Victorian Sexuality in Stoker’s Dracula, LeFanu’s Carmilla, and Polidori’s Vampyre
Literature is representative of the time in which it is produced. Literature can reflect societal views, attitudes, and fears.Vampire literature, in particular, often represents the fears of a society.In the Victorian Era, a time of intense sexual repression, it was common for vampire stories to reflect the fear of sexuality that was rampant in society.
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
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Urged by women and the “code of chivalry,” which was like the “cult of true womanhood,” men lost sexual access to their wives. Because of this, prostitution flourished. Though men were urged to control themselves, it was understood that desire was “in a man’s nature,” and therefore very hard for him to control.
Sex, therefore, became solely for reproduction in the Victorian Era. Upper class families showed their refinement by not having children, and not having sex. But while the upper classes were showing their good breeding, the lower classes continued to have children. Children were needed in the lower classes because they were assets. Children helped in the house and contributed to farm work, so parents needed to reproduce, unlike parents of the upper class, who had no use for children and saw them only as a liability.
As women and men of the upper class became more and more “refined,” abstinence became the model for good breeding. However, the abstinence trend yielded serious consequences. The upper class began to look as though it would die out, and leave the lower classes to take over society. This was another fear, which set in later in the Victorian Era, which was illustrated in literature.
Literature of the Victorian Era was written for the upper class, with their values in mind, because it was the upper class who had the money to buy books and the time to read them.
The Victorian men and women conveyed in Bram Stoker's Dracula are pure and virtuous members of the upper and middle class. However, hiding behind this composed and civilized conception of England lies a dark and turbulent underbelly. This underbelly is the lumpenproletariat, whom Karl Marx defined as "the lowest and most degraded section of the proletariat; the ‘down and outs’ who make no contribution to the workers cause". Victorian culture discriminated against these vagrants, who were seen not only as shiftless and immoral, but dangerous as well. Sex was taboo and purity was held sacred to the Victorian middle and upper class, but prostitution and sexually transmitted diseases ran rampant among the lumpenproletariat. The rich
Gothic literature is dominated by gothic horror, for instance dark and mysterious objects or events. It is a type of literature that combines fiction, horror, and romanticism. As Bram Stoker wrote his famous novel, Dracula he makes sure to include many different characteristics of gothic literature. Three important motifs that are stated in Dracula which also fit into the gothic literature category would be; blood, dreaming or nightmares, and superstition. This particular novel has many gothic motifs, but these are three that I believe really stand out.
Purity was no less important than piety. Women were warned men would try to steal their purity, but they must be strong and resist the temptation. Thomas Branagan threatened women a horrible fate if they did not remain pure in the 1808 publication, The Excellency of the Female Character Vindicated, “You will be left in silent sadness to bewail your credulity, imbecility, duplicity, and premature prostitution” (Welter 103). Women of the Nineteenth Century were taught to believe the contradiction that purity before marriage brought happiness, until it was time to be married and all innocence is lost. Without proper preparation to deal with the moral dilemma women were expected to deal with this severe change in their lives without questions (Welter 104).
In Dracula, Stoker portrays the typical women: The new woman, the femme fatale and the damsel in distress, all common concepts in gothic literature. There are three predominant female roles within Dracula: Mina Murray, Lucy Westenra and the three vampire brides, all of which possess different attributes and play different roles within the novel. It is apparent that the feminine portrayal within this novel, especially the sexual nature, is an un-doubtable strong, reoccurring theme.
Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” is a story about a Vampire named Count Dracula and his journey to satisfy his lust for blood. The story is told through a series of individuals’ journal entries and a letters sent back and forth between characters. Bram Stoker shows the roll in which a certain gender plays in the Victorian era through the works of Dracula. This discussion not only consists of the roll a certain gender takes, but will be discussing how a certain gender fits into the culture of that time period as well as how males and females interact among each other. The Victorian era was extremely conservative when it came to the female, however there are signs of the changing into the New Woman inside of Dracula. Essentially the woman was to be assistance to a man and stay pure inside of their ways.
