Violence In Isabel Allande's The House Of Spirits

The short stories “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe and “House Taken Over” by Julio Cortazar are two well known works of literature that encompass unique literary styles. Poe utilizes Gothic literature in his story, a style of writing that incorporates elements of darkness, gloom, drama, and intense descriptions. On the other hand, Cortazar uses Magical Realism and its realistic characters, setting, and fantastic and unusual events to tell his tale. Despite the two being completely different genres, they share many similar traits, specifically relating to fear.

Fear is among one of the most universal human emotions that everyone is interconnected at one point or another during their lifetime. In the gothic stories, “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “House Taken Over” written by Edgar Allan Poe and Julio Cortazar respectively. Edgar Allen Poe writes about how the character Mr. Usher, who because of his mental illness and delusions, cannot come to terms with his reality. Cortazar writes about the relationship between a brother and sister who have normal everyday lives and have strange and odd nightmare that haunts them. The

With several illicit subjects listed throughout Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the book becomes a playground for psychoanalysts. Whether it be to see a subjects as simple as the conscious take over a character, or a character’s surroundings corrupting its victims, Dracula intrigues in more ways than just its vampiristic features. The following is a psychoanalytic study with a focus on vampirism imitating sexual practice and drug usage today while shining a light on the complex psychology of characters, and how even the author can influence the course of its story.

Stoker’s novel Dracula, presents the fear of female promiscuity, for which vampirism is a metaphor. Such fear can be related to the time in which Dracula was written, where strict Victorian gender norms and sexual mores stipulated

Edgar Allen Poe’s short story, “The Fall of the House of Usher”, sets a tone that is dark, gloomy, and threatening. His inclusion of highly descriptive words and various forms of figurative language enhance the story’s evil nature, giving the house and its inhabitants eerie and “supernatural” qualities. Poe’s effective use of personification, symbolism, foreshadowing, and doubling create a morbid tale leading to, and ultimately causing, the fall of (the house of) Usher.

Gothic writers are fascinated by power struggles, but often shock readers by reversing conventional power differences. Examples of this include the power of rationality against religion, and the female voice and sexuality being powerful, highly controversial topics during the Victorian era. These power struggles often reflect the writer’s own experiences and views, for example Poe frequently presents power struggles between humans and the supernatural due to losing his loved ones, and mental illness. Similarly, in ‘Dracula', Stoker portrays the supernatural as powerful, but with strong sexual undertones,

People are afraid of the unknown and things that they cannot understand. It is something that people spend their entire lives trying to understand, but there will always be an unknown, something people fear. Magic is one of these things, it is something that people do not understand and therefore fear.In the novel, The House of the Spirits, the author includes a dog named Barrabas which seems normal enough in the beginning but quickly grows to the size of a horse. This is an example of magical realism in the novel which is a commonly used device by the author. Through magical realism, Allende explores the idea that Barrabas connects the magical world and reality.

The action of vampirism is trying to exploit another, and usually the exploited one is female. In The Princess Bride, William Goldman sets up many vampires to try and belittle the main character Buttercup. Vizzini, Prince Humperdinck, and her father to name a few. They each play a role in her adventure of life, but Prince Humperdinck is the largest vampire of the book. On their first meeting, he greets her “” I am your Prince and you will marry me” Humperdinck said” (Goldman. 81). Straight from the begging he subjects her to something she may not want simply because he is the prince. He doesn’t even say hello to her, which is a true sign of vampirism. Almost forcing someone against their will to do something, more than likely sucking the life from her. He goes on to tell her that ““Refusal means death”” (Goldman, 81). After his first attempt, she refuses, so he decides to threaten her life. Foster, in his book depicts a vampire as “An older figure representing corrupt, outworn values” (Foster,19). Goldman makes Humperdinck a prime example of a vampire, he demands marriage, he keeps a zoo called “The Zoo of Death” full of animals from around the world that are at his disposal to kill, he lies, cheats, and goes back on his word multiple times throughout the book, so that he can have buttercup at his disposal. Don’t forget he only likes her because she is the most beautiful girl in Florin.

