#helen penelosa

[see-arcane]

This made me realise that Mina uses "my __" a lot (my Jonathan, my beloved husband, my dear one) compared to him doing so no wonder she'd be not pleased if someone tried to snatch him away

The thing about Jonathan and Mina is that they are both very much more than the standard 'in love' with each other that you'll see in a lot of Mandatory Love Interests in media. They're not just in love.

They're in crush.

They're in infatuation.

They're in 'my beloved is all that matters and dear God I don't know how I got lucky enough to win the romance lottery to convince them I was worthy, but I will spend every second of every day trying to earn that love.'

The main difference lays somewhere in--sigh along with me--the gender politics of it all. Because the thing is, even if we barely squint at the time period (and, sadly, even at our modern relationship pitfalls), Mina is very, very aware that, by partner standards, she is the one who got the 'luckier' pull. Specifically because Stoker wrote Jonathan as the rule-breaking, love worshipping, refusing-to-other or abandon champion of a Prince Charming out of the whole cast; and possibly out of most male romantic leads in the era's literature, Period.

Meanwhile, despite Mina being very much her own breakthrough of early feminism and interesting traits--again, sighing over the New Woman commentary, but still--when we look past the unique/strong/smart character facets, we really see a lot of the Classic Darling Female Love Interest formula at her core. She is sweet and caring and loving and loved.

As all good non-hag non-femme fatale characters were at the time. You can't throw a rock in Victorian and earlier lit without hitting a similarly winsome young lady. They pop up like charming weeds.

It's Jonathan Harker who stands apart. Jonathan Harker who loves unconditionally, who does not conform to classic masculine heroism, who would fight God and the Devil to hold his beloved above all harm, who would damn himself, who would kill and die to keep his beloved safe and happy. Who would--gasp!--rather be equal with his partner, even preferring to let her take the lead!

Which was un-fucking-heard of at the time. Even if she/Stoker weren't really caught up on what New Women actually stood for, I'd bet money that Mina knew exactly how rare a prize like Mr. Harker was in a sea of brutes and cheats and general misogynistic louts looking for a housemaid they could imprison with a wedding band and belittle on a daily basis before they go out to meet mistresses 1-3.

Mina is not an idiot. Jonathan is not either, but I think he is blessedly naïve enough to think there was anyone else in the world who would champion Mina as much as he does, as much as she deserves. She's Mina, for crying out loud! An angel! A goddess in and of herself! Who wouldn't adore her as he does? And to Van Helsing and the Suitor Squad's credit, they do come close, risking what they do...

But they do make that murder oath.

And for that, Mina is grateful. She did ask for it.

But though she never writes it, maybe only rarely dares to even think it--such a blasphemous, selfish thought!--she is doubly grateful that Jonathan never swore with them. Proof positive, that. Somewhere in her, a secret proud voice whispers:

Look, Mina Harker née Murray. Look at the paragon among lovers you have tricked into loving you and being your knight. You have wed Eros himself, lucky Psyche that you are. He does not even realize what a treasure he is. The one treasure that matters. The one which evil powers have tried so hard to steal away. Do not let them, Mina. Let them have gold and magic and your own blood if they must, but never, ever him.

So yes.

All this in mind, it is very little wonder that she enjoys referring to Jonathan as my husband, my love, my darling. My, my, my, mine, mine, mine. Hearing and saying it is a reassurance that she has not woken up from this sweet dream. Just as I'm sure Jonathan saying the same--or else repeating Mina's name like his own prayer--reassures him. They are real, they are in love, they are each other's.

And so when someone like Miss Helen Penelosa comes along and Mina catches wind of her plans for Jonathan, I can't not see her loading that revolver.

#Mina: Normally I quite oppose violence. #Mina; loudly undoing the safety: HOWEVER-- #The Harkers: Do Not Separate (or Else) #mina harker #jonathan harker #holiest love #helen penelosa #dracula #the parasite #bram stoker #arthur conan doyle

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I know we say that good boi J Harker can turn into a merciless pitbull when his beloved is in peril but I think the same may apply to Mina too. "I feel myself quite wild with excitement. I suppose one ought to pity any thing so hunted as is the Count. ... To read Dr. Seward’s account of poor Lucy’s death, and what followed, is enough to dry up the springs of pity in one’s heart." So she's excited to hunt the Count and can't feel pity for who killed her best friend. Later she develops sympathy for him but only after she becomes vampiric like him. I think that if it was a different monster and/or her loved one was in immediate danger she'd be like she was at first and have no mercy.

um

UM

...if you guys aren't lurking in the Discord, I commend you both on picking up on my latest brain itch concerning Imperiling Jonathan Harker and giving Mina the opportunity to go full Damsel Rescuer

Mesmeric psychic vampire is a new flavor, but I'm sure they'll manage...

