{"id":823,"date":"2017-10-25T21:08:36","date_gmt":"2017-10-26T01:08:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/?p=823"},"modified":"2017-11-30T11:43:41","modified_gmt":"2017-11-30T16:43:41","slug":"insanity-and-its-role-in-dracula","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/2017\/10\/25\/insanity-and-its-role-in-dracula\/","title":{"rendered":"Insanity and its Role in Dracula"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Bram Stoker\u2019s Dracula<\/em>, sanity versus insanity is a prominently discussed topic among the characters in the book. The constant use of \u2018insanity\u2019 in the text shields and misleads the characters from the monstrous world that exists. The characters that speak of the unnatural and behave in odd ways are declared insane or simply unwell in some capacity, but are not often to be believed. The theme of insanity in the text serves to keep the characters from believing in the unnatural.<\/p>\n

Although insanity itself was a taboo and alarming topic by itself, to the characters in this book, it is far more comfortable of a thought than that of the supernatural. When Johnathan speaks to Dr. Seward about the Count, and says, \u201cthe Master is at hand,\u201d (p. 111) Dr. Seward attributes this and his other abnormalities to \u201creligious mania.\u201d (p. 111) Dr. Seward does not see any other reason than some sort of insanity for Johnathan\u2019s behaviors. Again, when Dr. Seward read\u2019s Lucy\u2019s account of the night her mother died, Dr. Seward says, \u201cin God\u2019s name, what does it all mean? Was she, or is she, mad; or what sort of horrible danger is it? I was so bewildered that did not know what to say more.\u201d (p. 161) Dr. Seward again goes quickly to the thought that Lucy may have been \u201cmad.\u201d Because what he\u2019s read is so hard for him to understand, he can only think that she might have had some insanity, or that if not, there is some great danger. Here, Dr. Seward begins to think that there may be another possibility.<\/p>\n

Finally, after Lucy\u2019s \u201cdeath,\u201d Dr. Van Helsing explains to Dr. Seward the reason that he did not say directly what wait ailing Lucy. Dr. Seward is surprised at this, as he begins to understand more about what danger might be happening around him. Dr. Van Helsing says, \u201cMad? Would I were! Madness were easy to bear compared with truth like this\u2026.why take so long to tell you so simple a thing? My friend, it was because I wished to be gentle in the breaking to you, for I know you have loved that so sweet lady. But even yet, I do not expect you to believe. It is so hard to accept at once any abstract truth\u2026when we have always believed the \u2018no\u2019 of it.\u201d (p. 207) In this quote, Dr. Van Helsing explains to Dr. Seward that because the truth is shocking, confusing, and heartbreaking, that Dr. Van Helsing kept it from him. The doctor knows and explains that the truth is hard to believe for many reasons. The truth is so hard for Dr. Seward to believe, especially under these circumstances, that he continues to think, \u201csurely there must be some rational explanation for all these things.\u201d (p. 217) However, in these passages, we see Dr. Seward\u2019s slowly growing inclination to believe the truth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Bram Stoker\u2019s Dracula, sanity versus insanity is a prominently discussed topic among the characters in the book. The constant use of \u2018insanity\u2019 in the text shields and misleads the characters from the monstrous world that exists. The characters that speak of the unnatural and behave in odd ways are declared insane or simply unwell … Continue reading Insanity and its Role in Dracula<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3625,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[123801],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2017-blog-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823","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\/3625"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}