Comparing the Duty of the Physician in Dracula, Frankenstein, and Awakenings

Emotional isolation is the prime theme of the novel due to the parallels shared with the novel and Shelley's life, the monster's gradual descent into evil, and the insinuations of what is to come of the novel and of Shelley's life. Even though Frankenstein was written because of a dare from Lord Byron, it is very much a part of Shelley's life. We see many insights into her distressingly sad life that otherwise would not have been detected. Victor Frankenstein's family is almost an exact parallel to that of her husband, Percy Shelley's family. Frankenstein's creation of life, the monster, is much like Mary Shelley's birth to her daughter w... ... middle of paper ... ...en Scherf.

Well, simply because Bram Stoker chose to include Dracula's name as his title of his novel meaning that Dracula is indeed the main point of the novel, making him stand out more than everybody else in the novel. “Well I know that, did I move and speak in your London, none there are who would not know me for a stranger. That is not enough for me. Here I am noble; I am boyar; the common people know me, and I am master.” (2.34) Dracula represents fear and a sort of curiosity but he also creates a nausea as explained by Jonathan Harker. "As the Count leaned over me and his hands touched me a horrible feeling of nausea came over me, which, do what I would, I could not conceal.

2009 Lamb, John B. “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Milton’s Monstrous Myth.” Nineteenth-Century Literature 47.3 (1992): 303-319. Web. JSTOR. 29 Dec. 2013 Punday, Daniel.

47-52. Print. Thompson, Terry W. "Shelley's Frankenstein." The Explicator 64.2 (2006): Pgs 81+. Literature Resource Center.

London: Macmillan, 1995. 68-80. Rpt. in Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed.

The classic gothic novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley details the relationship between two significant figures, Victor Frankenstein, and his unnamed monster. The critical relationship between such characters causes many literary critics to compose the idea that they are bound by nature – inadvertently becoming a single central figure (Spark). This provides provoking thoughts on the duality of mankind, revealing the wickedness of human nature. The role of the monster as an alter ego to Victor is an ideal suggestion, as their characteristics in the story consistently change; from predator to prey, depressed to angry, pitiful to cruel, these are all characteristics shared between both characters at different times of the novel. These characters are both complementary and contrasted beings (Spark).

1992. Web. 20 Sept. 2011. Tropp, Martin. “The Monster.” Bloom’s Modern Critical Interpretations: Frankenstein, Updated Edition.

In this essay I will mainly deal with the question of what makes Dracula a monster; however I will bear other questions in mind such as why Dracula is seen as a monster by the crew of light. As Dr Seward puts it in his diary ‘the coming destruction of the monster’ (Bram Stoker, 1897, chap.20), I will analyse what means Stoker uses to make the reader believe that Dracula is the monster. In the end I want to see if Dracula is made into a monster by the crew of light or if he makes himself a monster by his actions. I also will have a look at what he warns the reader against, as the etymology of the word monster suggests me to do. First, Stoker’s narrative style makes it easy to see Dracula as a monster.

Ed. David A Galens. Vol. 18. Detroit: Gale, 2003.

Secondly, the recurring theme ‘the Blood is the Life’ (Stoker, 121), is portrayed throughout the novel and has been interpreted through Stoker’s character Renfield. Then finally, a look at the social construction of the ‘other’ in Dracula and how, through Renfield, who is ‘unlike the normal lunatic’ (Stoker, 52), the Count emerges as the ‘other’ of all ‘others’. Stoker has rendered the reader to see the Count as physically strong and powerful, through Jonathan Harker and his confinement and Lucy Westenra and her failing health. Although the reader does not understand all the omniscient powers and control that Count Dracula possesses over people, they are brought to light through Dr Steward’s accounts of his patient R.M. Renfield.