{"id":1920,"date":"2021-10-28T08:49:25","date_gmt":"2021-10-28T12:49:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/?p=1920"},"modified":"2021-10-28T08:49:25","modified_gmt":"2021-10-28T12:49:25","slug":"monsters-and-madness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/2021\/10\/28\/monsters-and-madness\/","title":{"rendered":"Monsters and Madness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As in many other texts of gothic literature, Bram Stoker\u2019s <em>Dracula<\/em> contains the elements and monsters of the supernatural that would freeze any man where he stands were he to encounter it in person. However, as it is evident through even the beginning of his novel, Stoker decided to leave this supernatural element unexplained, writing passages filled with evidence that Count Dracula is in fact an actual vampire. Jonathan Harker, eventually realizing he is imprisoned by this beastly creature, begins to question his own sanity, wondering if he has gone mad and yearns for the feeling of safety away from the Count and his castle. In Jonathan\u2019s journal he writes, \u201cSafety and the assurance of safety are things of the past. Whilst I live on here there is but one thing to hope for: that I may not go mad, if, indeed, I be not mad already.\u201d (43). However, the self-notion of Harker being at the precipice of madness is the least of his worries, as he then writes, \u201c&#8230;then surely it is madness to think that of all the foul things the lurk in this hateful place the Count is the least dreadful to me&#8230;\u201d (43). Taking a deeper look into his writings, it appears Harker is not necessarily afraid of what he can see and comprehend, but what he cannot see and comprehend. This may be a stretch, but what I think this passage, and entire text, is claiming that it is the unknown and the anticipation of what may exist in the unknown that drives individuals mad. Although the Count is a vile monster, Harker has this connection to him, an almost human connection where he can turn to the Count for safety when it appears that none exists. Without the Count, who knows what else may lurk within the castle walls, and without the familiarity of something to keep Johnathan sane, slipping into a state of madness is only a matter of time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As in many other texts of gothic literature, Bram Stoker\u2019s Dracula contains the elements and monsters of the supernatural that would freeze any man where he stands were he to encounter it in person. However, as it is evident through even the beginning of his novel, Stoker decided to leave this supernatural element unexplained, writing &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/2021\/10\/28\/monsters-and-madness\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Monsters and Madness<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4768,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[169398],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2021-blog-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4768"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1920\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}