Verisimilitude in the Opening of Dracula

Last lesson, we were looking at verisimilitude. This is where a piece of fiction contains similarities or reference to real life. For example, some verisimilitudes in Dracula include the locations of France and Germany. Verisimilitudes are the true aspects contained in the novel, things which still exist outside of the novel, another example would be Harry Potter going to King’s Cross station in London. Although Harry Potter is a fictional character, the station is real and so exhibits some realism and authenticity in the reader’s mind. (I don’t know why I used Harry Potter as an example, given that I have never read any of the books).

Once the definition of verisimilitude was established, we than began to look at the opening of Dracula in relation to this. The first extract is from page 8/9 and contains many verisimilitudes and details such as descriptions of the local people, “strangest figures we saw were the Slovaks, who were more Barbarian than the rest, with their big cow-boy hats, great baggy dirty-belts, nearly a foot wide, all studded over with brass nails.” This one sentence alone contains much factual information about the clothing and appearance of the people, it is not very orientated around opinions, but around concrete descriptions. The second extract we looked at was on page 13 of Dracula and was less factual; it contained more picturesque and dreamlike descriptions, such as, “the road, losing itself as it swept round the grassy curve.” Finally, the third extract, from page 14, was even less fact based and contained phrases such as, “peasant’s cart with its long, snakelike vertebra,” and, “produced a particularly weird and solemn effect, which carried on thoughts and grim fancies engendered earlier in the evening.” This extract has become even more based upon opinion and contains far more imagery than clear description. Mysticism has entered the novel, and so because the very beginning of the book contained to much factual and relatable information, the reader is potentially more likely to believe what the narrator is telling them. This is particularly important in a book like Dracula, which contains a lot of mythological ideas and so by containing verisimilitudes, the reader may find the ideas more readable and enjoyable.

Docotor Faustus- Le Essay

Last lesson Mr. Francis split the group into two small groups in order to write an essay between us. The title of the essay was, “What do you find striking about Faustus?” Straight away the advantages of working in a group of four became apparent, we each only had to submit one point, and straight away we had a basic essay plan, no wracking of brains trying to find another point. I heard points that I never would have thought of and then we all discussed each one in further detail and so already we knew exactly what to write.

However, it was at this point, when some difficulties began to arise. The designated writer for a paragraph could not concentrate on writing and discuss every word that they were thinking of writing down. This took too much time and since we were under a time limit, was near impossible. Instead, we would together discuss the next few sentences and then the current writer would write up discussed ideas in their own way. This worked very well and we managed to write more than the other group (whooo!) but it does mean that the essay does not flow as well as if we had discussed exactly what to write word for word. Another disadvantage of doing a group essay is that we wrote far less than if we were doing the essays on our own.

When I came to do my solo essay at home, I found it so much easier because we had had chance to discuss potential points and ideas. And because it was written solely, I was able to finish it the last point, something we didn’t manage as a group and so hopefully this essay should be an improvement on my last Doctor Faustus essay.

Act 5 Scene 2

This lesson we were looking at the very last scene of Dr. Faustus (whoo finally finished!). The very first stage direction of the scene is interesting because it says, “Thunder. Enter Lucipher, Beelzebub, and Mephistopheles (above).” The weather has been used to show to the audience that the upcoming scene is going to be serious and full of tension. The other part of that stage direction that is interesting is that the devil comes from above. Hell is usually associated with being down below and heaven above, and so this one direction challenges that idea. I do not know why this has been done, but maybe it is simply used to enforce that these characters are otherworldly.

Faustus’s last speech contains quite a lot of interesting ideas. The one that me and Rosie originally picked up on was where Faustus says, “Let Faustus live in hell a thousand years, a hundred thousand, and at last be saved.” This shows that Faustus accepts what he has done wrong, he sees that he has sinned, “o, if my soul must suffer for my sin,” and understands that he does deserve a punishment. However, what Faustus wants is for the punishment to come to an end and not be eternal. This is very similar to catholic purgatory, where people who have sinned receive temporary punishment from God before being allowed to be admitted to heaven.

Act 4 Scene 2

Today, we looked at act 4 scene 2. In this scene, we see that Benvolio wishes to take revenge on Faustus for giving him horns in the previous scene, “Then draw your weapons and be resolute.” Benvolio enlists the help of Martino, Frederic and some soldiers to do this. As Faustus enters the stage, Benvolio attacks Faustus, “He strikes Faustus,” and, “Benvolio strikes off Faustus’s false head.” The men then rejoice at Faustus’s apparent death, until suddenly Faustus gets up again, “Faustus rises.” Faustus then calls Mephistopheles and some other devils and they attack the men, “Take thou this other, drag him through the woods,” and “They set upon the soldiers and drive them out.”

We then discussed how this scene in the play could have been performed, looking specifically at the stage direction, “Enter Faustus with a false head.” This is to aid Faustus in pretending to have been decapitated, however it is unclear whether, when being performed, the audience would have been able to tell that Faustus is faking his death. Faustus could be wearing a fake head very similar to a human head, which would make the audience think that Faustus had died when Benvolio attacks him. This would make the resurrection of Faustus more shocking to the audience as they thought him dead, and so it reinforces the power of the devil and hell as Faustus as seemingly just come back from the dead. However, if Faustus were to come on the stage wearing an obviously fake head, and allow the audience to be in on the trick, allow them to see him putting on the fake head. This would make the scene more humorous as the audience knows something that the other actors don’t.