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Comments

Baby Jinx

"'God! God! God!' he said."

Ahh, today he's speaking Dutch.

Elizabeth

Why in Gott's name didn't Van Helsing explain to Mrs Westenra the purpose of the garlic? One of many secrets that have disastrous consequences.

Baby Jinx

He did explain the purpose of the garlic, sort of. "Presently [van Helsing] took an opportunity of telling Mrs. Westenra that she must not remove anything from Lucy's room without consulting him. That the flowers were of medicinal value, and that the breathing of their odor was a part of the system of cure." To have explained anything further would have meant explaining about the vampire, and he didn't want to do that because a) not knowing who the vampire might be, he didn't want to risk letting him/her know what he knew, and b) poor old Mrs Westenra's heart couldn't take the shock of it all.

Elizabeth

OK. That makes sense.

Elizabeth

No - wait a minute. VH's explanation to Mrs W re importance of the garlic (and not removing it) was made AFTER Mrs Westenra removed it and exposed Lucy to greater danger. He should have made this statement earlier.

Baby Jinx

This is true. VH waited until after the fact to explain it toMrs Westenra, but he DID explain it. Better late than never. Maybe it will help ;)

Bryan

Typical of VH. He uses information control to stage all sorts of scenes, and to influence people.

"God! God! God!" - Stoker loves his threes.

Bryan

No content for today. Or tomorrow. Without spoiling things, I wanted to note Stoker's insertion of this little, dramatic pause.

Elizabeth

No content...

You'll make up for it on the 17th-19th! :)

Baby Jinx

Re: Secrets that have disastrous consequences.

Isn't this one of the "strengths" of the vampire? The fact that humans a) don't believe in vampires, or b) don't talk about suspected vampirism lest others think they're crazy (sort of why van Helsing is rather mum on the subject so far) is often cited as something that works in the vampire's favor.

HP

OT post. I've been away a week and still need to catch up, but I wanted to share this link:

Cane Hill Asylum: http://www.abandoned-britain.com/PP/Cane-hill-new/tempproj1.htm

Built 1882, abandoned in 1980, photographed in 2004. It's an example of a "modern" asylum in southeast England, of the type where Seward would've worked, presumably. Even the oldest wards are a far cry from the Bedlam depicted in most Drac. movies. Much larger and brighter than I'd imagined.

Interesting tidbit: By the time the hospital closed, the individual cells for patients like Renfield had been converted to expensive and desirable single rooms for well-off clients.

Dave

Anything special for halloween? I can't wait for that :)

Bryan

HP, that's great - thanks!

Dave, I've been drafted to lead our local elementary school's Halloween bash. :)

Elizabeth

As for Halloween - I will be visiting St John's, Newfoundland. A local theatre company is staging a new adaptation of "Dracula" and I've been invited as a GofH to give pre-show talks. I'll be doing a similar thing for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet from Oct 18-29, as they tour Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

So, no trick or treating for me! :)

Baby Jinx

The Milwaukee Ballet is also doing 'Dracula' for Halloween. Looks like it's catchy!

Most Significant

Here's the updated link for Cane Hill on Abandoned Britain-- very atmospheric!

http://www.abandoned-britain.com/PP/canehill/1.htm

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