Women who were in heterosexual relationships had their limitations but it was nothing compared to the ridicule homosexual women went through. Homosexuality was a very different idea for such a conservative society. To reiterate, being unnatural was to be against God’s will, ergo, this was evil and not right. homosexuality was so serious and wrong that during this time it was considered a crime and if found guilty the punishment was imprisonment. Those who were found guilty of participating in homoerotic behaviors the maximum punishment was 2 years in jail with hard labor. In addition to Stoker’s shock value, adding in the theme of homoeroticism just puts another layer of controversy in the novel. The fears in society at this time of the unnatural …show more content…
were so high that Stoker created the count as a play off of their fears directed towards the “evils”of uncommonness and how it is transmitted from one source to another, infecting society with hardship. The count acts on the fears of homosexuality by embedding himself into “normal” society.
He can be seen as participating in homosexual acts by penetrating and sucking the blood of men. The count is an example of how mixing evil into a “pure” society and can shake up the entirety and cause “chaos and corruption.” In Victorian time they believed that blood was sperm, therefore the focus here on exchanging blood from person to person would be seen as intercourse. The evils and lust-driven behaviors that are found in Dracula were influenced directly by Stoker’s life. It could be said that Stoker was curious about all things sexual as opposed to the power Dracula would have had as a political ruler. Stoker uses the fears of homosexuality in Victorian society help add to Dracula and give the book shock value (Podonsky, …show more content…
2010). Dracula demonstrates how people dealt with death in this time period. Showing how a culture deals with death gives us insight into their outlook on life. This was often seen when 20th-century movies brought Dracula to life. Lugosi’s portal of Dracula shows the fear of facing death and dying in one’s prime, vampires go after the virginal young in particular. In the 1970s version of Dracula is less about the fear of dying and focuses more on the sexual connotations. Van Helsing is transformed into “a young Adonis who deflowers every virgin courted by the inept vampire, who throws tantrums like a spoilt child” (Coulardeau, 2007). In Badham’s version, he focuses on the linguistic development of Coppola. His version also plays with the touch of death and how Mina is partial to an easeful death when she is sick. This film presents Dracula as both love and death. It offers a feminist twist is brought in by Lucy taking control of wanting to be Dracula’s lover and going against her father and fiance. This is the rise of the new woman and her choice to determine how she will live her life. Bedham makes it known Lucy is not under a spell. This look into the different recreations of Dracula shows the many layers and content the novel has to offer. It also shows that it can be read differently and through multiple lenses (Coulardeau, 2007). Lecercle analysis’s the following passage and refers to it as “pornographic novel” (Lecercle, 2001). “With his left hand [the Count] held both Mrs. Harker’s hands, keeping them away with her arms at full tension; his right hand gripped her by the back of the neck, forcing her face down on his bosom. Her white nightdress was smeared with blood, and a thin stream trickled down to the man’s bare breast which was shown by his torn-open dress. The attitude of the two had a terrible resemblance to a child forcing a kitten’s nose into a saucer of milk to compel it to drink.” (Stoker, 288). The last sentence of this passage adds an innocence to the sexual act by referencing a kitten’s nose.
He says that Stoker is coming across as politically incorrect and it is a bad case of sexual encounters and borderline racism. The kitten’s smile could possibly be a simile with a meaning larger than the sexual connotation it suggests. It could be a good character versus evil character rather than one merely cruel character. Through this analysis, Dracula becomes a regressive myth as opposed to Frankenstein which is often seen as a politically correct, progressive myth that looks towards the future by learning from the past. The issue with analyzing Dracula is its great success and how it continues to be successful due to its resistance between good and evil within human nature. One can not tear this piece apart and prove its weaknesses due to the great popularity it holds. It is complex storytelling and relies on multiple points of view, i.e. the letters and diary entries written throughout the book by a number of writers. Dracula was the groundwork for all of the vampire movies to come. It may be politically incorrect but it is a respected myth (Lecercle,
2001). Through the novel, Dracula readers are able to learn about religion and social beliefs of the Victorian Era. This book provides a look into the time period Stoker lived and brought it’s society alive through the fears and anxieties of Dracula. The religious views during this time shine through with many examples of religious practices and beliefs throughout the book. We also see the men to women relationship in a patriarchal time period. This book exemplifies the way women were expected to act as well as how they were not to act. With examples about how a man would react in these situations as well as who is at fault. Stoker also brings in homosexuality which for the time was not accepted and would result in jail time if one was found guilty of homosexual relations. Stoker explores the society's anxieties and anti-norms and brings them to the forefront. Readers at the time would have recognized the scandalous content and understood the dramatic effect of this book more so than we are able to now. In the 21st century we pull out other shock-value pieces from this book that for the late 19th century would have been widely accepted and they did not know any different. For example, blood transfusions were very new and they knew little about the procedure and consequences. Now we look at this and think about how naive they were. This book offers a shock value whether you read it when it came out or now, it is what you are looking at and what society says is the new norm. Through Stoker’s novel, we are able to see 19th-century religious beliefs, social restrictions, and an understanding of the time period. This book can be used as a learning tool and a look into the beliefs of the time.
