Paper #3: Enter If You Dare...

The first part of this assignment is the Book Cover Presentation, which is worth 10 of 30 points. Remember, you don’t have to turn in a paper for this part of the assignment—it’s completely oral. However, the remaining 20 points requires you to complete the assignment below which goes hand-in-hand with your cover conception.

As an English major/scholar, you have been commissioned to write a Student’s Introduction to the book from your cover assignment. The goal of this introduction is write an essay geared for students, like you, encountering this book for the first time. What do they need to know about the ideas, themes, and characters of this book? How does it relate to other Gothic literature—or modern literature/films? What did you most learn to appreciate about this book? What are its main difficulties, and why are they difficult for the modern reader? Don’t summarize the plot (beyond the basics, if necessary) or give us exhaustive detail about the characters, which the students can read for themselves. Instead, offer them context for reading and understanding the work so they can hit the ground running, and get more out the book than strange happenings, dated language, and confusing references.

A few things a good Introduction should do:

• Link the book to other works in class (at least one); be specific about these connections—show us why Dracula is like Frankenstein, for example.
• Suggest modern works, either books or films, that seem to be inspired by this novel, or related to it in some fashion. Be specific, but you don’t have to be as specific as with another book from class.
• Context for the book: some of the ‘big’ ideas of the era that seem to creep into the novel, and help shape the plot, characters, or ideas.
• A close reading of at least a scene or two to illustrate some of the above
• Use your cover art as a connection to the book: how does it help us see some of the above ideas? If the art is from the same period, suggest how they’re both channeling the ideas of their age.

You don’t have to be as comprehensive or knowledgeable as the Oxford World’s Classics Introductions; however, do think of your audience—other students not in this class. So don’t assume the students know what you know, or have spent a single day in our class (avoid statements such as, “as we discussed in class,” or “as Dr. Grasso explained,” etc.). Just imagine how you can help future students get more out of the text, or connect with a difficult or confusing book.

REQUIREMENTS

• At least 4-5 pages, double spaced
• Addresses all or most of the bullet points above
• Quotes significantly from the book in question, and at least from one other book in class
• Due Friday, May 4th by 5pm

For Wednesday: Stoker, Dracula, Chs. 20-24

Odilon Redon, The Grinning Spider 

[Note: I realize you were supposed to read to Ch.20 last time, but I want to cover it again since we didn't make it that far in Monday's class] 

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: In the beginning of the book, Stoker suggests a Jekyll and Hyde relationship between Seward and Renfield. But how might these chapters complicate this relationship—or suggest that seeing Renfield as “Hyde” is problematic?  Also, you might discuss how Renfield helps expose Seward’s unreliable narration.

Q2: Examine the passage in Chapter 21 where they find Dracula assaulting Mina: why is this a disturbing image then and now? How does Stoker make it resonate with other readings besides a vampire attacking its victim (remember, Stoker largely invented the vampire’s manner of assault)? Why does Mina later lament that she is “unclean”?

Q3: Van Helsing and the Vampire Hunters are constantly making distinctions between the idea of adults/men and children: Lucy and Mina are “little girls,” Dracula has a “child brain” and Mina has a “man’s brain.” What makes someone “childish” in their reading, and how might it relate to ideas of race? Is Stoker criticizing this racial bias of his heroes—or is it his own?

Q4: Some critics have read Dracula as not only a critique of British society, but of capitalism itself. Indeed, Marxist critics have enjoyed pointing out the true villain of the piece—the power of money and the secrecy of credit. How might we read the book in this light? Consider the passage in Chapter 23 when Dracula is attacked with the “Kukuri knife,” and “a bundle of bank notes and a stream of gold” spill out.

For Monday: Stoker, Dracula, Chs.15-20

Odilon Redon, Portrait of Marie Botkin (1900)

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: Discuss how Lucy is described by Seward as they gradually accept that she must be killed, and is not Lucy—at least the Lucy they once knew. Remember that we have to take this with a grain of salt, since Seward is the narrator, not an omniscient narrator; these are his biased and passion-addled diary entries. How does he see the new Lucy, and/or how does Van Helsing help him ‘translate’ her new appearance? You might consider the passage where he reflects, “I was, in fact, beginning to shudder at the presence of this being, this Un-Dead, as Van Helsing called it, and to loathe it” (188).

Q2: While there is a definite theme of English vs. “Oriental” (that is, of the world beyond the British Empire), many readers also read this book as also Christian vs. Pagan, or science vs. superstition (even faith vs. magic). How does Stoker complicate this reading through the characters of Van Helsing and Mina? You might also remember that even Dr. Seward describes Arthur slaying Un-Dead Lucy as looking “like a figure of Thor.”

Q3: Dracula is an extremely self-aware novel; that is, it is a gothic novel about writing a gothic novel. Stoker explicitly shows Mina “making” the book throughout, and even Arthur, examining all of her transcriptions, adds, “it does make a pretty good pile...Did you write all this, Mrs. Harker?” Why do you think Stoker calls our attention to the writing of the novel? What might be the advantage of this approach?

