About Different Ways of Grieving

Grief affects people in many ways after someone had passed away. When a loved one passes away, people tend to feel that they have lost someone precious. They often wonder why they were taken away from us so young. However, at the same time, we can be grateful for the very fact that they were given to us in the first place. We feel all sorts of different emotions such as intense depression, anxiety, anger, shock, or even become numb and not cry.

In books, small characters may not be as important as the main characters, however, they can have an impact on others and the events of the story. In both novels, the character named Justine from Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley and Lucy from Dracula by Bram Stoker impacts their friends and family and events from each of the novels before and after they died what will result in different emotions during the novels. In this essay will state how both character’s similarities, due to their victimization, what each of the young women learned, and how the character’s plight impacts the characters and events from each of the novel. A background from Frankenstein is about a sweet and blissful servant girl named Justine who worked for Frankenstein’s family after her mother passed away.

Their representation of Justine is the kind girl by being, “the most grateful little creature in the world… you could see by her eyes that she almost adored her protectress… beauty of Angelica--she looked so frank-hearted and happy” (Shelly. 68-70). Until one day, Justine was accused of murder for a little sweet boy named William that was part of the Frankenstein family. However, he was murdered by a creature who was created by Victor Frankenstein (William’s older brother). William had a picture in his possession before he died and when the creature killed him, the monster planted it onto Justine. This is when things starting plateauing for her. She has been accused of murder for the murder of William Frankenstein. She fears going to Hell, so she confesses to the crime and she was executed later on in the story. A background of Lucy from the book Dracula, she is the main character that is known to be loved by everyone.

Lucy is a blonde 19-year-old girl living with her mother in London. She is beautiful and described as being almost ‘angelic’. She is innocent and pure; however, she is only interested in choosing a husband. Lucy had been proposed to by quite a few people. However, she ends up choosing Arthur because she loves him the most. She appears to be a vulnerable person which makes the people around her want to protect her. Dracula, a vampire, saw his attention on Lucy as his first victim in London due to her appearance. She’s described as “innocent and virginal” (Stoker, Ch 5) but she is also more attractive. One night, Lucy starts sleepwalking and develops anemia. She became sick but soon begins suffering from severe anemia, sleepwalking, and chronic blood loss. Symptoms started to appear with two bite marks on her neck as Dr. Van Helsing discovered that in fact, she became the victim of Count Dracula, who is slowly draining her of blood.

Despite the best efforts of Dr. Seward and Dr. Abraham Van Helsing, Lucy's condition rapidly deteriorates. He then suggested that all of her suitors give her blood transfusion to save her. But then one night, Lucy and her mother were attacked when Dracula took the form of a wolf and a bat. Lucy ended up being drained of her blood and dies. She got buried, however, there are soon reports of children being attacked around London. The children describe a blooper lady or beautiful lady taking them to go play. Dr. Van Helsing and Seward suspect that it might be Lucy who has risen as a vampire. They go to her coffin one night to find it empty, and they even find her feeding on a child. Helsing said, "With a careless motion, she flung to the ground, callous as a devil, the child that up to now she had clutched strenuously to her breast, growling over it as a dog growls over a bone. The child gave a sharp cry and lay there moaning" (Stoker 226). Lucy turned into a vampire, and as a vampire, her terrible characteristics were more apparent than those of when she was pure. While Lucy was a vampire, his eyes were “unclean and full of hell-fire, instead of the pure, gentle orbs we knew” (Stoker, 222-223). Lucy was not only an active threat to children, but her desires for the men of the land also posed an active threat. After the transformation into a vampire, Lucy is no longer Lucy.

Unfortunately, Lucy’s death and transformation into a vampire influence the quest of Arthur, Quincey, Dr. Seward, and Dr. Van Helsing to strike her in the heart to save her from herself so she can actually die and rest in peace. First, both Lucy and Justine are similar in their roles. Both women are described as very attractive and kind-hearted that had been killed or about to be killed for no reason. Lucy, who is turned into a vampire, and Justine, her execution was caused by an unloved creature. Poorly both characters were truly victimized in the book. Their deaths influence the other characters to proceed on a quest to bring justice and to make their deaths not be in vain. This makes the other characters, mainly the males, feel sympathetic to their deaths and do what they can to try to make things better. After the death of Justine in Frankenstein, Victor knows the truth of what fully happened. Victor knew that the creature had done it as he stated, “The creature was the murderer! I could not doubt it” (Shelly, 60) but his pride did not allow him to tell the truth and speak on behalf of Justine.

