Proposal

So, I've had an idea running through my head for sometime. The idea is of a short story. Whether I stick with this idea or not, I'm still pretty set on doing gothic short story. Probably something between 3000 and 7000 words.

The story is vague running through my head, but once I'm able to really put pen to paper, I think it should come easily enough. If I'm sticking with my original idea, I'm going to need a lot of research done. The story I have in mind centers around the Salem Witch Trials. The only details of the story I really have set in stone is that it will be a dark and dryly humorous story combining the Witch Trials and the modern porn industry.

Yeah, I know, what the fuck. Wish me the best.

Like I had said, though, after I hit the ground running with the story this weekend, I'm going to see how big of a challenge this is to put those two worlds into one. If it proves too difficult, I'll find another story to do. Most likely, that story wouldn't focus on mixing the past and the present but one time period. It would also probably be darker.

That's it.

For years, the vampire has been a figure meant to strike fear. The reason is obscure seeing as the vampire itself has had multiple origins and multiple ways of life, some being nowhere near human and some being so close to human that you not only sympathize but empathize with their hardships and lack of feeling they belong.

Interview with a Vampire is no exception. Anne Rice is able to introduce to us a character that is so relatable that the fact he is a vampire is often forgotten or overlooked. Louis, our main vampire character, though newly recruited, is still expected to show signs of what a "vampire" is from the get-go. But from his days as a human to his transformation, little change is noticeable. That's not to say that as a vampire, Louis is able to see daylight and doesn't feed off humans, but more so his moral nature has remained the same.

Compare this to the novel Dracula, in where our main vampire, The Count, has changed another character, Lucy, into a vampire. The moment Lucy had fully transformed, she is as blood thirsty as Dracula himself, dropping all morals and turning to do whatever need be done to survive. It doesn't begin there, however, as this nature of Dracula's version of the vampire is clear within the first chapters. An example being the three female vampires ready to feed on our protagonist Jonathan. They show no signs that they have a thought-process anywhere near human and don't cease to show their hunger for Jonathan. Dracula, though at times able to control himself, is also still a suspicious character from the moment we meet him.

Compare this to Louis, and you will see a dramatic difference.

In his new skin, Louis still has Louis' personality and morals. He refuses to yet kill humans to survive but rather begins his new life by feeding on animals and himself says, "I wished to understand death in stages...wished to save the experience of human death for my mature understanding. But it was moral," (Pg. 71). Though he acknowledges that as he grows as a vampire, he will soon begin to feed on humans, he points out that he must first understand more about being a vampire to act as one.

It also seems that Louis, though gradually growing comfortable with being a vampire, still has his clear issues with it. When Lestat, his maker, captures a young girl named Claudia to turn into a vampire, Louis must have his first feed on a human child. He notices now his new nature coming through. "I remembered the powerful beating of her heart...I hungered for it," (Pg. 89). With Lestat there, convincing him he wants it and needs it, Louis bites into her and feeds. But when Lestat chooses to turn Claudia into a vampire, Louis becomes upset, but just as well, does not choose to stop Lestat. This shows that though Louis still has his morals, they are slowly becoming overpowered by nature.

Through reading this book, I have found that the heaviest element to the story is that of control. Control doesn't just end at the Count's manipulation, but sprouts on to his setting in society (receiving the title of Count to begin with) and those who he leads and creates (the female vampires and Lucy and Mina). Aside from Dracula, there is also a short but bold lining of control in the blood transfusion section of the story.

Though little details are given on the origination of Dracula's title of the Count, we are given his title from the get go and he demonstrates his status with the treatment he gives our first main protagonist, Jonathan Harker, with a carriage ride to his castle and his interest in buying an estate in another country. Though powerful, Dracula is a very humble man, which could be a key factor in his ability to manipulate those who cross his path (I will try my best not to touch on this issue as much as the others, for this is a blatantly important portion of the book).

From there we can notice more of the control on Dracula's part, first and foremost with the three female vampires he houses who have made Jonathan Harker, once a guest, now a victim under them. When the Count tells them to leave Harker be, they do not protest but rather just leave Harker's side. But the women who we better know and we better get an idea of the Count's standing comes through Lucy Westerna and Mina Harker. These two women, which are everything that society expects of them to be at this time period, are introduced to Dracula who swears to turn the women from what they are to something counterintuitive to what they should be. Something more "voluptuous," a word used in the explanation of many women throughout the novel: "There was a deliberate voluptuousness which was both thrilling and repulsive" (says Jonathan of the female vampires at the Count's castle) and "She still advanced, however, and with a languorous, and voluptuous grace," (from the diary of Seward concerneing the newly turned vampire, Lucy).

Prior to Lucy's turning, though, comes my other point: the control of three characters over Lucy Westerna via blood transfusions. After being bitten by the Count, Lucy becomes bedridden and, health decreasing, has three men watching over her, being Seward, Holmwood, And Van Helsing. The death of Lucy is becoming less and less and possibility and more and more a probability. It is up to the men to save her and one by one, the men have the ability to give life. Unfortunately, Lucy's health increases temporarily and just as soon is gone again, starting with Holmwood. Next Seward gives his blood and just as before, her health comes and goes. In a last ditch effort, Van Helsing places garlic flowers around Lucy's room and the next day, after Lucy's mother has removed the flowers, gives her his blood.

