept foreigners into your society they become a part of it but not fully. They have different desires and needs and will compete with you for political power. So not only do you have to compete with your own countrymen but you also have to compete with foreigners, or maybe just people of a different ethnic or racial group. Sovereignty and political power are seldom achieved in countries where different racial and ethnic groups must compete. We can connect this to Dracula extending his power when he arrives in England, controlling people who he has corrupted. Then there is the question of purity. In every culture that existed up until the 19th century the idea of purity featured prominently. It is held as an ideal and virtue that is in many ways the embodiment of beauty and the transcendent. When you introduce foreigners into your society you destroy the purity your ancestors have bestowed upon you, a carefully guarded gift that they fought for. So you move farther from the ideal while simultaneously shame the sacrifices made for you. That is why the “goblin men” are stigmatized, because they are a disruption in the society that has been carefully constructed fro these young women.

Why might they fixate on the “monstrous bodies” of foreigners? The focus on bodies might be because of the real physical differences that exist between people. Those real differences have real consequences in the real world. Bodies are not just avatars that are interchangeable. They represent a continuation of the mother and father. They are representative of a greater people that they belong to as bodies. So the fixation on bodies may have to do what they represent. The bodies are also sublime and horrific, interesting for a writer to write about.

Evidently, Dracula responds to a fear of reverse colonization in the United Kingdom. He represents the threat of foreigners invading England and wreaking havoc upon English people and ways of life. Dracula is free to reign over Transylvanians, yet it is only when he threatens the motherland of England that the courageous Brits muster up the strength to defeat him. Though Dracula had existed in Transylvania for centuries, only when he begins to threaten Great Britain with his wrath does he become a legitimate threat, one that is worth taking action against. Moreso, the emphasis on Dracula’s foreignness represents England’s preoccupation and fascination with all things exotic. Upon viewing Dracula’s castle, Mina notes how “there was something wild and uncanny about the place,” perhaps suggesting that Transylvania is an unruly place that must be subjugated by the English in order to be controlled (439). Additionally, all the vampires have a seductive, alluring quality that confounds the other characters. His strangely beautiful and attractive appearance seems to pose a threat to the other male characters. Despite Lucy’s three suitors, it seems that Dracula got the best of her in the end, turning her into a vampire and effectively killing her. Only by destroying Dracula are they able to save Mina from becoming like him, too. English colonialism is very much present in these ideas; the only way to protect English ideals are through conquering and destroying Dracula and the other vampires. In the end, Lucy resembles him in that she shares a similar foreign beauty that is almost repulsive to the British men. She becomes voluptuous, like the other foreign female vampires. In a way, Lucy becomes like those exotic women – seductive and desirable, yet repulsive. Dracula, an unwanted foreigner has taken and corrupted the delicate, innocent English woman and turned her into a lustful, child consuming monster that rejects any and all notions of western femininity.  Only after killing Lucy are they able to restore Lucy to how “we had seen her in her life, with her face of unequalled sweetness and purity” (264). Thus, the vampires represent an obvious bias against foreigners – that they will invade the country, stealing and corrupting their women, thus devastating English culture and ideals.