Mid-Term Exam Essay

The Question: "Through a close reading of the texts, compare how Shelley’s Frankenstein and Stoker’s Dracula treat the concept of scientific/technological advancements. What is the relation between science/technology and the horrific activities within each gothic novel?"
Question posed by Prof. Chris Vaccaro.

The Answer:
At the beginning of time, there may have been a point at which technology has been a grand thing. As far as we know, no one looked at the wheel and exclaimed it the work of the devil– not that they knew what a devil was in those days. However, fire probably did have such a reputation. Even today, warnings against technological advancement exist. Movies such as Jurassic Park and GATTACA seek to point these terrors out. Articles in even scientific journals tell us that while some things might be cool that cloning mammoths and smilodon (saber-tooth cats) are not exactly at the top of the list in terms of safety, even if it is possible. Some of us may think that these warnings are brand new, but novels such as Dracula by Bram Stoker and Frankenstein by Mary Shelly will prove many people wrong. Ludite propaganda has been around for a while. Science and technology, while sometimes seen in a good light in Dracula, is something that people feared when both of these books came out, a theme that continues into today.

Dracula is a good place to start for many reasons. One of these is simply the fact that while there, the warnings against technological advancement are fewer and further between here. Many of these technological advancements are easier to see when you take the vampire out of Dracula and dump him elsewhere. Blood transfusions, a barely developing technology is used in more modern vampire fiction than any other– Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, the “Buffy’ verse” , and Dead After Dark by Charlaine Harris, just to name a few. A blood transfusion is one of the few times through out the entire text that we see modernity as being a good thing.

However, once you get past blood transfusion in the first place, technology just seems like a bad idea. You’re fighting an ancient, possibly immortal (depending on your definition) creature. Turns out that in these situations, the older the object (and apparently the more holy– though this could also be an age reference), the better it is for defeating a vampire. What are the ways to kill a vampire and how are these related to age? Crosses and sunlight are directly linked to God, which some might consider the true immortal because he cannot die. Stakes and garlic are firmly rooted in the earth, which most believe to be older than anything present on it. A beheading would separate the vital thinking part from the rest of the brain. Whether or not that has anything to do with immortality remains to be seen, though I assume it’s a bit hard to exist as just a head. Then again, the older the weapon used to behead, the better, right? (I wonder if anyone should have told Buffy this before she tried to behead a vamp with a car door.) Sunlight, the last one, is linked to the only thing other than God that is ever considered older than earth. All considered, we still have yet to look at a piece of literature that is more likely to point out the dangers of modern technology.

While Count Dracula had existed for some very long and unknown amount of time, Doctor Frankenstein is at fault for the creation of his creature. We all know this. Doctor Frankenstein knows this. Even Mary Shelly knows this (thought I suppose to her, it’s much more obvious). Frankenstein is one of the first ever books to point out the problems with creating life. There is a slight undertone here of the dangers of creating life naturally, but the real argument is creating life unnaturally. While the method at the time was scientifically unsound, the idea remained. What would happen if you could create life like this? We continue to watch, read, and hear warnings of this kind. Jurassic Park made it pretty clear, and the current arguments in the science world over the morality of creating smilodon, mammoths, giant sloth, and even Neandertals rings true for Mary Shelley’s original argument. Power gained from science corrupts. “If the study to which you apply yourself has a tendency to weaken your affections, and to destroy your taste for those simple pleasures in which no alloy can possibly mix, then that study is certainly unlawful, that is to say, not befitting the human mind.” (33) This is a standard that must be maintained in all circumstances, because as far as technology goes, that is the real way to judge if you are going just a bit too far. Then again, with modern standards today, this might be just a little too difficult for some people to tell.

If anything, for it’s age, Frankenstein is one of the best loved and most referenced cautionary tales. Perhaps had a Doctor Frankenstein really existed, the cautionary tale would be more closely listened to. And yet, here we are, in an age where science is such a part of our lives that even the common individual would think scientific pursuits a good idea. Perhaps even a real Doctor Frankenstein’s story would be ignored in this day and age. The ludite propaganda is seen again and again through out history, and yet we never seem to listen. Most recently, and of particular pertinence as it came from England, was a couple of episodes of Doctor Who in which the inception of the cybermen was introduced. The ideas that had been planted in their heads combined with emotional inhibitors had made it possible for these human 2.0s to exist. However, this was again a cautionary tale. What technology can do– eliminating gender and death so that every human is the same– takes out the malleability factor. When the emotional inhibitor was disabled, the cybermen would die because they knew what they had become and their reaction to it caused them to lose their will to live. History repeats, cautionary tales repeat, we ourselves repeat our past mistakes. So why not step back and listen for once, even to a story as old as Frankenstein. We could learn some very valuable lessons.
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The quote is from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Norton Critical Edition, Copyright 1996.