...careful where you leave that kukri though, Jonathan, dear.

( >:} )

#full disclosure if/when I scribble this it Will Not be fanfic of The League #it'd be over too soon #and I want Penelosa to get some proper mileage out of her potential #which ACD kind of copped out on with the ending #also! more menace for Jonathan! :D #and more payoff when Mina gets the Drac Attack Pack together to save her OG Damsel husband! :D #:D!!! #anyway #RIP to you Mr. Harker but you're going back in my brain blender #jonathan harker #mina harker #holiest love #dracula #helen penelosa #austin gilroy #the paraside #arthur conan doyle #dracula daily #my writing

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You mentioned Penelosa's uglyness, and it reminded me of the fact that Jonathan never calls Mina's face beautiful or pretty, remarks her youth etc. In fact, one time he describes the aftermath on her face later that day. "She was very, very pale—almost ghastly, and so thin that her lips were drawn away, showing her teeth in somewhat of prominence."

Not only did he not feel repulsed, he stayed up the night after, just looking at her sleeping face ("Her lips are curved and her face beams with happiness..." Later-- "How strange it all is. I sat watching Mina’s happy sleep, and came as near to being happy myself as I suppose I shall ever be.") for hours until she woke up and looked at him in the eyes (to make him promise to keep silent).

WARNING: Spoilers for Arthur Conan Doyle's, "The Parasite" and a giant slab of text ahead.

The thing is, even in "The Parasite," we aren't explicitly told that Miss Penelosa is ugly--she's just immediately put in an unflattering light by the narration of the protagonist, Austin Gilroy. His first estimate of her, well before he lets her try mesmerism on him and gets the unpleasant mind control ball rolling, is:

Any one less like my idea of a West Indian could not be imagined. She was a small, frail creature, well over forty, I should say, with a pale, peaky face, and hair of a very light shade of chestnut. Her presence was insignificant and her manner retiring. In any group of ten women she would have been the last whom one would have picked out. Her eyes were perhaps her most remarkable, and also, I am compelled to say, her least pleasant, feature. They were gray in color, — gray with a shade of green, — and their expression struck me as being decidedly furtive. I wonder if furtive is the word, or should I have said fierce? On second thoughts, feline would have expressed it better. A crutch leaning against the wall told me what was painfully evident when she rose: that one of her legs was crippled.

I was worried even before this that Gilroy would have something to throw in about race, as she's written as being from Trinidad--apparently where the party's host, Prof. Wilson's, wife is also from. The only saving grace*** is that apparently neither Gilroy (nor ACD) felt the need to add explicit racial themes to her being ~visually unpleasant~

An unpleasantness that, to Gilroy, seemingly centers only on her being over 40, a little plain, having a bad leg, and cool-ominous eyes. That's it. The horror of it all. (eyes rolling out of my head)

When compared with the kind of descriptions we get for certain male characters in horror literature, ala Edward Hyde's innate rancid vibes, Erik the Opera Ghost's outright decayed-corpse-bad looks, and Dracula just sweating Instant Dread (c) wherever he goes so that it sends everyone into an uneasy panic? It kind of just looks like ACD wrote a character with some shitty opinions about women who don't exist in the Pretty Perfect Maiden demographic on purpose, the better to have a narrative payoff when Penelosa starts making her legitimately creepy puppet master come-ons and acts of increasingly dangerous vengeance.

Doyle invented Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, two of the most forward-minded characters in literature to ever come out of that era. Along with all the extremely varied characters they help and/or cast icy side-eyes at for being the exact type of haughty prick Gilroy is being before Penelosa pulls the rug out from under him.

