Significant themes in all studied texts.

The Blood Chamber.

BC - 

• The reversal of gender roles - strong female character in the mother; mentioned first, killed man-eating tiger with bare hands.
• The male gaze - Marquise is corrupting by the male gaze, room filled with mirrors. Piano tuner can not see her and therefore their love is innocent and pure.
• Death - discovery of dead wives; 'she was pierced, not by one but a hundred spikes.'

The Courtship of Mr Lyon

• Weak father - titled by daughter 'Beauty's father'.
• Reversal of gender roles - 'she frightened him.'
• Restoration and transformation of man - as love returns him to a human state at the end of the conventional story.

The Tiger's Bride

• Women dominated by weak men - 'my father lost me to The Beast at cards.'
• Women reveal men's façade. 
• Sex = vulnerability. 

The Erl King

• Mixing of reality and dreams.
• Corruption of innocence - 'Once I was a sweet child.'
• The entrapment of love.

The Snow Child

• Sex (Necrophilia) - 'thrust his virile member into the dead girl.'
• Envy between women - The older one envies the younger's youth and purity.
• Male dominance.

The Lady of the House of Love

• Abandoned women - Miss Havisham analogy.
• Superstition vs. Praticiality. - Tarot cards vs. the bicycle.
• Male dominance, as only a man can save her.

Characters of commedia dell'arte

• Arlecchino was the most famous. He was an acrobat and a wit, childlike and amorous. He wore a cat–like mask and motley colored clothes and carried a bat or wooden sword.
• Brighella, Arlecchino's crony, was more roguish and sophisticated, a cowardly villain who would do anything for money.
• Il Capitano (the captain) was a caricature of the professional soldier—bold, swaggering, and cowardly.
• Il Dottore (the doctor) was a caricature of learning—pompous and fraudulent.
• Pantalone was a caricature of the Venetian merchant, rich and retired, mean and miserly, with a young wife or an adventurous daughter.
• Pedrolino was a white–faced, moon–struck dreamer and the forerunner of today's clown.
• Pulcinella, as seen in the English Punch and Judy shows, was a dwarfish humpback with a crooked nose, the cruel bachelor who chased pretty girls.
• Scarramuccia, dressed in black and carrying a pointed sword, was the Robin Hood of his day.
• The handsome Inamorato (the lover) went by many names. He wore no mask and had to be eloquent in order to speak the love declamations.
• The Inamorata was his female counterpart; Isabella Andreini was the most famous. Her servant, usually called Columbina, was the beloved of Harlequin. Witty, bright, and given to intrigue, she developed into such characters as Harlequine and Pierrette.
• La Ruffiana was an old woman, either the mother or a village gossip, who thwarted the lovers.
• Cantarina and Ballerina often took part in the comedy, but for the most part their job was to sing, dance, or play music.

BLUEBEARD in 314 words

Bluebeard was a lonely old man whom nobody will marry as they feared his ugly blue beard. He had had several wives before, but they disappeared and their whereabouts were unknown, this also proving slightly off-putting for future suitors. Bluebeard manages to persuade one of his neighbors to let him marry one of their daughters. The sisters try to pass off the responsibility to one another. The younger sister attends one of Bluebeard’s extravagant banquets and is persuaded to marry him, she moves into his chateau with him.
Consequently, Bluebeard announces he must leave the country for a while. He entrusts the keys to each room of the house to his wife, but specifies one room which she must not enter, no matter what. All the rooms she can enter have many treasures in, but the wife is not satisfied. Despite warnings from her older sister, the wife’s curiosity gets the better of her and she enters the room.
The forbidden room is covered in blood, and the former wives of Bluebeard hang, murdered, from the ceiling, The wife drops the key in shock and flees. Later, she attempts to wash the blood of the key but it will not wash off. She confides in her sister and they both plan to flee the next day. However, Bluebeard comes back unexpectedly the next day and noticing the blood on the key, knows his wife has disobeyed him and discovered the room.
 Blind with rage, Bluebeard almost beheads his wife immediately, but she begs him to let her say her prayers. He allows her to do so, and she locks herself in the highest tower with her sister. Bluebeard attempts to break down the door with his sword, but just as he is about to deliver the fatal blow, the sister’s brothers break into the castle and kill Bluebeard. His wife inherits all his fortune.

