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by Nathan Snaza

Interview with the Vampire (1976) is not the first major American vampire novel, but the two previous novels about vampires are steadfastly within a literary tradition from which Interview breaks in some important ways that forever change the course of literary history. The two previous texts are Richard Mathesson's I Am Legend (1954), which although it is explicitly about "vampires" is really more of a zombie novel, and Stephen King's Salem's Lot (published in 1975-the year before Interview).

Interview with the Vampire breaks with the tradition of literary vampires in two crucial ways. From the moment vampires travel from folklore to literary texts in Western European languages (roughly the end of the eighteenth century), the question "what is a vampire?" is almost always asked and the narrative viewpoints in the texts are unquestionably human. From Keat's "Lamia" to Bram Stoker's Dracula to relatively recent films like The Lost Boys, this question is asked so that the human protagonists can learn how to kill the vampires threatening them. Anne Rice's story is important because it is the first text in which the vampire speaks directly to the reader/listener and asks "what is a vampire?" about himself. I half-jokingly tell my "Vampires" students that we could think about it as the first vampire autobiography, or the first novel of vampire existential crisis. This makes it much easier to identify with Louis than with Stoker's Dracula (or any previous literary vampire).

This leads to the other crucial break from the tradition: the function played by "the boy" (Christian Slater in the film). Unlike almost all the humans in other vampire stories whose horror of the vampire only increases as they gain knowledge of it, the boy becomes more and more drawn to Louis. The more he hears. There are two main senses in which one could understand the noun "interview": a conversation to gather news information, and a conversation to ascertain qualifications for a position. Across the novel and the film, the conversation between Louis and the boy slides from the first into the second.

In Rice's story, there are three main ways we might consider the importance of New Orleans, one explicit and two more implicit. The first, which the novel narrates directly, is that New Orleans has a racially and culturally heterogeneous population, one that tolerates and even affirms all kinds of eccentricities and seeming excesses (and not just around Mardi Gras). Vampires like Lestat and Louis can therefore live there without standing out (at least not more than anyone else stands out).

Second, as part of the story's existential drama, Lestat continually tells Louis that "vampires reproduce through slavery." As many American Studies critics have demonstrated, this metaphorics of slavery and freedom takes on its particular meaning in the USA in relation to concrete racial slavery. Louis, before becoming a vampire, owns slaves and lives on a plantation. In other words, in order for Lestat's theory of vampire propagation to take on its full meaning, the narrative had to be set in a slave state. Lestat's assertion fills Louis with dread because he knows very, very well what slavery is.

Third, Louis explains directly in the novel that Paris is the "mother" of New Orleans. If you consider that Dracula sets out to take over London, the capital of Empire, at the end of the nineteenth century, it makes sense that vampires would seek their dominion in Paris in the eighteenth. After all, Paris was the petri dish that spawned "human rights," democratic political theory, high fashion, the restaurant, the encyclopedia, and so on. As critic Nina Auerbach puts it, "Vampires go where power is."

On a slightly different note, Interview with the Vampire introduces the idea of two "kinds" of vampires: those who are "all too human" like Louis, Lestat, etc. and mindless killing machines (in the novel they're called Revenants and they live in Eastern Europe). This distinction, in time, leads to some very interesting developments in Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Twilight, and True Blood. You can think about vampires like the Cullens in Twilight who are "vegetarians" and don't feed on human blood. Interview is really the first text to meditate extensively on the problem of what we could call "vampire ethics."
Work Cited
Auerbach, Nina. Our Vampires, Ourselves. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.

About swjones

Suzanne W. Jones is Professor of English and chair of the English Department at the University of Richmond. In the fall 2010 she taught an interdiscipliinary first-year seminar on "Americans in Paris."; in the spring 2013 she is teaching a seminar on "Literary New Orleans." Her articles on modern and contemporary literature have appeared in a number of journals and essay collections. She is the author of Race Mixing: Southern Fiction since the Sixties (2004) and the editor of three collections of essays -- Poverty and Progress in the U.S. South since 1920 with Mark Newman (2006), South to a New Place: Region, Literature, Culture with Sharon Monteith (2002) and Writing the Woman Artist: Essays on Poetics, Politics, and Portraiture (1991) -- and two collections of stories -- Crossing the Color Line: Readings in Black and White (2000) and Growing Up in the South (1991, 2003). Recently an essay on Barack Obama's memoir, Dreams from my Father, was published in the collection, The Obama Effect. Her most recent essay published in an online journal is "Imagining Jefferson and Hemings in Paris" (Transatlantica: Revue d'Études Américaines, 1 [2111] http://transatlantica.revues.org/5391).

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Interview with the Vampire and New Orleans in the Context of LIterary Vampires

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by Nathan Snaza Interview with the Vampire (1976) is not the first major American vampire novel, but the two previous novels about vampires are steadfastly within a literary tradition from which Interview breaks in some important ways that forever change the course of literary history.

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Here is the HSC webinar document used for our planning day.

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2018 New HSC Seminar Roadshow_Master_v4 (1)

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Please contribute...

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Some valuable info on the creation of critical readings of a text

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Some valuable info on the creation of critical readings of a text

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Dracula no longer bother to do so, because they are so familiar with the film adaptations. For this reason, it is possible to see, the book as a victim of its own success.

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Interview with a vampire Anne Rice: Part 1 of the novel

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Interview with a vampire Anne Rice: Part 1 of the novel

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In my Literature Class, we are reading the marvelous works of Bram Stoker. Though I thoroughly enjoy the novel, Dracula, and am highly engrossed by the characters and suspenseful plot, I have to admit to hating the Chapter Questions that come with every chapter.

Jonathan Harker is traveling from England towards where Transylvania, Moldavia and Bukovina meet. At first, he is traveling through the picturesque Eastern European countryside.

The woman tries to prevent him from traveling by reminding Harker that it is the eve of St. George's Day, when "all the evil things in the world will have full sway." She then gives him a crucifix and puts it around his neck. Though he doesn't believe that anything dangerous will happen, Harker politely accepts the crucifix.

Pg. 4 "At every station there were groups of people, sometimes crowds, in all sorts of attire. Some of them were just like the peasants at home or those I saw coming through France and Germany, with short jackets, and round hats, and homemade trousers; but others were very picturesque. The women looked pretty, except when you got near them, but they were very clumsy about the waist. They had all full white sleeves of some kind or other, and most of them had big belts with a lot of strips of something fluttering from them like the dresses in a ballet, but of course there were petticoats under them."

Science and technology were increasingly important to England at the turn of the 20th century. Scientific, logical reasoning was prized and valued by the people of the time. What evidence is there that the people in Transylvania are superstitious and do not share Harker's scientific thought process?

Unlike Harker, who is skeptical and believes in logic, the townspeople in Transylvania are superstitious. They give him a crucifix and whisper about him and mutter, "were-wolf" or "vampire" when they learn where he's traveling. They also give him small tokens and make a cross sign to protect him from the "evil eye."

The coachman is tall with a dark brown beard. He wears a large hat to conceal his face. His eyes are red under the lamplight. He has very red lips and white teeth. He has great hearing. When riding, Harker notices that they're repeating themselves. There are blue flames on the pathway, and Harker can see them through the coachman. The coachman also gets rid of the wolves. The reader can infer that the coachman is probably a vampire

Because I knew the typical characteristics of a vampire, I, being part of the audience, recognized that Dracula was indeed a vampire. This is given away by the description of both the coachman and Dracula (sharp teeth, red eyes, feared by wolves, not eating and not being seen in mirrors). Harker, not believing in the supernatural, doesn't know that Dracula is a vampire. When he gets locked in his room, I fear for Harker since I know that Dracula is a vampire and bloodthirsty.

When he shakes his hand, the Count shows immense strength, which the Coachman shared. He doesn't see any other servants in the building. Both have red lips, white sharp teeth and are tall.

The Count wants to move to London, but wants to properly speak the language before moving.

Harker is a solicitor and he came to Transylvania to help Count Dracula legally move to London and have a proper house.

The Count likes Carfax, because it's big, old and fairly isolated. The Count also wants homes in Exeter and Whitby (Yorkshire Coast).

There are no mirrors in the house. When Harker shaves, the Count interrupts him and Harker cuts himself. The Count lunges for his throat and can't be seen in the mirror.

He finds that the doors are locked, and realizes that Count Dracula did this so Harker cannot find a way out of the castle.
Chapter 3-4

He learns that Count Dracula was making his bed and setting the table for dinner. This leads him to believe that there are no servants or other people in the house. Also, the coachman was confirmed to be Dracula.

They gave him religious symbols to save him (crucifix, garlic, wild rose, and mountain ash).

3. Harker records a portion of Dracula's tale about Transylvania's history in his journal.As Dracula speaks, Harker studies him.What is revealed about Dracula while he talks?Who do we find out is Dracula's famous ancestor?

Dracula talks as though he was there during the battles and wars with the Turks his ancestors fought.Dracula claims he is a descendent of Attila the Hun.

4. Dracula wants Harker to stay at Castle Dracula for a month.Why does Harker agree to this request?Dracula also orders Harker to write only about business matters in his letters, implying that he plans to read the letters before mailing them.How does Harker defy Dracula's orders?

Harker agrees to stay, because he realized that he had no other options and it would give him a month longer to live. Harker writes the letters Dracula wants, as well as two others meant for Mina and Hawkins.

"What manner of man is this, or what manner of creature, is it in the semblance of man?I feel the dread of this horrible place overpowering me; I am in fear-in awful fear-and there is no escape for me; I am encompassed about with terrors that I dare not think of...