Q4: At one point, Van Helsing tells Mina, “We are men, and are able to bear; but you must be our star and our hope, and we shall act all the more free that you are not in the danger, such as we are” (225). Do you think Stoker intends this to be a misogynistic novel, one that puts “New Women” in their place, or simply believes that only men can save the empire? Or is this another example of the shortsightedness (and ineffectiveness) of the masculine ideal?

For Friday: Stoker, Dracula, Chs.10-14

No questions for Friday, but be sure to read Chapters 10-14 and consider some of the following ideas. We'll have an in-class response when you arrive on Friday.

* Just as Dracula seems like he's emerged from the distant past, how is Van Helsing also uncanny and "primitive" compared to the genteel society of London? What makes his person and his approach somewhat taboo, and certainly shocks Arthur and the others?

* Stoker enjoys employing dialect, slang, and low-class speech in the novel, most of which is incomprehensible to a modern American reader. Of course, it would have been tricky even for a well-to-do reader of the time. Why do you think he includes this, when it might alienate some of his audience? What does it add to his story?

* Who do you think is the least reliable narrator in the book so far? What makes his or her narration seem suspect? Do you detect passages where he/she seems to be hiding information or not being quite straight with the reader, even if he/she is writing a diary entry?

* How do the men gradually piece together what is wrong with Lucy? What makes it so difficult to perceive and accept this diagnosis?

* What would be uncanny and grotesque about Lucy's transformation to a late Victorian audience? Naturally, she becomes a vampire, which is bad enough, but how does Stoker describe her new appearance/character that would be particularly disturbing?

* Why does Stoker often make Van Helsing come off as a bit humorous, not only in his accent, but in his comic abruptness, such as, "Yes, and no. I want to operate, but not as you think...I want to cut off her head and take out her heart."

* How does Mina aid the investigation, and why might Van Helsing be the only one to appreciate/understand it?

For Wednesday: Stoker, Dracula, Chs.6-9 (pp.61-110)

 

Odilon Redon, Angel in Chains (1875)

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: How do the passages from Dr. Seward’s Diary play into discussions begun by Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? Who is more of a specimen for study—Renfield or Seward himself? You might consider the passage, “Am I to take it that I have anything in common with him, so that we are, as it were, to stand together; or has he to gain from me some good so stupendous that my well-being is needful to him?” (102).

Q2: Which of the “outside” stories (the log from the Varna, etc.) adds the most to the overall narrative? Why do you think Mina decided to add this into her journal? What ‘story’ is it helping her tell to her readers? (and how might we read this differently when we remember that she is the one arranging it)?

Q3: If you remember Coleridge’s Cristabel, how might the story of Lucy resemble that poem in its story, characters, and imagery? Consider a line such as “”there, on our favourite seat, the silver light of the moon struck a half reclining figure, snowy white” (86).

Q4: At the beginning of Chapter 8, Mina writes of the “New Woman” which she gently mocks in this chapter. However, according to the Notes, the New Woman was a “middle-class woman…sometimes celebrated as a pioneer in work, marriage, intellectual, and sexual life, but more often as a source of scorn in the conservative press. She was represented incoherently, either as mannish or frigid, or as a dangerously unstable and over-sexualized figure” (377). How might Mina and Lucy represent many qualities of this New Woman, and do you feel that Stoker is either supporting or celebrating the idea of “New Women” in society?

For Monday: Stoker, Dracula, Chs.1-5

Odilon Redon, Portrait of Violette Heymann (1910)

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: Dracula has no single narrator binding the entire novel together from either an omniscient or an unreliable point of view. Rather, the book is cobbled together from several different narrators, some consciously narrating (Harker's diary, Mina and Lucy's letters, etc.), while others are forced into the role unknowingly (newspaper reports, phonograph recordings, shipping receipts). How does this affect how we read the work and understand even the simplest ideas of plot, characterization, and narration? Is the entire work 'unreliable'? Or does the factual nature of the sources make it more reliable than our previous works?

Q2: How does Stoker's characterization of Dracula differ from modern versions of Dracula and of vampires in general? Though Dracula is not the first literary vampire in England (he is preceded by Polidori's Lord Ruthven by several decades), he created the prototypical mythology that all subsequent vampires follow. Nevertheless, Stoker's 'Dracula' shows some remarkable differences that often surprise or even disappoint readers. What might these be...and what might Stoker's intentions have been in writing him this way?

Q3: Reflecting on the man who is holding him captive, Harker reflects, “What manner of man is this, or what manner of creature is it in the semblance of man? I feel the dread of this horrible place overpowering me; I am in fear—awful fear—and there is no escape for me” (III/35). How might the Dracula (as a person) compare to the Morlocks in The Time Machine, and how might Harker be a little like the Time Traveler himself? What makes him think he has gone “back in time” himself?