How does the novel 'Dracula' present issues of femininity?

Each female in 'Dracula' is presented in a very different way. Lucy is firstly presented as a 'Madonna' figure, being beautiful and virginal. However, after the 'marriage scene' with Dracula takes place she is presented as a whore, as she is no longer 'pure'. When the vampiric marriage is taking place, Lucy is wearing a white dress; this symbolising her purity and madonna status. However, her dress is stained with blood. This red contrasting with the white may be a suggestion towards the breaking of the hymen and is indeed symbolising her impurity. 
 This event leads to Lucy becoming unwell. This given physical consequence of her deviant behaviour (adultery), is perhaps contextually deeming women deserve it if the act in such a way. Towards the end of Lucy's downfall, close to her death, her lips are described as 'voluptuous' by Dr. Seward. Such lexis was used in depicting the vampiric brides, and therefore in using this sexual imagery is suggesting by losing her virginal status Lucy has fallen to the whorish status that the brides held.
 Mina's character is very different as one of her most obvious traits is how much she values the opinion of others and worries over how society, as a whole, will see her. This is apparent as when she decides to go and find Lucy, after she has disappeared, she is more conscious over the fact that she is barefoot outside over the whereabouts of her friend. As the reader knows Mina has a caring character and often acts in a motherly way towards Lucy, this prioritising shows just how conscious Mina is of what others think of her. Contextually, this may have been the case with many women at the time as they were suppressed and it would be seen outrageous for them to step out of their stereotypical given roles as women.
 The brides that Harker is tempted by hold an element of attraction and fear. the are depicted as 'thrilling and repulsive', this presented them to be the opposite of the 'madonna' figure. Even as their opposite, they are similar in one way; they are still under the control of men as Dracula declares 'how dare you touch him!' There is a reversal of the natural maternal role given to women as they kill a baby, this reinforcing the contextualised view that only virtuous women are fit to marry.
 Stoker presents women in a variety of ways, however does not appear to dispute the gender hierarchy, as men remain at the top, keeping the women in order and protecting them. The presentation of the provocative women being extremely deviant, may be a moral message from Stoker, exclaiming 'don;t let women run free'. This may be deemed appropraite as the era of the 'new women' was on the rise at the time 'Dracula was written.

Why is Dracula written in its given form?

 Dracula's form varies from letters to journal entries, both forms that one would share private and intimate subjects in. Stoker may have constructed his novel this way as to allow the text to carry substance and for the reader to trust it as one would not lie in these private forms. This may be so as to allow the supernatural events that follow to be more believable to the reader and also allow for a sense of 'suspension of disbelief' as the apparent appearance of truth allows the reader to engage sufficiently with the text. 

The privacy in these letters is obvious; 'This is a secret'. However as the reader is allowed to see them, it creates a feeling of intrusion of privacy, a theme that is omnipresent throughout Dracula. 

Dreams and Sex

Freuds interpretation...


Dream symbolism


Dreams that symbolise the male sexual organ consist of:
- Three parts
- long things that jut out (rocks, sticks, trees)
- Weapons (daggers, rifles, cannons)
- Things which water run from (watering cans, pipes, fountains)
- Objects that can be lengthened (pens, aerials)
- Erection (balloons, planes, rockets)
- Reptiles and fish (snakes mostly)
- Hats and coats


Dreams that symbolise the female sexual organ consist of:
- Hollow objects (caves, boxes, pockets)
- Entrances
- Passages
- Buildings (castles, mansions, fortresses)
- Landscape
- Wood and paper
- Snails
- Apples and peaches symbolise breasts.


So basically, you can never ever dream about anything other than sex.

Faustus, a tragic or gothic character?

Gothic.
- Sells his soul to the devil.
- Religion (Hell) 
- Horror - scares the pope, many possible scary scenes (depending on how they are presented on stage)
- Arrogant
- Of a high academic status
- Intelligent
- Has a strong passion (for knowledge)


Tragic.
- His hubris is his fatal flaw.


Not sure what other traits are classed as tragic...