Lesson video

Welcome to today's English lesson.

I'm Mrs. Crompton.

Before we begin our learning, let's make sure we have everything we need.

You will need a pen and paper, take a moment to make sure you've cleared any distractions away and have everything you need at hand.

The first few slides we're going to look at today, are going to give us some background to our text, particularly contextual information.

As I go through these slides, what I need you to do is to make sure first of all we have the title, and you can see now that our text that we will be exploring this week is Bram Stoker's Dracula, written in 1897.

The first few slides are going to generate note taking opportunities.

So just a quick reminder about good note taking.

Clear headings, make sure you're capturing key information, perhaps not trying to write down full sentences because that will slow you down.

However, you do have the benefits of being able to pause me whenever you wish.

So if there is something that I'm saying, if there's something that you just missed, pause, go back, make sure you get that learning.

These lessons are for you, it's really important that you take the ownership.

So let's have a look first of all at this idea of the text being written in 1897.

It's written at the turn of a century and it brings with it lots of interesting concepts, ideas, feelings.

When we come to a turn of a century, it is naturally a time that we reflect and we question things.

And what we're going to see in this text is the questioning of old values and methods versus new values.

So we're going to see technology and modernization clashing with this old world otherness of Transylvania, vampire forcloth, things that are very unfamiliar.

The second point that we have is this idea of good versus evil.

Now I always call this a universal theme.

As with love and hate, it is one of those things that texts constantly will explore that mankind is constantly trying to define pin down, work out, come to grips with, and therefore I call it a universal theme.

It transgresses time periods, it transfers across cultures, it is always something that we are trying to understand better.

My third bullet is something that's very particular to our text, but not necessarily so unusual.

It is something that is being explored in Victorian times, and it is something that you might see elsewhere in some of your reading, perhaps for one of your GCSE literature texts.

This idea of people not fitting quite into certain categories, this idea of foreignness and I don't mean that just as in they don't come from this country, but something that is alien, something that we don't understand.

And therefore it is something that we are frightened of and we label and it is classed as the other.

Now Dracula makes it easy for us to class him as the other.

He is a monster, he comes from Transylvania and therefore the label of foreign is very easy to apply to him.

However, as the text progresses, Dracula comes to London.

He easily blends in with Victorian society.

He is not distinguishable in any shape or form and therefore we start to question, we start to wonder how different is this other being? And therefore Stoker starts to really explore that idea of, is it otherness or is this a part of all of us? Do we have to take some responsibility and try and understand that this is just a different way and that actually good and evil can't just be split up.

We can't always just label somebody who's slightly different as that receptacle for all evil and make ourselves a blemish phrase.

So it's a theme that we're going to be looking at.

Finally, we have this idea of gender and female sexuality.

So gender and roles of females often explored in literature and often taking quite traditional lines.

At the turn of the century, when we get to the point of looking at the Victorian understanding, there are some really interesting developments going on in science.

And in particular we have this idea of the word sexuality, or the understanding of desire, particularly amongst females becoming a concern of medics and scientists and psychologists.

Those of you who have ever heard of Freud might know that he spent quite lots of time, it's later than this day, but his work has its origins in the ideas that's starting to be explored during this period.

So separation or the definition of sexuality as being separate and not just a biological function and therefore something that we need to understand in terms of people having desires and needs is something that is explored in this period.

And we see the word sexuality appear in the Oxford English dictionary for the very first time in 1897, which is an interesting coincidence, but tied in because it reflects that whole thinking of the period.

Finally, on the right hand side, you have got a rather lovely image of Vlad the Impaler often considered to be one of the historical inspirations for Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Vlad the Impaler was known also as the son of Dracula, a really brutal fighter who ruled over his kingdom.

And one story tells of how he dined amongst his corpses and dipped his bread in their blood.

So maybe that's where some of these ideas of this bloodthirsty character come from.

The next thing that I just want to make sure that we have topped into and pinned down before we actually get into reading our text is considering the Gothic genre itself.

So Dracula sticks within the Gothic cannon.

