Thursday, May 15, 2008

Forbear! Which here means, don't continue reading this post if you are looking for something cheerfully remniscent of a novel by the PT

Today we had our last Gothic Novel class! This makes me very sad. I really learned a lot in that class and, oddly, I've become less afraid of certain things. I think the more you understand something, the less scary it becomes. So a book which may have seemed terrifying to me under normal circumstances became a lot less scary when I understood all the Gothic elements it was using. The class also forced me to face certain things like Dracula and Wieland and Turn of the Screw which I never would have readily faced on my own. I'm glad I did.

As I was walking back from class, I randomly started to compare Voldemort and Dracula in my head. They really are quite similar.

1. They are both somewhat dead but undead and require the destruction of certain items in order to be defeated
2. They both have a psychic link to one of their victims
3. They each are the direct cause of a scar on a victim's forehead, and that scar symbolizes the victim's connection with impurity/evil
4. RED EYES. That's a big one. They're both described as having "gleaming red eyes," a feature their victims take instant notice of
5. Voldemort needs Harry's blood to be revived. Dracula also needs blood to be revived.
6. There is a huge buildup to the final confrontation with each, and then each becomes much too easy to defeat

Anyway, I'm sure there are more similarities, but that's all I can think of for right now.

I suppose this post was not as dismal as I made it out to seem from the title. At least, not until now. But here is where it gets really awful. I'm serious. Don't say I didn't warn you. In fact, you know what, I don't trust you not to read ahead at all. I know you will, so I'm going to write it out in code and then bury it away so only the extraordinarily brave and extremely lucky shall be able to find it.

HAHA MADE YOU LOOK! Nuthing lik a gud jok in invizabil inc! :D

There.

I hope you're satisfied now.

3 comments:

RaggedyMom said...

I don't know, even with the elements you outlined, spooky books still keep me up at night.

inkstainedhands said...

You noted some of the outward similarities between Voldemort and Dracula, but I think it is even more important to observe the similarities in their thoughts and emotions.

One of the things I tend to do a lot with literature is examine a character's thoughts, feelings, motives, etc. It is what makes a character more fascinating and gives the reader a chance to feel a connection to him/her.

It's important to show a human side to characters that, at first glance, seem like complete villains.

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