This is in addition to Penelosa never really being shown such disdain or disregard by any of the other characters. Mrs. Wilson, for the millisecond of screen time she gets, is obviously still a close friend from their history in Trinidad. Prof. Wilson is too enamored with the potential of her gifts when it comes to his own studies to even remember she has any looks to notice. Gilroy's fiancée, Agatha, is likewise thrilled at her talent and the honor of being tapped to demonstrate it at the party and never makes a sour comment about her.

Well before the villainy kicked in, Gilroy is shown to be the only one being an ass (at least internally) about Penelosa's appearance. Although, we do get some choice words from him later as she starts dancing him along to her whims. Such as:

 I am for the moment at the beck and call of this creature with the crutch. I must come when she wills it. I must do as she wills. Worst of all, I must feel as she wills. I loathe her and fear her, yet, while I am under the spell, she can doubtless make me love her.

He really cannot help mentioning the crutch. Calling back specifically to her physical condition, rather than just sitting with the already-terrifying prospect that is 'This stranger has decided they want me as a lover. I am already in love, already in a relationship, but they have such total control over me that they can walk me along like a doll against my will. This stranger can force me to do anything and I cannot stop them.' In classic literature terms, just as the situation with Dracula and Mina was, it's all but setting up a neon sign declaring, This is the beginnings of enslavement. This is violation waiting to happen. If something is not done, this could very well end with rape.

But no! Got to mention she's handicapped first! An over-40-years-old creature of a woman! Icky!

Meanwhile, here comes Mr. Jonathan Harker.

Mr. Gets a Good Grade in Sweet Young Man Wherever He Goes.

Mr. Holiest Love.

Mr. Would Rather Die Than Join the Sexy Vampire Ladies in Eternal Bloody Undead Harem Hijinks in the Castle.

Mr. I Will Fight God and the Devil and Turn My Blade on My Own Friends Before I Let Mina Be Slain, Even For the "Greater Good."

Mr. She Will Not Go into that Unknown and Terrible Land Alone.

Jonathan Harker and any kind of 'othering' are not on speaking terms. Not before, and certainly not after, being willing to send himself to Hell to protect and/or join Mina in undeath as a monster. He's made of unconditional love for his wife, on top of being a reflexively polite and friendly golden retriever of a man as a rule, and, as you said, never refers to Mina's beauty as one of her attractive traits. He reserves that just for points of her character. He makes out with her in front of their friends when she successfully figures out Dracula's escape route using her sexy sexy wits. He can admit when she's looking ghastly from suffering the ill effects of the whole mess, plus Dracula's bullshit. It never dents his love for her any more than his illness spoiled him in her eyes. The Harkers don't play like that.

Jonathan especially would have no shitty ageist or ableist commentary to make about Penelosa and would, I'd think, be one of the few people--and likely one of the first men--to be outright gentlemanly toward her, simply because that's just how he is. This combination of general kindness, his all-encompassing devotion to the One He Loves, and the implied notes throughout Dracula that he can swing wildly between lash-batting winsome damsel-gentleman and burning-eyed robust berserker cryptid powered by love is the kind of thing that would be catnip to plenty of lonely hearts.

And, unfortunately, is the very thing that would get Miss Penelosa to switch gears from dragging along Gilroy as a victim of opportunity and turning towards the Romance Lottery Jackpot that is Mr. Harker. She wouldn't even have to use her mesmerism hooks on him to have him be cordial and engaging! Imagine that! This is the same guy who got Count Dracula running on tangents about himself for whole nights at a time (and likely saved his neck for Far Longer than he'd have gotten away with if he were to get Gilroy about it).

Jonathan is--like Mina--very good at getting people to open up about themselves and their stories. He'd legit be casually charming and friendly Just Because, never registering Penelosa's looks however good bad or plain they are. Up until things took the inevitable Oh Shit turn, he'd really think he was just making another friend, never batting an eye about Penelosa's appearance, period.

(Something something, 'This person I'm attracted to was nice to me! I Have Decided We Are Soulmates and I Am Going to Keep Them.' taken to nightmare extremes.)