This is exactly what Stoker did. With this in mind, if vampires are evil and they are highly sexual, that means sexual desires are evil. Count Dracula himself displays such sexual acts as he intakes Mina, “With his left hand he held both Mrs. Harker hand, keeping them away with her arms at full tension; his right hand gripped her by the back of the neck, forcing her face down to his bosom. Her white nightdress was smeared with blood, and a thin stream trickled down the man’s bare breast.” (Stoker 304). In truth, the violence of him forcing Mina to intake his bloodily fluids into her own, showcases sexual interactions. Even the content of which words Stoker uses for vampires are sexual like the words, “tension” and “gripped”. Additionally, not only is Dracula sexual but, the three women vampires are increasingly sexual because they are women which is to provide a stronger point. Stoker describes the female vampires as, “deliberate voluptuousness which was both thrilling and repulsive, and she arched her neck she actually licked her lips like an animal, till I could see in the moonlight the moisture shining on the scarlet lips” (40). The word usage of, “voluptuousness”, “thrilling”, and “repulsive” are sexual words that adds to a typical scene to suppress the sexual interactions that the novel portrays. Stoker adds these words to dramatically express the sexual desire yet to
Dracula Dracula has like most other gothic movies many duality themes and in this assignment I’m going to discuss three of them The first one I’m going to discuss is science versus superstition in the late 1850s England Darwin releases his theory and England has had the industrial revolution so very big changes had happened. So it made the society forced to forget about the old ways and therefor they started to question their beliefs. We can see that in the novel in the way that the modernized people of England have kind of turned their back on superstition and started to think a lot more about science. And the fact they are a lot less superstitious makes them easier prey for Dracula.
The relationship that exists between gender, sexuality and sexual practice is one that is not static, but is ever changing and shifting dependent upon the society in which it exists (Brickell, 2007). This essay aims to describe how Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel, Dracula, presents a “characteristic, if hyperbolic, instance of Victorian anxiety over the potential fluidity of gender roles” (Craft, 111-112), whilst also inverting and subverting conventional Victorian gender patterns through the characterisation and portrayal of the vampire women residing in Count Dracula’s castle, Mina, and Lucy as well as the ‘feminine’ passivity and submissive depiction of Jonathan Harker.
Anna Jeung English IV – AP Ms. Ryan 18 September 2014 Critical Strategy Essay – Feminism in Dracula The novel Dracula by Bram Stoker embodies ideals that reflect the gender roles and constraints of the Victorian Era. The plot satisfies the male imagination because it adheres to the rigid expectations of female behavior at the time. To clarify, a Victorian woman had to be a virgin, a mother, or a wife.
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
In a particular addition of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, Maurice Hindle had suggested that “sex was the monster Stoker feared most.” This essay will examine the examples of this statement in the Dracula text, focusing on female sexuality. The essay will also briefly look at an article Stoker had written after Dracula which also displays Stoker’s fear.
The gothic vampire classic Dracula, written by Bram Stoker, is one of the most well known novels of the nineteenth century. The story focuses on a vampire named Dracula who travels to England in search of new blood, but who eventually is found out and driven away by a group of newly minted vampire hunters. A major social change that was going on during the late nineteenth century, around the time of that this novel was being written, was the changing roles of women in British society which constituted as the “New Woman” movement and the novel seems to explore and worry about this subject extensively. These women wanted to be freed both politically and sexually, but much of the general population at the time found it unsettling (Dixon,
The world transformed during the Victorian era. The previous era, Romanticism, gained all of its beauty and inspiration from the environment; suddenly industry bloomed, and the nature that had acted as a muse for so many was covered in bleak smog. As Queen Victoria took the throne, society had begun to formulate new rules and expectations for all groups of people. Suddenly women had strict expectations placed on them, religion became used excessively in most aspects of life, and the rich assumed themselves better than the poor. Camilla, Dracula, The Mask of Satan, and Pages from a Virgin’s Diary criticize the Victorian’s view on gender, religion, and socioeconomic classes. They created characters that were symbolism of the problems of society
Studies showed that the underclass was breeding at a rapid rate. Encouraging the nations finest men and women to reproduce with one another was not enough. To achieve the dream of a golden age of eugenics, the fecund, beer-sodden, work-shy poor must be actively discouraged from procreating. In an attempt to achieve their objective, eugenicists proposed a system: encouraging ‘better stocks’ to breed, choosing a mate by rational criteria and state sponsored motherhood. This was termed Positive Eugenics. The tactics of discouraging the ‘unfit’ from breeding by use of contraceptives, voluntary or compulsory sterilization, institutionalisation, and the end of ‘sentimental charity’ were components of Negative Eugenics.
Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, published in 1897, explores various sexual erotic possibilities in the vampire's embrace, as discussed by Leonard Wolf. The novel confronts Victorian fears of homosexuality; that were current at the time due to the trial of playwright Oscar Wilde. The vampire's embrace could also be interpreted as an illustration of Victorian fears of the changing role of women. Therefore it is important to consider: the historical context of the novel; the Victorian notion of the `New Woman' specifically the character of Lucy Westenra; the inversion of gender roles; notions of sexuality; and the emasculation of men, by lessening their power over women; in the novel Dracula. In doing this I will be able to explore the effects