Chapter 16- Dr. Seward's diary (extract 3)

Victims and Femme Fatales

In this extract Van Helsing leads Dr. Sweard, Arthur Holmwood and Quincey Morris into the tomb of Lucy, who is now a vampire and drive a stake through her heart. This extract begins; 'She seemed like a nightmare of Lucy...'

By describing Lucy as a 'nightmare' this shows that the men do not want to accept what Lucy has become, they want it all to be a dream. However, from a feminist point-of-view, it can also mean that the men believe that Lucy's voluptuousness and open display of sexuality is nightmarish, therefore these men are doing this, not to help Lucy, put to put her back into her place, as Van Helsing instructs Holmwood on how to do the deed and drive the stake through her heart, he says that it must be done in order to; '... restore Lucy to us.' This quote almost objectifies Lucy, and again, shows that the men are doing this for themselves.

They also objectify her by referring to her as a 'Thing' this paints a picture of her as grotesque and inhuman and no longer Lucy, but a creature as Dr. Swards says; 'I call the thing before us Lucy, because it bore her shape.'

Now that Lucy has become one of the Undead she is described as being more seductive and dangerously sexual; 'The blood-stained voluptuous mouth.' This makes her seem seductive and tempting, it's almost as though she is trying to lure the men off their task with her form and open sexuality, this would have seemed repulsive to a Victorian readership.

The process of staking Lucy through the heart is described as though preparing an operation; 'Van Helsing, with is usual methodicalness began taking the various contents... and placing them ready for use.' The men are here to 'heal' Lucy, to cleanse her soul. This links to the theme of modern Victorian Britain and the medical advancements that were going on within Stoker's era.

The main instrument used in this 'operation' is the wooden stake, described as being; 'filed to a sharp point' this could be a reference to the sharp fang of the vampire, this is one of the many links between Professor Van Helsing and Count Dracula. The Count used his sharp, pointed fangs and drained Lucy's blood, thus, making her undead. Now, Van Helsing with use is sharp, pointed stake to purify her and rid her of this 'disease' that is vampirism.

Another link between the Count and the Professor is the second mention of the 'blue flame' (chapter 1). In chapter 1, it was mentioned that a blue flame on St. George's Day signifies that supernatural beings can cross-over into our world, this is Dracula's flame, ancient, foreign and superstitious. In chapter 16, it is my belief that the appearance of the blue famle in this scene signifies the inhuman and supernatural Lucy's exit from our world, this is Van Helsing's flame which is a modern gas lamp, it is modern and healing.

In order to justify the actions that they are about to take Van Helsing tells Seward, Holmwood and Marris that they have 'blessed hands' and are doing 'God's work'. These sentences have dual meaning. One meaning could be that these four men are genuinely heroic and are trying to save Lucy's soul and restore her purity. However, they could be doing it for themselves and they are using God to make themselves feel better. This could apply to Van Helsing more so than the others as he is the leader and as we see later on in the novel her loves it when women live-up to their stereotypical role of being meek and obeying men, however, it could also be interpreted that Van Helsing is the anti-hero of the chapter as, like the others, he shows signs of not wishing to do this deed either, but as he tells the rest of his men, it must be done.