FEMALE SEXUAL REPRESSION IN DRACULA Women in Bram Stoker’s Dracula are primarily presented in two ways: There is the sexual being created solely with the aid Dracula’s vampire influence, and the device manipulated and virtually exploited by the men throughout the novel to contribute to the fight between Dracula and Van Helsing and his companions. This battle is not only the literal battle between Dracula and the men, but it is primarily a battle for the empowerment of women, both sexually and intellectually a fight against the constricting social boundaries which forced men and women into their respective roles. Dracula’s bite enables women to become sexual penetrators. Using their sharp teeth to penetrate men, the reverse the traditional gender roles and placemen in the passive position customarily reserved for women. The instance when Mina drinks from Dracula’s breast is the strongest example of this; where the reader to this point is accustomed to Dracula doing the “biting”, and suddenly Mina has the power to penetrate a male.
Stoker’s choose of women as the temptresses may be a warning to the women of the Victorian era to beware about pushing the boundaries of their sexuality. Stoker’s use of structuring emphasizes a women’s role in society at the time, this is the first women that Harker meets in the novel and they are devilish vampires, this implies that the novel appeals to an only male audience and their fantasy of women giving in to their temptations. Harker is simultaneously confronting a vampire and another creature equally terrifying to Victorian England, an unabashedly sexual woman, the evidence for this comes from the implied act of oral sex, ‘The fair girl went on her knees, bent over me, fairly gloating.’ Contextually the fact that Harker becomes the ‘submissive’ and is easily overpowered by their seduction and his own temptation shows the role reversal as women take on the dominating role that a traditional Victorian man is supposed to possess. The fact that Harker is both aroused and disgusted by the Vampires shows the Freudian
Even After Lucy died, Van Helsing placed "a small golden crucifix over her mouth" in attempts to save her soul. (Stoker p162) When she turns into a vampire, the crucifix is one of the weapons the men used. Even in the killing of Count Dracula, the holy circle is used to trap him into the circle of good, so that he does not escape from the holy circle. Even Mina, who is one of Dracula's victims and "tainted by his blood", is unable to enter the holy circle until the men vanquish Count Dracula. (Stoker p322) During the time Bram Stoker, the author, wrote Dracula, the theme of good verses evil was very prevalent and as a theater critic, he knew there was no other surefire success formula as the
He can report,/ As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt/ The newest state.” (1.2.1-3), to which blood indicates the open wounds Macbeth had caused to him. Shakespeare’s use of blood in this scene represents the loyalty and honor as Macbeth killed Macdonwald in defense of the king. After the battle, Macbeth was rewarded with a new title as the Thane of Cawdor yet he was not completely satisfied as he became greedy. Shakespeare also uses bloody images to foreshadow future events associated with Macbeth’s power. Aside from symbolizing blood as honor, he uses it to demonstrate the character of Macbeth and his drastic personality change as the play progresses.
Dracula diffidently contains gloom and horror. There are wolves howling at the Count’s command, Jonathan gets trapped in a room with the three female vampires, and the females cackle is spooky. The presence of gore also proves that Dracula contains horror. Dracula drinks blood, and to kill the vampires stakes where driven through their hearts. Dracula is Gothic literature
“Women in literature are presented as either vampires, controlling and manipulative, or victims, passive and submissive”. Discuss this statement by comparing the poetry of John Keats, Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Angel Carter’s The Bloody Chamber. Through studying these three diverse but interrelated texts, the reader can see that the women are presented as being both vampires and victims; through the writers depiction of the objectification and subjugation of women the reader sees women presented very much as victims; through the presentation of the threat of female sexual expression, the reader sees the vampirism in women. Perhaps more importantly, through the depiction of virginity and sexuality, violence and death and the repeated motif of blood, the reader is presented with a more complex depiction of women as both vampire and victim simultaneously. Objectification and subjugation is very relevant to all three texts, but perhaps is most clearly seen in Angela Carter’s short stories.
Throughout the development of horror cinema – the figure of the ‘vampire’ has changed and progressed dramatically. When thinking of the ‘classic’ figure of the ‘vampire’ – one of the first that comes to the minds of most is none other than Hammers Dracula (Horror of Dracula; 1958). The stereotypical judgments or thoughts towards the ‘classic’ vampire figure – in this case, Dracula – is most notably known to be from Transylvania. He seduces and lures his victims in order to suck blood for survival and also finding pleasure in the process of his kill. Ultimately, Dracula is portrayed as evil, a threat to society and a menace.
It is there that Dracula in a burst of anger stabs the cross, and renounces God and everything pure. Dracula is immortal everyone knows that. He has the ability to control minds as we’ve seen from both R. M. Renfield and Mina’s friend Lucy. With Lucy we also saw that he has the ability to shape shift when he turned into a werewolf type creature when he rapes her, and thought he doesn’t see her Mina is standing back watching when he says “No! Do not see me!” When this happens he quickly hides, and Mina forgets what she ever saw and truly thinks to herself that “Lucy, you're dreaming.
The reason certainly cannot just be because they initiate the feeling of fear; the reason definitely has a deeper meaning than that. Moreover, many people love reading, watching, and talking about vampires because vampires helps generate our inner wants and need that exist within the subconscious mind. To begin the explanation of the underlying desire, it is important to define the meaning of the subconscious. Subconscious in Freudian term is a repository (in human mind) for socially unacceptable ideas, wishes or desires, traumatic memories, and painful emotions put out of mind by the mechanism of psychological repression (Baughman). Since humans are considered to be a socialistic animal, many desires for sex,
(Preview Main Points) There are specific issues that I will discuss with you: human’s attitude toward vampirism, their eating habits, and finally their destruction of the planet earth. Main point #1 Humans attitude toward vampirism 1. It has come to a point in which humans no longer fear vampires as the lethal supernaturals that we were once regarded as. No, instead there are books on movies on blogs about vampires falling in love with humans and renouncing their human blood lust. This to me is absolutely preposterous!