CPB #1
Frankenstein:
Passages to focus on:
“Remember, that I am thy creature; I ought to by thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed. Every where I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded. I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous” (pg. 93)
Related Texts:
“ This also encouraged a sense of realism throughout such novels, increasing its believability and therefore its popularity”
The Authentic Fear of Monsters in Victorian Gothicism
Frankenstein playwright:
CPB #2
Jane Eyre:
This is a picture of a painting depiction of the red room that Jane is placed in by Bessie and Abbott. While there she has what she describes as a ghostly encounter. She is then treated like an actual human being by the staff, mostly just Bessie but her aunt and the children leave her alone. I think that the red room is symbolic of her fighting herself. When she is trapped in the red room it is almost like her being trapped within her own mind and thoughts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IFsdfk3mlkJane Eyre was also made into a movie. I also notice that between the three film adaptations of Jane Eyre, all of the characters are white. This contradicts what I had thought originally since in chapter 2 Jane says, “Mrs. Reed probably considered she had kept this promise; and so she had, I dare say, as well as her nature would permit her; but how could she really like an interloper not of her race?.” According to this quote, using the meaning of “race” as we know it today, it would seem that Jane and the Reeds are of different races.
CPB #3
Jane Eyre #2
I used a picture of a marriage certificate to piggyback off the idea that Bertha is representing the true horrors of Victorian marriage. I originally was trying to look for a picture of a wedding veil since the first time we see Bertha, she is ripping up Jane’s veil in the middle of the night. When I look back at that scene, it seems to me that Bertha is not attacking Jane but more so the idea of marriage itself. This marriage certificate can be easily ripped as that veil was, however there was no way to get out of marriages back in the Victorian era. I chose the picture of the pharmacy from that era as well because Rochester claims that Bertha is “insane” and I just think it’s an interesting comparison to now, where going to the pharmacy or doctors to help improve your mental health is less and less shameful and more widely accepted.
CPB #4
The Monster Within reviews the similarities between Frankenstein and Jane Eyre. Each of the novels talk about alienation and how the characters are impacted. It states that both Jane and the monster have a similar sense of self-loathing and describes how they both feel rejected by the people around them. Contrastly, the monster begins to shut down due to this rejection and ultimately develops a hate towards himself. Jane on the other hand does not let this rejection cause her to blame others as it does for the monster. The monster then uses this to drive him to isolation and cruelty. I genuinely felt bad for the monster and I still don’t believe that “the monster” is an accurate name for him because he was born that way and it really is, in my opinion, all Frankenstein’s fault. It is important to pay attention to the different responses of the characters to isolation and rejection in order to really understand the stories and the characters.
Jane decides to remove herself from all things familiar. Her destination, like that of the monsters, was uncertain and somewhat random. The monster was similar in that way as he ended up where he did by chance and by the complete unawareness of his surroundings, Jane’s journey was a little different in the sense that the route of the coach, the money she had and many other factors determined where she was to end up. I really enjoyed this reading and how it related the two novels because I’m not confident that I would have made all of these connections and it really helped me understand the novels and the characters better.
CPB #5
I had looked up adaptations for this story of Dr. Jekyll Mr. Hyde. There were so many more than I had imagined or that I have seen yet for any novel that we have read thus far. According to Wikipedia, there have been 12 plays written and performed since 1887, 18 films starting in 1908 all over the world, 11 radio plays, 10 TV shows/episodes, 1 book, 2 comics, and 4 video games. Not to mention the “retellings” and the sequels which add another 20+ adaptations. I was thoroughly impressed by the amount of adaptations that this had gotten but to me it sort of makes sense. It is a very well known and widespread story geographically that it does not surprise me that many countries and cultures and mediums took on the task of remaking this story. I have heard about this story for a very long time but it wasn’t until now that I actually got to read it.
Additionally I liked to look at different pictures of how each of the characters (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) were interpreted/illustrated.
CPB #6
The notion of the “Duality of Man” was brought up in relation to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Additionally, a comparison was made between Bruce Banner and the Hulk. This is similar to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in the sense that both Bruce and Jeykll are Doctors and they are very smart and quiet and reserved. In comparison, Hyde and the Hulk are similar in the sense that they have nasty behaviors and do some very cruel and criminal things. The Hulk, however, is utilized as a superhero. Which is interesting because usually when someone or something is considered “bad” or when they behave in the way that the Hulk does, they aren’t put in a position where they would be called a “hero.” I would also like to point out the outdated narrative that someone is completely good or completely bad. I think that this is best displayed within Bruce Banner because he is separated from the Hulk in the sense that no one around him blames him for the things the Hulk does.