What does Harker observe about Dracula's behavior that finally convinces him that Dracula is a "creature" rather than a man?

He sees that Dracula crawling like a lizard down the castle walls and spreading his wings.

Dracula tells Jonathan when to date his letters, and they stop at June 12 th.

Jonathan tries to send the letters home by giving them to a Szgany, but the man just gives it to Dracula. Dracula opens them in front of Jonathan and reads them. He says he will deliver the one to Peter, but burns the letter to Mina. Dracula removes the letters and papers in Harker's room, because he doesn't want to risk Harker getting help to escape or ruining his trip to London.

The conquests that Dracula won with his family during Battles with the Turks and other ethnic groups. Since the money is so old, it implies that Dracula has been alive for centuries.

9. Some critics believe that in some ways the character of Count Dracula is an evil parallel to Christian beliefs. For example, as a vampire, Count Dracula drinks blood. Central to some Christian beliefs is the Eucharist, when bread and wine are consecrated and distributed as the body and blood of Jesus. In what other ways might the character of Count Dracula parallel Christian beliefs?

Dracula sleeps in a ruined chapel, which is a place where many Christians prey. He, like Jesus, died and was resurrected (Jesus came back to try and save lives and Dracula came back to take lives and drink their blood).

Dracula can vanish into thin air, he can conjure fog, and he is immune to knife stabs.

...old Mr. Swales was found dead this morning on our seat, his neck being broken.He had evidently, as the doctor said, fallen back in the seat in some sort of fright, for there was a look of fear and horror on his face that the men said made them shudder.Poor dear old man!Perhaps he had seen Death with his dying eyes!

What does this passage imply about the cause of Mr. Swales' death?

Mr. Swales probably saw Dracula do something evil, and being nearly 100 and skeptical, died of fright.

Lucy starts sleepwalking horribly and becomes paler and less lively. She also gets upset when seeing the dog growling during the funeral, which may be her denying to herself the memory of Dracula (who can transform into a dog).

4. The settings for this story help to advance the story's plot and themes.For example, Dracula's new home in England is next door to an insane asylum.This proximity helps Stoker advance the theme of madness in this novel.Why do you suppose the incident with Dracula and Lucy takes place on Lucy and Mina's seat near the graveyard?

It may take place near the graveyard, because graveyards are a resting place of Christians to stay pure and venture into heaven. Since Dracula is a bit like the FOIL of Christ, then it makes sense that Lucy's darker encounters and corruption happens close to a holy place.

I think it's to confirm that Dracula is moving in on England. He was looking at the mansion in Carfax with Harker and is known to sleep in boxes filled with Transylvanian dirt.

Harker is in a hospital with brain fever and is now being taken care of in Budapest.

Renfield starts muttering cryptic things about "Master" and following his wishes. He then escapes to a chapel and begs for "Master".

Picturesque Setting: The setting in England is a quaint town filled with friendly people, who are rational and innovative thinkers. When Dracula comes to the town, he actually brings a storm and fog, which may represent evil coming in.

Supernatural: It's clear by now that Dracula is a vampire, who can shape shift, is immortal, and can lure people to follow him.

Good vs. Evil: As well as pitting Dracula, the epitome of evil, against a group of fairly one-dimensional good men, Dr. Seward struggles with inner dilemmas (addiction, curiosity vs. cruelness).

Lower Class Females vs Aristocratic Men: Lucy, being the more flirtatious and desired of the two, is fairly quickly seduced by Dracula, an aristocrat vampire. She begins to sleepwalk and let him feed on her, which may represent her purity being ruined. She also describes the occurrences to be pleasant and becomes happy after being drained.

Jonathan gives Mina his journal, because he believes that marriage is a bond between two people, which includes secrets. Mina ends up sealing the diary with wax and will only open it for Jonathan or someone else's sake.

It supports the theme of self-madness. Jonathan starts muttering nonsense and doesn't remember his affairs in Transylvania. I predict that this brain-fever will probably make Jonathan doubt himself more and will be confronted when he reencounters Dracula.

He goes to a chapel in Carfax. Considering that it's a chapel and Renfield becomes clam at a sight of a bat, I'm guessing that he's escaping to find Dracula.

Holmwood asks Dr. Seward to look after the ill Lucy. Not finding any cause to her weak state, he writes his old mentor, Professor Van Helsing.Initially, the Professor cannot determine the cause, though he is troubled by the effects and tells Dr. Seward to write him daily.

Aurthur is tending to his deathly-sick father. Lucy must hide her illness from her mother, because her mother is elderly, sick and also dying (though Lucy doesn't know).

6. Dr. Seward uses his powers of observation to try and diagnose Renfield.What conclusion does he draw about the effect of the sun on Renfield?In what sense is this conclusion an example of dramatic irony?

At noon, Renfield goes back to being fairly docile and catching/eating flies and spiders. At sunset, he throws all his sugar and flies away, saying that he's "sick of all that rubbish." Dr. Seward concludes that the sun's positions may have something to do with this odd behavior. This is dramatic irony, since readers know Dracula is most weak during the daytime, but becomes powerful when night falls. It may mean that Renfield is under Dracula's control, and when Dracula is the weakest, he goes back to being a zoophagus.

7. One of the themes in this book is that the scientific, logical methods of the West are insufficient to recognize the nature of supernatural evil.Man must combine both the folklore and superstitions of the East with the logic of the West to fight Dracula.What evidence is there in this chapter that Van Helsing suspects Lucy is the victim of a vampire?In what ways does he employ both the logic of science and the knowledge of folklore to try to save her?

He uses both science and traditional superstitions to try and ward off Dracula. To try and keep Lucy alive, Van Helsing does two blood transfusions, which was a pretty modern medical procedure of the time. Once Van Helsing predicts that the cause is a vampire, he prevents Dracula from attacking Lucy by spreading garlic all throughout her room and making her wear a garlic necklace.

8. Van Helsing is an important character in the story.Through him, Stoker makes observations about life.For example, Van Helsing is cautioning Seward to take careful notes because "...knowledge is stronger than memory, and we should not trust the weaker."Fine one additional example of Van Helsing's observations or generalizations about life.

On page 145, when he suggests that Seward take good notes, Van Helsing says, "We learn from failure, not success!" This message can be applied to many situations and is famous enough to be used on inspirational posters today (because that is obviously the standard for famous quotes).

My friend John, when the corn is grown, even before it has ripened-while the milk of its mother-earth is in him, and the sunshine has not yet begun to paint him with his gold, the husbandman he pull the ear and rub him between his rough hands, and blow away the green chaff, and say to you: 'Look! he's good corn; he will make good crop when the time comes'...The good husbandman tell you so then because he knows, but not till then.But you do not find the good husbandman dig up his planted corn to see if he grow; that is for the children who play at husbandry, and not for those who take it as the work of their life.See you now friend John?I have sown my corn, and Nature has her work to do in making it sprout; if he sprout at all, there's some promise, and I wait till the ear begins to swell.

The corn represents Van Helsing's hypothesis that Lucy is being attacked by a vampire. Since this is a fairly unheard of idea, Helsing wants to wait to tell people until he's sure that he's correct by preforming experiments (placing garlic around the room). He's reassuring Seward that he needs to let nature sort itself out and then tell.
Chapter 13-14

Van Helsing wants to take out Lucy's heart and cut off her head. After finding out that someone stole the crucifix from Lucy's body, Van Helsing decides that he and Seward must wait a bit longer.

He wants the papers, because they may tell him the cause of Lucy's death or at least confirm his suspicions.

After seeing the Count in the park, Jonathan becomes visibly unstable and shaken. He then goes into a deep sleep and afterwards remembers nothing.

In The Westminster Gazette, there is a report of several children abductions. When the children return, they say that it was a pretty woman who took them and have two marks on their necks. Being a reader, I know that Van Helsing was right, and Lucy has become a vampire.

After seeing Jonathan's reaction when he sees Dracula, she decides to read his journal from Transylvania. She then transcribes the journal in both shorthand and regular so others can read his journal. Lastly, she gets help for Jonathan from Van Helsing, who eventually restores Jonathan's memories.

6. Professor Van Helsing and Dr. Seward have a conversation about the puncture wounds on the necks of the lost children.Dr. Seward concludes that the children are being attacked by the same attacker as Lucy, but Van Helsing tries to get Dr. Seward to see another possibility.What flaw in modern science does Professor Van Helsing point out to Dr. Seward in this conversation?Find a quote that shows Van Helsing's point.Identify the literary term used in the quotation.What thesis is the professor trying to get Dr. Seward to believe in?

Van Helsing goes on a rant about the flaw in modern science-people are closing off their minds, because they figure out a small fact and don't look for the big truth."Can you tell me how the Indian fakir can make himself to die and have been buried, and his grave sealed and corn sowed on it, and the corn reaped and the cut and sown and reaped and sown again, and then the men come and take away the unbroken seal, and that there lie the Indian fakir, not dead, but that rise up and walk amongst them as before?" In this quote, Van Helsing uses an allegory to try and show Seward that Lucy isn't dead and is feeding on these children.
Chapter 15-16

"For a while sheer anger mastered me. It was as if he had during her life struck Lucy on the face. I smote the table hard and rose up as I said to him, "Dr. Van Helsing, are you mad?"-At first Dr. Seward is highly skeptical of Van Helsing's theory and thinks he many be insane for about half the chapter.

"This staggered me. A man does not like to prove such a truth..."-Dr. Seward continues to disbelieve Van Helsing.

To get Dr. Seward to accept that Lucy is a vampire Van Helsing and Dr. Seward visit with one of the "missing" children who have identical bite marks, look inside Lucy's tomb to find her missing, see a "white streak" and a kid and the find Lucy back in her tomb.

