JOSHUA'S DILEMMA

[VAM]

Joshua Collins decided to have Barnabas chained in his coffin and if Willie Loomis did not decide to go on a treasure hunt our famous Vampire would have a fate perhaps worse than death. Or is it? Was Joshua compassionate with his choice?  Comments anyone?

[Cassandra]

I found the goodbye scene between Joshua and his son Barnabas very emotional and felt that Joshua honestly believed that he did all he could possibly do for his son considering the circumstances.  

He knew that there were other ways to destroy him but couldn't bring himself to do them.  True, being chained up in that coffin for almost 200 years was no picnic Im sure, but what other choice did he have?
He already tried to get help for his son by getting the aid of the one and only BATHIA MAPES[/b] and when that failed, I think all of his hopes had failed also.  I think he knew at that point if he even had tried to get help again that Angelique would surely stop him.

I thought the scene was very touching, especially the last part when Father and Son gave each other that one last look.

[VAM]

I think he knew at that point if he even had tried to get help again that Angelique would surely stop him.

If that was considered by Joshua would he not believe Angelique would stop any attempt to free Barnabas from the curse?

[Connie]

I thought the scene was very touching, especially the last part when Father and Son gave each other that one last look.

Yes - wrenching.  Since Joshua wasn't able to say it, I wanted Barnabas, as he paused at the door and turned, to say "I love you", look down briefly, then leave.  
That's the way I would have written it.

-CLC  

[onyx_treasure]

    I think they both kept their emotions bottled up for so long it was impossible to break down now.  In addition, Barnabas would not have risked his fathers life by uttering the phrase "I love you" which spoke volumes by being left unsaid.
    I think Joshua believed he was being kind by putting his son to his final rest.  Unfortunately,  he may not have realized his son was not truly at peace.

[Dr. Eric Lang]

I think Joshua believed he was being kind by putting his son to his final rest.  Unfortunately,  he may not have realized his son was not truly at peace.

This may be the case; otherwise, I believe what Joshua did was horrendous. He could have set Barnabas free from the curse and let his spirit free, if he believed in that sort of thing. Instead, by chaining him in his coffin he has sentenced him to what amounts to being buried alive! (Shhhh - just what Elizabeth needs to hear right now, huh?)

[Nicole]

I don't really think Joshua comprehended what he was doing by chaining Barnabas into the coffin.  He didn't have the heart to kill him, but he wasn't willing to set him free.  So, at the time, this may have seemed to happy medium.  At that same time, I don't think most people quite comprehend that whole immortality thing.  One can think in terms of days, weeks, months, decades fairly easily (maybe...) but once you get past that, it's hard to really imagine how long eternity is.  Maybe Joshua thought there would actually be an end for Barnabas (he'd starve or something of that nature)?  

But beyond that rambling, it could also be that Joshua just wanted put the whole thing behind him.  Out of sight, out of mind.  Who'd have thought that someone would go searching for a room that not a lot of people believed existed?  Had it not been for Willie, no one would've ever known.

[Cassandra]

If that was considered by Joshua would he not believe Angelique would stop any attempt to free Barnabas from the curse?

Perhaps not because as I recall Ben tried to comply with Barnabas' wishes of ending the curse for him by staking him through the heart while he slept, at which Angelique promptly put a stop to right away.  I remember Ben mentioning this to Joshua when he asked Ben why he never tried to stop Barnabas from doing the horrible things that he does during the night.

Another point is that Joshua was using supernatural help sort to speak when he tried to clear his son from the curse,  almost like performing an exorcist, only it backfired and the exoricist was killed herself.  I believe once Joshua saw that happen, he totally gave up and thus decided the best thing was to keep him locked up in his coffin.

Angelique, I don't think minded this because she knew he couldn't be free to roam the earth or try to get help to free himself from the curse,  which is exactly what he did once he was free.  :-)

[Gerard]

I think Joshua believed he was being kind by putting his son to his final rest.  Unfortunately,  he may not have realized his son was not truly at peace.

That's the way I look at it.  There really wasn't any kinda handbook on what to do with your progeny when they become vampires, so he probably thought he was putting him to rest, with no magazines to read for almost the next 200 years.  Parenting must be an extremely difficult task.

Gerard

[Afan]

I agree with Dr. Lang.  Didn't Joshua realize that each night Barnabus awoke to find himself trapped in a narrow coffin.  What greater horror could that have been???I shudder to think.  When Joshua was eating, did he ever think of Barnabus locked up like that with nary a morsel for hundreds of years?  What about sleeping, did Joshua ever wake to wonder how Barnabus was occupying himself?  It cramps all of my bones just to think of lying on my back for centuries, awake and not being able to move or communicate.  What greater horror!!!!
Afan

[ROBINV]

While I do believe that Barnabas awakened every night at dusk in that coffin for hundreds of years, I wonder, if that's so, how he survived without blood?  

Some believe he went into a state of suspension somehow; not really cognizant of his surroundings, feeling neither pain nor hunger, perhaps a twilight sleep.

Joshua meant well.  He had few choices in this matter, and he could not allow Barnabas to roam the world killing people.  However, he also was unable to destroy his only son.  Their final scene together is heartbreaking.  You KNOW they loved each other, but neither could dare to say it, given the curse and the fact that they'd repressed their feelings for so many years.  

Joshua saw this as the only answer for his son.  And maybe, just maybe, he HOPED he would be released someday, into a world where miracles were possible and a doctor like Julia or Eric would have a cure for Barnabas' affliction.  Who's to say that Joshua's desperate act didn't contain a sliver of hope?

Love, Robin  

[Dr. Eric Lang]

While I do believe that Barnabas awakened every night at dusk in that coffin for hundreds of years, I wonder, if that's so, how he survived without blood?  

Since he can "survive" without blood for 200 years, it would seem that drinking blood is not what keeps him "alive," so to speak. Perhaps the blood is, as legend suggests, the way vampires stay youthful looking, and where they get their supernatural powers from. When Willie opened that coffin for the first time, he may well have found Barnabas looking like the 200-year old man he appeared to be after Julia's botched experiment - a situation Barnabas remedied by taking blood (Carolyn's.)

Some believe he went into a state of suspension somehow; not really cognizant of his surroundings, feeling neither pain nor hunger, perhaps a twilight sleep.

There's also the suggestion that Barnabas is "time jumping." He leaps from 1796 to 1967 - then later from 1969 to 1897. This explains why he has no memory of being out of the coffin in the 1890's.

[Cassandra]

 Robin wrote:
Some believe he went into a state of suspension somehow; not really cognizant of his surroundings, feeling neither pain nor hunger, perhaps a twilight sleep.

This is what I believe also. I remember Joshua telling Ben to get a silver cross and afix it to the inside of the coffin, and on account of this, perhaps Barnabas really was in some kind of twilight sleep.

[Joeytrom]

Doesn't this return to 1796 erase Joshua's dilemma completely?  He is out of town to Bangar on a wild goose chase in search of Barnabas.  When he returns, Ben will have already chained Barnabas in his coffin, at Barnabas's own request!

I wonder what Joshua thought of all this when he arrived back hom and found out what had happened?

[jennifer]

That's the way I look at it.  There really wasn't any kinda handbook on what to do with your progeny when they become vampires, so he probably thought he was putting him to rest, with no magazines to read for almost the next 200 years.  Parenting must be an extremely difficult task.

i'm with you on that Gerard there areen't any Penelope
Leach books or Dr Spock books with that info that i have seen!lLOL
jennifer