...Gender roles dictate the expected and accepted behaviour of a person based on their gender. These societal terms dominate the women of the novel Dracula, by Bram Stoker, due to a patriarchal society. Women are confined in a space in which their roles and duties are limited to men and specifically, their husbands. These beliefs are portrayed through the two protagonists, Lucy Waterna and Mina Harker as they live their lives according to assigned gender roles. The novel Dracula demonstrates socially constructed terms that decrease the value of women compared to men through Mina’s submissiveness to her husband, Lisa’s desires as a wife, and the ideology that only true women are pure. Mina writes a letter to Lucy, in which she says, “I want to keep up with Jonathan’s studies, and I have been practicing shorthand very assiduously. When we are married I will be able to be useful to Jonathan” (Stoker 79). In this context, Mina finds it necessary to learn a complex method of writing with abbreviations and symbols so she can...
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...“The role of women in the gothic genre is as victims, always subject to male authority.” Compare and contrast the extent to which this interpretation is relevant to your three chosen texts. “The wolf consumes red riding hood – what else can you expect if you talk to strange men, comments Perrault briskly. Let’s not bother our heads with the mysteries of sadomasochistic attraction” Angela Carter; Foreword to Perrault’s Short Stories. In much of today’s feminist writings, the Gothic era is frequently defined as a period in which the oppression of females was at its most intense. In response to fin de siècle anxieties of a social revolution in which gender stereotypes could be overhauled, gothic writers, it is claimed, sought to reassert cultural and gender norms – a reassertion which inevitably resulted in the oppression of women. In view of such contemporary analysis, it is thus all too tempting to offer a sweeping judgement of gothic literature as victimising, oppressive and misogynistic; Dracula’s “victims” are all “unambiguously women[1]”, Poe victimises through an “idealised and dehumanising image of women[2]”, while Carter is a “pseudo feminist” who merely “reinforces patriarchal views” with her “pornographic” writing[3]. Yet such views are largely artificial, and are primarily based on potted summaries of the above works, rather than a closer textual analysis. If one takes the definition of a victim as a being who is subject to the successful predatory actions of...
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...“The role of women in the gothic genre is as victims, always subject to male authority.” By comparing the presentation of women in your three chosen texts, say how far you would agree with this view.” Women are central to the narrative of Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber, Bram Stoker’s Dracula and within Christina Rossetti’s poetry. All three texts were written during significant times in history: Rossetti and Stoker’s works during the infamous reign of Queen Victoria, and Carter’s collection during the year Margaret Thatcher became the first female prime minister of Britain. As a genre, the gothic is often regarded as being dominated by men, with women featuring in the role of victim subject to patriarchy. Many early gothic texts feature women in the role of victim under the authority of predatory men, perhaps most notably in Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto and Matthew Lewis’ The Monk. However, Stoker, Rossetti and Carter all at times break with this convention by characterising some of their females as strong, independent and liberated. As writers, they experiment with the characteristic features of the gothic genre, particularly Carter and Rossetti who challenge the traditional conceptions by presenting many of their female characters in dominant, authoritative roles which break convention. There are occasions in all three texts when the passivity traditionally associated with femininity in the gothic genre can be perceived to be a direct result of oppression...
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...Khaled Aldehneh Professor Cortese Oct 25th 2015 Final Draft Buffy the Vampire Slayer Society has many ideas about proper behaviors regarding gender roles. Over time, it is obvious the rules and expectations made up by society regarding proper male and female behavior has become very different. Males have to live up to the standards of having a good career and living up to strong goals to reach it. Males are always seen as strong and tough while females are known for their feminine behaviors and softness—the least capable to qualify for tough jobs. “Like all sciences and all valuations, the psychology of women has hitherto been considered only from the point of view of men.” (Karen Horney). In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the Director David Solomon challenges gender roles in society by empowering the woman, and challenges traditional ideas...
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...Mina Murray? The character Mina Murray appears in several storylines, including Dracula and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, that take place during and after the Victorian Era. This era contained debates at the time regarding women’s suffrage. Mina’s character signifies the transition and change in women’s roles in society. She has qualities that can relate to multiple controversial ideas at that time regarding women. Those include women’s intellect, their qualities of thought, and the importance of their roles in their families and the community. Throughout her appearances in the stories, she always has character foils alongside her that emphasize her qualities as a leader and a traditional but also modernized woman. Mina’s character is a depiction of the idealized feminine figure, which is subordinate to all men and maintains the identity of a housewife. Simultaneously, she is a figure that foreshadows the women of the twentieth century, when women are independent and active members of the society. These are supported through the actions she takes and the decisions she makes throughout her journey across multiple stories. Mina Murray’s character contains significant attributes that allow her to be contrasted with other characters in her stories and to stand between the definitions of the idealized Victorian women and women of the modern era. Mina’s character qualities in Dracula are highlighted by those around her. Mina and Lucy are placed under similar circumstances...