He did not wish for anyone to see the disgrace that he has created. Victor is convinced that no one will believe his story and he will be labeled as crazy. He is also afraid of others' finding out what he has done but he is mostly feeling guilty because he feels responsible for William's death. Although he was unable to save her from execution, he experienced guilt, knowing that in a way, it was his fault Justine was killed. Elizabeth, who is a cousin, adopted sister, and fiancé of Victor Frankenstein is unaware of what actually happened with William, but she blames the justice system for the misguided reasons in executing Justine. She plays victim to both the justice system and Frankenstein and his monster. Justine has been framed and probably actually blamed herself for William’s death, ridden with guilt. Unlike Victor, she is not so easily let off although Victor, who had the authority to completely dismiss the case, knew she was completely innocent, and he was the actual cause of his brother’s death. She must have been an emotional wreck as she managed to keep all her pain bottled up and admitted to all the accusations against her, despite them all being false. Initially, just by finding out about William’s death devastated her, let alone being accused of the murder.

It must have been excruciating having to admit to terrible things you know you haven’t done just because you know it’ll be easier to defend against to the people you thought loved and trusted you. Her death influences the importance of love and accepting which contrasts to the love and acceptance her mother did not show her. Being loved by the Frankenstein family prevented her from being the monster the people and her mom believed she was. Justine’s death brings sympathy from the way she described in having a happy life but dying from execution by confessing to a murder she did not commit. Justine says with remorse, “The God of heaven forgive me! Ever since I was condemned, my confessor has besieged me; he threatened and menaced until I almost began to think that I was the monster that he said I was” (Shelly, 94). Justine was also one of the people that influenced the quest for Victor to put a stop to the Creature’s killings since Justine was not the only person the creature had killed. In Dracula, Lucy being attractive and loved by many people was also a victim in the book. After Lucy’s death when she was attacked by Dracula, Dracula is to blame for Lucy’s metamorphosis into a monstrosity. Lucy transitions into becoming a vampire meanwhile losing her feminine passivity and innocence and in doing so, she gains sexual and social freedom from the constraints on women in Victorian society. Lucy, also realizing she’s becoming inhuman, requests to Van Helsing that he protect Arthur. Helsing swears to do that for Lucy’s sake just as she passes away.

The men think it’s over, but Helsing knows that with Lucy’s death, her transformation into the undead is just beginning. More than likely, what they witnessed was the last of her humanity fading away. Everyone loves Lucy deeply: Quincey Morris, Jack Seward, and Arthur Holmwood all propose to her, Van Helsing thinks she’s the sweetest thing ever, and even Mina can’t stop talking about how gorgeous Lucy is. Lucy’s like a child: she’s blonde and innocent and seems very vulnerable, which inspires everyone around her to protect her. Her death and transformation also influenced the quest for Dr. Van Helsing as he feels it best that the men who loved Lucy in life play a role in freeing her soul. On his instructions, they get Lucy back to the coffin and Arthur stake Lucy in the heart destroying the vampire part of her to let her finally able to rest in peace. Her death and transformation also influenced the quest to prevent her from drinking the blood of children as was reported. This makes the other characters, mainly the males, feel sympathetic to their deaths and do what they can to try to make things better. In Frankenstein, Justine is the first ‘victim’ to die, just like Lucy from Dracula. She was also very attractive like Lucy which also adds to the sympathy.

The difficulties both women face in both stories have more of an effect on the other characters than they do on the women themselves. In conclusion, Lucy, and Justine are two attractive young females who used to be loved by people, especially men’. This makes the other characters, mainly the males, feel sympathetic to their deaths and do what they can to try to make things better. A tragic end for both of them as their deaths hits the male characters the most. By doing this, the author puts us in a position to understand where the decisions the other characters make are coming from. The deaths of both these girls influences quests for the male characters in avenging the death of their lost loved one. Both claimed to want peace and a life free of the other but their choices to pursue revenge above all else is ultimately to make peace and life impossible.

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