Tuesday, October 13, 2015

XXVIII.



“It is a strange world, a sad world, a world full of miseries, and woes, and troubles. 



And yet when King Laugh come, he make them all dance to the tune he play. 



Bleeding hearts, and dry bones of the churchyard, and tears that burn as they fall, all dance together to the music that he make with that smileless mouth of him. 



Ah, we men and women are like ropes drawn tight with strain that pull us different ways. 



Then tears come, and like the rain on the ropes, they brace us up, until perhaps the strain become too great, and we break. 



But King Laugh he come like the sunshine, and he ease off the strain again, and we bear to go on with our labor, what it may be.” 




Dr. Seward's recollection of his conversation w/ Van Helsing ― Bram Stoker, Dracula

Analysis:

"...generally seen as a flaw in the novel is the tone of a passage that follows Lucy’s death and burial. Dr. Seward records in his diary his conversation with Van Helsing, who makes a lengthy speech, known as the “King Laugh” speech, to explain his laughter at this apparently inappropriate time. His laughter is caused by Arthur’s statement that he felt married to Lucy following the blood transfusion Van Helsing performed. Van Helsing and Seward know, as Arthur does not, that Lucy also received transfusions from the two of them and Morris. The function of this passage is not clear, but it does seem to contain symbolically important ideas concerning blood and marriage."  Source: novelexplorer.com