He plans to stake her and cut off her head and stuff it with garlic.

Van Helsing wants Arthur to know about Lucy being a vampire, because he wants Arthur to help him destroy that side of Lucy and thinks it fair considering that he was her fiancée.

Arthur is upset when Van Helsing tells him about his plans for Lucy's body.He considers it his duty to protect Lucy's body from mutilation.List two arguments Van Helsing uses to persuade Arthur to come with him to Lucy's tomb.

Van Helsing argues that he also promised to do what is best for Lucy and has given a lot of time and energy to saving her purity, he also argues that he's doing it for Lucy's sake.

The group goes to Lucy's grave and sees Lucy drinking a child's blood, being seductive and cruel and shy away from the crucifix.

List three reasons Lucy must be killed.For what reasons is Arthur the one who drives the stake into Lucy?

Lucy must be killed so she won't spread the evil, her soul will be released and save the children.

In earlier chapters, incidents suggest an evil parallel between Dracula and Christianity.Read the following excerpts from this chapter, which refer to Christianity or Christian symbols and practices.Based on these passages, what do you think the role of Christianity and Christian values might be for the remainder of the book?

"He crumbled up the wafer fine and worked it into the mass between his hands.This he then took, and rolling it into thin strips, began to lay them into the crevices between the door and its setting in the tomb" (p. 174).

"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" (p. 176).

"But of the most blessed of all, when this now Un-Dead be made to rest as true dead, then the soul of the poor lady whom we love shall again be free.Instead of working wickedness by night and growing more debased in the assimilating of it by day, she shall take her place with the other Angels" (p. 178).

Christian values seem to protect the group against the vampires, which represent pure evil and Antichrist. For example, both Lucy and Dracula are powerless against Christian symbols (Crucifixes, Vatican approved cookies, and Rosaries). The main purpose of killing Lucy was to try and bring back Lucy's purity and wholeness with God.

At the end of the chapter, Van Helsing says, "Now, my friends, one step of our work is done..."What is the next step in their work?

The overall theme of this book is the conflict between good and evil.At this point in the story what tools are available to the good men who are trying to fight Dracula.

As well as having the physical tools to counteract Dracula (garlic, crucifixes, stakes), the English men also have bravery, Christ, science and observation and a larger group.
Chapter 17-18

1. Before Chapter XVII, the reader knows more about the events in the story than the characters in the story.Through the journal entries, the reader knows all, but the participants only understand pieces of the story.The structure of the novel supports this dramatic irony.What indications are there in this chapter that Stoker's liberal use of the dramatic irony to add suspense and interest to the story is going to come to an end?

The characters piece together that Renfield is helping Dracula and that Dracula was hiding out right next to Dr. Seward's asylum. This use of dramatic irony adds to the storyline, because if they characters had known, Lucy would have probably survived and they would have defeated Dracula.

Mina comforts Arthur, who only feels comfortable breaking down in front of a woman, about Lucy's death.

3. Why does Mina ask to see Renfield?In what ways does his behavior change in her presence?

Mina asks to see Renfield out of curiosity and because of his connection with Dracula. When she arrives, Renfield acts courteous and sane. He also eats all his flies and spiders prior to her arrival.

Good-bye, and I hope I may see you often, under auspices pleasanter to yourself," to which, to my [Dr. Seward's] astonishment, he replied: -"Good-bye, my dear, I pray God I may see your sweet face again.May He bless and keep you!"

Why do you suppose Renfield prays he will never see Mina again?

I think that Renfield knows that he's helping Dracula do horrible things and feels regret. He shows this by sympathizing for Mina and her life.

"Ah, that wonderful Madam Mina!She has man's brain-a brain that a man should have were he much gifted-and a woman's heart.The good God fashioned her for a purpose, believe me, when He made that so good combination.Friend John, up to now fortune had made that woman of help to us; after tonight she must not have to do with this so terrible affair.It is not good that she run a risk so great.We men are determined-nay, are we not pledged-to destroy this monster but it is no part for a woman.Even if she be not harmed, her heart may fail her in so much and so many horrors; and hereafter she may suffer-both in waking, from her nerves, and in sleep, from her dreams.And, besides, she is young woman and not so long married; there may be other things to think of some time, if not now.You tell me she has wrote all, then she must consult with us, but tomorrow she say goodbye to this work, and we go alone."

One overall theme of this novel is the conflict between good and evil.Understanding this theme and based on the Professor's words, why do you think Mina is described in this way?What does this description imply or foreshadow about the events to come?

Mina is described as having a man's brain and a woman's heart to provide contrast from the other characters (Lucy being the epitome of girly, and the rest being described as true men). Unfortunately, because of the sexist views the Victorians had, Mina wasn't allowed to participate in hunting Dracula. However, the description of her being susceptible to the horrors of Dracula may hint that she'll be his next victim.

He has unbelievable physical strength, can see in the dark, can vanish and reappear, can change his shape at his will, can control animals and the weather near him.

The Professor and the Others have science, knowledge and freedom.

Before his vampire days, Dracula was still known for his cunningness and defeated the Turks for the "land beyond the forest". It is said that his family line was quite accomplished but known for their dealings with the devil.

He plans to get Dracula at his weakest (daylight and not sleeping) and then shooting him with a magical bullet or driving a stake through his heart.

"You don't know what you do by keeping me here.I am speaking from the depths of my heart, of my very soul.You don't know whom you wrong, or how; and I may not tell.Woe is me!I may not tell.By all you hold sacred-by all you hold dear-by your love that is lost-by your hope that lives-for the sake of the Almighty, take me out of this and save my soul from guilt!"

What possible future guilt do you think Renfield is referring to in this passage?

I think Renfeild knows that Dracula is preying after Mina and wants to protect her.

What do the men encounter when they open the door to the chapel at Carfax?How many boxes are left?How many are missing?

They smell a horrible smell and start to have rats spill out of corners of the chapel. There are 29 remaining boxes, which mean that 21 were moved.

A good novel must be believable in both terms of the novel's plot and in the actions of the characters.The reader understands that Dracula is infecting Mina.Jonathan notes that Mina "looks paler than usual" and like someone "who has been waked out of a bad dream."These observations, coupled with Renfield's strange behavior, lead the reader to understand that Mina is coming under Dracula's power; yet, Mina herself is unaware of this influence.Discuss whether or not you find her ignorance of Dracula's presence in her life to be believable.

No, I don't think it's believable for many reasons. For one, she is known for being smart and attentive and actually comments about the mist materializing into vampires and red eyes. Also, all the men were commenting about her lethargy, but didn't think that Dracula could have anything to do with it... even though they were all over Lucy's illness.

For what reasons does Mina regret taking a sleeping opiate?

She blames the sleep opiate for the vivid dreams.

What information does Jonathan learn concerning the whereabouts of the boxes missing from Carfax?Why does he come to believe that it is important that all the boxes be destroyed quickly?

Harker realizes that 12 of the boxes were transferred to two houses on opposite sides of London. The other 9 boxes were located in a house in Piccadilly. They need to quickly destroy the boxes, because they have spread far enough so Dracula can terrorize almost all of London and its surrounding areas.

Renfield and Dr. Seward talk at length about souls in this chapter.What conclusions does Dr. Seward draw from Renfield's ravings?

Dr. Seward concludes that Renfield is struggling with the idea of eating a human, which is an animal with a soul. He wants life, but worries the consequences of eating a soul. This reaffirms that he is working with Dracula in some way.

Find a passage in this chapter that supports the theme of madness.

"I think that through the cloudiness of his insanity he saw some antagonism in me, for he at once fell back on the last refuge of such as he-a dogged silence."- pg 318

In the following excerpt from Dr. Seward's diary, Renfield is talking about souls:

"To hell with you and your souls!" he shouted."Why do you plague me about souls!Haven't I got enough to worry, and pain, to distract me already, without thinking of souls!"He looked so hostile that I thought he was in for another homicidal fit, so I blew my whistle.The instant, however, that I did so he became calm, and said apologetically:-

"Forgive me, Doctor; I forgot myself.You do not need any help.I am so worried in my mind that I am apt to be irritable.If you only knew the problem I have to face, and that I am working out, you would pity, and tolerate, and pardon me."

What problem do you think Renfield is trying to work out?

He probably is struggling with the idea of helping Dracula and following in his footsteps. Though he believes that eating life will continue his life, he worries about the souls humans have. This probably is referring to Dracula's new prey, Mina.

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In my Literature Class, we are reading the marvelous works of Bram Stoker. Though I thoroughly enjoy the novel, Dracula, and am highly engrossed by the characters and suspenseful plot, I have to admit to hating the Chapter Questions that come with every chapter.

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The Gothic Scope and Sequence Updated Jan 11

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The Gothic Scope and Sequence Updated Jan 11

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THE GOTHIC Scope and Sequence Outline jan 11

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Gin Homebush  EXT1 Yr11 Scope and Sequence Nita

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Extension 1 Assessment task Notifications (1).docx

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Repressive bodies, transgressive bodies-Dracul and the feminine

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Repressive bodies, transgressive bodies-Dracul and the feminine

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Curious Incident Dog Night-Time — Mark Haddon (Interview+Mp3 Link)

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http://annerice.com/Bookshelf-Interview.html

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Changes made to Gullivers travels for children’s books/ Icelandic lack of cuts

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Changes made to Gullivers travels for children’s books/ Icelandic lack of cuts

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(2006) is as much of a fairytale as it is a story about how fairytales, and stories in general, clash with the fascism of post-Civil War Spain. Captain Vidal (Sergi López), the fascist antagonist, stands in the way of Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), the protagonist, as she fights to save her unborn brother, win her freedom, and reclaim her role as princess of the underworld. is constructed within two parallel worlds, the temporal and the fantasy, but through a critical viewing of both, the viewer can deduce plenty of implicit meaning. These two worlds are polar opposites that repel each other to the core, and through the various techniques employed in Pan's Labyrinth - the symbolism, the images, and the metaphors - the viewer can extrapolate a clear-cut message. The ideas of control (represented by time, ritual, fascism and religion) and permanence (represented by stories, youthful imagination and fantasy) clash and result in an unambiguous conclusion: stories are what make us human and fascism, being anti-story, is anti-human.