The presence of racial stereotypes and commentary on the interaction of different races is a cornerstone of the Dracula narrative. In Stoker’s novel, Count Dracula is representative of the growing European culture of xenophobia and anti-Semitism which would rise to near hysteria in the coming decades. The concept of race was not limited to skin color or nationality in the nineteenth century, and was a means of categorizing people by “cultural as well as physical attributes” (Warren 127). Dracula is described as being covetous of ancient gold and jewels, childlike and simple in his malice, and more animalistic than human, traits frequently attributed to the Jewish people by Christian society (Newman). His material appearance is distinguished by extremely pale skin, dark features, a nose with a “high bridge…and peculiarly arched nostrils,” and “bushy hair that seemed to curl of its own profusion.” Stoker’s audience would have recognized...
This fictional character was soon to be famous, and modified for years to come into movie characters or even into cereal commercials. But the original will never be forgotten: a story of a group of friends all with the same mission, to destroy Dracula. The Count has scared many people, from critics to mere children, but if one reads between the lines, Stoker’s true message can be revealed. His personal experiences and the time period in which he lived, influenced him to write Dracula in which he communicated the universal truth that good always prevails over evil. Religion was a big part of people’s lives back in Stoker’s time.
Bram Stoker was born into a lower-class Irish family in late 1847. He grew up with six siblings, at least four of which were brothers. Throughout his childhood, Stoker was an invalid, sickened with an unknown disease. Many days were spent listening to his mother tell stories of Ireland. It is thought that her stories played a large role in his writing (Stoker 5). Perhaps due to Stoker’s childhood illness and relationship with his brothers, his writing in Dracula exhibited a great deal of homosociality, the idea of same-sex relationships on a social level, rather than romantically. In the novel, Stoker introduces the idea of homosociality by creating a friendship and camaraderie between the main male characters.
The passage depicts the unnatural occurrence of the female’s sexual advances, and establishes the link between vampirism and sex that is seen throughout the novel: unlike Mina and Lucy, who are idyllically virtuous and pure, these un-dead women are insatiable and dominant. Stoker takes the fantastic image of the sexual woman to its most extreme manifestation, and suggests that Harker would not only lose his reputation by indulging in these sexual acts, but also his life. The three vampires that Harker encounters in Dracula’s castle are embodiments of the ‘beautiful nightmare’ of the male Victorians; they are representations of everything that the Victorian society states that women should not be – they are sexually aggressive, ‘voluptuous’, and seductive. This sexual proficiency, though appealing, is rebuked and seen to undermine the male dominancy within the patriarchal society, and therefore must be destroyed. The notion that a woman can be both attractive and repulsive is also presented by Angela Carter in The Lady of the House of Love. The character of the countess is presented as both the predator and the prey – the victim and the vixen. Just as the female vampire in Dracula is described as “thrilling and repulsive”, the countess is described as “beautiful and ghastly”. Despite her beauty and “fragility”, the countess
The late nineteenth century Irish novelist, Bram Stoker is most famous for creating Dracula, one of the most popular and well-known vampire stories ever written. Dracula is a gothic, “horror novel about a vampire named Count Dracula who is looking to move from his native country of Transylvania to England” (Shmoop Editorial Team). Unbeknownst of Dracula’s plans, Jonathan Harker, a young English lawyer, traveled to Castle Dracula to help the count with his plans and talk to him about all his options. At first Jonathan was surprised by the Count’s knowledge, politeness, and overall hospitality. However, the longer Jonathan remained in the castle the more uneasy and suspicious he became as he began to realize just how strange and different Dracula was. As the story unfolded, Jonathan realized he is not just a guest, but a prisoner as well. The horror in the novel not only focuses on the “vampiric nature” (Soyokaze), but also on the fear and threat of female sexual expression and aggression in such a conservative Victorian society.
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.
