Essay On Sexuality In Bram Stoker's Dracula

A product of the contextual values of the Victorian Era, the epistolary novel, “Dracula” written by Bram Stoker, explores the societal anxieties of the erosion of traditional Victorian values. With the onset of the Industrial Revolution and Modernism, along with the declining value of the Christian faith, Stoker challenges the contextual values of religion and female sexuality, along with the repercussions for the individual who strays away from societal constructs and expectations. 19th century England had its foundations built by the Church, where Christian ethics and morals were imbedded and intertwined within the social fabric of society. Despite this, religious influence was plummeting with the development of technology and science. New

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.

These women have strong sexual powers, to which they use to their advantage in dangering men with their reasoning. Nearing the end of Dracula the three brides are brought back into focus. When even Van Helsing, the strong doctor and picturesque example of what a Victorian male was expected to be, hesitates because “She was so fair to look on, so radiantly beautiful, so exquisitely voluptuous, that the very instinct of man in me, which calls some of my sex to love and to protect one of hers, made my head whirl with new emotion.” This heightens the danger over the women’s control and influence over men as even the knowledgeable and powerful

Dracula uses his supernatural powers to feed his fascination with youth and innocence. In the beginning of the novel, when Dracula is first encountered, he is described as old, although “His face was strong… [his] lips, whose ruddiness showed astonishing vitality in a man of his years… The general effect was one of extraordinary pallor.” (27). This description of the Count shows that while he is old, he still possess some attributes and features of the young. Once Dracula finds that the men have made a bond against him, he makes a bond to take all of their women. He succeeds in transforming Lucy and scaring her mother to death, although Mina is stronger and the men save her by killing Dracula. Also, the three women vampires in his home are past conquests of beautiful, young women. Dracula only sucks the blood of young women in the novel reflecting his hunger for youth and innocence. As the

Of course, throughout the novel we see that vampirism most equates with sexuality.  Without overdoing a Freudian analysis of the story, there are enough sexual references to satisfy the least Victorian in nature among us.  However, the Victorian repression theme plays a role in the sexuality of the novel because though good women and men were able to control their sexual appetites in Victorian society, we see them unable to resist giving into their desires in Dracula.  As Carrol Fry writes "Mina says:  'Strangely enough, I did not want to hinder him'.  But perhaps the most suggestive passage in the novel occurs when Jonathan Harker describes his experienced while in a trance induced by Dracula's wives.  As the fair bride approaches him, he finds in her a 'deliberate voluptuousness which was both thrilling and repulsive,' and he feels 'a wicked, burning desire that they would kiss me with those red lips'" (Carter  38).

For example, Mina’s concern with chastity and virtue causes her to struggle to bury her erotic desires. Wandering through Castle Dracula, Jonathan comes across three vampire women who charm and entice him, and, ashamed, he admits. Jonathan is both attracted to the three voluptuous vampires, but they also repulse him because of their vile, horrible nature. He does not want to give in to his desires because of his loyalty to Mina, but he cannot help his feelings when exposed to and sexually attracted to the appealing features of the sensual vampires. Jonathan is not used to the wanton actions of these vampire women because the chaste women in his every day society do not possess the degree of sexuality that turns him on.

The novel Dracula, written by Bram Stoker, is a very dark and gothic story that has many themes. Although the most controversial theme throughout the story is Stokers opinion on women during the Victorian era. The novel was written in 1897, a time where chastity, and etiquette were expected to be demonstrated by every model citizen. However there was a huge controversial issue during that time about women. More specifically the social expectations of women. Women during the Victorian era women were expected to behave appropriately to social standards at all times, especially around men. Although there was a large majority that supported the idea of “The New Woman” , which was a term for a new type of women. One where the social expectations of women were completely disregarded as they felt they had constrictions with these social expectations and preferred to be shown as equals. This idea of “The New Woman” is shown in the story Dracula and the author, Bram Stoker, uses the characters and their unfortunate situations to express his opinion on this new concept: The New Woman.

