Key issues

Melodrama and realism

Melodrama : sensational dramatic piece with exaggerated characters and exciting events
intended to appeal to emotions

- Abundance of blood, thunder, thrills and violent actions which made use of vampires,
witches etc.
Dracula:

Spectacular events: Mina being seen with Dracula (ultimate confrontation between good and
evil), fight between Dracula and Harker, high detail descriptions of deaths
Dorian Gray:
Dramatic and sensational plot twists: Sybil’s suicide, murders

- Characters crafted with an emotional impact in mind, excessively virtuous or

exceptionally evil, Renfield dying and having connections to Dracula, Lucy becoming a
vampire

Dracula:
Drastic opposition between good and evil
Dracula as the main villain and Renfield as his accomplice; VH, Harker and Mina as heroes and
Arthur, Dr. Seward and Quincy Morri as their faithful servants
Human struggle between pure good (Mina) and pure evil (Dracula)

Always moral element: Lucy as seen as a socially unacceptable woman and was therefore
harshly punished (contrasts with Mina that also suffered but was a dutiful woman for whom
we’re made to feel empathy)
Porphyria’s Lover:

Porphyria’s power: her entrance and actions abruptly change the scene from cold and stormy
to warm, creating a sense of contrast and heightened emotion “she shut the cold out and the
storm”
Dorian Gray:

Moral polarization: characters portrayed as either pure good or evil, little complexity
Belle Dame:
Chivalrous knight and cruel, merciless dame

- 19th century (uneducated on certain subjects like science or the rest of the world):
naively sensational entertainment
Dracula:

Obscure setting of Romania

- Extravagant emotional appeal

Superstition:
Highly emotional poem, overwhelming reader by expressing anguish, fear, despair, anger,
pain and jealousy all at once, emphasis on suffering -> hyperboles, irregular meter
Porphyria’s Lover:
All-consuming and passionate nature of the relationship “Porphyria worshipped me”
Contrast between calm description of the events and heightened emotions relating to it “And
strangled her. No pain felt she; / I am quite sure she felt no pain”
Dorian Gray:
Extreme emotions of happiness or vilainy

- Tone
Dracula:
Accounts becoming increasingly melodramatic and tone becomes dark and foreboding
Harker’s initially nonchalant and observational attitude begins to oscillate between calm and
unnerved suspicion as he draws nearer to the castle, journal entries become laced with dark
and ominous undertones “God help me!”
Lucy: first effusive and cheerful but then fearful and private under Dracula’s growing
influence -> fears culminate in a series of melodramatic exclamations just before her death
“Good-bye, dear Arthur, if I should not survive this night. God keep you, dear, and God help
me!” (echo to Harker)
Superstition:
Exclamations / crying out: energetic, more stressed, dramatic and passionate (because female
poet)

Dorian Gray:
Basil refusing to show the painting as he put his soul into it “The reason I will not exhibit this
picture is that I am afraid that I have shown in it the secret of my own soul”
Belle dame:
Excessive depictions of his own suffering and agony: lyrical tone becomes melodramatic

- Setting and exotic locations

Dracula:
Transylvania, asylum, Dracula’s castle
Superstition:
Setting of the poem with its stormy weather sets a melodramatic tone by foreshadowing
heightened emotions and dramatic events to come “The rain set early in tonight / The sullen
wind was soon awake”
Melodramatic depiction of the Apocalypse and Hell -> personifications

Realism: portrayal of life as it is, without idealization -> everyday life, social issues, accuracy
and detail, displaying things in a plausible manner (important to make story credible and
make the melodramatic aspect have an effect)

- Epistolary nature
Proper to Dracula: enmeshment of contemporary culture with horror through epistolary
format (complicity with the reader) and multiplicity of narrators
More accounts make seem story more objective and intensifies impact of melodrama through
authentic feelings of horror

- Realism as the image of the literary evolution at the time

New emphasis on horror rather than just fantasy by using true visceral aspects of society,
perhaps to convey anxieties about the current time