However it's a very particular sub branch as well, because it's almost like the father of the vampire tale and it becomes this architect of vampire tale, whereby whereas previous Gothic texts sometimes had ghosts and more of a supernatural, we now have a monster and we now have this idea of a vampire as a particular character that we will see carried on, right the way through to the modern day, it's such a popular genre.

But there are some things within Dracula and within the extract that we're going to have a little look at that will be helpful for us to have a recap on.

So, first of all, setting.

Where are Gothic texts set? Isolated places, quite decayed buildings may be, things that are a little bit run down.

Let's just remember that this is set in the Victorian era and actually set in Victorian London, a half the text if not more.

We have got locations, not just in London, but also Whitby Abbey appears whereby the Gothic and the whole setting has been reinvigorated and we've got this new setting and there's a little bit of a twist on it.

What we've got again is this urbanisation of the Gothic, rather than it being a foreign and other, far away it is now part of our understanding, part of our setting, part of our world.

So linking that with what I was saying previously, the other becomes our norm, interesting ideas.

We will see women in distressed, heightened emotions.

That's a really common Gothic theme focusing on the female character.

We will see superstition and we will see suspense and mystery.

But the main thing I really want us to take from this is this idea of the urbanisation of the Gothic, we are relocating that setting, we are bringing it into what's considered to be safe society and that is to again, instigate the questioning, instigate the interest in unpacking and exploring just how stable are our definitions about what's good and evil? Tell their version and their experiences with Dracula, and in the part we're in, we are hearing from Dr.

Seward's perspective and he's writing his journals up about what happened with Lucy.

And in this extract, we're going to almost have a little mini story brought to a conclusion.

So I wanted to just go through the character list for what we're going to be working with, so that you are comfortable and know who's doing what and what's happening.

So Lucy at this point has become a vampire, and stories have been told of how somebody is stealing children, they're disappearing.

And Van Helsing has worked out it's Lucy, and Lucy is a member now of the undead.

She is stealing small children 'coz she's still a young vampire in terms of her development, stealing these children to feed her needs.

And Van Helsing has tracked her, spotted her and he is now taking a group of vampire slayers with him who happens to be including Lucy's current fiance, two of her suitors, young men who have loved and wanted to be with Lucy.

So this whole story in the background and they go along and their mission is to save Lucy's soul.

So Lucy as a member of the undead cannot find peace.

She cannot have a Christian death, she cannot have a Christian burial because she's still a member of the undead.

So they want to slay her and release her soul.

So we can see the characters here, Van Helsing is a Dutch professor.

So again we've got this idea of somebody who is a little bit over who brings a knowledge that's not common amongst the English characters.

He knows all about empire folklore.

We've then got Lucy who becomes the vampire, much-praised for her chastity and virtue, up until this point.

So even though she's got three suitors, she is very, very pure in her behaviours, the absolute epitome of what a Victorian lady should be.

And she chooses one suitor and she settles with Arthur.

And she has unfortunately had this circumstance where she's become a vampire as it happens.

Then we have Lucy's suitors.

Dr.

Seward who's telling the story in this extract, he doesn't win Lucy's hand even though he did propose to her.

Arthur Holmwood who's her fiance, and Quincy Morrison, American who comes along, he's really brave and he supports the other men and they are all there to save Lucy from her situation.

Now, as we are going through the extracts, what I want to do is to make sure that we're making connections and we are constantly building our reading skills.

So everything that I am going to ask you to do today is going to have its roots in what we did last week.

So it's a consolidation and a further practise of the skills.

The first bullet point tells us that the extract has been split into first, next, then, and finally.

so we're going to follow the same process.

And if you remember, we did the first, next, then, finally, so we could make sure that we're being systematic tracking and reading really carefully through our text.

It also gets us ready for any structural questions that come up.

So prompts will be provided to help you activate the ideas we've been looking at.

So you will have a couple of slides with prompts on them, you're going to read the passage, look at the prompt questions and then answer those questions on your lined paper, pausing the video as you do so.

Once you've completed that activity, you can resume the video and you'll find me at the other side and I will go through those responses with you.

So on the fourth bullet point, you can see on the left hand side, I've put the reminder that you will need a different coloured pen, pencil, something to self assess with, and we will see how we have done.