Q4: In Chapter 5, Lucy writes, “I know, Mina, you will think me a horrid flirt—though I couldn’t help feeling a sort of exultation that he was number two in one day” (57). What kind of woman is Lucy, and how does she contrast (so far) with Mina? Based on this, how does she resemble a certain type of woman still common in modern-day horror movies?

For Wednesday: Wells, The Time Machine (finish!)

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: Is the Time Traveler a reliable narrator? How might his own biases and beliefs color his narrative, particularly when describing the Eloi and the Morlocks? Is there anywhere we can tell that Wells might be critiquing the Traveler himself?

Q2: In Marina Warner’s Introduction to the Penguin version of The Time Machine, she notes that in many of Wells’ fictions, “He show an almost anorexic fascination with feeding, hunger, and abstemiousness.” Why do you think Wells (and the Time Traveler), as a late Victorian, is so drawn to the idea of eating in the novel? What might food—and the choice of food—have to do with taboos and the evolution of man?

Q3: Why does the narrator decide to take Weena back to his own time? Is he romantically interested in her? Or does she represent something important and ‘scientific’ to the Time Traveler? (you might also consider why she dies; why doesn’t he protect her?)

Q4: Toward the end of the novel the Time Traveler “grieved to think how brief the dream of the human intellect had been. It had committed suicide.” Of course, since this is science fiction, Wells probably means that his own time had “committed suicide” in the same way. What do you think this means? How can an entire society decide to put an end to the “dream of the human intellect”?

For Monday: Wells, The Time Machine, Chs.1-7 (see below)

* NOTE: If you have a different edition from the Oxford World's Classics, be sure to read to the chapter that begins "It may seem odd to you" (stop when you see this chapter). It should be the first 40 or 50 pages, depending on your version.

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: Though this is a science fiction story about time travel, how does The Time Machine function like a traditional Gothic story like Frankenstein or Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? What familiar tropes and characters do you recognize, and how does Wells employ them? (hint: consider the narration)

Q2: When considering what man might be like in the distant future, The Time Traveler reflects, "What might not have happened to men? What if cruelty had grown into a common passion? What if in this interval the race has lost its manliness, and had developed into something inhuman, unsympathetic, and overwhelmingly powerful?" Why might these be important questions to ask in the late 19th century? What fears and concerns might they address in light of what we've read about in class (and why is "the future" the perfect metaphor to address them)?

Q3: Why does the book open with a chapter recording the discussion of several gentlemen, none of whom have names other than "The Time Traveler," "The Medical Man," and "The Provincial Mayor?" Why is this chapter important for Wells' readers and for setting up the rest of the book? What are they talking about that might have seemed exciting--and disturbing--in 1895?  

Q4: Even though the Time Traveler is catapulted thousands of years into the future, he often uses quite primitive metaphors and imagery to describe his emotions and surroundings: "I felt hopelessly cut off from my own kind--a strange animal in an unknown world"..."The old instinctive dread of wild beasts came upon me." What seems to be so uncanny about this future that makes it seem more like the past?

Paper #3 Presentation: Picturing a Book

“In the friction and interaction among artist and designer and book, a new thing is born. The book is remade, its delights are refreshed, it becomes inviting again” (Audrey Niffenegger)

For the first part of your Paper #3 assignment, I want you to design the cover for a new edition of ONE of the books in class using a classic painting or work of art. Remember that the cover is the first thing someone sees before reading a book, and it continues to stare at and challenge (delight?) the reader as he/she spends time with the book. So your task is to find an image that can live in the mind of the reader, and subtly (or explicitly) mirror the themes of the book and/or the characters inside it. Ideally, you want to choose a painting (or other work) from around the same time period, so we can see visually what the writer was attempting to capture in his or her work.

Paintings with Gothic/Romantic leanings such as those by Francisco Goya, Caspar David Freidrich, J.M. Turner, John Atkinson Grimshaw, John Singer Sargent, Dante Rossetti, Edward Burne-Jones, and Maxwell Armfield are great places to start. However, you can use any painting that you feel has a conversation with the book itself, and helps us ‘see’ something important in the text. I’ll post a link to a few pages with paintings for you to explore, but don’t feel limited to these—look around (esp. at the Pre-Raphaelite painters) and find anything that suits your fancy.

THREE WEEKS from now (the week of April 23^rd), you will present your new cover image to the class. You could simply show us the painting, OR you could actually design a new cover suitable for one of the novels. There are many free programs such as Canva that allow you to do this, but only do it if you want to (see the link on the blog for this). I’m really just interested to see what work of art you choose and how you can discuss it. For the presentation, I want you to do THREE things:

* Introduce the artist and the work, along with the date
* Discuss why you think the work complements the novel in question
*  Find a brief passage from the novel to use as a “frame” for the artwork; the passage should illustrate the connection you discussed in #2. Be sure to show or read this to us and be able to explain why you chose it.