Ofelia and Vidal are rarely in the same shot and - though Del Toro would argue with me on this - that is because they aren't necessarily occupying the same physical realm for a substantial amount of the film. But the initial encounter between the two is a significant shot. The first time we see Ofelia, it is actually a shot of her hand turning the page of a book, just as the first time we see Vidal he is holding his watch - we are immediately introduced to the ideals that the protagonist and the antagonist come to represent. Vidal meets Ofelia as she steps out of the car with her mother and the encounter is anything but a warm embrace. Ofelia is noticeably distraught; she holds tightly to her satchel of books and extends her left hand to the captain for him to shake it. Vidal squeezes the hand of Ofelia and scolds her for not following etiquette, as she failed to present her right hand.

Etiquette might be too frail a word, actually; maybe we should call it protocol. Much can be taken from this scene; Ofelia is physically clutching to her stories, which is what she will come to represent, just as Vidal is adhering to rigid conformity and tradition as symbolized by the handshake and his pocket watch, which is symbolic of what he will come to represent - more on this later.

Speaking of rigid, this scene also introduces Vidal's menacing, severe on-screen presence. His leather boots and gloves twist and crackle with every movement. This is an intentional technique by whoever mixed the sound; it characterizes Vidal as a frightening man to be around, and we hear this enhancement every time he's on the screen.

Ofelia begins her fairytale, which exists inside of the overarching fairytale, by recounting the story of the blue mountain rose to her unborn baby brother. She laments of the magic rose on top of a mountain, surrounded by poisonous thorns. "Men talked amongst themselves about their fear of death, and pain," she tells him, "but never about the promise of eternal life. And every day, the rose wilted, unable to bequeath its gift to anyone... forgotten and lost at the top of that cold, dark mountain, forever alone, until the end of time."

Ofelia's fairytale mirrors the tumultuous, oppressed existence of those in fascist Spain. The regime Vidal leads is empowered by fear, which keeps citizens complacent. This scene, that of Ofelia's rose-story, is in a symbolic setting - the people of Spain are the men in the story, the blue flower is their political freedom and the thorns around the rose is the fascist regime.

Just as her story is ending, we see Vidal, alone in his office tending to his broken pocket watch. Actually, Vidal's office wall is the interior of a waterwheel, which looks striking similar to the inside of a clock. Vidal is obsessed with the passage of time; he lives by its restrictions and, moreover, he is aware of them. He is constantly and meticulously tending to the pocket watch throughout the film.

The watch obsession also parallels his obsession with death. Though, ideologically, Vidal cannot admit it - he actually denies it at the dinner party - his entire existence is basically reduced to the story of his father, who died and broke the pocket watch. He knows he is just living to die, he's counting the seconds and he hates himself for it. He charges up the hill into gunfire, calmly acknowledging that it is "the only decent way to die," and he slices his reflection in the vanity mirror while shaving - it's almost as if he wants to die.

Vidal's watch is not the only running clock in the movie, however. The running clock that drives the movie is that which Ofelia must follow. Her quest must be completed by the time the full moon arrives, which is the film element that ties the two worlds together.

In addition to Ofelia's story about the rose; other aspects of the fairytale also mimic the fascist world of Vidal, the ones where she encounters monsters in particular. Ofelia's first quest is quite deserving of a critical reading as it ties together aspects of Ofelia's life in the real world and the lives of the oppressed citizens of Spain.

Ofelia must retrieve a key from the belly of a massive, quite disgusting toad. This monster resides inside the hollow of a tree; we also are told that it is killing the tree. This monster and its relationship to the tree can come to represent two things. It could be symbolic of the fascist regime, the toad eating away at the country and its people - the tree, or it could be symbolic of something much more specific in regards to Ofelia.

If we go about reading Ofelia's fairytale as an interpretation of the world around her we could go as far as to say the fig tree is her mother and the toad is Capitan Vidal. The entrance to the tree looks strikingly similar to a woman's vagina. We already know that Ofelia views her mother not as being pregnant but rather, as she literally says, "sick with baby." Her mother is, as we find out later, suffering from very serious pregnancy complications, and we must also consider the fact that Ofelia is stuck in this situation because Capitan Vidal's son is in the womb of her mother. This interpretation is much more consistent with Ofelia's understanding of the world around her and it also presents Vidal, the fascist, as a much more personal foe to Ofelia, the story teller.

Vidal also unmistakably comes to represent the monster that Ofelia encounters under the trapdoor that which creates to accomplish her second task. This scene precisely mirrors the dinner scene that occurs before it, right down to the setting. To dissect this scene and give it meaning one must consider practically everything. The sand clock that Ofelia must beat in order for her to return to the bedroom is yet another time device that appears in the movie. It is correct to connect this to Vidal, who is so inexorably tied to the inflexible concept of time; in this horrific dungeon Ofelia must obey the rules of the monster at the head of the table, who is representative of Vidal, and the passage of time. But before we delve into what happens to Ofelia in the dungeon we must discuss the earlier dinner scene.

At the "actual" dinner scene two stories are recounted aloud, and each time Vidal shoots them down as nonsense. "Please forgive my wife," he tells the table after the story of how the two met. "She hasn't been exposed to the world." And when his greatest fear, his personal dilemma, his curse, is revealed, he denies it, "Nonsense," he says. "He didn't own a watch."

Likewise, the Pale Man, metaphorically, destroys the stories he encounters. Catching the fairies out the air, he bites their heads off after almost shooing them away, killing them just as Vidal did the "nonsense" that he overheard at the dinner table. "I am here because I chose to be," Vidal retorts, and we know that, like the Pale Man, he is not. He is there to guard the table, to destroy any hint of imagination or freedom of will. Del Toro's commentary on life under Franco's fascist regime is pretty clear: it's a meaningless, violent, angry and repetitive routine that keeps citizens living in fear and the leaders living to die. It's actually not unlike the bore of maintaining a broken pocket watch.

The scene in the dungeon also depicts cryptic images along the walls reminiscent of "La Via Crucis," or the "Stations of the Cross," which are a prominent fixture of paintings that line the walls of most Roman Catholic churches. Actually the fantasy realm replication of the dinner scene in many ways is reminiscent of a church; there are vaulted ceilings in the hall leading to the table, Romanesque paintings, Doric columns and, as mentioned above, the Stations of the Cross. During the actual dinner there is a Catholic priest seated next to Vidal. He blindly agrees with everything Vidal says. Actually, everyone does, but the priest adds some cheap religious comment that makes him sound unmistakably and utterly apathetic. In discussing the reduced food supply for citizens, the priest is the first to acknowledge that it will be OK, because they need to stop food from getting to the rebels. When Vidal is talking about the rebels and how they all need to be killed, the priest again gives his pious opinion to the group of fortunate guests who are seated at the feast - "God has already saved their souls, what happens to their bodies hardly matters to Him." It certainly depends on how one views religious thinking, but the statement can unquestionably be viewed as dogmatic and anti-human.

After all the juxtaposed images and symbols of stories and time and their relation to what is going on in this post-war fascist Spain, we are left with the task of evaluating both under the scope of theme. What message is Pan's Labyrinth trying to convey? This is where the beginning and the end of the movie come together to finally punch out the message. Technically Pan's Labyrinth begins where it ends, with Ofelia on the ground in the labyrinth bleeding from the nose. Although, it is quite clear that the film is being reversed; moreover, time is being reversed. Del Toro is essentially breaking the rules of time - rules Vidal lives by - to imply something about stories: their permanence.

Ironically the only people who have the luxury of stories are Ofelia and Vidal. Even Mercedes, the Ofelia of the ephemeral "real world," admits that she once read stories, but can't any longer; Ofelia's mother remarks early in the film that where she is going doesn't have need of stories. The captain lives to continue the tradition of his father, to pass on the watch to his son and continue what is essentially his story, although his story is literally nothing but the acknowledgement that he has died, an acknowledgment that his time has ended. He expects it to play out that way. When the doctor asks him how he is so certain the child his wife is carrying is a male, he responds bluntly, as if it were a joke, "don't fuck with me."

Looking back to Ofelia's story about the rose we notice that even she acknowledges that the men will go on living without ever achieving immortal life, "until the end of time." When a protagonist dies, it is generally perceived as a tragedy unless something grand is accomplished. It is not so absurd to presume that Ofelia has metaphorically succeeded in "ending time." The shot that goes in reverse is the start of the film's ephemeral realm, i.e. the "real world" that is the world guided by the rules of time. Ofelia has herself become a fairytale, something that is not governed by time; as the narrator notes during the end of the film - "...And she left behind small traces of her time on earth, visible only to those who know where to look."

Pan's Labyrinth is as much of a fairytale as it is homage to the power of fairytales. For Del Toro, himself also a teller of stories, stories are the lifeblood of culture, they are the wonder of human existence, a part of us that cannot die, one that isn't governed by the restrictions of the natural world. The worlds of Capitan Vidal and Ofelia are conflicting opposites that repel one another to the core, and through the various techniques employed in Pan's Labyrinth - the symbolism, the images, and the metaphors - the viewer can extrapolate a clear-cut message: Stories last forever, and you really can't beat that.

