Jason Dittmer's The Gothic Horror

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In Literature Gothic horror is the genre of literature that has elements of both romance and horror. This genre is known to be dark. The setting is usually in an old mansion or in castles on high cliffs. Also, it is a combination of fiction, horror, and romance. This is a famous genre throughout England and has a big influence on British culture and how they live their lives today. According to Jason Dittmer “The Gothic builds up the protagonist until he achieves what he’s after, and then details the terrible consequences of achieving it” (Dittmer 1). While reading this novel the theme that appeared most significantly would be the classic Gothic theme of the epic battle of good versus evil. Duran also says, “It can be clearly seen the protagonists…show more content…
Dracula, if you did not know was written in the Victorian Era (1837-1901) which was when the feminine gene was represented as weak and irrelevant, and required the control of a stable and powerful male. A Victorian woman had only two options in this era. The first option was to either be a virgin which symbolized that she was a positive role model of purity and innocence. The Second option was that she had to be a wife and a mother and if she was neither of those options then she was considered a whore. Both women are devoted to their men meaning that their men are superior to them but Dracula threatens to turn Lucy and Mina into their opposites. Dracula succeeds in doing so by making Lucy and Mina fall victim to his mind games. After Dracula finds out about Helsing’s plot against him, Dracula attacks Mina on three occasions and feeds Mina his blood so that he can later control her. Since Dracula is set in an age when the ideal female was weak and home-bound, Dracula had superiority of the feminine. When Dracula saw Lucy, he hypnotically seduces her, then rapes and bites her. She was soon killed by Helsing and Morris out of mercy the following night after she was bitten by Dracula and turned into a vampire. Later in the novel, Dracula threatens Helsing’s crew, saying, “Your girls that you all love are mine already; and through them you and others shall yet be mine” (Bram Stokers…show more content…
When Dracula returns and enters, he kills one of the hunters for warning Mina of his presence. While Helsing and the others are hunting for Dracula, he visits Mina in her room and confesses that he killed Lucy. After Mina hears the confession from Dracula, she tells him that she remembers her past life as Elisabeta, his first wife and she still loves him. Dracula begins to transform Mina into a vampire. As Helsing and the hunters entered the room, Dracula claims that Mina was his bride and exits the room as Mina is going through the transformation. Before she transforms into a vampire, Helsing hypnotizes her with crucifixes to maintain her shift into a

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