Dracula vs. Frankenstein: compare/contrast

[Robbie]

I'm not even half-way through Dracula. I have to say the Dracula does a much better job of creepification than Frankenstein did! Even though it's not make-my-hair-stand-on-end-and-keep-me-awake scary, it does have that certain eerie tone that someone mentioned in the Dracula thread.

With Frankenstein, it was like I was waiting waiting waiting for a glimpse of the "monster," then wasn't that impressed.

[Dini, the master of meaning]

Creepification -- I like that word ;D

I agree with you, Robbie. In Dracula the little clues are the ones that builds the suspense: a wolf howling here, mist stealing into the room there. We just KNOW something was going to happen.

On the other hand, Dracula seems to be a more traditional horror story while Frankenstein has science fiction elements -- which makes it less scary, I think.

[whichwaydidshego, the sage of sass]

Think about the audience when it was written, though... they didn't have horror movies - or even their scary trailers - to watch or SciFi channels or thousands of books and such that have come out since. Pretty cutting edge for it's time, Frankenstein. Of course, I've barely started because I got all into The Chronicles of Narnia - for the first time, no less!

[whichwaydidshego, the sage of sass]

Oh, and I loved "creepification," too!

Also, what I have read of Frankenstein, he seems to be a self educated man (who therefore has an inferiority complex) who is an explorer. Like I said, I could be way off being at the start of it, but the story seems to progress in a little more scientific way, just as explorers wrote back then.

[Robbie]

SPOILERS










Interesting how Jonathan (in Dracula) and Frankenstein both tried to spare their wives the horror of seeing unpleasant things, only to have them be attacked. Sounds like a theme to me!

[Dini, the master of meaning]

SPOILERS




Frankenstein seems a lot more concerned about himself than his wife though, what with sending Elizabeth to the bedroom to be "safe" and all. Jonathan, on the other hand, is more sincere in his feelings -- all of the men in the group (the Scooby gang, to use a Buffy reference) are like that, I think. They genuinely care about Mina and want to protect her.

[Alison, the guru of grace]

I think one of the biggest similarities in these books (and it kind of goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway) is how they both were turned into "horror" movies (the early black & white ones) starring characters and stories that were nothing like their original counterparts. You've got the Dracula of the book vs. the Béla Lugosi Dracula (cape, fangs)...and you've got the articulate Frankenstein of Shelley's novel...vs. the grunting, bolt-necked Boris Karloff.

[Dottie]

While we can see how they got to the exaggerated forms given the sharp-toothed and red-eyed description of Dracula along with the flapping bat-wings and so on, the films, certainly for me, kept the books from coming to proper attention until now.

[Robbie]

Dini:

I think in both books the men were worried, not about physical danger so much as "mental" harm to their women if they saw such horror. Speaks for the stereotype of women as frail, emotional creatures. Mina spun the emotional part into an advantage for women when she was able to comfort the men. At the same time, she was very strong.

I thought the guys in Dracula were just too distracted to think about or notice the changes in Mina, or else assumed they were due to her emotions. Frankenstein was so self-centered that he thought his creature's big goal was to kill him.

[Alison, the guru of grace]

Another similarity would be how these two novels speak to science. In Frankenstein, we are warned not to try to take science too far, or we might be punished. In Dracula, we're reminded that science has its limits, and there are things beyond science that cannot be controlled (i.e. the supernatural, if you choose to believe that.)

[Deborah]

I definitely prefer the writing style in Dracula. It's well-paced with vivid characters and an intricate plot line. But after some time (and a back surgery), I find myself still thinking about Shelley's Creature and the moral dilemmas he presents. It really is a tragedy on an ancient Greek scale, although not nearly as well written.

And Robbie, "creepification" should be in OED!

[Rachel]

It's kind of weird because Frankenstein is one of my favorite books because I've always enjoyed reading about Shelley's critiques on maternity and nature vs. nurture in the understanding of a child's development. Also, because, before I read Frankenstein, we had to read several works by Mary Wollstonecraft, so it was interesting to debate where Shelley positioned herself-- as Dr. Frankenstein or as his monster (or both?? which I think might be the case.)

Also, we are reading Dracula right now for one of my classes.

I think the main difference is that Dracula is more sexual in its writing style. Frankenstein is about what happens when a human is produced outside of natural (sexual) processes.

But I think both books are similar in their critiques of masculinity and of the horror/fear of what could happen when masculinity becomes deformed.

I haven't finish Dracula yet, so maybe my opinions will change.

[Dini, the master of meaning]

I've said this in another group, but I've always wondered whether Mary Shelley herself ever stated her feminist views. I don't know much about her anyway, but I've come across several interpretations of Frankenstein that relies heavily on the fact that she's Mary Wollstonecraft's daughter. As if the mother was a feminist so the daughter must be a feminist too, and was inserting feminist ideas into her work.

What do you think are the differences between the two ladies' works, Rachel?

[whichwaydidshego, the sage of sass]

"I think the main difference is that Dracula is more sexual in its writing style. Frankenstein is about what happens when a human is produced outside of natural (sexual) processes."

Really well put - I do agree though hadn't thought of them in those terms.

Dini, interesting thoughts about feminism, assumption, and her famous mother. Would be cool to know.