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Fairytales, Fascism, and understanding symbolism in Pan's Labyrinth

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ENLACE: http://www.moving-cinema.com/2011/08/fairytales-fascism-and-understanding.html Fairytales, Fascism, and understanding symbolism in Pan's Labyrinth. The Pale Man -- one of the many monstrous metaphors for fascism and evil in "Pan's Labyrinth." By Colin Walsh Pan's Labyrinth (2006) is as much of a fairytale as it is a story about how fairytales, and stories in general, clash with the fascism of post-Civil...

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Pan's Labyrinth: Into the Maze of Franco's Spain | ScreenPrism

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Through the use of allegorical real-life and fantastical villains, Guillermo Del Toro highlights the crushing impact that Francoist Spain had on the freedom and imagination of its citizens.

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I lost track of how many times I have seen Pan's Labyrinth while using it as a case study for my Master's thesis: I watched it at normal speed, on high speed, with commentary, and without; I watched all the DVD extras, then watched them again. After I had defended my thesis, my wife asked me what I wanted to watch. I replied, "One more time, all the way through." Since then, I've viewed it in six different courses as my end-of-term movie (I realize students stop reading several weeks before the end of term, so I prefer to work with that problem, not against it). And when students ask me if I'm tired of watching it, I reply, "No. Every time I watch it, I see something new."

I've met a number of people who cannot imagine someone subjecting themselves to an encore viewing, let alone so many they lose count. These viewers dislike Pan's Labyrinth for its darkness, for the sorrow and tragedy of its ending. They find the brutality of Captain Vidal abhorrent (and well they should). Like Stephen King, they are terrified by the Pale Man. For many, the film's darkness overshadows the light; consequently, viewers are often repulsed by it. I love Pan's Labyrinth for its darkness, sorrow, and brutality. Without those harsh elements the film would be a milquetoast modern fairytale, as tame as The Lady in the Water: a tale of wide-eyed wonder without the wolf.

Fairy tales are often stripped of their darkest and most threatening elements, or transformed into complex morality tales to mirror current values, the victim of an overprotective industry of children's literature. This is not a new development. To make fairy tales more suitable for young audiences, editors in Victorian England altered the tales, omitting events or elements they deemed too harsh. While many children's fairy tale collections include a version of Little Red Riding Hood in which the huntsman comes to the rescue before the wolf attacks, the Brothers Grimm's tale of Little Red Cap describes the "dear little girl whom everyone loved" being "gobbled up" quite suddenly. The wolf eventually meets his demise following an abrupt caesarean section rescue, compounded by a lethal case of massive gall stones courtesy of Little Red Cap, while in another version, Little Red Cap baits the wolf into drowning.

In some modern versions of Little Red Riding Hood, the wolf's violent demise is replaced by a hasty getaway. Patricia Richards, in an article titled "Don't Let a Good Scare Frighten You: Choosing and Using Quality Chillers to Promote Reading," notes that the alteration of the wolf's fate from execution to evasion is perceived as "less violent and less frightening, but children found it scarier because the threat of the wolf remains unresolved." Rather than finding gory or horrific details of devoured heroes or drowned villains terrifying, children reported they found "stories with no endings as frightening. "

If ambiguity over the demise of the villain is maintained, then a sense of horror remains. This is a standard trope of the horror movie, utilized for the utilitarian possibility of the money-making sequel, but artistically for a sense of lingering dread. The audience feels a sense of relief when Rachel Keller, the heroine of The Ring seems to have assuaged the vengeance-driven ghost-child Samara; the major-key musical swell tells us they all lived happily-ever-after. This moment is shattered when Rachel returns home to tell her son Aidan all is well, only to have the hollow-eyed Aidan reply, "You weren't supposed to help her. Don't you understand, Rachel? She never sleeps." The ensuing nightmare return of Samara onscreen has become an iconic moment in horror.

As a director, Guillermo Del Toro is well suited to dealing with horror in his fairy tale; his filmography prior to Pan's Labyrinth, without exception, depicts a struggle between good and evil, from the subtle and nuanced Devil's Backbone to the comic book morality of Hellboy, to the monstrous villains of Cronos, Blade II, and Mimic.

Captain Vidal, the wicked stepfather of Pan's Labyrinth, serves both as the real-world, real-life villain within the film's ontology of Franco's Spain, and also the cipher by which the monstrosities of faerie can be understood. The two monsters of Pan's Labyrinth, the Monstrous Toad and the Pale Man, can be read as expressions of Vidal's monstrosity, viewed through the childsight lens of Faerie. Ofelia's entrance into the colossal fig tree inhabited by the Monstrous Toad presents a subtle sexual imagery. The entrance to the tree is shaped like a vaginal opening with its curved branches resembling fallopian tubes, a resemblance which Del Toro himself points out in the DVD commentary. The tree's sickened state mirrors her pregnant mother's fragile condition, further manifested by a vision of blood-red tendrils creeping across the page of Ofelia's magic book. This vision occurs immediately prior to Ofelia's mother's collapse due to a complication in the pregnancy, as copious amounts of blood run from between her legs.

The connection between the Tree and Ofelia's mother is overt, and intentional, on Del Toro's part. These images are symbolic markers for the sexual union between Ofelia's mother and Vidal. Vidal is the giant toad, who has entered the tree out of lustful appetites, slowly killing the tree through its "insatiable appetite" for the pill bugs within. Vidal is a subtle Bluebeard-while he does not actively cannibalize Ofelia's mother, his obsession with a male progeny is effectively her undoing. The tree was once a shelter for the magical creatures of the forest, as Ofelia's mother once was shelter for her. Ofelia's tasks can be seen both as trials to secure her return to her Faerie kingdom, as well as reflections of the harsh realities she experiences.

Captain Vidal is Del Toro's gender reversal of the wicked step mother. Marina Warner notes that in many traditional fairy tales "the good mother dies at the beginning of the story" only to be "supplanted by a monster." Here, the good father is dead, leaving the beast father to fill the void. From his first moment onscreen Vidal expresses an authoritarian patriarchal presence, exuding a classic machismo partnered with the harsh male violence expressed with multiple visual cues: his immaculate fascist military uniform and a damaged pocket watch, allegedly rescued from the field of battle where Vidal's dying father smashed it, so his son would know the hour of his violent death in combat; Vidal tells his officers that to die in battle is the only real way for a man to die, as he storms confidently into a hail of rebel bullets. His blind confidence that his unborn child is a son bespeaks his utter patriarchy: when the local doctor asks how Vidal can be so certain that the unborn child is a boy, Vidal places a ban on further discussion or inquiry by replying, "Don't fuck with me." His obsession with producing a son is nearly thwarted by his own unrestrained violence when he kills the doctor for assisting a tortured prisoner to die, requiring a troop paramedic to preside over the delivery, ostensibly resulting in his wife's death. This obsession with a male progeny is the true motivation for Vidal's sexual union with Ofelia's mother: his appetite is for food and consumption, rather than for sexual contact. Ofelia's mother is simply another object to devour, like the Tree; once she is used as a vessel for Vidal's son, she is no longer of use. When it becomes clear that the delivery has gone mortally wrong, Vidal urges the field medic overseeing the birth to save the child at the expense of the mother's life.

The Pale man is another symbol of the consuming aspect of Vidal's nature. This sick, albino creature presides over a rich, bountiful feast, but eats only the blood of innocents. Del Toro's commentary reveals that the geometry of the Pale Man's dining room is the same as Vidal's: a long rectangle with a chimney at the back and the monster at the head of the table. Like the Pale Man, Vidal also dines on the blood of innocents. He cuts the people's rations, supposedly to hurt the rebels, but eats very well himself; in many scenes he savors his hoarded tobacco with almost sexual ecstasy; but this is not a man with sexual appetites. It is true that he has copulated with Ofelia's mother, but he is more akin to the Grimm Brothers' Big Bad Wolf, who wishes to eat Little Red Riding Hood, than the wolf of "The Story of Grandmother" who invites the girl to strip before coming to his bed. Vidal is the sort of wolf James McGlathery describes, one who is neither "a prospective suitor, nor even clearly a seducer of maidens as one usually thinks of the matter. His lust for Red Riding Hood's body is portrayed as gluttony, pure and simple." The conflation of consumption, of food, tobacco, and drink, as Vidal's passion throughout the film underscores this idea. This gluttonous obsession proves Vidal's undoing: in a wonderful use of foreshadowing, Ofelia kills the Monstrous Toad by tricking it into eating magic, disguising them as the pill bugs the monster lives on. This mirrors the end of the film, when Ofelia renders Captain Vidal nearly unconscious by lacing his liquor glass with her deceased mother's medication, tricking him into drinking it.

These monsters are clearly Vidal's avatars in Faerie. All of the monsters in Pan's Labyrinth are blatantly evil, without remorse for their actions. All act from unrestrained appetite: the frog devouring the tree, the Pale Man dining upon the blood of innocents (his skin hangs in flaps, implying that he had once been much larger), and Vidal sucking the vitality out of the people around him. The first two are monstrous in their physical aspect; the Pale Man is especially frightening as he pursues Ofelia down his subterranean corridors, hand stretched in longing, pierced with ocular stigmata, "the better to see you with." Vidal by comparison is handsome and well-manicured, meticulously grooming himself each morning, never appearing in the presence of his subjects as anything less than the perfectly arrayed military man. His monstrosity is internal, although Mercedes' mutilation of his face renders it more external for the film's climactic scenes. An attentive viewer will also note further foreshadowing in the similarity of the Pale Man's staggering gait and outstretched hand, and Vidal's drugged pursuit of Ofelia with arm outstretched to aim his pistol.

