Homosexuality In Dracula

On a completely different note, not all the hidden messages, and undertones, where of the herterosexual nature, there are many instances in which Stoker writes about homosexual feelings, and it in itself. Homosexuality was an idea that was not accepted or tolerated at the time Stoker wrote his book. It is even alleged that Stoker himself is a homosexual (Schaffer). In Talia Schaffer’s Article, “‘A Wilde Desire Took Me’ The Homoerotic History of Dracula” she discusses how exactly Stoker’s book is chocked full of homosexual references, and undertones. To begin with, Schaffer with discussing Oscar Wilde’s conviction, and how that was significant to Stoker. The book was written just one month after Wilde’s imprisonment. She discusses how the first

At this moment, I believe Jonathan is representative of Stoker, I believe he is experiencing homosexual feelings, and doesn’t quite know what to do with himself. He’s having these feelings towards Dracula, and is more afraid of what they mean, for him. After all as Schaeffer points out, “he can neither come out as a ‘monster’ nor stay in the sifting closet” (Schaffer 477). This is most prevalent when Jonathan enters Dracula’s room in search of the key. When Jonathan first discovers Dracula sleeping in his coffin, Stoker uses great detail to describe Dracula, and even states how rejuvenated and younger he looks.

Jonathan says, “There lay the count, but looking as if his youth had been half renewed, for the white hair and moustache were changed to dark iron-grey; the cheeks were fuller, and the white skin seemed ruby-red underneath; the mouth was redder than ever, for on the lips were gouts of fresh blood, which trickled from the corners of the mouth and ran over the chin and neck. Even the deep, burning eyes seemed amongst the swollen flesh” (Stoker