In the passive just a quick recap if we look at the right hand side of the screen, you're going to read the passage, you're going to answer the question by pausing the video to do so on your lined paper, when you're happy with your answers, you can resume the video and you will find me waiting for you.

Welcome back.

How did we do them? Let's have a little look.

I've put together a little bit of a response to try and remind ourselves of what we need to do.

In particular, I want you to notice I've used evidence, I've made sure that I have got as full, an explanation as possible in response to the question, by making sure that I have tracked all the way through the passage that I was given.

So I've tried to make sure I haven't left anything out that's quite crucial.

Let's see how I have done.

So the writer emphasises is Lucy's 'otherness' by referring to her as 'the thing'.

Although she still has the body of Lucy, her soul has been compromised, this is shown by the references to her eyes as being "unclean and full of hell-fire" and blazing with an "unholy light." So I've used otherness, I've made a reference to some of the contextual information from the beginning of this session.

And I've also made sure that I have embedded a range of evidence.

I've got three quotations in there, but not long ones.

I've just picked them out, supporting quotations.

So they are there to backup my ideas.

Moving on, the fact that Dr.

Seward, someone who loves her, is now prepared to destroy her also shows how unhuman Lucy has now become.

So I'm doing a little bit of thinking now about this function of the character.

It's also interesting to note how this being has an evil effect on others, leading Dr Seward to think of the "savage delight" of her destruction.

And this has gone a little bit further, hasn't it? I have not only thoughts about the fact that Lucy is now so unhuman that somebody who loves her would be willing to try and destroy her.

We know why he wants to get her soul released.

However, it's a little bit, I don't know if you're studying Jacqueline Hyde, I am sure some of you are, there's this idea that in the presence of this evil, it brings out evil.

And I think that's a little bit of foreshadowing of some of Stoker's themes that the foreign and the other isn't as foreign or other as we might imagine.

He experiences this idea of a savage delight at the thought of destroying her.

So those are my first notes and if you want to pause again at this point to try and add to your work please do, whenever you are ready, we're going to read the next part of the extract.

You will again have the prompt questions, this time you all looking at the particular focus.

And I want you to look at how the characters are presented in a typical or an atypical way.

I'll be waiting for you at the other side, see you soon.

Welcome back.

So again, how did we do with this? So how does the extract develop, think about the characterization and the idea of typical and atypical.

So what I've done on the first screen for you and my answer is thought about how Lucy and Arthur interact and what the dynamic is between these two characters.

So the vampire Lucy is presented as a protagonist in this section, leading the action and subverting our expectations of a female character.

I'm getting all of my subject terminology and phrasing in that you can see it's really helpful to me to have that language, to build my response.

Arthur is seen as a victim, stripped of his ability to defend himself against her: "he fell back and hid his face in his hands," and "he seemed under a spell." So we've got this really clear split between the two characters and an absolute reversal of what we would normally expect.

But this is only possible obviously because Lucy is no longer human anymore.

So in this subverted state, she is suddenly a protagonist.

What about Van Helsing? Well, "Van Helsing sprang forward and held between them his little golden crucifix." Van Helsing represents an understanding of old values through his study of vampire slaying, which is atypical, but the symbol of the "crucifix" shows Christian values to be 'good' and conforms to a typical representation.

In this way, Van Helsing is restoring order.

So you can see here I've tried to bring in this idea of old values and new values, bringing in some of my contextual knowledge, and I've also talked about the character bringing in the symbol of the crucifix, which is a typical representation of good, and the final line using the vocabulary restoring order to hint at this idea that Van Helsing is there as a stabilising force.

And it's interesting it's the character struggles both old and new, stability comes from bringing those two things together.

The question didn't ask me to go that far, but that could be the next step, couldn't it? It is interesting that Van Helsing a character that straddles both worlds is the one that is the stabilising force.

Again, pause if you wish, take a few more notes.

We're going to look at the next section.

And before we do, I've got a couple of images for us to look at because Stoker uses some imagery in this section that I think we need to just unpack before you read it.