Dracula:
Power of evolution of technology used to dominate and destroy Dracula’s supernatural power

- Locations and setting

Dracula:
Use of poorly known settings, areas shunned away from society (asylum, castle etc.) made
anything seem realistic
Dorian Gray:
Descriptions of late Victorian London’s sights, sounds and atmosphere

- Universality
Dracula:
Controversial topics such as sexuality (especially female) make novel seem more authentic as
they explore human nature and expose repressed feelings of the time that were however
common to everybody

Introduction: “All needless matters have been eliminated, so that a history almost at variance
with the possibility of latter-day belief may stand forth as a simple fact for all records chosen
are exactly contemporary, given from the standpoints and within the range of knowledge of
those who made them.”

Dorian Gray:
Social critique: obsession with appearances, hypocrisy, consequences of superficiality

- Approach to religion

Porphyria’s Lover:
Disbelief in any divine punishment for his actions, as he grapples with the consequences of his
crime with no retribution “And yet God as not said a word!”

- Description
Porphyria’s Lover:
Detailed description of Porphyria’s physical state and characteristics “fair / perfectly pure and
good”

- Psychological realism
Porphyria’s Lover:
Guilt and justification of the crime (and criticism of religion) “And yet God as not said a word!”
Dorian Gray:
Psychological complexity through monologues and conversations diving deep into moral
values and philosophical questions, human flaws (Lord Henry and his eccentric opinions or
Gray’s vanity), also reflect manners and language of the time: moral decay, pursuit of
pleasure

Power and menace

Power: ability to exert control, influence or dominance over others and their environment

Menace: pervasive atmosphere of threat or danger

- Supernatural
Dracula:
Supernatural: forces that transgress humanity and are therefore hard to resolve, special
capabilities (shape shifting), fear of the unknown
Superstition:
Supernatural femme fatale, above nature and therefore deciding of its fate, dominating tyrant
-> lexical field of destruction

Belle dame:
Supernatural force impacting the man’s physical state “And there she lulled me asleep, / And
there I dreamed – Ah! Woe betide!”

- Spiritual / religious
Dracula:
Religion: purifying areas to make them inaccessible by Dracula
Superstition:
Grip of religion on the Victorian society to create fear and make things seem like a menace
- Psychological / mental
Dracula:
VH beats Dracula through the knowledge acquired during his studies
Unconventional way of thinking, open-mindedness allow to access new realms of possibilities
and not doubt the extent of the menace (Dracula being a vampire supported by VH)
Science and rationality giving a balance, avoids hysteria and overly emotional responses
Fear: reduces interest (hesitations whether to go any deeper in the investigation), establishes
superiority and reduces enemy’s power, threatening whole societies and human existence
(menace of Dracula is a power and vice versa)
Bravery, duty, loyalty and ideals: Quincy Morris and Jonathan
Superstition:

Radcliffe calls for the reader to use their rational power and not be defeated by irrational
fears and beliefs
Belle Dame:
Psychological manipulation and deception: deceiving by being conscious of her beauty,
temptress

One need not be a chamber to be haunted:

The menace of being haunted is omnipresent as your own brain surpasses you and has power
over you, paranoia

- Social class, status and appearances

Dorian gray:
Sibyl and her family fantasizing about her getting married to Gray: hope of climbing up the
social ladder

Lord Henry’s inherited status as a gateway to his presence in London’s high society (Lady
Brandon)
Respectability: based on outside appearances, a small portion of life -> menace in what
people do behind closed doors and how their appearances give them the power to dominate

Dracula:
Money and connections giving VH’s team more information through Lord Godalming, same
for Dracula as he is a count
Patriarchy: suppression of female intellect, seen as a menace, repression of women by men
Female sexuality: way to lure people in (vampire women)

Social status granting some better opportunities for education -> power of problem
resolution and knowledge to defeat also powerful enemy
Superstition:
Queenly power, exerting control on nature as a whole

Belle Dame:
Female sexuality as a way to manipulate men and control them
Porphyria’s Lover:

Her initial status of domination grants her control of the environment -> women using their
full power as a menace needing to be repressed (hence the following murder)
Patriarchy: he puts an end to her life and still feels entitled to controlling how she feels “No
pain felt she” while she keeps worshipping him “Porphyria worshipped me”

- Symbolism
Dracula:
Blood = power, eternal life and youth

- Death
Mariana:
Decay and rot, passage of time as a menace conveyed by the environment

Heroes and villains

Hero: protagonist who embodies qualities such as bravery, moral integrity and a sense of
justice, strive to overcome challenges and evil forces
Villain: antagonist who opposes a hero, embodying qualities such as malevolence, deceit and
corruption, seeks power, vengeance and control, engages in nefarious deeds to achieve goals

Both themes revolve around moral ambiguity, blurs the lines between good and evil (heroes
with dark backgrounds or double lives, villains with tragic backstories and redeeming qualities
and talents

- Melodramatic effect by striking opposition between good and evil, emotional impact
in mind
Dracula:
Drastic opposition between good and evil
Dracula as the main villain and Renfield as his accomplice; VH, Harker and Mina as heroes and
Arthur, Dr. Seward and Quincy Morri as their faithful servants
Human struggle between pure good (Mina) and pure evil (Dracula)
Always moral element: Lucy as seen as a socially unacceptable woman and was therefore
harshly punished (contrasts with Mina that also suffered but was a dutiful woman for whom
we’re made to feel empathy)
Porphyria’s Lover:
Porphyria’s power: her entrance and actions abruptly change the scene from cold and stormy
to warm, creating a sense of contrast and heightened emotion “she shut the cold out and the
storm”
Dorian Gray:
Moral polarization: characters portrayed as either pure good or evil, little complexity
Belle Dame:

Chivalrous knight and cruel, merciless dame

- Heroic/ villain aspect of being different from others and transgressing norms
Dracula:

VH’s unorthodox way of thinking, combination of scientific knowledge and beliefs in the
supernatural -> leading team on the right path, defeating and understanding Dracula
Mina: “man’s brain”, intelligence and open expression of it leading the team and offering new
perspectives

Dracula: supernatural powers allow him to be above human society and make him a cruel and
merciless creature
Dorian Gray:
Supernatural power of making his wish of his portrait absorbing all his sins come to life makes
him a villain, capable of doing all sorts of harm to others with no consequences or way for
others to slow him down
Superstition:
Queenly power supported by supernatural forces allow her to do whatever she desires to the
world she controls, her merciless use of her forces make her a villain / tyrant

Generates destruction and is singlehandedly able to put an end to all sorts of life -> her
villainy is so overpowering that no hero is present
But also maybe a hero? Guarding Victorian society from the dishonest use of religion in
control people, advocates for rational thinking

Belle Dame Sans Merci:

Belle depicted as a supernatural enchanting and captivating creature, that meets her villain
ends by using power that escapes others
But title dedicated her: maybe she’s a hero / protagonist? Putting an end to harmful gender
dynamics?
Her power makes his heroism derisory, he falls prey to her, he’s naïve and guileless, no sense
of judgement
Porphyria’s Lover :

Courage of committing a crime almost erases villain qualities: man killing Mariana not
punished by God, feels like a powerful hero validated by divine power
Portrayal of Porphyria as a villain because she doesn’t conform to standards of traditional
femininity

- Antiheroes as a transgression of original criteria of good and evil

Antihero: central character in a narrative who lacks conventional heroic qualities (courage,
altruism, morality) but is rather ambiguous and self interested -> actions might be seen as bad
but are really a manifestation of one’s genuine values and convictions (doing bad for good)

Dracula:
VH killing Lucy in order to keep the world safe from vampires
Superstition:
Supernatural creature profiting off of her capabilities to destroy nature as a warning against
blind duty pushed by religious institutions
Belle Dame Sans Merci:
Femme fatale getting her revenge on harmful social norms by humiliating and taking over the
exact epitome of what men deem as attractive but is not -> undermines his own perceived
heroism