The Field

It was a nice place, Mary thought. Simple. Its seeming neverending-ness. Perfect.

She looked around again before gently puting down her bag, undoing the zipper, and pulling out a blinket.

...

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Sorry this is incomplete... the system still seems to be under the impression that I posted spoilers for At Forest's Edge (which I did do briefly). I was trying to get them to print out, and it seemed the only way at the time. They are no longer available. I'm using this to stop disillusioning people.

The Balcony of Loneliness

It seems to me that to get to this spot upon the balcony, it feels like you have to be sneaky. Why? I don't know, beyond the fact that you have to take a very long trek through a series of passage ways.

In a way it seems quite silly. I got here at about three, when the sun was shining in the windows, near blinding me as I took up a seat for my belongings and then curled up on the floor to read The Idylls of the King– The Passing of Arthur by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

Now the sun is setting. If I look carefully, I can just barely see Lake Champlain out the window. Outside it looks frigid. Earlier, when the sun was present, it looked warm for all the patches of snow covering the University Green. Now the only warmth comes from the colors of the room and the way the lights in here light everything up. I'm sitting here on the edge, teetering between the near darkness of the cold, frost-bitten outside world and the warm glow of this rotunda room. This room is truly beautiful. For all the fact that this room is one of the biggest reasons I wanted to go here, today is the first day I've actually gone.

I suppose it's time for me to go, before it gets too dark. I've gotten more work done in here than I have any other day.

Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day.

Defying Gravity, Defying Fear

They say that starting is half the battle. In this case it truly was. That first step was signing the safety waver. Once I'd done that, it was a matter of putting a harness on me and climbing those steps up the inside of the steel structure. The steps were coarse against my feet. It briefly passed through my head that this didn't seem so bad. Maybe I could do this.

Upon reaching the top that thought was still there... That is, until I had my toes grasping the edge of the stand, one arm holding on to the trapeze bar and the other still holding onto the left hand hold on the ledge.

"Okay, left," the woman holding on to my harness told me. Oh no, I thought. But for some reason I did it. It left me in a position about a hundred times more scary than the last position. My upper body hanging over the edge of the ledge, the only thing holding me there was the woman holding on to me.

"Ready." I bent my knees, just as I'd been told.

"Hup." I jumped. Relief. I was still in the air, and yet, I wasn't falling. I was swinging back and forth by my hands on a bar. I was instructed a few times to try some kicks. And that was the first swing. The instructor on the ground then said, "Okay, now three kicks and drop. On my count."

And I did just that. I let go. And then I was on the mat, staring up at the bar that was being reeled in. And then I was walking back up to the top again.

After the three kicks, I was told to pull my knees in. I did, and found myself flipping on my way down to the mats.

And then the third swing, the last swing. This time he told me to hang upside-down, using the up swing to get my legs on the bar. The whole world was upside down, my hands flying free underneath my head, though it felt like they were above. And then, once again, I back flipped down to the mats.

It was then that I saw the silk hanging from the cealing. I asked my instructor about it. "Yes, we do aerial tissue classes as well. The next one is on Sunday, two days from now." I smiled and said I would be there.

Little did I know that one of the greatest tests of my fear of heights would be then, when I fell by accident from three-quarters of the way up the silk.

Grapdorn Falls: Splashing in the River

Wulfric's face was pulled into a wide smile. Half sunken into the slow flow of the wide stream, he watched as Kaely desperately tried to pull Poppy over to the edge in order to get her to swim.

"Poppy, I'm royalty and I'm not nearly that concerned about getting wet!" Kaely shouted, laughing.

"But Kaely, it's cold!" Poppy protested. Wulfric laughed. Kaely pulled a face at Wulfric for not helping and the poor boy suddenly felt he had no choice. He lept out of the water and swung his smaller friend into his arms. "Wulfric! No!" Poppy screamed. He only laughed and took a running leap. By the time their heads emerged from the cold stream, Kaely was standing on the bank laughing. Poppy glared at her friend and reached an arm out of the water, yanking their royal friend into the cold water. Kaely's surprised face stared at Poppy a few moments.

"That's not fair!" Kaely pouted.

"Isn't it?" asked Poppy, not at all put off. It was a trait that Kaely loved about her two friends. They didn't treat her like royalty like the rest of the citizens of Grapdorn Falls did. Kaely's face turned up.

"Hey, at least we're all wet now!" Kaely exclaimed before splashing her two friends. Wulfric splashed back at the princess. Poppy laughed loudly.

Nothing could distroy the happiness between the three. At least, that's what they believed.