Dracula and The Strange Case Essay Example for Free

Dracula and The Strange Case Essay Dracula, by Bram Stoker, and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, are classic examples of Gothic literature. Gothic literature is a genre that combines elements of both horror and romance. It is identified by its use of terror and horror to shock the reader, and this is usually created by setting the novel in huge, austere castles, with mysterious protagonists and horrific imagery.  In the opening of Chapter 2 of Dracula, we are being described the imposing castle of the protagonist Count Dracula, in the eyes of a Solicitor’s clerk’s journal, called Jonathan Harker. This first person narrative, which also appears in The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in the form of the Mr Utterson, creates a lot of terror as the fact that they are describing it, really makes the reader come to terms that this actually happened. However, we do not know whether what they are saying is true or false, as we only have the word of the respective characters, given the piece a sense of mystery and suspense. As these two passages are based on description (describing the house and Mr Hyde in The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and describing Count Dracula’s house in Dracula), adjectives are key in creating tension and terror. In Dracula, the adjectives reflect that in the dark, all your senses are heightened, so everything seems bigger, â€Å"I stood next to a great door, old and studded with large iron nails, and set in a projecting doorway of massive stone†. This piece is also given an aural dimension by adding noise. In the phrase, â€Å"the sound of rattling chains and the clanking of massive bolts drawn back. A key was turned with the loud grating noise of long disuse† the adjectives used are onomatopoeic which gives the reader a sense of sound which brings the writing to live. In The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, negative adjectives are used to describe the house to create an unpleasant aura surrounding the house, associating it with evil, â€Å"the door was blistered and distained. [it bore] the marks of prolonged and sordid negligence†.  The theme of light and dark plays a large part in Gothic literature, where darkness symbolises evil and horror and light symbolises happiness and safety, down to humans primitive terror of darkness. Both the ‘stories’ take place in the dark, automatically creating a sense of terror. In Jonathan Harker’s Journal, he likens the situation to a ‘horrible nightmare’, meaning the reader can empathise with him. In both passages, we are given a vivid description of the outside of the buildings, but we are not told about the inside, leaving it up to the readers imagination. This is very effective as it makes the reader feel like he is actually in the scene being described. In Chapter 2 of Dracula, Stoker personifies the house, â€Å"it was not likely that my voice could penetrate through these frowning walls†. This is effective as it again makes you think what is on the inside, and in this case, who is doing the ‘frowning’. Again this same technique is done in The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The phrase, â€Å"a certain sinister building thrust forward its gable† gives the house a sense of its own power, through the personification. This is also shown by likening the faà §ade of the house to a face, â€Å"a blind forehead of discoloured wall†. In the two passages, the door is focused on: â€Å"the door which was equipped with neither bell nor knocker† and â€Å"I stood close to a great door, old and studded with large iron nails†. This is because it is the gateway between what we know, and what we don’t know as a reader. The fact that there is â€Å"neither bell nor knocker† is important as it gives the house an impenetrable quality, making the reader guess what it is the doors are hiding. It also demonstrates the use of contrast to create tension. Contrast is effective as when to juxtaposed things are linked together, tension is created as the reader is unsure what is happening. Contrast is shown by the main protagonist from Dracula. We are told that he is black and white, symbolising that he is both dead and alive. We are not told anything about the two main protagonists. However the image the reader is presented with are very different in the two passages. In The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, we are disgusted by this amoral character who tramples over this small child. In the phrase, â€Å"the two ran into one another naturally enough at the corner; [but] the man trampled calmly over the child’s body†, the adverb, â€Å"calmly† is the most horrific as it shows he had no problems with what he did. However, in Dracula, the Count is shown to be very hospitable and welcoming, â€Å"I bid you welcome to my house. Come in; the night air is chill, and you must need to eat and rest†. This stark contrast raises the issue as to whether Count Dracula is all that he seems, hence creating terror.  Both these passages play on the readers’ fear of the unknown. Both authors use varied techniques to create terror and successfully bring the reader into the narrative. What makes The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde more horrific is that it uses all the Gothic themes, except he then places it into London, making it much more believable than castles and counts. The fear is that it really could be anywhere.