Vidal's external brutality proves to be the most horrific in the film, eclipsing any terror either the Monstrous Toad or Pale Man could conjure. Friends avoided seeing the movie based only on descriptions of Vidal bashing in a peasant's face with a bottle, or performing torture on a captured rebel, (This second atrocity is performed offscreen; the audience only sees the result of Vidal's labors). "You can either make it spectacle or dramatic," says Del Toro in the director's commentary. In film, a cut on the cheek or on the temple has become commonplace enough that it doesn't even register for the average filmgoer. The mutilation of Vidal's face by Mercedes, the rebel-sympathizing housekeeper and surrogate caretaker of Ofelia, is the sort of violence that "immediately elicits a reaction." Del Toro deliberately designed the hyperbolic violence of Pan's Labyrinth to be "off-putting, rather than spectacular ... very harrowing ... designed to have an emotional impact." The only time Del Toro utilizes violence for spectacle is in the scene where the Captain sews his mutilated cheek back together. The camera never turns away from the spectacle of the Captain driving in the needle and pulling it through, over and over, to illustrate how relentless a monster Vidal is: like the Big Bad Wolf (or the Terminator) he will not stop until he is killed.

If the Big Bad Wolf must die to make the horror a fairy tale, so too must Captain Vidal. While the Captain is an imposing onscreen threat, there is no question as to the ultimate outcome. The villain cannot simply die, for the violence must be hyperbolic: the monstrous toad explodes; the Pale Man is left to starve in his lair. Mercedes' reply to Vidal's request that his son be told the time and place of his death is, "He will never even know your name." At the end, the Captain is not merely killed; he is obliterated. Vidal and his avatars receive their "just reward," as dictated by the tradition of the fairy tale.

To have toned down Vidal and his monstrous twins would be to tone down the layers of menace. Real or imagined, Ofelia's actions would lose their significance: her rebellious spirit would be nothing more than adolescent acting-out, a temper tantrum rendered fantastic. However, it is the double-resistance of both Ofelia and the rebels in the hills that provide the thematic thrust of Pan's Labyrinth, the resistance of Fascism in all its forms. Discussion of this film often centers on whether or not Ofelia's quests into the realm of Faerie are real. Those who conclude she has imagined them conclude her victory is an empty, illusory one.

This misses the point entirely.

Real or imagined, Vidal and his avatars are symbols of Fascism, of unrestrained oppression. Ofelia and the rebels in the hills exist to resist. In the smallest action of refusing to call Vidal her father, to the life-risking act of kidnapping her infant brother, Ofelia displays a refusal to be cowed in the face of monstrous evil. This is what Del Toro is concerned with, and it is why his villains are so monstrous. In the world of Pan's Labyrinth, disobedience is a virtue: when Vidal learns of the Doctor's betrayal, he is confounded, unable to understand the Doctor's action. After all, he is the monstrous Vidal. The Doctor knows this man's reputation-he must realize the consequence of his action. And yet, he calmly replies, "But Captain, to obey - just like that - for obedience's sake... without questioning... That's something only people like you do." And to disobey, to resist the monster, is something only people like Ofelia, Mercedes, and the rebels do. To have them defy anything but a true monster would cheapen their resistance. And this is why, despite the difficulty in witnessing the darkness, the sorrow, and the brutality of Pan's Labyrinth, I would never trade the Big Bad Wolf of Captain Vidal for the toothless lawn-dogs of Lady in the Water.

Mike Perschon is a hypercreative scholar, musician, writer, and artist, a doctoral student at the University of Alberta, and on the English faculty at Grant MacEwan University.

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Embracing the Darkness, Sorrow, and Brutality of Pan's Labyrinth

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I lost track of how many times I have seen Pan's Labyrinth while using it as a case study for my Master's thesis: I watched it at normal speed, on high speed, with commentary, and without; I watched all the DVD extras, then watched them again.

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Pan's Labyrinth (: El laberinto del fauno, " The Labyrinth of the faun") is a 2006 Mexican-Spanish dark fantasy film written and directed by Guillermo del Toro. It was produced and distributed by Pan's Labyrinth takes place in Spain in May-June 1944, five years after the Spanish Civil War, during the early Francoist (aka Fascist Spain) period. The narrative of the film interweaves this real world with a mythical world centered around an overgrown abandoned labyrinth and a mysterious faun creature, with which the main character, Ofelia, interacts. Ofelia's stepfather, Captain Vidal, hunts the Spanish Maquis who fight against the Francoist regime in the region, while Ofelia's pregnant mother grows increasingly ill. Ofelia meets several strange and magical creatures who become central to her story, leading her through the trials of the old labyrinth garden.

Opening sequence In the opening sequence we first see a black screen and hear rushed breathing, a lullaby is hummed while a series of inter-titles/titles introduce the audience to the location and time period - Spain 1944 The Civil War is over, hidden in the mountains armed men are still fighting the new Fascist regime. As the black fades we see a young girl laying on her back with stream of blood running back into her nose. An impersonal narration begins with "A long time ago " this simple statement has a very important meaning, this tells the audience that this story is a fairy tale which links directly to filmic genre fantasy. As an audience we now have a range of expectations or an understanding of the possibilities of this movie, fairy tales follow a set of conventions, as do filmic genres.

Impersonal narration:
A long ago in the Underground Realm where there are no lies or pain, there lived a Princess who dreamt of the human world. She dreamt of blue skies, the soft breeze and sunshine. One day, eluding her keepers, the Princess escaped. Once outside, the brightness blinded her and erased her memory, she forgot who she was and where she came from. Her body suffered cold, sickness and pain. Eventually, she died. Her father, the King, always knew that the Princess would return, perhaps in another body, in another place, at another time. And he would wait for her, until he drew his last breath, until the world stopped turning.
During this narration we see the dark underworld castle and the young princess escaping to the bright human world, the world we see is in ruins, this visually connects the idea of the lost princess to the human world. As the camera lifts we follow a caravan of black cars they bear all the Fascist insignias and flags, we are introduced to Ofelia and her heavily pregnant mother Carmen as they travel in the car. We see Ofelia with a pile of books, the one she is reading as an illustration of a young girl with fairies, this again reinforces the idea of a fairy tale. A nauseated Carmen asks the car to stop, while she is regaining her strength Ofelia finds a eye carved into a stone, she sees a tall sculpture and returns the eye to its place. As she does this a small insect(similar to a stick insect) climbs out of the mouth, she smiles and tells her mother she just saw a fairy. The caravan continues to an old mill with Captain Vidal staring at his stop watch as they arrive. As Carmen is taken inside, Ofelia nervously holds out her hand to greet Vidal, he sternly grabs around her hand and tells her its the other hand. Ofelia sees the fairy again and chases it to an old labyrinth. At this stage the audience is introduced to Mercedes and Doctor Ferreiro, we find out that they are connected to the rebels fighting the regime, yet still working for Vidal. As Ofelia tries to sleep during her first night at the Mill, the fairy returns and she asks it to take her to the labyrinth. Once she reaches the bottom of the labyrinth a creature is awoken, he calls Ofelia Princess Moanna and explains to her that she is in fact the Princess of the Underworld and in order to return she must complete a series of quests to test if her sole is still in tact.
At this stage the audience is presented with a range of narrati ve possibilities.

Narrative possibilities Ferreiro get caught?
Is the faun actually a trickster?
Will the faun help her return?
Will Ofelia succeed or fail?
Will the rebels win or lose?
Will Mercedes and Dr
Often the possibilities are dependant on the genre of the film, while this is a fantasy it is a dark fantasy following the fairy tale structure, this leaves the possibilities open as it may not have "a happy ending".

The setting of the film is Spain 1944, the film makes this known in the first inter title "Spain 1944 The Civil War is over, hidden in the mountains armed men are still fighting the new Fascist regime" this sets the context for the film. Not all of the audience will have knowledge of the history around the Spanish Civil War but they do have an understanding of the concept of War. As an audience we now have the expectations of armed men/women fighting an opposing force, many innocent people will be effected or even killed by this fighting. Within this we have three very different settings that have their differences highlighted by the colour filters used, the Mill (Captain Vidal's world) - cold steel blues, the forests (Rebels hide outs) - warm greens, the fantasy world (Ofelia's tasks/world) - reds, oranges and golden yellows. These distinct settings also help to link with the development of the multiple storylines.
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Multiple storylines
There are two main stories that run through Pan's Labyrinth, the brutal fighting between the fascist Nationalists and a small group of rebel resistance Republicans after the Spanish Civil War and Ofelia's fantasy world. While these two seem to run simply along side one another, they are actually complexly interwoven to the point where Ofelia's experiences of the real world are reflected in her fantasy world including objects like the key and the knife. Del Toro used very specific editing transitions - vertical wipes, to make the stories initially seem separate but as the narrative progresses they become more integrated and eventually they lead to one single outcome.

