In periods of cultural insecurity, when there are fears of regression and degeneration, the longing for strict border controls around the definition of gender, as well as race, class, and nationality, becomes especially intense. If the different races can be kept in their places, if the various classes can be held in their proper districts of the city, and if men and women can be fixed in their separate spheres, many hope, apocalypse can be prevented and we can preserve a comforting sense of identity and permanence in the face of that relentless specter of millennial change. (Showalter, 4)
In the first chapter of her book Sexual Anarchy: Gender and Culture at the Fin de Siècle, Elaine Showalter outlines the social circumstances in the western world as the year 1900 approached. She asserts that the fin-de-siècle mentality, a so-called "endism," intensified battles of race and class, leading to fierce backlash by advocates of the status quo. Fearing that the coming end of the century signified the last step in a gradual process of the breakdown of society which distorted separations between social classes, these people screamed for a "return" to a more ordered society. Gender roles were to be firmly recognized, classes and races were to be separated.
Dracula, written during this period by Bram Stoker, can be read as an example of this struggle between the "heroic" forces of order and the individuals that hope to undermine it. To use Noel Carroll's term, Dracula is a "fusion monster," a creature that "transgresses categorical distinctions" (Carroll, 43). Literally, he inspires fear to all because he is a combination of life and death, but, more profoundly for the novel's Victorian audience, because he clouds boundaries between the ge...
... middle of paper ...
... traditional view that external dangers should be, and can be, braved only by men. By designating such a man as the leader of the protagonists, Stoker seems to support an intermediate stance - although obviously closer to traditional than to revolutionary - in the fin de siècle crisis of social structure. Stoker did recognize the changing face of Victorian society at the end of the 19th century, and did his best to develop a view that could be accepted by all factions.
Works Cited
Beckson, Karl. London in the 1890s: A Cultural History. New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1992.
Brantlinger, Patrick. Rule of Darkness. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1988.
Carroll, Noel. The Philosophy of Horror. New York: Routledge, 1990.
Showalter, Elaine. Sexual Anarachy: Gender and Culture at the Fin de Siècle. New York: Viking, 1990.
Stoker, Bram. Dracula. Aerie Books, 1988.
he is leaving is the night when "all the evil things in the world will
In order to discuss the decline in masculinity (or manhood) and moral values, synonym of religious values in both books, it becomes necessary to define what Late-Victorian society considered them to be. In Dracula, masculinity is defined almost exclusively by contrasting it with femininity. The men in the book are praised when they show the opposite qualities that women are described as possessing. While women are shown as obedient and complacent, men are stern and in command of themselves and situations. Men are expected to protect women while women expect and cherish the protection of men. While men are expected to face the unpleasant facts of life, the darkness and the evil, with integrity and courage, women are to be sheltered from danger to avoid the breakdown of their fragile characters. When the group headed by Van Helsing starts their mission of vanishing the Count and all the dangers he brings for England, the men unanimously decide to hide all the unpleasant facts f...
Podonsky, Amanda . "Bram Stoker's Dracula: A Reflection and Rebuke of Victorian Society." RSS. Student Pulse: The International Student Journal, 1 Jan. 2010. Web. 6 May 2014. .
Victorian Women were highly held back in their full potential. Their main role in the household was to “be happy - a sunbeam in the house, making others happy” (Hardy, E.J. 1887). On top of this, Women in the Victorian era were not allowed to display their sexuality or “tempt” men in public; they were meant to be submissive and meek (Causey S., 2008). The Victorian era lasted from 1837 til 1901, with women being punished everyday for crimes that are nowadays just part of living for a woman. Bram Stoker was born during this era and wrote his most famous novel, Dracula (Miller, E. unknown). One of the main discourses in this novel is that of Women and their Morality of the time.
In Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, Stoker’s use of inverted gender roles allows readers to grasp the sense of obscureness throughout, eventually leading to the reader’s realization that these characters are rather similar to the “monster” which they call Dracula. Despite being in the Victorian era, Stoker’s use of sexuality in the novel contributes to the reasoning of obscureness going against the Victorian morals and values. Throughout the novel the stereotypical roles of the Victorian man and woman are inverted to draw attention to the similarities between Dracula and the characters. Vague to a majority of readers, Bram Stoker uses Dracula as a negative connotation on society being that the values of the Victorian culture are inverted amongst the sexes of characters, thus pointing out the similarities of the characters and the so called “monster” which they call Dracula.
