There are many similar characteristics
between the dead and undead (vampires) when it comes to the loss of blood. A dying person has a literal lack of blood
due to a fatal injury or internal bleeding which directly aligns with the women’s
(Lucy and Mina’s) loss of blood during the night due to Dracula coming and
taking it in order to turn them into the undead. Similarities are evident in their comparable appearance
after the blood loss; a real dead human and an undead vampire show similar
characteristics of pale skin and white lips.
These pale characteristics are present in a real human body due to the absence
of some blood causing a person to lose color in their skin. These pale characteristics can lead to the
same explanation for the undead. They
are not truly living and have had the blood drained from their veins so they
are similarly pale from the lack of blood in their bodies. In “Letters of
Abelard and Eloisa With a particular account of their lives, amours, and
misfortunes” Peter Abelard correspondingly expresses the same idea of the pale
appearance and loss of color in his account of the loss of life. In his writings he describes dying as “vain
would I flatter myself that you could be confront; you have left me no colour”
which expresses the same idea of the loss of blood leading to a discoloration
of the skin (Abelard 118). These
similar characteristics of death, described by Abelard, and the undead,
described by Stoker, parallel directly with the death of the vampire’s soul. This parallel identity between the dead and
vampires highlight the fact that they are still living since they possess a
human body but also dead due to the fact that they have no living soul. Stoker clearly illustrates that death of the soul
of the individuals turning into vampires by creating a similar appearance to the
dead due to the loss of blood that is a sign of realistic dying. Stoker uses their similar appearance to
establish the understanding of what an undead (vampire) truly is; a dead soul in a once living body.
The need of blood in someone dying
and someone turning into an undead are also illustrate a similar idea. During Lucy’s situation Van Helsing explains
that “young miss (Lucy) is bad, very bad. She wants blood, and blood she must
have or die” (157). Stoker illustrates
this dependence on blood through several blood transfusions that Van Helsing performs
on Lucy with several men’s blood. This is
a procedure that is used in real life to save the lives of the dying and also
used in “Dracula” by Van Helsing to attempt to stop the transformation of Lucy
into an undead. In this case, Van Helsing
attempts to save Lucy’s soul and in return saving her from a life as an undead
vampire. Lucy needs blood just like a
dying human needs blood. Without the presents
of blood in both someone dying and someone transforming into a vampire they will
die, one literally and the other in the sense of a dead soul. In both cases, the individual is dependent on
blood and needs it in order to survive as either a human or a vampire.
By aligning the dead and the undead
with similar characteristics Stoker shows that similarity between the two
different types of death. The dead are
truly dying in the way we understand it and the undead is the death of a
soul. Stoker’s use of similar aspects of
the loss and need for blood in order to parallel the death of the soul of the
undead and the true death of the dying.
Work Cited
Abelard,
Peter. Letters of Abelard and Eloisa With a particular account of their
lives, amours, and misfortunes.. Vienna: 1794. 118-294. Web.
Bram,
Stoker. Dracula. Broadview Press Ltd., 1998. 1-418. Print.
Brandi, I really enjoyed your paper! You really backed up the parallels between the dead and undead.
ReplyDeleteIn the novel, Van Helsing does blood transfusions on Lucy, but not on Mina. Do you think it's because Van Helsing thought that the transfusions were harming, rather than helping?
I do think that might have been something that he considered. Since blood is what vampires consume and feed off of then giving Lucy, a character turning into a vampire, blood to try to stop her from transforming into a vampire is not logical. Van Helsing may have thought that blood transfusions might actually make the women turn into vampires more quickly since they would be taking blood from other human-beings which is a characteristic of a vampire. By doing blood transfusions on Lucy gives her a the blood taking characteristic even before she is a true vampire. Van Helsing may have realized this and decided that you cannot cure someone from turning into a vampire by doing something that helps a true vampire live like taking others blood.
ReplyDeleteI agree Brandi. I think Van Helsing knew Lucy could not be saved so by doing the blood transfusions, he allowed her to transition into being a vampire more "peacefully" than someone who just suddenly turned. But, I also think that his love for Mina and her strength had something to do with it also.
DeleteHmmm, I hadn't thought of why Van Helsing didn't use blood transfusions on Mina. It may have been that Dracula never took as much blood from Mina as he did Lucy. Since the Count wanted Lucy to die so that she would be a vampire, but he wanted Mina to live so that he would have that connection with her and know what the men were doing. But another interesting question that popped up while reading this is what would happen to a vampire if it was locked up and couldn't get any blood? Would it die? I mean isn't it already dead? Any thoughts?
ReplyDeleteBrennan, that was very interesting! At the beginning of the novel, Dracula was depicted as being very old. Wasn't he "fasting"? So I think that if a vampire didn't get any blood, he would just turn very old and decrepit-looking. This would also make him weaker, thereby making him easier to kill.
ReplyDeleteThat's my theory. Any other opinions?
I agree with you Rebecca, I do think that blood gives vampires the strength they need to remain so strong and powerful. I do think that since they are not truly living they cannot die from lack of nutrients that they receive from the blood. Vampires are different from humans which do need food to live. I think that since they are supernatural beings they cannot be so easily destroyed just from not simply receiving enough or any blood. I agree with you Rebecca in saying that they would not die from the lack of blood, since they are the undead, but just grow weaker and less powerful from the loss of strength given to them by blood.
DeleteBrandi, I really enjoyed your interpretation of the dead versus the undead. However, while reading your post some of your claims seem off. When a normal human dies, paleness is usually only associated with a person who has suffered a severe traumatic injury which results in massive blood loss outside of the body and this paleness only lasts for a few hours. Internal bleeding does not lead a person to turn pale, internal bleeding will actually accumulate in the part of the body where the injury has occurred and result in a swollen purple area. Pale lips are also not common when a human dies, the lips may turn a shade of blue due to lack of oxygen but not pale. Another point to make is that once a human dies, the blood is drained from the body however paleness is not associated from the draining of blood. At this point in death, a human body is already in the stages of decomposition so that the body itself is starting to turn a blue/green not pale. I am only pointing these things out so that you will be able to make your post as physiologically correct as possible. Unlike Dracula, there are no speculations in what a human body looks like after death. There are a lot of educational sites that go over the postmortem changes of humans, which could be of use to you if this is your topic for your five-page paper.
ReplyDeleteKelly, Thank you so much for your advice on how to improve my paper for the final. It is extremely helpful. I will go into more detail on what I meant by a human being becoming pale before death. When a human is sick and lacking the strength they need to survive they do gain a pale appearance. One thing I did not know was the facts that you corrected about internal bleeding I will definitely take that out of my paper for the final and I also might take it into the direction of not the dying but the actual dead in comparison to the undead. Thank you for your advice and I will try to incorporate some of the things you pointed out into my final paper.
DeleteI understand what you mean, Kelly, but I also understand what Brandi meant. When I think of someone dying or losing a lot of blood, or just being sick in general, I tend to think of them as going pale. But that's just me. :)
Delete