A Critical Analysis Of Dracula

In the 2010 research article “Sins of the Flesh,” Emma Dominguez-Rue provides a critical analysis of the erotic glamorization of anorexia nervosa in Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897). She evaluates the eating disorder in a sociocultural context to demonstrate the detrimental standards of femininity present in the nineteenth century. Exemplary women of the era express devotion to altruism, subordination, and temperance. The conservative, cultural morality depicts women as the inherently lascivious gender with the responsibility of governing their primitive impulses. Victorians perceive immodest dietary consumption as a reflection of a woman’s inability to discipline her sensual nature. In Stoker’s Dracula, the female characters who are vulnerable

She provides relevant evidence to reveal Stoker’s enthrallment with emaciation; Dracula subjugates female characters to vampirism when they begin to abandon their passive identities through the expression of dietary and sexual indulgence. Although Dominguez-Rue successfully evaluates the effects of Victorian gender expectations on the feminine psychology, she presents a paradox to her thesis that requires clarification. She states that the “refusal of food hides a much more dangerous hunger, a voracious thirst for blood” (300). The statement conveys the meaning that the woman’s ability to practice abstinence from dietary consumption can be perceived as an attempt to challenge patriarchal norms. This interpretation would suggest that the contradictory perceptions of emaciation reveal the unattainable standards of femininity in Victorian culture; males express suspicion of feminine behavior even when women conform to a submissive position. To refine her statement, Dominguez-Rue should provide a specific example from the text of the male characters reacting negatively to a vulnerable physique or exclude the contradiction from the

She equates Mina’s behavior to Lucy’s, claiming that they both exhibit a “morbid appetite” (305) that makes them susceptible to the Count. Although Mina admits to indulging in gluttony, she does not express Lucy’s suppressed erotic desires before her encounters with Dracula. She establishes herself as an ideal Victorian woman when she declares her altruistic assumption that “women have something of the mother in [them] that makes [them] rise above smaller matters when the mother-spirit is invoked” (Stoker 268). Mina conforms to Victorian standards of femininity; she exemplifies submissive, maternal behavior by devoting herself to the male characters. Additionally, Donguez-Rue claims that Mina desires for Dracula’s attack to occur when she states “I did not want to hinder him” (Stoker 327). However, an alternative interpretation is that Mina is Stoker’s portrayal of an ideal, Victorian woman who Dracula preys on as a source of revenge towards the male characters. Dracula articulates his reason for preying on Lucy when he states “whilst [the men] played wits against me – I was countermining them. And you, their best beloved one, are now to me” (Stoker 328). He is not pursuing Lucy because of a feminine erotic desire, he is seeking vengeance on the individuals who are trying to exploit his endeavors to dictate England. Aside from Donguez-Rue’s contradictory statement and failure to