Dracula is a mythical creature designed to wreak havoc on the lives of mortals through the terror and intimidation of death by bite. Vampires are undead beings that kill humans for their blood to survive. Human blood is the vampire’s sustenance, and only way of staying alive. Throughout time, humans have come up with ways to repel vampires, such as lighting jack-o-lanterns on All Hallows Eve, placing garlic around the neck, a stake through the heart, sunlight, etc. Both beings have a survival instinct, whether it be hunger or safety, both are strong emotions. In the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, the characters Lucy, John, and Van Helsing strive for survival, therefore killing Dracula.
Carol A. Senf uses a critical theory lens when she picks apart Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The majority of literary critics interpret this popular myth to be the opposition of good and evil, they turn a blind eye to the more specifically literary matters such as method of narration, characterization, and style. Carol Senf’s critical essay “Dracula: the Unseen Face in the Mirror” she believes that Stokers novel “revolves, not around the conquest of Evil by Good, but on the similarities between the two” (Senf 421). Her argument is as follows:
How does death make the character’s more meaningful? Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a novel that shows the importance of character’s death by having symbolic significance. Dracula was written as a horror story based on the Prince of Wallachia, Vlad III or better known as Vlad the Impaler a nickname given to him for his favorite way of dispensing his enemies by impaling then on spikes and lining up the way to his home country with their corpses striking fear into the hearts of anyone who dared attack him. Before Vlad the Impaler though vampires had a different image being known all around as demonic beings, less human, and more morbid only existing to create chaos. Horror stories came from these inhuman actions and creatures but in every horror story
show the audience that the film is in this style, such as the mise en
From Transylvania to Hollywood, vampires have transformed from unfamiliar, mysterious personalities to one of the most dominant monsters in the horror genre today. Vampires are one of the oldest and most noted creatures in mythology, with many variations of them around the world. Although the most famous version is Bram Stoker’s Dracula, many variants have come before and after telling of the same legend with their own added ideas and modifications to relate to their cultures. Today, there is a multitude of literary and film works that convey and resurface peoples’ fear of vampires. As gothic works like Dracula, by Bram Stoker and Scooby-Doo! and the Legend of the Vampire directed by Scott Jeralds share certain traits reflective of the genre;
A noticeable difference in the way movies have changed over the years is evident when comparing and contrasting two films of different eras which belong to the same genre and contain the same subject matter. Two vampire movies, Dracula and Bram Stoker's Dracula, present an interesting example of this type of study.
There are a few characters in Dracula that embody society’s views of the time towards the uprising of women for better rights. On the other hand there are also characters that portray the Victorian ideals that men are stronger than women and how it should stay that way. As author Bram Dijkstra mentions in his response essay, “Stokers work demonstrates how thoroughly the war waged by the nineteenth century male culture against the dignity and self -respect of women had been fought”.(Dijkstra , p.460).
An Atmosphere of Fear and Horror in the Opening Chapter of Dracula by Bram Stoker
Podonsky, Amanda M. "Bram Stoker's Dracula: A Reflection and Rebuke of Victorian Society." Student Pulse: The International Student Journal. N.p., 2010. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula is the story about how the small company of men and a woman lead by Professor Abraham Van Helsing combats against Count Dracula, who moves from Transylvania to England in order to manipulate people as “foul things of the night like him, without heart or conscience, preying on the bodies and the souls of those [they] love best” (223). Stoker employs an epistolary format in this novel and nowadays, Dracula becomes one of popular literary works representing epistolary novels written in the nineteenth century. The term “epistolary novels” refers to the novels composed of different types of documents, such as journals, letters, newspaper clippings and so forth. One of the effects created by using an epistolary format is providing the characters’ inner state throughout the story, which “focuse[s] on a broader exploration of the insights that made up the conscious self by and [the broader context]” (Ştefan 73). Consequently, Stoker’s use of fragmentary narratives delivers the main characters’ emotions and thoughts in more picturesque ways. In Dracula, the epistolary format of the novel increases terror and suspense, which derived from tension when the story alters after alluding characters’ insecure future and immense power of Dracula affecting not only the main characters, but the third parties who are irrelevant to them.