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...The Art of Deception in Dracula "Be not deceived with the first appearance of things, for show is not substance" (English Proverb). Abraham Stoker, the author of Dracula, initially presents Count Dracula as a man of nobility, moral decency, and kindness. However, as Jonathan Harker learns more about Dracula, he discovers the otherworldliness, deceptiveness, and cruel intentions of Dracula. Stoker illustrates the Count in this manner to remove the disguise of the Victorian era. From 1837 to 1901, the people of London, England cloaked themselves with wealth, peace, and confidence through their expansions of land and population. However, Londoners were corrupt with their expectations of gender and society, while their city was grimy and impoverished....
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...| | |Fin de Siècle Writing and Culture. | Discuss any two fictional texts studied in the light of fin de siècle theories of degeneration. The era of the Victorian fin de siècle ‘…from the 1880s to the end of the century…generated an enormous amount of scientific and cultural debate concerning the future civilisation and the human race itself.’[1] It was an era of technical progress, Imperial gain, and a nation at the pinnacle of progress. ‘…bolstered by Darwin’s theory of evolution, Victorians regarded themselves and their society as the acme of human development.’[2] However, it was an era that balanced on the age of a new century that seemed to accentuate and highlight numerous anxieties. Ledger and Luckhurst (2000) further state that this was an ambivalent period; with major progress in science and technology but also a time of real decline, in which Britain’s global economic power was rivalled by Germany and America. This ambivalence at the turn of the century created fears and anxieties concerning the decline of the British race. A crucial influence on British anxieties of decline was underpinned by scientific and medical knowledge known as Theories of Degeneration. Ledger and Luckhurst (2000) state, at this time, that ‘…degeneration was one defining structure which can be traced across many disciplines…’[3] These theories of degeneration impacted over many discourses within Victorian culture...
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...Dracula Essay Since the beginning of time, it has become culturally accepted that men are the stronger, preeminent gender in society. Throughout history, it can be seen that males, as a whole, have been perceived as dominant and impervious species to which nothing is inferior. Women were considered insignificant and useful only for irrelevant tasks. Evidence of this can be seen throughout the world, from prehistoric cave paintings in Lascaux, France dated back to 17000 BCE. in which men are depicted hunting and defeating wild beasts, to the Holy Bible where women played a secondary role. It was not until much later that women prevailed and made their mark on the world. One of the periods in history in which men’s role in society was at its height was during the Victorian Era. This era was a time in English history in which the British empire flourished and prospered. There was a revival in the arts, especially, gothic literature. In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Mina Murray symbolizes the modern woman through her relationships with the other characters, her strong will to participate and learn, and her perseverance. Wilhelmina Murray’s closest friend in the novel was Lucy Westenra. Mina and Lucy were childhood friends, but were not of the same social standing. This was so because Mina’s mother worked for the Westenra household. Therefore, Mina was the child of a servant, which did not entitle her to the same privileges that Lucy had. As the two girls grew up, they each encountered...
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...Do the monsters and the victims in horror films have any connection to contemporary social issues? Answer with reference to one or two horror films of your choice. Name: Leopold Riess Course: IR 140 Global Communications, Citizens and Cultural Politics Word Length: 1902 Story telling is an art that has been part of the human civilizations since time immemorial. In the different parts of the world, be it in Africa, the Caribbean or the European nations, the early human societies would use narrations for a variety of purposes such as entertainment, passing time or more importantly to communicate the values, traditions and principles that governed the specific society (Tudor, 1997). With the emergence of different religious schools of thought, narrations and later film work developed an inclination towards the depiction of evil versus good. The descriptions of the horrific nature of hell and the terrible demons there in was meant to scare shaky religious affiliates from deserting their faith. Since then the development of the horror film genre has advanced. According to Hogan (n.d) the first ever horror film to be produced in America was Frankenstein by Thomas Edison. In the contemporary day, the production of horror movies has been exaggerated with hard headed teenagers being the most preferred characters. As a matter of fact, some horror movies such as Friday the 13th and Freddy Vs Jackson were so popular that they made 234.6 and 224.8 million US dollars respectively...
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...To what extent is the vampire representative of the context it was created in? Gothic literature originated in response to a period of rapid societal, cultural, and theological change in nineteenth Europe. Works written in this time focused on the representation of fear in the face of dissolution of traditional structures, gender roles and religion. The resurgence of vampire fiction in the late twentieth century presents a different image of the vampire figure, appropriate to the changing societal values and nature of our world. Bram Stokers novel “Dracula” (1897) is compared to the Catherine Hardwicke’s film “Twilight” (2008) to display the development of conventional archetypes and tropes of the vampire into a more contemporary context....