This will go hand-in-hand with your Paper #3 assignment, which I will give to you next week. So start thinking about this and go hunting for great art! Again, I will post some links on the blog to help you, but the choice is up to you. Just make sure it accentuates the text in an interesting way and initiates a conversation with the text, even if it’s a controversial one. Please e-mail me with questions or come to my office to discuss it.

Here are some links to help you find good paintings/works of art:

Wikipedia page for the Pre-Raphaelites (many good images and clickable content): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Raphaelite_Brotherhood

A page from the Tate Gallery of Art on 19th century British paintings and painters: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/british-school-19th-century-60

Complete paintings of Caspar David Friedrich ("the" Gothic painter, famous for the Wanderer in the Sea of Fog): https://www.caspardavidfriedrich.org/

Complete paintings of John Singer Sargent (not Gothic, but contemporary with Wilde and captures people of high society in intimate portraits--we looked at his portrait of Madame X): https://www.johnsingersargent.org/

Complete paintings of J.M.W. Turner (we looked at his "Ocean with Sea Monsters" and others in class): https://www.william-turner.org/

Wikipedia page for Goya ("The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters"): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Goya

Wikipedia page for John Atkinson Grimshaw (British painter of Gothic landscapes and townscapes): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Atkinson_Grimshaw

For Monday: Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chs. 12-20

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: Many of Lord Henry’s witticisms echo—or even reproduce—Wilde’s Preface from the beginning of the book. Consider ones such as “Scepticism is the beginning of faith,” or “we can have in life but one great experience, and the secret of life is to reproduce that experience as often as possible.” With this in mind, how are we supposed to read his character? Is he the voice of ‘reason’ of wisdom in the novel? Or is he another unreliable narrator, just as flawed and corrupt as Dorian?

Q2: When Dorian Gray ventures into the opium dens of the East End of London, he meets with various racial stereotypes: Malays with “white teeth,” “squat misshapen figures” (also Malay, or Chinese), and low-class women with “crooked smile[s] like a Malay crease.” Are these a sign of Wilde’s upper class racial prejudices (like the narrator in “Olalla”)? Or is he seeing the world through Dorian’s eyes, who sees things in terms of “race” and degeneracy?

Q3: At the very end of the novel, Dorian lays the blame of his crime at Basil’s feet: “It was the living death of his own soul that troubled him. Basil had painted the portrait that has marred his life. He could not forgive him that. It was the portrait that had done everything” (185). This sounds curiously like the Creature and Victor: the Creature blaming his creator (Basil) and the Creator blaming his creation (the painting). How should we read Dorian—as Victor or the Creature? Is he made “evil” or does he turn things “evil” himself?

Q4: Lord Henry, in defense of the book that Dorian claims has “corrupted” him, says that “Art has no influence upon action. It annihilates the desire to act. It is superbly sterile. The books that the world calls immortal are books that show the world its own shame” (183). Do you think Wilde believes this? Is art merely a mute mirror of our own imagination and sensibilities? Or can art itself shape and guide our sensibilities? Why might this question be important to the reading/interpreting the novel?

 

 

 

For Friday: Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chs.6-11

John Singer Sargent, Repose (1911)

REMEMBER: No class on Wednesday (I'll be out of town)

Read the next few chapters, through Chapter 11, and consider some of the following questions--and this time, we will have an in-class response!

* Note how "eyes" are discussed or mentioned in the book; why are eyes so significant in a book about art and appearances?

* How is Basil contrasted with Lord Henry? What makes Basil more "good" and why does Dorian respect him more--even as he admits, he has learned much more from Lord Henry?

* What does Lord Henry meant when he says "don't waste your tears over Sybil Vane. She was less real than they are?" (meaning Juliet, Rosalind, etc.)

* Why did Sybil disappoint Dorian and destroy his love? What ideal did she fail to live up to? And how, in her death, did she restore that ideal?

* Why does Sybil perform so badly in the play? What is her ideal?

* How does Wilde indulge in many of the ideas of race and class that we saw in Stevenson's Olalla? Do you feel he is mocking these conventions--or playing into them?

* Why are secrets important in this novel just as they were in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? Who and what is being protected?

For Monday: Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chs.1-5

John Singer Sargent, Young Man in Reverie (1876)

NO QUESTIONS this week--so work on your Paper #2 assignment! Also, read Chapters 1-5 of The Picture of Dorian Gray for Monday's class. You'll have an in-class response waiting for you, and you might want to consider some of the following ideas:

* Wilde's paradoxical witticisms in the Preface and scattered throughout the text; are we supposed to take them seriously? Are they his voice, or the voice of society?

* The idea of art vs. life, or the ideal vs. the transitory pleasure: how does Wilde develop this idea (which we've seen throughout our readings) in the opening chapters?

