The demonization of the racial other imperils the purity of the English. Looking at the racialized female bodies predominantly through the lens of hybridity that opens a dysfunctional space for her Harriet epitomizes the oriental demon that erects in sharp contrast to the British/Western imperial self. She turns out to be the “unhomely” who imposes a threat to the purity of the English race. Informed by the decline of the British Empire as an imperial force that used to subdue the world, The Blood of the Vampire rises concerns about the possibility of the racial and cultural other to contaminate the purity of the English identity and blood and degenerate the white race. It goes beyond that to recreate the white hegemonic representations of …show more content…
Her Caribbean lineage that asserts her “biological hybridity” underlines her animality, savagery, and monstrosity. Harriet’s mixed blood could ostensibly tarnish the English race and even contaminates the purity of British identity. Indeed, this work will argue that Marryat pushes the limits of the Female Gothic to contribute into the rise of the female imperial gothic which features the encounter between England and its colonies. Thus, Harriet’s journey to the metropolitan centre can better translate the worrying fear of the uncivilized Other who come to invade the coloniser’s territory in an instance of “reverse colonization”. Unlike classic female Gothic narrative that sets its plot outside England, Marryat brings it to the streets of London focusing on the dark forces that jeopardize this city. Her novel, as David Punter argues, “articulate[s] anxieties about the integrity of the nation, about the possibility of the ‘primitive’ infecting the civilized world” …show more content…
She goes on to claim that “What was most alarming to the fin de siècle was that sexuality and sex roles might no longer be contained within the neat and permanent borderlines of gender categories. Men and women were not as clearly identified and separated as they had been” (Sexual Anarchy 9). Female passion which is deemed unfeminine by the Victorian society “exorcises fears regarding female sexuality and women’s ability to procreate” (Gamble 253). Harriet Brandt is a “threateningly liminal subject” who is audacious enough to voice her sexual propensities (Hurley 199). Her sexually aberrant body challenges the dominant codes of normality and morality promoted by mainstream society and imperils the patriarchal hegemonic system which is deep-seated in the logic of binarism. Indeed, sexuality in its heterosexual form reveals the hierarchically constructed relationships between men and women and reinforces the binary opposition of male/female. In this respect, it is the cultural and social construction of sexuality that also defines the relationship between the oppressor and the oppressed. While sexuality displays the patriarchal ideology lying at the core of mainstream society through the relationships between men and women, it also constructs
Judith R. Walkowitz is a Professor Emeritus at John Hopkins University, specializing in modern British history and women’s history. In her book City of Dreadful Delight, she explores nineteenth century England’s development of sexual politics and danger by examining the hype of Jack the Ripper and other tales of sensational nature. By investigating social and cultural history she reveals the complexity of sexuality, and its influence on the public sphere and vice versa. Victorian London had upheld traditional notions of class and gender, that is until they were challenged by forces of different institutions.
...lass and sexuality by including papers like Stead's which brought middle-class readers in touch with the events of working-class London and provided workers with middle-class representations of themselves. City of Dreadful Delight is an assortment of cross-cultural contact and negotiation between class and sexuality in Victorian era London. Walkowitz's analysis emphasizes distinct “classes,” and the impact of events on each group. Through close social and cultural analysis of the explosion of discourses proceeding and surrounding Jack the Ripper, Walkowitz has demonstrated the historical importance of narratives of sexual danger particularly in the lens of sexuality and class. She explicitly demonstrated the conflicted nature of these discourses, outright showing the women marginalized by male discursive dominance, whose struggles continue to even generations later.
Humphrey, Robert. "Ideals of the Victorian Woman as Depicted in ‘Dracula’." The Artifice. N.p., 11 Mar. 2014. Web. 6 May 2014. .
Bram Stoker’s Dracula illustrated fears about sexual women in contrast to the woman who respected and abided by society’s sexual norms. Joseph Sheridan LeFanu’s “Carmilla” represented not only the fear of feminine sexuality, but also the fear of sexuality between women. John William Polidori’s “The Vampyre” showed society’s fear of sexuality in terms of the seductive man who could “ruin” a young girl.These texts are representative of vampire stories in the Victorian Era, and will be the focus here.
Throughout history, women have struggled with, and fought against oppression. They have been held back and weighed down by the sexist ideas of a male dominated society which has controlled cultural, economic and political ideas and structure. During the mid-1800’s to early 1900’s women became more vocal and rebuked sexism and the role that had been defined for them. Fighting with the powerful written word, women sought a voice, equality amongst men and an identity outside of their family. In many literary writings, especially by women, during the mid-1800’s to early 1900’s, we see symbols of oppression and the search for gender equality in society. Writing based on their own experiences, had it not been for the works of Susan Glaspell, Kate Chopin, and similar feminist authors of their time, we may not have seen a reform movement to improve gender roles in a culture in which women had been overshadowed by men.
Accordingly, I decided the purposes behind women 's resistance neither renamed sexual introduction parts nor overcame money related dependence. I recalled why their yearning for the trappings of progression could darken into a self-compelling consumerism. I evaluated how a conviction arrangement of feeling could end in sexual danger or a married woman 's troublesome twofold day. None of that, regardless, ought to cloud an era 's legacy. I comprehend prerequisites for a standard of female open work, another style of sexual expressiveness, the area of women into open space and political fights previously cornered by men all these pushed against ordinary restrictions even as they made new susceptibilities.
