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Dracula Part 4: Gothic Literature 2119 Views
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Description:
Dracula, Dorian Gray, and Bertha Mason are the cool kids on the block when it comes to Gothic literature. We’re in full favor of them starting a pop group, but we have a feeling Bertha would pull a Beyoncé and leave Gothic Kids on the Block high and dry.
Transcript
- 00:01
We speak student!
- 00:07
Dracula
- 00:08
Gothic Literature
- 00:11
a la Shmoop
- 00:13
We're gonna dive into some of the primary characteristics
Full Transcript
- 00:16
that separate Dracula from
- 00:19
other characters of the era, other Gothic characters.
- 00:23
So, can you frame for us just
- 00:25
two or three or four other Gothic characters
- 00:27
that might have existed contemporaneously in this era?
- 00:32
So a good counterpoint to Dracula would be
- 00:35
Dorian Gray in Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray,
- 00:39
who's also an aristocrat,
- 00:40
but is not a vampire.
- 00:42
[ hiss ]
- 00:43
He makes this bargain to stay young.
- 00:46
He's a young, pretty lad.
- 00:49
[ aww ]
- 00:51
Someone draws a picture of him, paints a picture of him.
- 00:53
He bemoans the fact that the picture
- 00:55
will not age and he will.
- 00:57
In this moment, he makes
- 00:59
- Faustian... - He makes a Faustian bargain.
- 01:02
No, he doesn't know. So Faustian.
- 01:05
And he stays young forever.
- 01:06
[ baby crying ]
- 01:08
He's also -- So, Picture of Dorian Gray
- 01:11
is a Gothic novella.
- 01:14
He's a Gothic character.
- 01:16
[ gasp ]
- 01:16
He's not a vampire.
- 01:18
He doesn't suck anyone's blood.
- 01:20
And his vice is kept a little
- 01:24
under wraps, whereas Dracula is pretty out in the open.
- 01:29
Another interesting example sort of from the Victorian era
- 01:33
would probably be something like
- 01:35
in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre,
- 01:37
another Gothic novel. Victorian Gothic novel.
- 01:40
The character
- 01:42
Bertha Mason Rochester, who is
- 01:45
Mr. Rochester's first wife
- 01:47
from the West Indies,
- 01:49
who he keeps trapped in the attic because she goes mad.
- 01:52
She's...
- 01:54
Gothic in the sense that
- 01:55
there's a suspense and mystery that surrounds her.
- 01:57
But she's not a vampire.
- 01:59
But it's one of the first instances in the Victorian novel
- 02:01
where "vampire" is mentioned.
- 02:03
Because Jane Eyre sort of comes upon her.
- 02:06
The secret is revealed - who is kicking up a rumpus in the attic.
- 02:09
And it's this imprisoned woman.
- 02:11
And she likens her to
- 02:13
the German vampire.
- 02:14
[ hissing ]
- 02:16
So when we think about the primary characteristics,
- 02:19
we should focus on - as we're reading Dracula and studying it.
- 02:21
It's that he's a vampire. He's supernatural.
- 02:24
[ explosion ]
- 02:25
And that he
- 02:28
traverses across the European continent.
- 02:30
- He's not based in one... - Certainly. He's not -- Yeah.
- 02:32
He's not static at all.
- 02:34
But he's one of the first European characters
- 02:37
that sort of traverses the European system.
- 02:39
He goes all the way from Carpathia
- 02:42
to London and back again
- 02:44
via transit.
- 02:46
Via different transit modes.
- 02:48
Okay.
- 02:53
[ whoop ]
- 02:54
What other Gothic characters were around at the same time as Dracula?
- 03:01
[ ooh ]
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