((I'm sure Mina will take all of this well. :^) ))

#in the mood to ramble about yet another project in the 'Jonathan Harker Gets Menaced' cinematic universe #anyway #helen penelosa #is a lot of things worth being terrified about #but Gilroy's shitty takes about a lady daring to be in middle age and have a handicap don't make the cut #austin gilroy #the parasite #arthur conan doyle #jonathan harker #mina harker #dracula #my writing

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I was reading the other day an analysis of Victorian female villains that kept calling her Penclosa and I thought you were talking about someone else XD

Penclosa

Penfara

Penwhereveryouarea*

*👁👁

#yeah I think I remember seeing that typo before too #I tried looking up the actual last name Penelosa and I think ACD might have done a typo too! #the only lookalike names I could find were #Penalosa #and #Peñalosa #no Penelosa! #which given her name is put as 'Helen Penelosa' makes me wonder if she came up with a pseudonym #based off Helen of Troy (the most beautiful woman in Greek myth) and Penelope (the most loyal and cunning wife in Greek myth) #yes I am building a whole ass origin story for this one-off short story villainess why do you ask #helen penelosa #the parasite #arthur conan doyle

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It would be funny if you dropped something """romantic""" on the 14th :P

I'm beginning to think you folks are trying to enable me

;) (threatening)

#Note: This is the preamble BEFORE the hypnotic shit goes down. #Happy Valentine's Day Jonathan :3 #my writing #valentine's day #jonathan harker #mina harker #helen penelosa #dracula #the parasite #arthur conan doyle

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I understand what you mean about horror and unsympathetic characters like Gilroy. SO many horror movies do this, making the characters either one-dimensional or unlikeable. And it's like, at this rate I don't feel terror for those people, I am lowkey rooting for the monster/serial killer/natural disaster. In books like Dracula and shows like The Haunting of Hill Manor I feel like those characters are likable and human, and even if they're doing something bad or mistakes they're least sympathetic so when they're suffering and in danger, I'm actually scared.

Exactly this ^^^

It's why I have to separate my horror favorites into two genres:

Horror that's a show VS Horror that scares

The former is pure cheering for the bogeyman, Humans Are The Real Monsters (c), Guillermo del Toro kind of fun. Supernatural powers crushing the very human mundane evil in the story is just pure vindictive junk food and I love it.

The latter involves characters you actually care about getting put through hell, which is the only way you get real pathos and a fear response from an audience. If no one likes the victims, there's no point in feeling bad for them or getting afraid on their behalf.

Hence the rapid decline of the slasher genre towards the end of its peak in late 80's/early 90's. Everyone's cheering on Freddy, Jason, and Michael because their victims got sandpapered down into throwaway caricatures and jerks. The Final Destination franchise ran on this, with everyone going into the movies knowing all the characters on screen were just meat for the grinder--not people to bother caring about.

Miss Penelosa doesn't get proper gravitas as a villain because of what a snot Gilroy is at the start, on top of a very unceremonious end without any sort of real confrontation, right when she was about to pull a truly dangerous and horrifying move with the attempted acid throw. While ACD had a lot of building blocks for a good build-up and payoff, he fumbled the protagonist (not sympathetic enough), the antagonist (powerful and with potential for a threat, but ultimately disempowered by her health and waiting until the last second to get truly scary in her plans), and the climax (which didn't even happen because Penelosa died off-screen of complications completely unrelated to the protagonist).

Splicing "The Parasite" into Dracula's post-canon and having someone like Jonathan Harker in the victim seat (perhaps with some other supernatural loose threads hanging around 👀) will hopefully give it a bit more meat on the bones, both scare and character-wise.

#Gilroy: 2/10 stars terrible protagonist unpleasant victim get him out of here #Jonathan Harker: 1000/10 stars lovely young man OG gothic horror damsel in distress get that lad in peril right now #horror #my writing #the parasite #helen penelosa #austin gilroy #jonathan harker #dracula

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If you were paid to do a crossover between Dracula and one other canon, but you have to choose it yourself, which one would you pick? It could be an AU, or set post-canon for the former.

One? Just one? Singular? Solo? By itself?

Oof.

I would have to draw straws, but the top of the heap would be:

"The Vampyre" by John William Polidori (because I would like Ruthven's ass handed to him) and

Arthur Machen's assorted eldritch Fae weirdoes, but especially Helen Vaugn of "The Great God Pan" and the Little/White People who live beneath the hills in assorted tales.

Currently, with Barking Harker and "Penelosa," I'm already playing with other crossovers, ala Gautier's "Clarimonde," and Arthur Conan Doyle's, "The Parasite," respectively. Dracula and its characters are the little black dress of classic supernatural horror--they go with everything.

#dracula #crossover #my writing #in potentia