* The Pre-Raphaelites liked to update or put a modern spin on age-old myths and legends: how might Dorian Gray be doing the same thing, though in a less obvious way?

* Why does Hallward think his portrait represents his best work? On the same hand, why does he refuse to show it?

* How was the nature of his meeting Dorian Gray similar to other "meetings" we've seen in other works?

* Why does Dorian Gray act so thunderstruck after his first conversation with Lord Henry? Does Lord Henry mean to shock him--or is he unaware of the power of his words?

* Why does Lord Henry claim he can play Dorian Gray like a violin? How does this play into the idea of art vs. life?

For Friday: Rossetti, Goblin Market (handout)

Note: if you missed Wednesday’s class, you can either grab the handout from my box, or find the poem on-line.

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: The poem is full of repetition and echoing devices, such as the stanzas that string simile after simile together: “Like a rush-imbedded swan,/Like a lily from the beck,/Like a moonlit poplar branch,/Like a vessel at the launch/When its last restraint is gone” (1620). Why are these repetitions significant—and where do they specifically occur in the poem?

Q2: The Goblin Market itself is full of sensual imagery, from the taste of the fruit to its shapes and textures. Since this is not only a poem but a kind of fairy tale, what might the Market represent? And why is it significant that Laura paid for the fruit with a lock of her hair?

Q3: In one of the most famous passages of the poem, Lizzie returns from the Market with the juice of the fruits on her body, and bids her sister “Hug me, kiss me, suck my juices/Squeezed from goblin fruits for  you...Eat me, drink me, love me,/Laura, make much of me” (1628). A modern reader hears many things in this passage—but what would a Victorian hear, do you think? How should we read this passage in the context of the poem itself?

Q4: The poem ends with a kind of Epilogue, set many years in the future, when the sisters both have daughters of their own. What do you feel is the point of this Epilogue and its moral? What message might this poem—which is presumably told by Lizzie and Laura to their children—have for the listeners? Is it as simple as “don’t trust men,” or “sisters stick together?” What else might they—or we—hear in this cautionary conclusion?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For Friday: Stevenson, “Olalla” (pp.101-138)

 

Julia Cameron, photo of Ellen Terry (1864)

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: What does Olalla mean when she asks the narrator, “Is it me you love, friend? or the race that made me?...We speak of the soul, but the soul is in the race” (131). According to this speech, what is preventing her from accepting the narrator’s love? What does she fear he sees--or loves--instead of "her"?

Q2: How does the narrator use the term “race” throughout this story, and particularly in regards to the family? Though the family is from noble stock, why does he see himself as superior to them? Does it have something to do with his English identity?  

Q3: Why does the narrator fall so desperately (and foolishly?) in love with Olalla, a woman he only glimpses from a chance meeting, and has never spoken with? How might this resemble previous lovers in other stories, particularly in a sentence like this one: “Love burned in me like rage; tenderness waxed fierce; I hated, I adored, I pitied, I revered her with ecstasy” (126)?

Q4: The presence of the portrait in his room (as well as the portraits throughout the house) suggests the old Romantic argument of life vs. art as we read in Ode on a Grecian Urn. How does his comparison of the ‘dead’ family with the ‘living’ family influence his actions, and make him respond to the statement, “beauty is truth, truth beauty—that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know”?

Paper #2: Gothic Detection

“If he be Mr. Hyde...I shall be Mr. Seek” (Stevenson 14).

I: In 1890, the Metropolitan Police Service of London moved to a larger location to better meet the needs of growing crimes throughout the metropolis. They called this location New Scotland Yard, and “Scotland Yard” became synonymous with police activity in London (and still is). The late 19th century is an age of unspeakable crimes from the unsolved Whitehall Mystery to the murders of “Jack the Ripper.” Only by expanding their activity and changing how they understood the nature of “evil” could Scotland Yard hope to keep one step ahead of the criminal masterminds of London. What an exciting time to join the police force…which you have, by the way!

Q: Prove that Victor Frankenstein and Henry Jekyll are criminals through their “confessions” (the books) even though both have been exonerated of their crimes! Imagine that you are investigating two “cold cases,” that of Victor Frankenstein and Dr. Henry Jekyll. In both cases, the accused were exonerated: Frankenstein was killed by a “monster,” while Jekyll was murdered by one Mr. Hyde, also deceased. But after reading through their confessions (the books), you realize that the true criminals were never brought to justice. You know that Victor Frankenstein and Henry Jekyll are both murderers and evil geniuses of a high order, and you think you have enough evidence through their unreliable narration (and the narration of their accomplices, Walton, Utterson, Lanyon) to prove it. Use your close reading techniques to analyze and examine both cases to prove that both share the same ‘criminal mindset,’ and uncover the true nature of their crimes beneath a spider’s web of secrets and subterfuge. What crimes did they commit? When? Upon whom? How were the secrets kept?