CPB #7
The Picture of Dorian Gray has been the story I was most excited to read when I saw the list of books for this semester. Like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, there were so many adaptations for this novel. I did not count them all but there were so many movies, books, television shows, etc. Which I find kind of surprising because I had not heard about this story before this class and I am just surprised with all of the adaptations that I had not heard about before. I looked at an article that said that the 1945 Albert Lewin’s film version was the best. It had the entire film be in black and white until the last images of the portrait which was one of the first times technicolor was used. It was the technological advancements that made this film so great at the time and the fact that it was one of the first, it is still very well known as the best film adaptation of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
I had compared the picture of Dorian Gray to Picasso’s self portraits over time. The story of Picasso is that over time he started to “lose his mind” thus making him view himself differently over time. This correlates to the painting in The Picture of Dorian Gray because the artist also begins to view his painting differently as time goes on. In the novel, Basil originally views Dorian as a Greek god and he becomes obsessed with him. Then, over time we see that the painting begins to change and it isn’t as beautiful as it once was. This is like Picasso in the sense that the way he viewed himself is similar to how Basil viewed Dorian/the portrait.
CPB #8
The Beetle vs Dracula
-Both published in the same year, the beetle had outsold dracula at the time of publication.
-’The Beetle” was not the original title of the book, it was originally called The Peril of Paul Lessingham: The Story of a Haunted Man which would work because although does not occupy a major chunk of the narrative, he is essentially the main character so in a sense both title for the story would have worked but the title of “The Beetle” focused more on the antagonist//true monster of the story and I believe it made it more attractive as a story.
-Since the Beetle was so popular at its time, it inspired adaptations. Such as a silent film, a stage play and a radio play.
Silent film: Considered a “lost film”
-Suggests that the Beetle is originally described as female, yet male so that the reader would really never know
CPB #9
In the novel, mesmerization plays a very big part in the Beetle being able to control others and just the true “essence” of the beetle itself. I had looked it up and mind control/mesmerization and the article I read said “The word mesmerize comes from the last name of 18th century German physician Franz Mesmer, who believed that all people and objects are pulled together by a strong magnetic force, later called mesmerism.” It is interesting that the origin of the word and its meaning came from a more scientific sense but you can clearly see it used here in a mythological sense. It is just so interesting and we can see parallels between the scientific world and the more mythological, metaphorical sense.
CPB #10
Dracula is a monster that I have heard about since I was a very little kid. There have been too many adaptations of the story of Dracula I couldn’t possibly name them all. The article that I am choosing to include goes over the 5 best and worst adaptations of Dracula as a film. This article only includes what I would consider “true” adaptations for the story of Dracula and not just vampires in general. While I have never actually seen any of these, or even watched any adaptations of the true dracula other than some kids versions that I used to watch when I was little, I know the premise of Dracula so well that I feel as though I already knew a lot of it before reading it. I also enjoyed seeing all of the slightly different variations of how Dracula looked in terms of what was similar (pale skin, fangs, slicked back black hair, etc).
CPB #11
Similar to my CPB last week, I would love to talk more about how vampires have been taken and adapted over time. More so, how they have become romanticized. Even in the story of Dracula, there was this suave essence about the Count that, in my opinion, got completely overdone and made into something far from what I believe the true meaning and message of the story was. For example, in modern day shows like “The Vampire Diaries” and movies like “Twilight” we see a love triangle between a human girl, a vampire, and a werewolf. Despite being very old, the vampires always look very young because that is when they were “turned.” It is because of this that the vampires usually hang around high schools and develop relationships in that age group. But the story is always the same in the sense that the vampire, this dangerous monster who is capable and has done so much harm, falls in love with a high school girl and then the girl feels that she can change him and she’s different/special. It becomes a bit frustrating because while I understand that they are trying to reach a target audience of young teens and that they want the romance to reach another audience, it strays away from the initial message that some people are dangerous and bad for you and not everyone can be saved. To me, vampires are supposed to be scary and they are capable of such scary, horrible things. If I were to ever encounter one, I would run the other way. I just would love it if we can get back to vampires actually being scary instead of humanizing them. I do believe that they became humanized in order for them to be more relatable and attract a bigger audience. With all of that being said, I would still watch another team vampire drama if it came out. Because although it is frustrating, it is also very entertaining. They might be onto something.