Though it appears on the surface to be an engaging horror story about a blood-sucking Transylvanian man, upon diving deeper into Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, one can find issues of female sexuality, homoeroticism, and gender roles. Many read Dracula as an entertaining story full of scary castles, seductive vampires, and mysterious forces, yet at the same time, they are being bombarded with descriptions of sex, images of rape, and homosexual relationships. In Francis Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula, Stoker's presentation of homoeroticism is taken, reworked, and presented in a different, stronger light. Coppola does much in the area of emphasizing a homoerotic relationship between Mina Harker and Lucy Westerna: a relationship Bram Stoker

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

Prior to the creation of the literary classic “Dracula”, Bram Stoker spent his time managing the Lyceum Theatre and legendary actor Henry Irving. According to Jennifer Dorn, when the novel was first published in 1897, critics regarded it as a “pulp fiction potboiler” (Dorn). The novels declaration as a literary masterpiece came many years later. A graduate of Trinity college, Stoker came from a middle class Irish family, the son of a civil servant. The publication “The Literary World of Bram Stoker,” by Jennifer Dorn, declares that Stokers vision of the setting of London’s Victorian upper-class society, derived from his station in the acclaimed Lyceum Theatre and from his memories of summer travels to the

When Dracula was published, sexual repression was at its height in England. This was also an age which saw a tremendous rise in prostitution and pornography, both of which were seen as moral corruption. The novel shows the hypocrisy and the consequences of sexual repression. Both men and women could be immoral, but women were treated worse for it. Gentlewomen were supposed to be ladylike and were thought to be inferior to men. In Dracula Lucy writes,"My dear Mina,why are men so noble when we women are so little worthy of them?" Women in Dracula are at the men's beckon as if they were like dogs. Anything the men asked, they did.

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

With several illicit subjects listed throughout Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the book becomes a playground for psychoanalysts. Whether it be to see a subjects as simple as the conscious take over a character, or a character’s surroundings corrupting its victims, Dracula intrigues in more ways than just its vampiristic features. The following is a psychoanalytic study with a focus on vampirism imitating sexual practice and drug usage today while shining a light on the complex psychology of characters, and how even the author can influence the course of its story.

acts as a seducer and corrupter of virtuous women, whose transgression of moral conventions inspires horror within the righteous Aubrey. Especially the act of biting as a form of penetration of the victim links vampirim closely and so obviously to sexuality, than showing it on screen was still considered a great risk in the early Dracula movies of the mid-nineteenth century (Beresford). Finally, Coppola's movie Bram Stoker's Dracula (1993) went one step further, showing explicit sexual interaction between Dracula and his victims, rendering the sexual metaphoric quality of vampirism superfluous. This does not mean vampirism lost its ability to portray sexuality, but in Twilight they are not equivalent. On the one hand, Bella is attracted to Edward first and foremost due to his vampiric qualities, and as

In comparison to modern perversions of the vampire genre, Bram Stoker’s Dracula was slower in progression, yet deeper in meaning. In modern interpretations of the genre, such as Twilight, Vampire Diaries, and The Originals, which are all stories I enjoyed, the plot progresses quickly and vampires are portrayed as redeemable. Contrasting these stories, Dracula progresses sluggishly with Stoker giving “too much information” throughout the entire novel. Moreover, Count Dracula is seen as an irredeemable, soulless monster. Since I was accustomed to modern perversions of the genre, Dracula was extremely dull. At various points in the story, I expected stronger plot development or suspense but the story lacked both. The climax of the plot is reached when the story is nearly over, when the main characters decide to hunt down Count Dracula. Due to the late climax, I was constantly expecting the story to climax throughout my reading, yet it seemed like it would never come. Holistically, the story lacked cohesion as the vast imagery and explanations of the character’s internal thoughts contributed nothing to the plot.