While Del Toro constructs the story in a such a way that leaves the audience clues about whether or not the fantasy world is real, he states that the audience will come to their own conclusions based on their own beliefs.Character development

​ Ofelia
In one of the first scenes, when Carmen and Ofelia meet Vidal, Del Toro shows us two opposing ideas: Carmen obeys Vidal, Ofelia does not. She sticks out her left hand, and even after he points out it's the wrong hand, she says nothing and doesn't offer him her right hand. This idea of obedience and disobedience is a common theme as Ofelia works through a series of tasks in order to return to her kingdom, in the first task we see her obedience to the faun by carrying out the tasks completely, retrieving the key and killing the toad that will allow the fig tree to grow once again. However in the second task we see her disobedience with two very different results, when choosing the hatch door she does not follow the one the book and fairies tell her to, she trusts herself and ends up choosing the right door. She also disobeys the strict instruction not to eat any of the food and in doing so awakens the Pale man, he kills two of the fairies and Ofelia only escapes from him just in time. During these tasks Ofelia learns to become stronger and trust herself, this development is displayed when she refuses to kill her baby brother in order to return to the underworld, thus ending her own life.
Del Toro, "But no matter what, she follows herself, at the end of the movie, she learns to trust herself. No matter what dangers she went through, she still doesn't distrust her nature and her instincts. She chooses herself and remains true to herself."
​This final act of self sacrifice and protection of the innocent is the real test, this is what makes her immortal and allows her to return to the Underworld.
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Faun
We are first introduced to the faun or Pan when Ofelia enters the labyrinth for the first time, he exclaims "Its you, its you, you have returned" begging Ofelia not to be afraid he introduces himself, his movements are erratic and shaky, he is covered in roots and moss, his eyes are milky white and his hair is grey and unkempt. The faun becomes a guide to Ofelia, helping her through the tasks she must complete in order to return to her family in the Underworld. As she progresses through the tasks we see the faun get younger and movements become smoother.

Del Toro says that its not the fauns tests themselves that are important but that she can fail them, meaning every time she succeeds she believes in herself more and more, making her own decisions along the way. When the faun presents her with the final test, asking for her newborn brothers blood to open the portal, she refuses choosing to protect him rather than putting her desires first. She does this again when Vidal finds her in the labyrinth and she is faced with handing over the baby or being killed, she choosing self sacrifice. That final test is the real test, this is what the faun was guiding her towards, his character is the catalyst for Ofelia's development.

Cause and Effect
​As this movie functions on two main storylines there are two main cause and effect chains, as the narrative progresses the chains begin to interweave and we see the real world reflected in the fantasy world. Within the fantasy world the main driver of the cause and effect sequences is the series of quests Ofelia must complete, each successful completion of a task leads to another task. This is also set to a time limit when the faun tells Ofelia she only has till the full moon to complete all the tasks, which gives a sense of urgency and further drives the sequence. The other cause and effect sequence revolves around the real world, Vidal's search for and war with the final resistance and subsequent control of the Spanish people in the region. Captain Vidal is a part of the fascist regime and is obsessed with wiping out all of the resistance to prove the strength of "New Spain". This obsession leads him to hunt through the forest for the resistance, he tries to weed them out by placing the region on ration cards to ensure that no one is helping them survive. With this fixed obsession he fails to see that both Mercedes and Dr Ferrerio who work for him are supporting the resistance. Vidal only learns of this when all his plans start falling apart and this eventually seals his final fate when Pedro the leader of the resistance/ Mercedes brother shoots him in the head as he tries to leave the labyrinth with his newborn son.

Structure of time This is a non linear structure or circular plot progression film, we are introduced to Ofelia laying on her back with blood going back into her nose, the camera moves in a circular motion and zooms into Ofelia's eye, the narration then begins setting up the story with the first line "A long time ago". This structure breaks the conventions of the fairytale in order to enhance audience engagement and widening the possibilities within the film.

Structure of time is linked with editing in order to create the illusion that time is passing within the narrative. Different editing techniques like montages can be used to show a sequence of events in a short clip. Wipe pans are also used extensively in Pan's, the visual link between the two scenes allows the audience to connect the two events and understand that these are occurring at the same time.
Objects can also be used to give an indication of time, within Pan's Labyrinth the moon has been used as a marker for time, as well as a sandglass and the Captains fob watch. When Ofelia first enters the labyrinth with the fairy we see a waxing crescent moon and the faun tells her she has until the full moon to complete the tasks which is between 10-15 days. The sandglass she uses when entering the pale mans lair is an indicator of the time she has to complete the task, 1 hour. These visual cues are not meant to be overtly obvious, they are intended to operate on a subconscious level giving the audience a marker of time.

Camera techniques: ​​Angles Camera angles used to display character dominance, to elicit fear, unease, triumph or strength in the audience.

A high camera angle makes the subject look inferior or unimportant to the viewer, in the first image a high angle is used to show the frailty of Ofelia's mother, this can be interpreted in two ways - her physical weakness due to her pregnancy and also her weakness of character, how she follows Vidal without question.
A low camera angle makes the subject look powerful to the viewer, in the second image a low camera angle is used the first time Ofelia meets Captain Vidal, showing his strength and superiority- in this sequence both high and low angles are used to further reinforce this idea.

Large proportion of the film is shot close up, this technique helps to create intimacy, intensity and unease.

This film uses very fluid and human camera movements in order to engage the audience to feel a part of the story. Roaming camera movements are used in Captain Vidal's world and runs parallel to the action, where the fantasy world has very playful camera movements.

In the opening sequence camera movement is used to introduce the audience to the main character Ofelia. We first see a bloodied hand side on, the camera pans across moving from her hand to her distressed face with blood going back into her nose. The camera rotates anticlockwise and zooms into her face, once level it zooms further into her eye, this is when the back story begins. The camera pans over the underground kingdom then zooms into the staircase and tilts up to the sky as the young girl escapes, the movement is very light and fluid.
When Ofelia first meets the fairy and her mother takes her back to the car we see the camera pan across to the left to a tree on the side of the road, the fairy crawls up the tree and the camera tracks the fairy around the trunk to see the car drive past, once the last car has passed the fairy flies off and the camera follows. This gives the audience the sensation of watching/stalking/following Ofelia just as the fairy does, supporting the idea that this creature is in fact watching her and will be an important element of the story.

Film Stock
Navarro (Director of Photography)used three film stocks-Vision 250D, Vision2 500T, and Vision2 200T, depending on what was being photographed.

Lighting
This film focuses more on the use of darkness then of light, for example the faun appears and disappears from the darkness, giving the audience the idea that he can move freely through both worlds.

The lighting has a very natural feel with no heavy contrast between light and dark tones. In order to achieve this natural sunlight was often utilised or lamps hidden out of shot and bounced using silver or white cards in order to get just the right amount of highlights. A large proportion of this film was shot in day for night, this was achieved by underexposing the film by three or four stops which also gave the film an eerie tone.

The lullaby is used as a leitmotif- a reoccurring sound that has connections to a particular person, place or idea. For Pan's Labyrinth the lullaby is a representation of innocence, we are first introduced to the lullaby in the opening sequence and later we find out its origins when Ofelia asks Mercedes if she knows any lullaby's to sooth her, Mercedes replies "Only one but I don't remember the words".-Sung/Hummed 00:30 - Non diegetic
The lullaby

-Slow strings 04:02 - Non diegetic
-Orchestral 19:50 - Non diegetic
-Sung/Hummed 48:33 - Diegetic
-Sung/Hummed 1:45:57 - Diegetic

Del Toro uses very specific transitions within the film vertical and horizontal wipes. The most common is the vertical wipes where the camera pans from left to right (usually) passes an tall object like a tree or wall and when the other side appears it is a different scene, Del Toro uses this within the film to help connect the two separate stories. Horizontal wipes are also used but far more sparingly, only two are used and they are a mimicked shot. The first horizontal wipe is used when Ofelia is telling the story to her baby brother, we see her rest her head on her mother and the camera passes down into the mothers womb. The second shot is used when Ofelia is walking down into the labyrinth for the second time, if you look closely you can see the structures are very similar-growth like along the top of the second scene.

An L-cut has been used at the beginning of the film, we hear Ofelia's distressed breathing before we are eventually shown the origin. This technique helps build suspense and audience engagement as they are questioning who is the sound coming from? why is it distressed?

Mise en scene
There are two very distinct colour palettes, the cold steel blue of Vidal's cruel world and the warm golden, oranges and reds of Ofelia's fantasy world. These two palettes mix and become more complex as her fantasy and the real world merge into one. Del Toro brings in additional imagery that the audience would be familiar with in order to develop the audience understanding and engagement. These are often subtle references such as:

The majority of the audience would be familiar with the story of Alice in Wonderland, either the literary version Alice's Adventures in Wonderland or the film adaptation in 1951. The story follows the adventures of a young girl who falls down a rabbit hole into a mysterious world full of unusual creatures. This visual link to Alice in Wonderland reinforces the genre of fantasy and allows the rules of the real world to be bent, ensuring the existence of her fantasy world.

Referencing imagery the audience are already familiar with helps to reinforce the same emotions and understandings connected to those images. With the example of the Holocaust shoes, the absolute horror and slaughter of the innocent is echoed through the Pale Mans lair heightening the audiences fear for Ofelia and disgust of the Pale Man. Del Toro also references past scenes, the visual connection between Vidal's feast and the Pale Mans lair, linking one monster to another.

When discussing acting it is important to refer to the actors name to show you understand that the character is a construction. You should always refer to a very specific example and discuss - facial expressions, body language, movements and delivery of lines.

Captain Vidal - Sergi Lopez
Sergi Lopez portrays Captain Vidal as a man ruled by order and organisation, a very cold and detached man. When Captain Vidal (Sergi Lopez) kills the villagers who were out hunting rabbits he shows no expression or emotion. He had violently killed a man by beating his head in with a bottle and then shot the father, standing tall he re holsters his gun, turns to another officer and opened the bag the villagers were carrying. As he searches through the bag his face does not move and the manner in which is empties the bag is calm and ordered, when he finds the rabbits he simply holds them up to the officer, again no emotions or expression on his face, and says "search these assholes properly before you come bothering me". Lopez's straight body language and lack of expression or emotion show how inconsequential the death of the two villagers is to Vidal even though this is an exceptionally violent act.