So we've got this situation, Lucy is being lured back into her coffin, so they want to get her back in the coffin, they know she's going to go in there prior to the scene, Van Helsing has made sure that he's putting garlic around it and also communion wafers.

So all of those stereotypes that we've now got of warding vampires off with garlic, all of that is in the traditional folklore and we see it in the text.

So Lucy is going to be lured back into her coffin.

But when she's in there, you have got these Christian symbols around her that are then going to allow these men to release herself again and make sure that they can kill her, slay her, and then allow her to have a proper Christian burial.

We are going to have a reference to Medusa the Gorgon.

So the Medusa looks quite attractive here, which is a little bit unfortunate.

It doesn't quite match the absolute storyline, but I've left it because this image of Medusa as being quite sexually attractive, almost seductress figure is something that has become part of the tradition around this character.

Originally Medusa had an affair with Poseidon the God of the sea and as a punishment his wife Athena turned her into a hideous hag with snakes for her hair, green skin and the ability when she went anywhere near men to turn them into stone.

So that cut down on her relationships immediately.

So that was Athena's idea of a punishment.

So we've got a reference to Medusa.

Bear in mind I've left you this image because of the fact that that has been translated a little bit more as texts have gone on into more of almost like a siren figure, somebody who lures men.

The second image is a Japanese passion mask.

It mentions Greek and the Japanese passion masks.

I found a Japanese passion mask that I wanted to show you.

Originally Japanese passion masks were worn for protective and decorative purposes by Samurai soldiers.

So they were worn as facial armour.

Why would you wear that? Well, okay, protect yourself.

But also they had these hideous something like gargoyle type faces on them.

So they have that again to create a hideous monstrous appearance.

So just a little bit of information before you go into reading the next passage.

And as we do again, as usual pause, make your notes.

I'll be waiting for you at the other side.

And we are looking now at how is the action developed? What are we focusing on? Where is the writer taking our attention? Welcome back.

So what did happen? Well we really zoomed in on Lucy didn't we, and the monstrosity of her features really atypical in terms of how females are discussed in texts.

We normally celebrate their beauty, but here it is very much a focus on Lucy's otherness.

And we again have got the idea of it zooming in.

And remember, we were talking about how we're going to track through to help ourselves restructure.

We've got the zoom in happening.

Second thing to notice is that Van Helsing is now really being consolidated as the hero figure.

He is shown as having 'iron nerves' to defeat this evil creature.

So two key points from the Van part, and it is very much about establishing character roles, categorising the characters, making sure that we're absolutely clear Lucy is bad, Van Helsing is good.

This is where we're going.

Finally, section coming up.

So again, tracking through and this time what I want you to have a look at is how this order is restored.

So we've talked about Van Helsing's function here as a stabilising force that trying to restore some order to Lucy's situation.

How is the order restored in the final parts of our extract? So how was that order restored? Wow, Van Helsing continues to lead the action and calls upon Arthur, Lucy's fiance to make his decision about whether or not they should proceed with the slaying.

That's quite an interesting moment.

And I wanted to put that in my answer.

He has to make the decision.

It's as if Lucy still belongs to him somehow, and he has ownership over her.

And I thought that was quite an interesting moment.

And it's also about Arthur being brought in, this is going to be a collective contribution.

He gives his consent, but he is presented as falling to his knees.

However, at this time he is supported by the other male characters who combine to defeat this unnatural being.

Now notice how previously author is victimised in his characterization.

Now the other men work together to hold him up.

This passage as it comes to a close, create stability by the male characters working together to defeat this transgressive female vampires.

So we see the male world restoring order, everything being brought to a stable situation.

And finally to complete our learning today, I would like us now to write a reflective paragraph, so this is where you get an opportunity to put down your own ideas and your own thinking, with the particular focus of, what type of conflict is presented in the extract, or which types of conflict are presented in the extract to be absolutely clear? Because you might decide that there is more than one type of conflict present within our extract.

There is a reminder on the left hand side of the four types of conflict which are most commonly found in literature.

Man versus man, man versus nature, man versus himself, man versus society.

So pause to complete the task, when you have completed resume the video.

All that remains for me to say is thank you for your focus today and enjoy the rest of your learning.