ENGL 65FM Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Miscegenation, Transubstantiation
Important Themes and Terms in Dracula
● Count Dracula stands in for a lot of societal issues-aristocrat who appears to do
everything around the castle
○ The castle is creepy and kinda a dump
○ Refers to himself of not wanting to be a stranger in a strange land
○ Mentions his inability to circulate in the way he wishes to
○ Emphasizes that one of the reasons he insisted that someone come over
from England is to practice his english
○ There is no way that he can pass as a British count-not possible
○ Idea of passing linguistically to claim to be a part of different national body is
not gonna be successful
■ Novel argues that this is a good thing because all of the differences is
important, and all the mechanism need to come together,
● Circulation
○ An important part of cultural and economic process between producing
something and consuming something is the stage of circulating or
distributing that commodity or cultural practice. Vampirism mimics this
process in the literal circulation of vampire blood, except that in vamping, the
product it“s consuming, and its circulation or distribution, all take place at
the same time
● Zoophagy-consumption of live organism
● Language goes out into society and alters it; and also the idea of intaking in
information
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● Transubstantiation: as in the Eucharist of Christian communion, where the wafer
and wine given to the communicants is said to have become-have
transubstantiated-into the actual flesh and the blood of Christ
● Alienist-An early name for the profession of psychiatry that was just beginning in the
late 19th century
● Van Helsing-alert to all the nuances of vampirism both scientifically and from these
eucharistic practices that have been culturally reversed to give this terrifying figure
of vampirism
● Vampirism-turns a normal being into an undead being; forced into a limbo or
eternal life
○ One of the reasons its associated with gothism
● Doctor Jack Seward-an alienist, maybe being crazy is a medical topic-an illness of the
mind that can be addressed
○ Freud-the talking cure>saw progress when he would initiate proper
communication with his patients. Why?
■ Their body was offering a symbolic language for something that they
werent allowing themselves to say or be aware of
■ 9/10 it was a question about something that had to do with desire and
love
■ Found that in particular, women, at the time, were thought to not
possess any sexual desire>since that is not the case, a lot of women
suffered by not being able to express their desires openly; sense of
complete silence on these topics
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Document Summary
Count dracula stands in for a lot of societal issues-aristocrat who appears to do everything around the castle. The castle is creepy and kinda a dump. Refers to himself of not wanting to be a stranger in a strange land. Mentions his inability to circulate in the way he wishes to. Emphasizes that one of the reasons he insisted that someone come over from england is to practice his english. There is no way that he can pass as a british count-not possible. Idea of passing linguistically to claim to be a part of different national body is not gonna be successful. Novel argues that this is a good thing because all of the differences is important, and all the mechanism need to come together, An important part of cultural and economic process(cid:519) between producing something and consuming something is the stage of circulating or distributing that commodity or cultural practice.
