If you were moments away from being in an inevitable car accident, would you try to stop the car, or, would you try to defend yourself from the accidents’ aftermath? Sure, we have all heard of the ‘fight or flight’ defensive mechanism, it was Sigmund Freud himself who described the first complete theory of personality, and founded psychoanalysis. His descriptions described the mental and emotional systems of defense, which we all have, but vary depending on the situation we are forced to face.
The characters of Jonathan Harker and Lucy Westenra featured in Dracula by Bram Stoker attempt to conform to the social norms of the European Victorian era, however, occasionally the intellectual drive of the Eros and Thanatos tendencies of the Id surface …show more content…
When Quincey Morris, Dr. Van Helsing, Arthur Holmwood, and John Seward go to free Lucy of her devilish ways, she, “...saw us…[but] still advanced, however, and with a languorous, voluptuous grace, said, ‘Come to me, Arthur. Leave these others and come to me. My arms are hungry for you. Come, and we can rest together. Come, my husband, come!’ There was something diabolically sweet in her tones, something of the tinkling of glass when struck, which rang through the brains even of us who heard the words addressed to another.” (145.16) Lucy, in her immortal, vampire state, tries to seduce her fiancée, Arthur, although not for personal reasons, but to fulfill her vampiristic need to draw blood from her former love. Lucy is overcome with this new form of life, and therefore is unintentionally acting in a reaction-formation mechanism, and participating in tasks that she normally would. In addition, the Thanatos personification caused Lucy to act in abnormal, violent ways, “...as for Arthur, he seemed under a spell, moving his hands from his face, he opened wide his arms. She was leaping for them, when Van Helsing sprang forward and held between them his little golden crucifix. She recoiled from it, and, with a suddenly distorted face, full of rage, dashed past him as if to enter the tomb… If ever a face meant death, if looks could kill, we saw it at that moment....And [Arthur] …show more content…
Their inability to act as their normal selves and try to defend themselves in ways that they normally wouldn’t show us how Freud’s findings can be applied to Stoker’s famous story. They can also be applied to how we act, in non-supernatural circumstances. The human mind is a mysterious thing, yet we know a little more about it now. Through the description of personality, we can apply the human races’ usage of defense mechanisms in everyday life, and try to understand one another better than we could
The characters of Jonathan Harker and Lucy Westenra featured in Dracula by Bram Stoker attempt to conform to the social norms of the European Victorian era, however, occasionally the intellectual drive of the Eros and Thanatos tendencies of the Id surface …show more content…
When Quincey Morris, Dr. Van Helsing, Arthur Holmwood, and John Seward go to free Lucy of her devilish ways, she, “...saw us…[but] still advanced, however, and with a languorous, voluptuous grace, said, ‘Come to me, Arthur. Leave these others and come to me. My arms are hungry for you. Come, and we can rest together. Come, my husband, come!’ There was something diabolically sweet in her tones, something of the tinkling of glass when struck, which rang through the brains even of us who heard the words addressed to another.” (145.16) Lucy, in her immortal, vampire state, tries to seduce her fiancée, Arthur, although not for personal reasons, but to fulfill her vampiristic need to draw blood from her former love. Lucy is overcome with this new form of life, and therefore is unintentionally acting in a reaction-formation mechanism, and participating in tasks that she normally would. In addition, the Thanatos personification caused Lucy to act in abnormal, violent ways, “...as for Arthur, he seemed under a spell, moving his hands from his face, he opened wide his arms. She was leaping for them, when Van Helsing sprang forward and held between them his little golden crucifix. She recoiled from it, and, with a suddenly distorted face, full of rage, dashed past him as if to enter the tomb… If ever a face meant death, if looks could kill, we saw it at that moment....And [Arthur] …show more content…
Their inability to act as their normal selves and try to defend themselves in ways that they normally wouldn’t show us how Freud’s findings can be applied to Stoker’s famous story. They can also be applied to how we act, in non-supernatural circumstances. The human mind is a mysterious thing, yet we know a little more about it now. Through the description of personality, we can apply the human races’ usage of defense mechanisms in everyday life, and try to understand one another better than we could