During the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth-century women’s sexuality was dictated by the family and society as there were specific rules put in place for each gender. This became problematic for women in the century, as they could not express their sexual identity. However, the protagonist in both Kate Chopin’s The Awakening (1899) and Angela Carter’s The Magic Toyshop (1967) demonstrate the consequences of going against the family for women. Jeffrey Weeks states, “The very idea of sexual identity is an ambiguous one. For many in the modern world-especially the sexually marginal-it is an absolutely fundamental concept, offering a sense of personal unity. Social location, and even at times a political commitment.” (Capaln, 1989:
This essay will attempt to discuss the two gothic tales ‘Carmilla’ and ‘Dracula’ in relation to cultural contexts in which they exist as being presented to the reader through the gender behaviour and sexuality that is portrayed through the texts. Vampire stories always seem to involve some aspect of sexuality and power.
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.
During the Victorian era women were expected to be either a mother and a wife, or a pure, innocent girl. Any other deviation from the set path resulted in punishment, both physically and socially. Deviation can vary as women being over sexual to resembling men in their actions. Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula, is no exception in its representation of Victorian ideals. For his purposes, Stoker uses symbolism, tone, and diction throughout to convey the standard Victorian British perception of themselves. Through this conveyed standard to express his belief that gender roles are essential and relevant to Victorian society and that there are consequences if strayed from.
The genre of gothic text tends to emerge in times of great social stress or anxiety. For many years, authors have described vampires as wealthy, culturally sophisticated, aristocrats who live decadent lifestyles. Today however, average Americans are faced with hard economic times, and are struggling to provide basic necessities for their families. When watching the movie Twilight by Stephanie Meyers, several details in the story seems to enhance these harsh cultural anxieties of today’s social world, such as, the excessive lengths people will go to achieve financial stability, the lavish life style of the modern vampire, and how themes of the economic issues society is facing, impacts and stresses basic human instinct that society has an unlimited wants.
Boa, Elizabeth. "Wedekind and the 'Woman Question'." Boa, Elizabeth. The Sexual Circus: Wedekind's Theatre of Subversion. New York : Basil Blackwell Inc. , 1987. 167-202. Print.
This twentieth-century tradition of dystopian novels is a possible influence, with classics like Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and George Orwell’s 1984 standing prominent. The pessimism associated with novels of this genre—where society is presented as frightening and restrictive—exposes the gender inequality between men and women to be deleterious. An aspect of the way male/female relationships are presented in both texts is the repression of female sexuality by men, possibly stemming from a subliminal fear of women attaining power in a male-dominated society. Brocklehurst—a possible reflection of Bront’s Evangelical minister at Cowan Bridge, her own poorly run school—is a male authoritative figure whose relationship with the girls at Lowood is one of imposed tyranny. He means to “tame and humble” them through deprivations and restrictions, but such removal of liberties like cutting off the girls’ hair, consequentially robbing them of female attributes, can be interpreted as the male repression of feminine sexuality.... ...
During this time period, women extricated (liberated) themselves from the oppression of male-dominated society. “She had been in the W.R.N.S. during the war and had risen through the ranks to become a lieutenant commander and a very capable one. After the war she had established a small travel agency and made it a big one.”(Davies p238) In contrast to Liesl, Denyse emerges more in the domain of politics and possesses more masculine characteristics. Denyse is recognised to be “a power in the world of women” due to her sense of independence that promotes herself to strive hard on her business and political endeavours. Meanwhile, Denyse also is an ambitious, emulative and successful woman who is willing to sacrifice her female traits to acquire a position on the same level as men in this male-dominated society. “Now he [Boy] became aware that this poor girl had sacrificed so much of her feminine self in order to gain success in the business world, and to advance the cause of women who lacked her clarity of vision and common sense.” (Davies p) Denyse undermines the traditional female’s social role. As a result, this sense of independence attracts Boy’s attention and he falls in love with Denyse. “Boy had always been found of the sexual pleasure women could give him, but I doubt if he ever knew
Both A Streetcar Named Desire and The Bloody Chamber portray one or more individuals in a state of oppression. They also share a common theme of the persecuted characters being female – this has come to be represented as the ‘female gothic’, a term coined by Ellen Mors in Literary Women (1976). Whilst different mediums of literature have been used by Carter and Williams (a collection of short stories and a play, respectively), they both fall under the broad genre of the gothic and illuminate the power struggle of women within a patriarchal society. The dominance of men within this social construct is the most obvious way in which females are oppressed. However, Marxist and psychoanalytic readings can offer alternative perspectives into the ways females are persecuted. Carter’s feminist writing in ‘The Bloody Chamber’ will serve as a contrast to superiority of the patriarchal society. Her presentation of the female characters subverting the role of victim encourages readers to examine the constructs of the patriarchal society that serve to oppress females. It is the undeniable relationship between Gothic literature and female oppression that makes the exploration of female characters in the genre so valuable.