Edwin Hubble :: essays research papers

Edwin Hubble was a man who changed our view of the Universe. In 1929 he showed that galaxies are moving away from us with a speed proportional to their distance. The explanation is simple, but revolutionary: the Universe is expanding. Hubble was born in Missouri in 1889. His family moved to Chicago in 1898, where at High School he was a promising, though not exceptional, pupil. He was more remarkable for his athletic ability, breaking the Illinois State high jump record. At university too he was an accomplished sportsman playing for the University of Chicago basketball team. He won a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford where he studied law. It was only some time after he returned to the US that he decided his future lay in astronomy. In the early 1920s Hubble played a key role in establishing just what galaxies are. It was known that some spiral nebulae (fuzzy clouds of light on the night sky) contained individual stars, but there was no consensus as to whether these were relatively small collections of stars within our own galaxy, the 'Milky Way' that stretches right across the sky, or whether these could be separate galaxies, or 'island universes', as big as our own galaxy but much further away. In 1924 Hubble measured the distance to the Andromeda nebula, a faint patch of light with about the same apparent diameter as the moon, and showed it was about a hundred thousand times as far away as the nearest stars. It had to be a separate galaxy, comparable in size our own Milky Way but much further away. Hubble was able to measure the distances to only a handful of other galaxies, but he realised that as a rough guide he could take their apparent brightness as an indication of their distance. The speed with which a galaxy was moving toward or away from us was relatively easy to measure due to the Doppler shift of their light. Just as a sound of a racing car becomes lower as it speeds away from us, so the light from a galaxy becomes redder. Though our ears can hear the change of pitch of the racing car engine our eyes cannot detect the tiny red-shift of the light, but with a sensitive spectrograph Hubble could determine the redshift of light from distant galaxies. The observational data available to Hubble by 1929 was sketchy, but whether guided by inspired instinct or outrageous good fortune, he correctly divined a straight line fit between the data points showing the redshift was proportional to the distance.

Heart of Darkness Inner Evil

Final Paper Realization of the inner evil in the Heart of Darkness. Evil is an inherent part of all humans. This is clearly illustrated in the novella Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad. As Marlow takes on the journey to find Kurtz, he really is taking a journey to find himself. Much to his dismay he realizes that the same evil Kurtz possesses, he possesses as well. Conrad uses this realization to show the reader that under the right circumstances, evil can overtake anyone’s mind and actions. When Marlow was sent on the mission to find Kurtz, his true self came out.Kurtz was like Marlow when he first entered the Congo; he had good intentions. Marlow’s trip down the Congo represents a journey into his inner self. As he traveled further down the Congo he began to learn more about himself and became more savage. He started to realize he had more in common with the native savages than his own people. Kurtz was known as a smart and honorable man. He had been in the Congo fo r a very long time before Marlow was sent to look for him. Kurtz had been secluded from society for quite some time and had become a powerful, godlike presence over the inhabitants of the Congo.He was originally sent to find ivory but found power. The power he possessed was the power to be evil. â€Å"Kurtz became ‘savage’†¦ disconnected as it is from the restraining impulses of civilization, untrammeled, without sidewalks, or police men,† ( At the Heart of Darkness: Crimes Against Humanity and the Banality of Evil, Brigit and Daniel Maier-Katkin). The fact that Kurtz had no one to answer to, and, no one to judge him, gave him the opportunity to be evil. In the Congo, the only punishment is death, and Kurtz made sure that he wasn’t the one who’d be killed.With good knowledge of Kurtz, Marlow was still eager to meet him. When Marlow finally met Kurtz he found evil. He realized the evil within all humans. Conrad shows the reader what man is witho ut society, rules, and regulations. The reader learns how man can become a vicious animal in the wild and how it can exist in all people. When Marlow found Kurtz, he was very weak and was close to death. â€Å"As Kurtz emerges from his blankets †¦ his moribund condition is also personally retributive, and oblique revenge on himself. (Lying as Dying in Heart of Darkness by Garret Stewart. ) Conrad shows us the peril and consequence of evil with the condition that Kurtz is in. He reminds the reader that being evil is not the right way to live and will eventually take its toll on a person’s mind, body, and soul. Kurtz dies on the way back home in the boat and his last words were â€Å"The horror, the horror. † â€Å"His was an impenetrable darkness. I looked at him as you peer down at a man who is lying at the bottom of a precipice where the sun never shines,† Marlow said about Kurtz.This shows how empty and cold Kurtz looked as he was dying. When Marlow retu rned home he comes across Kurtz’s fiance. She was upset and asked Marlow about Kurtz’ last words. He lies to her and tells her his last words were her name. He lied because he didn’t have the heart to tell her that Kurtz went insane and became evil, he kept it to himself and made her last thought of Kurtz a good one: â€Å"I could not tell her. It would have been too dark-too dark altogether†¦. † Marlow's journey into the heart of darkness, into his inner self, was a positive life lesson.Kurtz, who represented evil, went down with the evil. When Marlow came out of the Congo he survived evil, he did not give in to the evil that was present throughout his journey. Marlow did not succumb to the temptations that Kurtz did. Even though he lies to Kurtz’ fiance he has still become a good person. He will forever remember the memory of Kurtz and the inner evil that he came across in the heart of darkness. Conrad shows that in the end evil will fail an d good will prevail.