R: A good police officer never goes it alone, so enlist some help in your cause. I want you to find at least TWO articles/documents that discuss either Frankenstein or Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and use them in your paper as evidence. Imagine that these are other officers who have investigated the crime, and use their insights and evidence to help you underline the guilt of Victor and Henry. These must be either academic articles or primary source documents that you can quote in your paper as evidence against the accused. I will discuss how to find these documents and give you some suggestions in class.

• The report of your findings should be approximately 4-5 pages long, but more is acceptable
• You must discuss both works in your report, and make connections between the two; use one case to shed light on the other—Jekyll might be a ‘copycat killer’ after all
• Quote from the stories as evidence (close read) and use examples from the articles as well; document everything according to MLA format
• Due Friday, March 16^th by 5pm (last day before Spring Break!)

For Monday: Stevenson. Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (sorry for the late post!)

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: According to Dr. Jekyll, why did he have a “Mr. Hyde” inside him? Are all of us composed of good and evil selves, fighting for domination? Or is it more complicated than that? Why does he also write, “I hazard the guess that man will be ultimately known for a mere polity of multifarious, incongruous and independent denizens” (53)?

Q2: Though a short novella, Stevenson offers us a wealth of narrative perspectives including a traditional third person narration, Dr. Lanyon’s Narrative, Dr. Jekyll’s Full Statement of the Case, and several mini narrations, such as Mr. Enfield’s story of the door, etc. What is the effect of all these shifts in narration and multiple perspectives? How do they complicate the story or change how we understand it? Are all of them reliable? Are they meant to make us question one or the other?

Q3: When he first encounters Mr. Hyde, Enfield writes that “I had taken a loathing to the gentleman at first sight” (7), and Utterson agrees, writing that nothing “could explain the hitherto unknown disgust, loathing and fear with which [he] regarded [Mr. Hyde]” (15-16). What makes him so uncanny to both men, and indeed, to everyone else in the story? Other than being short and angry, what qualities seem to disturb those that cross his path?

Q4: Several times in this story, Utterfield (or someone else) says, “I would say nothing of this paper,” or “Let us make a bargain never to refer to this again.” Why is this story obsessed with secrecy? What do they fear is really at stake with Dr. Jekyll (before they learn about his experiment)? What does he—and the others, perhaps—have to lose?

An Interesting Link for Frankenstein (see below)

For those who can't get enough of Frankenstein, or simply like things laid out visually, here's an article from the UK's The Guardian that shows several facts about Shelley's life and the novel itself in charts and diagrams. Might help you on future papers! Click on the link below to read...

https://www.theguardian.com/books/gallery/2018/jan/13/mary-shelleys-frankenstein-in-charts 

For Monday: Shelley, Frankenstein, Vol. III

NOTE: The reading starts with the chapter, “Day after day, week after week” if you have a different edition.

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: When Victor bids farewell to Elizabeth (after planning to marry her), the 1831 text says that she “acquiesced; but she was filled with disquiet at the idea of my suffering, away from her, the inroads of misery and grief...she bade me a tearful, silent farewell.” However, the original 1818 version of the novel reads: “Elizabeth approved of the reasons of my departure, and only regretted that she had not the same opportunities of enlarging her experience, and cultivating her understanding...We all, said she, depend upon you; and if you are miserable, what must be our feelings?” What does the original text seem to communicate about Elizabeth’s experience that the 1831 version wipes away?

Q2: When Victor finds Elizabeth slain by the Creature, he “rushed toward her, and embraced her with ardour” (166). Her also spends quite some time in describing her body as left flung lifelessly across the bed. Does this scene mirror another scene with a ‘beautiful corpse’ in The Victim? How is Victor’s reaction to Elizabeth similar to the doctor’s? Is he more aroused by Elizabeth in death than in life?

Q3: After the death of Clerval, when Victor is languishing in an Irish prison, he reflects, “The whole series of my life appeared to be as a dream; I sometimes doubted if indeed it were all true, for it never presented itself to my mind with the force of reality” (149-150). How does Shelley complicate the matter of Victor’s innocence or guilt in the final chapters? Is their more evidence for his crimes—or the Creature’s existence?

Q4: Victor claims that his narrative is a warning for Walton, so that “the gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent to sting you, as mine has been” (17). However, the end of the novel seems to contradict his aim in telling his story—and Victor’s actions seem less than repentant than would first appear. What is his hope in telling Walton his story, and what advice does he leave the young Romantic with?

For Wednesday: Shelley, Frankenstein, Vol. II (pp.69-123 roughly)

NOTE: If you don’t have our text, try to finish at or around the chapter that begins, “The being finished speaking, and fixed his looks upon me in expectation of a reply.”

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: The Creature’s education is largely undertaken by reading a series of books, notably Paradise Lost, Plutarch’s Lives, and The Sorrows of Young Werther. Why these books in particular (since Shelley could have chosen any)? What does the Creature reveal about these books that adds something significant to his education and sense of himself? Additionally, how do we know that these might have been crucial for Shelley’s own inspiration in writing the book?