The blood symbolizes two things that run parallel. The "exchange of fluids" can, in depth, be taken as sexual acts, something few dared to speak about in literature around this time, along with control. These three men all have a desire to be with Lucy (even though it is understood between all of them that Holmwood is to wed her) so them giving blood is not only in an act to save her life, but in an act to win her over a little more at a time. Though not necessarily "control" it is a much milder and more natural, humanely way of manipulation than Dracula's own tactics of taking blood to manipulate those around him.

Dracula Blog

Through the first few difficult pages, I was able to gather that Bram Stoker's Dracula would be another difficult read but still further in was able to conclude that it would be more gothic than our previous read, Wuthering Heights, which had the writing style of a gothic but not so much other aspects excluding the ghost story intertwined.

By the end of the first chapter of Draula, we are already dealing with religion and Catholic skepticism through the first character we meet, Jonathan Harker. This is first pointed out when Harker's landlord's wife comes to him and implores that he not go on his trip of business with Coutn Dracula over purchasing an estate. She warns him of the night when "all the evil things in the world will have full sway," (pg. 9) and offers him a crucifix to protect him. Though hestiant due to the "idolatrous" nature of the request, accepts it anyways.

The gothic increases from here, emphasizing the abnormal through a strange carriage ride to the count's castle followed by an even stranger stay at the castle where Harker notices his host "arriving" back at the castle only at night, not eating or drinking, not having a reflection in Harker's shaving mirror, and jumping towards Harker after he cuts his throat shaving, only to fall back when noticing the crucifix hanging around his neck.

The gentle gothic doesn't take long to turn to a tale of escape as the count has now held Harker prisoner. This, for me so far, has become the most intense writing of the gothic novels we have read. From three women all hungry for Harker, to Dracula intercepting Harker's letters to his wife, to allowing Harker to leave only to a pack of wolves waiting by the front entrance. While Harker wishes he could rid himself of Dracula with perhaps a gun, he notes that "no weapon wrought alone by man's hand would have any effect on him," (pg. 55).

The book doesn't follow traditional literary style, for after Jonathan Harker's diary passages, we enter letters exchanged from two other characters, Mina and Lucy, and then into Mina's diary. Following Mina and a doctor named John Seward, we follow even more enigmas and horrors such as Mina's missing husband experienced. Mina and Lucy have met up in a town supposedly haunted and Lucy begins to sleepwalk. Mina doesn't take much notice to it (as she is informed by Lucy's mother that her father suffered the same) until Mina herself begins to lose sleep over it and notices the Lucy is practically "watching her" as she sleep walks. This, along with Dr. Seward's newest patient with a tendency to eat living creatures, has begun to capture my interest even more than Jonathan's portion of the story with Dracula. I think this may be due to the fact that I am not familiar so much with these stories over the one of Dracula himself and with that, I cannot predict how this will yet tie into the story later on.

The further into this book I get, the more difficult it is to climb out. It's no question that Frankenstein is a classic and it's easy to see why. I'm a reader, no doubt, disliking few contemporary novels of late, and have found it a task to get into classic literature, but this novel is not such a case. This is due to many things but one of the main factors to my increasing interest that I've been able to realize is that of the character development. Few times before have I been drawn to a character like I am drawn to the monster Victor Frankenstein has created. It says something about an author when they are able to make the reader sympathize with a character that is considered deformed and feared by the characters around it, including our protagonist, Dr. Frankenstein, himself.

It's hard at first to understand if this is a character who you would like to understand and care for when it's introduced as such a poor sight but yet already shows signs of human nature coming through, for instance at the beginning of the novel when Victor wakes and sees the monster at his bedside, "while a grin wrinkled his cheeks," (35). Thinking of the nature of the mind only highlights the nature aspect in this book as a whole.

While Frankenstein's monster becomes more and more human via the nature of his origins, it is also stressed that Victor is one to respect nature, often venturing paths and finding beauty in the simplest things. After the murder of his youngest brother, William, and the execution of the number one suspect, Justine (an old friend to the Frankenstein family) as an extension of that, Victor veers himself away from society, bringing himself to a state of complete emotional sobriety. He consoles his hidden troubles by walking and observing the world around him, bringing a slight happiness, but not enough to cure his near-suicidal thought process. As the world around him seems brighter, though, he is again confronted by the monster at a glacier at the summit of Montanvert. From here, the monster has proved his worthiness of entrance into the world that continues to refuse him access. He has learned languages, how to understand and control senses, and what life should mean no matter the hardships, telling Victor "Life, although it may only be an accumulation of anguish, is dear to me, and I will defend it," (66).

The monster then further proves his right to be just as much a part of this world as his neighbors by moving into a hut and observing a foreign village and again beginning to understand their language, their lifestyles, their history, etc.

Watching the monster not necessarily mature but grow into something more and more comparable to a human being brings me closer to him, making me feel for this character more than many contemporary books can. Mary Shelley's ability to combine topics on worldly nature and draw parallels to human nature has given me feelings for a character who in real life it would be a challenge to feel for.