The Victorian England setting and culture of “Dracula” by: Bram Stoker attributes to many stylistic components and character behaviours in the novel. One of which is the behaviour and actions characters express that are a result of sexual repression. In Dracula, sexual repression is best expressed by the character’s desire to create. This desire is exemplified by the way Dracula creates other vampires, Lucy’s sexual desires, and the men’s expression of aggression. The creation of other Vampires is evident through events including Dracula’s aggressive encounters with Lucy and Mina, and the fact the Dracula is building up a Vampire army. Lucy’s sexual desires are exemplified through her longing to have sex with multiple men and how she compares
Bram Stoker captures the essence of Victorian England through his portrayal of every main character. Each reflects a value of the time thus, allowing for readers of all ages to engage with this timeless literary piece. Stoker cleverly and effectively provides insight into the context, to appeal to the pathological, ethical and logical senses of the reader. He inadvertently cemented the concept of the vampire into popular culture and set precedent for multiple vampiric tales to come.
In Bram Stoker's Dracula, the most blatant and powerful symbol is blood. He takes the blood that means so much to the believers of this legend and has it represent more than even they could imagine. Blood is the main object associated with vampires and vampirism. From a mythical standpoint, it is the basis of life for the vampires as they feed off of the blood of young, vibrant souls. From a more scientific standpoint blood is what would drip out of the corpse's mouth when family members would dig up their dead kin to check for the dreaded disease. Stoker takes the significance of this symbol and puts his own unique twist to the meaning of blood. He combines the traditional folklore of vampirism and the immense sexual undertones of the Victorian era to create a simply horrific tale which completely confuses the emotions of his readers. Stoker knew bloods importance in vampire history and used the overwhelming symbolism to convey his own personal lust and sexual obsessions. The scenes where Lucy is receiving transfusions; first from Holmwood, then from Seward, and the unforgettable vampire baptism between Dracula and Mina all have these very erotic, sexual feelings associated with them. What makes these so powerful is the combination of violence and sex. As a reader, you know that what Dracula is doing are horrific and wrong, but because they are so sexually described and associated you think you should enjoy them, but you can't. This is the confusion which stoker implements into his readers minds, especially ones of the Victorian era. This is why stoker used blood as the most important symbol in the novel; to create an intense horror that was not just in the words of the book, but in the minds of the reader.
Stoker uses phenomenal imagery to produce a late nineteenth century setting, located somewhere within eastern Europe. Transylvania, the infamous home to Dracula himself, is described in great detail in Harker’s journal. There, Stoker purposely and meticulously outlines Dracula’s castle and the surrounding town. Stoker manages to do this with a very gothic tone, immediately lowering the societal status of women. In conjunction with Dracula’s gothic tone comes the understanding of male and female traditional roles of the era. The reader sees that there is no hesitation differentiating between the two, as Stoker “ cast[s] men as rational, strong, protective and decisive…[and] women as emotional (irrational), weak, nurturing and submissive.” (Tyson, 82).
In reading Bram Stoker's Dracula, I find the treatment of the two main female characters-- Lucy Westenra and Mina Harker-- especially intriguing. These two women are two opposite archetypes created by a society of threatened men trying to protect themselves.
Bram Stoker writes the Count in the existence of that fear. He is a poison looking to infect all of England, “Through them I have come to know your great England, and to know her is to love her” (Stoker 26) with his abnormality, homosexual tendencies. This opens up the fear to Victorians that homosexualism when brought into a pure society can create large scale corruption as stated by Amanda Podonsky. Dracula’s brides advance on Jonathon seducing him vivaciously towards sex or feeding, when Dracula enters the room and claims Jonathon as his own, “How dare you touch him when I have forbidden it? This man belongs to me!
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.
The Count is the benchmark of the vampire archetype as the monstrous Other that “announces itself as the place of corruption” (Anolik and Howard 1). Dracula is associated with disruption and transgression of accepted limits—a monstrosity of great evil that serves to guarantee the existence of good (Punter and Byron 231). The “Otherness” Dracula possess reinforces our own norms and beliefs through his transgression that separates him from society and the polarity to Western norms and ideals makes him an effective device for extorting revulsion and horror. Stoker’s novel employs Gothic tradition, providing “the principle embodiments and evocations of cultural anxieties” from which the very Gothic mood and horror is produced, establishing the baseline used to distinguish the modern vampires, as part of vampire mythology within the Gothic (Botting Aftergothic
The novel Dracula by Bram Stoker has plentiful examples of key concepts we have examined in class including: Purity and impurity, magical thinking, strong emotions such as disgust and shame, , formalization, and myth. In this essay I will summarize events that take place within the novel when the protagonists deal with Dracula and then relate these events to the key concepts to demonstrate why the characters view him as dangerous, and therefore something to be avoided completely.