Q2: Many find the story of the De Lacys somewhat puzzling and out of place in the narrative. Why does Shelley include it? Though it seems hopelessly unrealistic, how might it, too, become a crucial part of the Creature’s education?

Q3: At what point does the Creature become a “monster”? While Victor might argue that it was always a monster, how does the Creature’s own narrative contradict this? At what point did he consciously make the decision to become the “demon” the world takes him for?

Q4: At the end of Volume 1, Victor claims that “I bore a hell within me, which nothing could extinguish” (68). Thinking of Monos and Daimonos (1830), is it possible to read the Creature as Victor’s doppleganger—a double that torments him and follows him because he is him? What clues or passages seem to support this reading (we can discuss problems with this reading in class).

For Monday: Shelley, Frankenstein, Book 1 (see below)

NOTE: Read pp.5-68 in the Oxford World’s Classics version: for other versions, read until the chapter that begins, “Nothing is more painful to the human mind...”
 
Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: Most first-time readers of Frankenstein are surprised to find that the novel begins with a frame narrative: that of Walton, the arctic explorer, who is writing home to his sister, Mrs. Saville. What purpose does this frame serve, especially since it could have all been narrated from Victor’s point of view? Also, why might Walton be a very ‘Gothic’ character in his own right?

Q2: According to the story of his early education that Victor gives to Walton, what set him on the path of creating new life? How did he go from an earnest, naive young man to a “modern Prometheus” who would “pour a torrent of light into our dark world” (36)?

Q3: Immediately after he creates his “monster,” Victor ends up falling asleep and has a nightmare of Elizabeth, where as soon as he kisses her, “her lips...became livid with the hue of death; her features appeared to change, and I thought that I held the corpse of my dead mother in my arms” (39). How does the dream relate to his creation, and why does he create a man but dream of (dead) women?

Q4: Where does Victor first encounter his Creature again after its dreadful birth? Why might this location be significant considering Shelley’s love of the Romantics and the sublime? Consider, too, Victor describes the Creature and why these words might hold Gothic significance.

Paper #1: Copycat Killers

INTRO: In their Introduction to The Vampyre and Other Tales of the Macabre, editors Morrison and Baldick write that, “In the frantically competitive world of the magazines in the 1820s and 1830s, imitation was not just the sincerest form of flattery but the surest route to commercial survival. It should not, then, surprise us to find some echoes of the successful Blackwood’s tradition in the productions of its monthly rivals” (xvii-xviii). While the stories in this volume were reading and responding to stories published in the first magazine of Gothic fiction, Blackwood’s, they were also responding to each other. For this reason, we find many stories that seem obsessed with the same themes and ideas (as well as plots).

PROMPT: So for your first paper, I want you choose two stories that seem to respond to or imitate each other in some important way. It doesn’t have to be literal, as in the plot of the characters (though it can), so consider larger issues such as similar themes, literary devices, or ways of telling the story. How do we know that one of the authors read the other, and decided to respond with his or her own story that develops, expands, further explains, or contradicts some element of the previous story? To do this, I want you to compare a short passage from one story with a short passage from the other. The passage should be relatively short—a few sentences to a paragraph, but no more. Examine the language of each passage closely and compare what they say—and how they say it—to show the influence that one story had on the other. Use the Chronology in the front of the book and/or the Notes in the back to figure out which story came out first (since a story from 1831 probably isn’t responding to a story from 1836). You can use one of the poems we discuss in class as well, but only to add context/ideas—not as one of your primary works.  

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HINTS: What should your paper look like? Avoid a lengthy introduction that says, “Since the beginning of time, man has been writing Gothic stories...” OR “Webster’s dictionary defines Gothic as...” Instead, jump right into the paper by briefly introducing the first story and your intended passage. Don’t quote the entire passage in your paper. Instead, perform a close reading, which means quote a line or two and then explicate it—tell us what you think it means and how it relates to other parts of the story. This way, we can read along with you, and we’ll understand much better what the story means and how you read it. Then do the same for the second story, taking care to make connections back to the first passage. It might be helpful to examine short passages side by side to help us see the imitative themes and ideas.

When quoting a passage in your paper, do it like so: In Catherine Gore’s story, “The Red Man,” the twisted friar exclaims, “The soul of woman is the brightest emanation of the eternal fountain of light and life; but the smallest blemish upon its spotlessness, and corruption and darkness ensue” (Oxford 158). This is an important passage because... (Introduce the quote; quote accurately and cite; respond to the quote).

