Produced in 1897, Bram Stokers renowned tome Dracula, has been the muse or catalyst for innumerable plays, movies, short stories and fiction. This book not only delineated the modern concept of a vampire and outlined how contemporary horror novels should flow, it presented, extrapolated upon and discussed hotbed issues in Victorian culture that illustrate how swiftly the times where changing as well as the tussle between a civilization advancing while it sheds the encumbrances from the previous modes of life. This situation is particularly depicted in regards to the altering roles of women and how sexual relations were viewed.
Penned several decades prior to the women’s movement for the right to vote, Victorian rules and mores pertaining to women were stringent at best especially when it came to sexual intercourse. While it was considered quite normal for men to enjoy and partake in carnal pursuits, females would be viewed as completely evil and abnormal should they feel any sort of sexual desire or want to engage in any sexual behavior. If women wanted to be accepted by society they must submit to male dominance and not elicit any outward sign of what their counterparts would consider to be lustful, otherwise there was no alternative but to be seen as a handmaiden of Satan. In Dracula the trio of vampires in the count’s lair
“represent all the qualities of how a woman should not be; voluptuous and sexually aggressive.” (Pektas 1)
Stoker’s work also reveals the conflicting thought pattern men of the Victorian era experienced when looking upon a woman:
“The fair girl went on her knees and bent over me, fairly gloating. There was a deliberate voluptuousness which was both thrilling and repulsive, and as she arched her neck, she naturally licked her lips like an animal, till I could see in the moonlight the moisture shining on the scarlet lips and on the red tongue as it lapped the white, sharp, teeth” (Stoker 50).
This reinforces the story of Adam and Eve, since Adam fell to Eve’s beckoning and succumbed to her charms. Men adhering to the Victorian social line surely must of felt there was something inherently wrong with a woman that ever attempted an outward sexual advance, and even if they could not contain themselves to refrain the woman would forever be culpable for the behavior because that sort of sinful performance signified they were wicked, but the man was entirely free of blame. He couldn’t be held responsible for the actions of an evil woman. For example, when Lucy was overtaken by Dracula Stoker describes that she now functions with “cold-bloodedness” which is stark contrast to how she was portrayed prior to her experience with the Count (Stoker 240).
Even the guidelines for dress and social discussions strictly forbade revealing any skin or referring to sexual anatomy. “A woman could not show her legs or even say ‘leg’. Even pianos had ‘limbs’ and those wore fluffy coverings so as not to be seen. (Neither) ‘leg’ nor ‘breast’ could be spoken in polite company” (Levin 103).
Further expounding on how sex and love were viewed in the Victorian era, Stoker once again uses Lucy an example of his viewpoint once she becomes a creature of the night and Arthur lays eyes upon her for the first time since her transformation.
“She still advanced, however, and with languorous, voluptuous grace, said- ‘Come to me Arthur. Leave these others and come to me. My arms are hungry for you. Come and we can rest together. Come, my husband, come!’
There was something diabolically sweet in her tones-something of the tingling of glass when struck-which rang through the brains even of us who heard the words addressed to another. As for Arthur, he seemed under a spell” (Stoker 240).
Stoker’s prose clearly show he contests the Victorian view of love and conjugal bliss. This apparition before Arthur is surely not the woman he fell in love with and he is truly tested to not fling himself in her arms, therefore, revisiting the Adam and Eve temptation thing. What Arthur is falling for is not his wife and what Stoker is saying is society’s rules on what love really is don’t hold any meaning. Men and women are required to accept the social dogma that is promulgated rather than learning what this emotion is about on their own and developing their ideas. That would infer happy Victorian marriages, were indeed, quite the opposite because they were based on falsehoods so could never be true.
Another illustration of Stoker’s theme of male sexual dominance is the symbolism of blood. The Count is represented as having a voracious need for blood and power, which the exchange of bodily fluids in the Victorian era did have sexual connotations. Also, the passages where Dracula ‘has his way’ with Mina illustrate men forcefully extracting the sexual favors they desire from hapless females and the brutality of the words rather harkens to a rape.
“With his left hand, he held both Mrs. Harker’s hands, keeping them away with her arms at full tension; his right hand gripped the back of her neck, forcing her facedown on this bosom. Her white night dress was smeared with blood and a thin stream trickled down the man’s bare breast which was shone by hi torn-open dress” (Stoker 319).
Bram Stoker’s Dracula is certainly considered to be one of the most influential gothic horror novels of all time, but Stoker’s aim was not merely to scare the pants of his reader’s but to denote a Victorian regime that incorporated stultifying guidelines for female social and sexual behaviour that suppressed natural inclinations. This novel was his attempt to rebuke the customs of his era and endorse a more enlightening approach to the relationships between men and women on both an emotional and physical level. The strong and often graphic symbolism he incorporated only depicts how deeply he felt about how his society viewed women and sex.
Works Cited Page
Bohn, Michelle L. “Shadow of the Vampire: Understanding the
Transformations of an Icon in Pop Culture.” Texas State University
Levin, Judith. The Victorians. Missouri: Andrews and McMeel. 1996.
Pektas, Nilifer. “The Importance of Blood During the Victorian Era: Blood as
Sexual Signifier in Bram Stoker’s Dracula.” Soderton University Colleges
English Department. Autumn. 2005. February 2008.
Stoker, Bram. Dracula: New York: Archibald Constable and Company, 1897.
