OCR A-Level Literature Comparisons: The Bloody Chamber & Dracula
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Course
Comparative and contextual study (H47202)
Institution
OCR
A document of all my ideas, summarised and sectioned into what I believe (as a successful student who has received full marks in mock examinations for this paper) are the main themes that connect both Stoker’s Dracula and Carter’s The Bloody Chamber.
“Bullet riddled corpse of her foster mother.” Idea of family as a
construct vs natural thing, as wolves do with packs- shows her ability to
save anyone. Bullet riddled corpse foreshadows that of the duke,
weirdly who becomes her foster father- incestuous play. Idea that wolf
alice is a natural being in contrast to the duke and her mother. Unlike
purity and goodness signified by Jonathan and Minas child, who
demonstrates dracula no longer controls virility. (Wolf Alice parents+
Ending)
Like a child who unwraps a gift on Xmas morning-duke is described
to eat his victims. The child characterisation of the duke disturbs the
innocence of the child and makes it more frightening for a child
epitomises innocence. Seen in Dracula’s consumption of a gypsy
womans child and later how lucy becomes the bloofer lady who eats
children- the female image of a woman eating child is paradoxical,
meant to be maternal, triggers Victorian fears. The duke and dracula are
normalised.
Wolf alice helps the duke because the bullets killed her foster
mother-Lack of feminine guide in her life, has to figure it out on her
own, reflective of how carter was raised initially by her grandmother
and then her mother who was especially controlling of her. Like mina
consoling Holmwood.
Dracula & The Bloody Chamber Links 1
, Three fine new minted ginger kitten-Family like ending of dracula
with Quincey Harker. The idea of virility, opposing dracula whose
vampirism is an indicator of his masculinity. Puss in boots.
Kind of sadness in his agate eyes that moved her heart- Male
manipulation; alike to Mina’s maternal feelings of when Holmwood
was crying over Lucy’s death. A maternal feeling of mother spirit
overtook her, alike to that of the ‘effeminate’ lion; the role alike to
harker. Courtship of mr Lyon
mother mother you have murdered me- Idea of motherhood and the
submissive man. Idea of parents? Link to mina maternal obligation. The
erl king.
Helplessly perpetuates her ancestral crimes- Alike to dracula who is
a victim of his circumstance. Perhaps a representation that a woman is
forced to uphold the standards of the previous generation of woman and
familial expectations; reflects her own personal struggle with her
mother stalker. LOTHOL.
Demented and atrocious ancestors- Evokes imagery of those which
dracula was inspired by, Vlad the Impaler and Elizabeth bathory, the
legacy of previous murders in barbaric history; generational divide.
TLOTHOL
bartered for her dowry to such a feckless sprig of the Russian
nobility that she soon died of his gaming, his whoring, his agonizing
repentances.- Her mothers fate. Idea of mothers, apart from in TBC,
being destroyed by male authority or violence. Tiger
You never saw such a wild thing as my mother- Maternal and
matriarchal power and dominance; unlike any of the bloody chamber
stories, the solidarity of women is bereft in dracula, each divided and
Dracula & The Bloody Chamber Links 2
, subjagated yet on individual pursuits to conform to one ideology, one
grasp, of male validation. TBC.
Sea has an amniotic salinity- References birth and surrounds the castle
when tide is high, prison like, she is like a foetus surrounded by water,
alike to harker at the start of the novel and alike to the maternal
instincts of mina. Also it highlights the virility of the marquis, like
Dracula, with the absence of parents and children when around. By
having the mother enter and shoot him, replacing the brothers, she
rejects the virility. TBC
Blood
The first blood bewildered her, wolves must have nibbled her cunt
while she was a sleeping-vulgar language is out of place. The misuse
of the word, imitates a child learning it from poor parenting or lack of
understanding of what it menas. Reinforces wolf Alice’s lack of idea
about propriety. Blood is a symbol in the bloody chamber, synonymous
to girls sexuality seen in Lucy’s blood transfusions. (Wolf Alice and
Lucy)
Perversion/pedophilia/sexuality
Washed my face and sparkling dicky with my clever paw- Self
effacing (not). The activity of a cat explained in human-like way,
personification of puss. Dicky explicit sexuality shows the disgusting
nature of men and sexuality.
Each bird remains with a crimson imprint of his love bite on their
throats- Idea of vampirism again, linked to Mina’s stain and the bite
Dracula & The Bloody Chamber Links 3
, marks of the neck; sexual seduction and promiscuity. Erl king.
The hole is filled with blood- Ambiguous, horrifying, sexual image.
Hole wordplay for vaginal passage and sexual pleasure. Idea of Lucy’s
blood transfusions being alike to sexual tainting, imagery of disease
like syphilis. Snow child
Count unfastened his breeches and thrust his virile member into
the dead girl- Could argue the countess watching him is the complicity
of the three women of dracula. Could argue the brutality resembles that
of the evocation of an orgy with phallic stakes killing voicerfously lucy.
Snow child.
It bites- Evokes vagina denata flower, duality of the rose to be sexual
and beautiful but also violent. Sexual connotations of biting alike to that
of vampire. Snow child.
Ominous marks like those left on the sheets of dead lovers- Sexual
imagery of blood reinforced; like mina being “stained” and the image
of her in a white gown and covered in not only her blood but also
draculas. TLOHOL.
Plush petals, whorled, tightly budded cores- Sexuality of the roses,
motif of the bloody chamber. Idea of vagina denata having fangs or
thorns as allegory for vampirism; the idea of the vampire being
sexualised and Draculas tainting of british women as an imperial fear.
Unlike dracula who targets victims of this beauty, the vampire queen
uses the petals as an extension of herself.TLOHOL.
A whores mouth- Directly links to the shaming madonna whore
complex of draculas 3 brides and harker. The idea of the mouth being a
sexual facet and also a place to consume; the idea of consumption and
sexuality is linked. TLOHOL
Dracula & The Bloody Chamber Links 4
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