It's hard to say at what point a book can really grab my attention and reel me in, seldom letting me loose. Though it has yet to happen with Frankenstein, I can already see it coming. There was something about those six letters from Robert Walton to his sister that had after a few readings gotten me intrigued. The writing style of Mary Shelley is obviously not what I look for in an author but something about her delivery and philosophical mindset she has put into the main character of Dr. Frankenstein has kept me wanting more and more to dive in and see if perhaps our protagonist will follow in the footsteps of our previous protagonist, Ambrosio, who was corrupted more and more through the story of The Monk. Surprisingly I'm not familiar with the story of Frankenstein. Not to say I don't know of his monster through its many interpretations via films, television, etc. but the doctor himself is a stranger to me.

To me, the story has a theme not so evident but I expect it to become clearer if my prediction is right. The theme, I believe, is that of rise and fall. Specifically that of having a power never felt before. Of being as close to God as one can get. In the third chapter, Dr. Frankenstein is shown, by his friend, a professor named M. Waldman, the science of animation. Of bringing life into something that has ceased to hold it. From the first chapter to the second chapter, Dr. Frankenstein is already dramatically changing his viewpoints, now being a firm believer and follower of natural philosophy and now in the third familiarizing himself with the science of life before death before rebirth. "To examine the causes of life, we must first have recourse to death," (30) narrates our main character. From there he studies night, day, season after season all to bring life in a mortal previously deceased.

Reading on as Victor Frankenstein prides himself over his creation and his ability to put life into human, I began to fear that he may become pompous over what he has done, and thus begin to dislike his character, but it becomes a mixture of emotions both with Frankenstein and the reader. Frankenstein is no sooner shocked and n awe of himself that he begins to regret what he has done, disowning his monster as his monster communicates with him just as any neighbor of his could. It's clear to see Frankenstein's monster's love for him during a particular argument in which his monster is fighting to stay with his creator and ultimately accepting his fate, saying, "Thus I relieve thee, my creator...thus I take from thee a sight which you abhor. Still thou canst listen to me, and grant me thy compassion," (67). Just as I reread these passages I am drawn closer and closer to the characters in the book, sympathizing with a man-made creature that our protagonist has no respect for.

I'm looking forward to reading more at this point and watching the relationship with Frankenstein and his monster presumably grow and Frankenstein's outlook on what he held so close becoming nothing but a past notion to him.

Transgendering in the Monk

If not at first going into The Monk by Matthew Lewis with the knowledge of its themes (i.e. hypocrisy, self-control, and transgendering) it may be hard to determine the undertones of the latter, transgendering. You could read through the book twice over even and still not be able to pull out what is hinting at such a heavy topic. Transgendering, though, is clear to see if told about it prior to reading the novel. Such clues leading to the theme are stated boldly in the essay Transgendering in The Monk. William D. Brewer does an excellent job of pointing out the most obscure along with surprisingly obvious moments aiming at the theme. The essay, while not always smoothly pulling you in, is still written with the multiple facts that could make someone want to go back, read the novel again, and find their own interpretations of events in the story that ultimately lead to the theme of transgendering, seeing as Brewer had been able to find numerous key points highlighting it. Before he really pulls into the theme of transgendering itself, though, Brewer first analyzes Lewis' own view point on the female his "contradictory tendency to make sexist generalizations," (194).

Lewis has, along with transgendering, brought up another controversial issue for its time and that is that of the female and her superiority played out in the novel. Two main characters especially, have played a large part in that specific theme. The characters of Agnes and Marguerite, though given at first an outlook very sexist but arguably appropriate for the time the novel was released, eventually come out with a positive outcome at some point, being reunited with the ones they love and finding happiness. Brewer extends from this the major theme of his essay, quoting from chapter one, Ambrosio's lack of knowledge on the difference between a man and woman, being sheltered as he was his entire life. The reader could go back, reading that and think to themselves that this was a clear foreshadow.

He continues with the story of Ambrosio, our main character, and Matilda, a woman who disguised herself as a man to be given access to the monastery. Brewer states that as much as "Matilda's masculinity disturbs Ambrosio, he misses Rosario." He shows us the irony in this in that Matilda is better at being a masculine woman than a masculine man, and Ambrosio is attracted to the more feminine Rosario. Brewer then takes us back to the theme branching from transgendering, being the superiority of the female over the male. With this comes the story of Don Raymond and the bleeding nun.

Don Raymond, finding love in a woman, Agnes, who he has been forbidden to love by her brother Lorenzo, is shown to come out as another man being the weaker of a party of two. For Agnes to be able to elope with Don Raymond, the two decide that the best thing to do is to disguise Agnes as the Bleeding Nun, an entity feared and avoided by the people around them. Although the plan goes awry when the Bleeding Nun is actually the one found in Don Raymond's arms. Now with the Bleeding Nun "[proving] herself even more powerful," (203) Don Raymond has lost a position noted as common in the relationship between a man and woman of that era.

Brewer doesn't stop there of course and as said before has shown readers of the novel The Monk just how much they may have easily missed in such a heavy theme.