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...While Queen Victoria was in power England saw rapid change in medical, scientific and technological fields. Throughout the mid Victorian era, (1850-1870), Britain was in its golden years. While growth in textiles, trade and machinery put twice as much money in British Merchants pockets a new order began to form. The first World’s Fair in 1851 marked the first stepping stone for modern technologies and the middle class. Families began to fall into a cultural norm, the idea that an individual, through hard work, could achieve economic success was in the front of men and women's minds. Gender roles established by a hard scrabble life in the past made a separation between men and women where men were superior to most women, women could work in...
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...This program follows the career of Doctor Temperance ‘Bones’ Brennan as she works as Forensic Anthropologist alongside her team and the FBI. By using her knowledge of the human skeletal system, Temperance identifies the gender, race, and age of the victims. Bones holds the title of one of the most factual—yet fictional— television program on the T.V;however, not everything that appears remains factual. One of the most obvious mistakes appears in how fast Temperance deduces the majority of the characteristics of a victim. “As the show is written by a forensic anthropologist (Kathy Reichs) all of the procedures and methodologies Dr. Brennan uses are real, HOWEVER, she is usually able to assess a victim age and sex from a quick look at the bones at the crime scene, this is simply not true” (Calmon, “How Realistic is...
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...A Horror Restaurant Service Is: The motto is "FUN FOR THE YOUNG DEVILS”. The horrifying environment. Dracula, Vampires, and others at your service. Foods with a new touch and names. Amazing way of serving food. Offering a unique and affordable way of celebrating special occasions. Objective Of The Project (Mission): A new, impressive way of capturing the target market with the help of perfect marketing mix. Finding and defining external entities, target market and marketing strategies which could help this new service in increasing its market share. Infrastructure: A three floor building , located at Zamzama boulevard and a board stating Bones n Brains with nothing special but the thing that makes it different from other food outlets in Karachi is the link it provides a dead world with alive along with its unique environment and the way meal is served. The hotel is comprised of two floors with basement. Kitchen, reception and store room are on the ground floor. There is a seating arrangement of 200 people on each floor. Additional Features: A late night horror movie show on every Saturday and exciting games like who can dig the grave fastest, counting the bats , stabbing till death etc. besides this our staff members including the waiters will look more like roaming vampires , draculas , monsters in full horrific environment. The meal will be served in specially designed cutlery like skulled shaped bowl...
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...Some definitions of literary devices, techniques and style from searching via http://www.ferretsoft.com/ LITERARY DEVICES http://mrbraiman.home.att.net/lit.htm Literary devices refers to any specific aspect of literature, or a particular work, which we can recognize, identify, interpret and/or analyze. Both literary elements and literary techniques can rightly be called literary devices. Literary elements refers to aspects or characteristics of a whole text. They are not “used,” per se, by authors; we derive what they are from reading the text. Most literary elements can be derived from any and all texts; for example, every story has a theme, every story has a setting, every story has a conflict, every story is written from a particular point-of-view, etc. In order to be discussed legitimately, literary elements must be specifically identified for that text. Literary techniques refers to any specific, deliberate constructions of language which an author uses to convey meaning. An author’s use of a literary technique usually occurs with a single word or phrase, or a particular group of words or phrases, at one single point in a text. Unlike literary elements, literary techniques are not necessarily present in every text. Literary terms refers to the words themselves with which we identify and describe literary elements and techniques. They are not found in literature and they are not “used” by authors. Allegory:...
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...American Pop: Popular Culture Decade by Decade. Ed. Bob Bacthelor. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press 2009. 978-0-313- 34410-7. 4 vol. 1,604p. $375.00. Gr. 9-12. This four volume set gives students a broad and interdisciplinary overview of the many and varied aspects of pop culture across America from 1900 to the present. The volumes cover the following chronological periods: V 1. 1900-1929, V 2. 1930-1959, V 3. 1960-1989 and Vol. 4. 1990-Present. There is an Introduction for each volume focusing on the major issues during that period. There is a Timeline of events for the decade which gives extra oversight and content to the study of the period and an Overview of each dcade. Chapters focus on specific areas of pop culture (Advertising, Books, Entertainment, Fashion, Food Music and much more) supplemented with sidebars containing stories, photos, illustrations and Notable information. There are endnotes for each decade and a Resource Guide and Index. Volume 4 also contains a Cost of Products from 1900-2000, and an Appendix with Classroom Resources for teachers and students and a Cumulative Index. Students, teachers and the general reader will love sifting through the experiences of Americans as they easily follow the crazes, technological breakthroughs and the experiences of art, entertainment, sports and other cultural forces and events that influenced each generation. Reference– Popular Culture ...
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