REQUIREMENTS: At least 4-5 pages, double spaced; quote all passages using MLA format (as shown above); make an attempt at proofreading—don’t turn in a paper full of sloppy errors; due Friday, February 9^th by 5pm

For Monday: Keats: Ode to a Nightingale, Ode on a Grecian Urn (handout)

NOTE: You can find these poems on the last pages of your “Christabel” handout. If you don’t have them for some reason, you can easily find these poems on-line. Each one is just over a page long, so you can read them quickly. However, each one is a quite subtle, so read more than once—and if possible, read them the first time aloud. Hear the music and consider how Keats wants you to read/experience it.

SECOND NOTE: These poems are “odes,” which are addresses to a specific person or object, usually in tribute to them. In the first, he is addressing his ode to a Nightingale singing in the woods, and he imagines flying along with the bird through the darkness of the imagination. In the second, he is examining a Grecian Urn in a museum, and walking around it trying to decipher the images and characters engraved upon it. In both poems, the living bird and the work of art bring to mind his own mortality, and how much more fortunate the bird and the urn are than him—though ironically, these things only live through him, the poet, as he writes about them.

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: In the opening lines of “Ode to a Nightingale,” the poet cries that his “heart aches” and his senses are “as though of hemlock I had drunk” (hemlock is a poison). What seems to be ailing him in this poem, that he seeks the Nightingale’s help or assistance? Any clues in the opening stanzas of the poem?

Q2: In Stanza II of “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” he claims, “Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard/Are sweeter.” Why could “unheard” melodies be sweeter than those we actually hear? And why does the musician on the urn play “spirit ditties of no tone”? Why does Keats prefer this type of music?

Q3: Examine Stanza VII of “Ode to a Nightingale”: why does Keats think the nightingale is an “immortal Bird” which is “not born for death”? How can a single bird live forever, and why does the poem obsesses about the nightingale’s ability to escape the clutches of death?

Q4: In the final stanza of “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” Keats reminds us that the urn will exist long after we have gone, just as it has survived countless generations. He ends this reflection with the famous lines, “ ‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty’—that is all/Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.” Why is the famous phrase quoted? Who is speaking these lines? And what is his response to them? Who is the you in this sentence?

For Friday: Coleridge, Cristabel (handout--take one from my office door if you missed class)

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: Cristabel, though unfinished, seems to explore the idea of “innocence” through the unformed, child-like character of Cristabel.  How might we read her character metaphorically, as a journey of childhood inexperience into the “dark woods” of adult sexuality?  (and yes, any knowledge of Freud is welcome here!) 

 

Q2: In Richard Holmes’ book, Coleridge: Early Visions (1989), he writes that Cristabel is “chant-like, trance-like.  Its power derives from a haunting suggestiveness of atmosphere, an incantation of psychological symbols and spells, which defy any normal narrative development” (287).  How does the poem achieve these “trance-like” effects?  What sounds, images, metaphors, or other features make it seem more like a spell or a dream than an actual story or poem? 

Q3: What is the difference between Part I and Part II of the poem?  Literally, Part I occurs during midnight, while Part II occurs the following morning.  Does this basic distinction change the general tone/focus of each part?  Why do you think Coleridge separated the poem into two parts when the entire poem was left incomplete?  Does something tangible change from one part to the next? 

 

Q4: Why might Geraldine the earliest form of a character that has since become extremely popular in fantasy and horror fiction?  What kind of character is she, and what about her description, actions, or motives might suggest other, more modern characters/types?  Consider lines such as, “Deep from within she seems half-way/To lift some weight with sick assay,/And eyes the maid and seeks delay;/Then suddenly, as one defied,/Collects herself in scorn and pride,/And lay down by the Maiden’s side!--/And in her arms the maid she took” (30).  

For Monday: Le Fanu, “Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess” (pp.201-234)

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: In many ways, “Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess” is like a Gothic Jane Austen story (esp. Mansfield Park). Perhaps the biggest similarity is that both authors focus upon the realities of 19th century marriage. According to the story, what hidden dangers lie in wait for a prospective bride in the 1830’s? What does marriage allow men to gain—and to hide—by law?

Q2: The story mentions that a letter offering evidence of the uncle’s guilt was published in Faulkner’s newspaper (The Dublin Journal—see note on page 273), which was another magazine which published news side-by-side with Gothic stories like this one. How might this story be consciously trying to adopt a non-fictional tone in the manner of its storytelling? In other words, how does it read even more realistically (like journalism) than our last two stories?

Q3: When the narrator’s uncle intercepts her letter for help, he threatens her by saying, “Men will universally believe you mad, if I choose to call for an inquiry. I can make you appear so” (225). Though a Gothic story, why might this be one of the great fears of 19th century women? Have you read another story (or seen a film) that uses madness to check a woman’s freedom or choice?

Q4: In many of the stories in this book, women are frail, naive creatures who submissively meet their fate. How is Le Fanu’s narrator markedly different from these women (while still being very much a 19th century woman)? Why do you think he made it a point to show a different kind of woman—and have her tell the story herself, rather than use a third-person narrator?