Ofelia - Ivana Baquero
Ivana Baquero is able to portray Ofelia's innocence through her body language, movements and delivery of lines. When Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) spends her first night in the mill, we see her walk from the door towards her mother in bed. The way she walks is calm and relaxed not straight and precise, as she climbs into bed she curls immediately into her mother, her body language is relaxed until she hears the house creak. She rolls her body closer into her mother as her head and eyes dart around the room searching for the origin of the sound. As Carmen (Ariadna Gil) calms her down we see Baquero's body relax again and she plays with Carmen's hand that is wrapped around her. Baquero's acting allows the audience to see the relationship between Ofelia and her mother Carmen, as well as portraying a young nervous child needing protection from the unknown.

Faun(Pan)/Pale man - Doug Jones
​Doug Jones portrays the faun as an ambiguous character, the audience struggles to come to a decision whether the faun is good or evil. When Ofelia returns to the labyrinth for the second time, the faun (Doug Jones) emerges from the darkness tearing a piece of meat to eat in a swift aggressive manner, he stands tall and overbearing, this body language gives the audience the impression that he might not actually be a humble servant to the Princess. He begins to tell Ofelia about the statue in front of her but when she asks who the baby is he fans his fingers in a manner that says she should forget about it, avoiding her question indicating to the audience he has something to hide. Later in this scene he talks to her about the next task and gently caresses her face as he tells her she has almost proved herself, Ofelia asks why she should believe him, Jones' body language changes and he begins to hunch over and lowering his head saying "Why would a poor faun like me lie to you", this body language confuses the audience as they do know the true motives of the faun.

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Pan's Labyrinth (: El laberinto del fauno , " The Labyrinth of the faun") is a 2006 Mexican-Spanish dark fantasy film written and directed by Guillermo del Toro. It was produced and distributed by Pan's Labyrinth takes place in Spain in May-June 1944, five years after the Spanish Civil War, during the early Francoist (aka Fascist Spain) period.

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Guillermo del Toro's anti-Wizard of Oz refracts the surreal traumas of the Spanish Civil War through the eyes of a young girl.

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Fairy tales, gripping, magical and inspiring, are master narratives. Children subconsciously recall their messages as they grow older, and are forced to cope with real injustices and contradictions in their lives. Some fairy tales are based on legends that incorporated a spiritual belief of the culture in which they originated, and were meant to emulate truth.

Numerous fairy tales, and the legends behind them, are actually watered-down versions of uncomfortable historical events. These darker stories might be too terrifying for today's little lambkins, as well as some adults! Their horrific origins, which often involve rape, incest, torture, cannibalism and other hideous occurrences, are brimming with sophisticated and brutal morality. Their images cannot be dispelled easily and their lessons are more powerful than the present-day, innocuous fables they resemble.

In the early 1800's Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm collected stories that depicted the unpredictable and often unforgiving life experienced by central Europeans. These brothers, determined to preserve the Germanic oral story telling that was vanishing, poured over the folklore of the region. Their first collection of stories was based on actual, gruesome events. However, they had to provide lighter interpretations of these factual incidents in order to sell books. Consequently they paid attention to previously printed fairytales, particularly those of Charles Perrault. As early as the 17th century, this Frenchman who is thought to be the father of fairy tales, created some of the most imaginative and delightful stories ever told. His confabulations of a pumpkin carriage and Fairy Godmother in Cinderella, for example, are magnificently enchanting. His original Cinderella, based on a true story, contains violent elements as well, since the wicked stepsisters butcher their own feet while trying to get into the slipper that the Prince had found.

Perrault's tales, albeit charming, were unsentimental; for they were intended for adults, because no children's literature existed at the time. His suspense story, BLUEBEARD, reads like a crime thriller, with the bloody knives and curious dead wives, his moral, that women should be less nosy, apparent. Perrault based his fairy tale on two accounts of dark depravity in Brittany, France. The earlier of the two accounts dealt with a savage, 6th century ruler. The second detailed the acts of a nobleman, named Gilles de Rais, who tortured, mutilated, raped and murdered hundreds of innocent children. My book explores the life and crimes of this tragic, historic figure.

The almost barbaric episodes that follow are just a smattering of fairy tales, as we know them today, derived from spoken legends which were based on facts. The morals these stories convey are far more important than the events themselves, the circumstances of which are often forgotten. These cautionary tales, where good conquers evil, the wicked get punished, the righteous live happily ever after, offer hope that one can do something positive about changing oneself and the world.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
The fairy tale is based on the tragic life of Margarete von Waldeck, a 16th century Bavarian noblewoman. Margarete grew up in Bad Wildungen, where her brother used small children to work his copper mine. Severely deformed because of the physical labor mining required, they were despairingly referred to as dwarfs. The poison apple is also rooted in fact; an old man would offer tainted fruits to the workers, and other children he believed stole from him.

Margarete's stepmother, despising her, sent the beauty, to the Brussels court to get rid of her. There Prince Philip II of Spain became her steamy lover. His father, the king of Spain, opposing the romance, dispatched Spanish agents to murder Margarete. They surreptitiously poisoned her.

Rapunzel
Rapunzel draws upon an early Christian story. In the third century A.D. a prosperous pagan merchant, living in Asia Minor, so adored his beautiful daughter he forbade her to have suitors. Accordingly he locked her in a tower when he traveled. There is no mention how hair became important, but she converted to Christianity, praying so loudly when the merchant left, her devotions reverberated throughout town. The merchant, informed of her actions, dragged her before the Roman pro-consul who insisted the father behead her or forfeit his fortune if she should refuse to give up her newfound religion. The father decapitated her but was killed by a lightning strike soon after. She became the martyr, Saint Barbara, revered by the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Bluebeard
Perrault wove his story around Conomor the Cursed, the Breton chief who had been forewarned he would be slain by his own son. As soon as one of his wives became pregnant, he murdered her. But Perrault was more fascinated by Gilles de Rais, a wealthy 15th century nobleman, a hero of the Hundred Years' War, Joan of Arc's protector on the battlefield. After he left the military he became a notorious serial killer of children. He was given the nickname, Bluebeard, because his horse's sleek fur looked blue in the daylight. At his shocking trial, he described in detail how he had preyed upon and tortured innocent children. Perrault drew upon these facts to conjure up his own nightmarish character.

Hansel and Gretel
The tale of Hansel and Gretel could have been told to keep children from wandering off. But during the great famine of 1315-1317 A. D. that crushed most of continental Europe and England, disease, mass death, infanticide and cannibalism increased exponentially. Seeking relief, some desperate parents deserted their children and slaughtered their draft animals.

Or Hansel and Gretel might have stumbled upon the home of the successful baker, Katharina Schraderin. In the 1600s, she concocted such a scrumptious ginger bread cookie that a jealous male baker accused her of being a witch. After being driven from town, a posse of angry neighbors hunted her down, brought her back to her home, and burned her to death in her own oven.

Little Jack Horner
This story matches events in the life of Bishop Richard Whiting of Glastonbury and his steward, who was perhaps named Jack Horner. When King Henry VIII broke away from the Catholic Church and dissolved its Monasteries in England, Glastonbury remained the sole religious home in Somerset. Whiting, trying to keep the abbey, bribed the King by offering him twelve Catholic manorial estates. To thwart potential thieves, he hid the deeds to the estates in a pie crust. But the seventy-nine-year-old Bishop, convicted of treason for serving Rome, was drawn, quartered and hung at Glastonbury Tor overlooking the town. His "good" steward absconded with the plum deed to the Manor of Mells, and Horner's descendants lived there until the 20th century.

The Pied Piper of Hamelin
In 1264, a pied piper had offered to get rid of the numerous rats in the Germanic village of Hamelin, as long as the town elders gave him a considerable amount of money upon the completion of this task. After he disposed of the rats, the elders reneged on their promise. Furious, the piper enticed the children of the village to follow him. They never returned.

Some believe the Piper led the innocents to the Mediterranean to join the Children's Crusade leaving for the Holy Land. Presumably children would peacefully convert Moslems to Christianity after the Mediterranean rolled back, allowing their safe passage to Jerusalem. The Sea did not oblige, and many children starved to death waiting for the miracle to occur.

Cinderella
That blond, fair-complexioned, but mistreated beauty in Perrault's tale loosely relates to the history of Rhodopis, a Greek woman, whose name means "rosy-cheeked." When she was a young girl, she was captured in Thrace, sold into slavery around 500 BC, and taken to Egypt.

Her unusual looks made her a treasured commodity, and her master showered her with gifts, including a pair of golden shoes. These shoes and Rhodopis were noticed by the Pharaoh, Ahmose II. He insisted she become one of his wives. While not his principal, revered partner, born of royal blood, she would still perform ceremonial functions and...mainly be readily available to gratify Ahmose sexually. Did her new found status offer her perpetual happiness? Probably not.

Valerie Ogden is the author of Bluebeard: Brave Warrior. Brutal Psychopath.
Also on The Huffington Post:

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The Shocking True Stories Behind Your Favorite Classic Fairy Tales

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Fairy tales, gripping, magical and inspiring, are master narratives. Children subconsciously recall their messages as they grow older, and are forced to cope with real injustices and contradictions in their lives. Some fairy tales are based on legends that incorporated a spiritual belief of the culture in which they originated, and were meant to emulate truth.