Of course, throughout the novel we see that vampirism most equates with sexuality.  Without overdoing a Freudian analysis of the story, there are enough sexual references to satisfy the least Victorian in nature among us.  However, the Victorian repression theme plays a role in the sexuality of the novel because though good women and men were able to control their sexual appetites in Victorian society, we see them unable to resist giving into their desires in Dracula.  As Carrol Fry writes "Mina says:  'Strangely enough, I did not want to hinder him'.  But perhaps the most suggestive passage in the novel occurs when Jonathan Harker describes his experienced while in a trance induced by Dracula's wives.  As the fair bride approaches him, he finds in her a 'deliberate voluptuousness which was both thrilling and repulsive,' and he feels 'a wicked, burning desire that they would kiss me with those red lips'" (Carter  38).

Violence in the House of the Spirits is a primary role and plays an important role in creating the action of the characters. Violence actually tied between des Valle and Trueba families through their struggles. The Violence in the story is mostly about violence against women. It begins with the death of the beautiful Rosa.

In Carmilla, Sheridan Le Fanu uses vampires to identify and challenge gender roles of women in the Victorian age. From the outset, Carmilla and Laura’s relationship appears to transcend mere homosocial characteristics; Carmilla awakens sensations in Laura which she has never known before because her sexuality has always been suppressed. This suppression is inherently motived by the dominant ideology in Victorian culture that lesbianism, and homosexuality more generally, are “unnatural” forms of sexuality. According to Colleen Damman, “as a woman, Carmilla can only claim her sexuality after death” (). This is an interesting statement because it provides context for the idea that vampirism is the only way Carmilla can express her own carnal desires; She too is then subject to the constraints of Victorian culture. This to say that, for Le Fanu, the only way to have an open discussion concerning homosexual desire is to employ the vampire. Bearing this concept in mind, by analyzing certain key passages and elements of Carmilla and by applying some modern conceptualizations on gender and sexuality, one can see that Carmilla and Laura are merely byproducts of a period rife with sexual desire, frustration, and tension.

In the late 19th century, when Dracula by Bram Stoker is written, women were only perceived as conservative housewives, only tending to their family’s needs and being solely dependent of their husbands to provide for them. This novel portrays that completely in accordance to Mina Harker, but Lucy Westenra is the complete opposite. Lucy parades around in just her demeanor as a promiscuous and sexual person. While Mina only cares about learning new things in order to assist her soon-to-be husband Jonathan Harker. Lucy and Mina both become victims of vampirism in the novel. Mina is fortunate but Lucy is not. Overall, the assumption of women as the weaker specimen is greatly immense in the late 19th century. There are also many underlying

In many novels, relationships shape a character. Throughout Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits dissimilar individuals constantly come together to form relationships that change or develop their disposition. While Allende uses relationships to build upon a character, she also depicts a character's living environment in order to confirm their true soul and lifestyle. Due to the observation of both relationships and environments, a character's true qualities are expressed to a reader. The relationship between two individuals, Ferula and Clara, proves itself a positive product of the union of differing people. Through analysis of Ferula's home and close observation of her bond with Clara,

In addition, in chapter (ch) on page (pg) when Mason is attacked by Bertha and sucks his blood, the act of blood sucking is vampierish.

In the novel The Book of Night Women Marlon James illustrates how sexual and gender based violence function in power relations between men and women on plantations. James introduces more predictable instances of sexual violence, primarily committed by white men. James counters this predictably by displaying less acknowledged acts of sexual violence against slave women, like sexual violence perpetrated by enslaved men against enslaved women. James moves one step further by blurring the line between consent and rape, most clearly seen in the relationship between Lilith and Robert Quinn. Through the displays of sexual and gender-based violence, James provides evidence that enslaved women are at the center of all abuse committed on plantations.