Understanding Empowerment From An Employee Perspective ...

The article this group chose to critique is titled, â€Å"Understanding Empowerment from an Employee Perspective: What Does It Mean and Do They Want It?†, by Kay Greasley, Alan Bryman, Andrew Dainty, Andrew Price, Nicola Naismith, and Robby Soetanto. The purpose of this article is to figure out exactly how employees define empowerment, and decide if they want to be empowered in the workplace. The methodology used for this study was a qualitative interview process consisting of, â€Å"Four employees [that] were sampled within each project, with the exception of one project where three employees were selected. Each employee was interviewed three times over the course of a year to provide a total of 45 interviews.† (Greasley et al., 2007, pg.45). The employees and 45 interviews only came from one sector. They were asked a series of question regarding their personal perception of empowerment in the workplace, and whether or not they felt like it was something they wanted. T he only recommendation for further research in this study was to test more sectors since only one sector was tested in this study (Greasley et al, 2007, pg.49). Findings: Do employees Know what empowerment is? The general findings for this study were that most employees did not understand the term empowerment as it applies to their job. From the reading it appeared many of the employees assumed it had something to do with power at work, possibly meaning a supervisorial role. However most questioned could identify withShow MoreRelatedWhat Is Meant by the Term Empowerment? Does Empowering a Subordinate Necessarily Mean That the Person Granting Power Is Losing Power? Can an Act of Empowerment Increase a Manager or Leaders Power?2712 Words   |  11 PagesWHAT IS MEANT BY THE TERM EMPOWERMENT? DOES EMPOWERING A SUBORDINATE NECESSARILY MEAN THAT THE PERSON GRANTING POWER IS LOSING POWER? CAN AN ACT OF EMPOWERMENT INCREASE A MANAGER OR LEADER’S POWER? 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Discuss the Concept of Empowerment and Its Relevance to SEMCO 13 3.1 The concept of empowerment 13 3.2 Empowerment s Relevance to SEMCO 15 3.3 Conclusion 17 4. Centaur Technologies INC Its Success/Failure 17 4.1 introduction 17 4.2 Reason which lead to the success of Centaur Company 19 4.3 Reason thatRead MoreEmployee Involvement10404 Words   |  42 PagesEMPLOYEE MPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT NVOLVEMENT Report produced for the EC funded project INNOREGIO: dissemination of innovation and knowledge management techniques by Apostolos Apostolou D. of Production Engineering Management Technical University of Crete J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 0 EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT 1 Contents 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 3 3.1 3.2 4 Description What is Employee Involvement and Empowerment Objectives Methodology Alternative techniques ExpectedRead MoreA Brief Look at Employee Engagement1669 Words   |  7 PagesEmployee engagement is a relatively new concept. 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