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Female Sexuality In Dracula

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The earlier gothic works as well as Dracula covered something that is outside the social norm. Female sexuality, something that was unacceptable and under the surface of society, it is exposed in these writings. The earlier readings such as Carmilla, as well as the poem of Christabel question the boundaries. The texts from these literature pieces contain passages of female sexuality and the passages contain phrases that hint towards the social taboos. In the era when women were thought of mere objects these pieces decide to give them a personality or at least a voice that can express desire, a voice that states women have a purpose apart from pleasing men. The literature pieces help explore the subject of female sexuality, as time progress the amount of female sexuality increases. Women can desire, they can have aspirations, even though shown as vampires the text still suggests that they are women. The gothic writing of Victorian era such as Dracula, Carmilla, and Christabel help …show more content…

There was a deliberate voluptuousness... as she arched her neck she actually licked her lips…”, the quote clearly shows the intent of the girl. The author also uses phrases such as ‘went on her knees’, ‘bent over me’ and ‘arched her neck she actually licker her lips’ these phrases only add to the hyper-sexuality of the text. The images the author presents show that women in fact do contain sexuality, even though it is when they are vampires they do seem to possess sexuality. This simple statement changes how society today views women, people of that era began embracing the reality of female sexuality allowing the women of today to be themselves. The authors of these pieces deserve most of the credit for the progressive society today, their writing and their ability to present female sexuality permitted society to mold and accept the basic fact of the existence of female

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Throughout the Victorian era, probably one of the biggest worries was the role of women in society. In “Dracula”, Bram Stoker makes most of the women in his story as very sexual and some as pure. The pure women in society were liked and the impure were considered evil and tempting. Throughout the story, Mina is the perfect fit for the “angel of the house” by remaining smart and loyal and she is seen as heroic and strong in the end because of it. Mina’s relationship with Harker represents the traditional part in society that women should play in the Victorian age.

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Through the construction of the societal expectations and relationships, “Circe” and “The Silence of the Girls” builds the perception of indoctrination within a patriarchal system. This is significant within the introduction of both novels, gaining a perspective into the systemic lives of both characters. “Circe” confronts this system through identifying how she is situated within the world: “That word, nymph, paced out the length and breadth of our futures. In our language, it means not just goddess, but bride.” In this moment, the reader is being introduced to the world of “Circe”, explaining the position of Circe and her importance.

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Bram Stoker, describes one of the verbal taboos of the Victorian era, violence, through the representation of vampires as “monsters” through the point of view of their victims in his novel Dracula. Stoker portrays violence in three distinct categories- physical, visual and psychological. Each one of these categories is described by one of the antagonists in the Novel, with Count Dracula as the physical aspect of violence, his underlings, the female vampires as the visual and Renfield, the patient at Dr. Seward’s mental asylum, as the psychological aspect of violence. This essay looks at the portrayal of such Categorical violence as different renditions of a “monster” and considers why Stoker would segregate violence in such a manner.

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In the novel Dracula, Bram Stoker reflected thoughts, ideas, and beliefs passionately focusing primarily on the concept of homosexuality in Catholic belief. Homosexuality is another part of the novel in which Stoker uses an excessive amount of blood which to some in the Victorian era meant that it was related to sexuality. Back then though, it was a new and disturbing discovery that many had a lack of knowledge. In Catholic belief, being homosexual meant disobeying God’s ultimate guidelines for us. He created us in His image and being attracted to the same sex was not a part of His vision.

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The point of view that the writer uses to gives to the short story a sense of masculine gothic is the irony. A single example is shows when Fettes feel tormented and he knows that his attitude is not the appropriate. He begins to change of attitude, because this should be as a lion, this mean, strong, without feeling and with a hard heart like a rock. Also this help him to avoid problems, as get attention of the people to get complications.

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Feminist Reading: Dracula between Beauvoir’s and Roth’s Ideas In her article, “Suddenly Sexual Women in Bram Stoker’s Dracula” Phyllis Roth argues that Dracula is a misogynistic novel which is obvious in the system of power in which men are dominant and active figures whereas women are just followers and obedient to their system. She draws on Simon de Beauvoir’s idea that “ambivalence as an intrinsic quality of Eternal Feminine”, in order to show that women are victims to men powers. In her chapter, “Myth and Reality”, Beauvoir discusses the way that anybody in the society, specially men, doesn’t do their job in taking a step towards the oppressed women, but to act just like what the system of myth impose them to act.

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uses the male gaze and displays women with “their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness” (Mulvey 11). The female characters were still written to appease the male viewer both in looks and attitude.

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Bram Stoker’s Dracula, is a classic that has been enjoyed by readers for many years. It is one that involves fantasy, gore and even has the potential of scaring readers. It is a story that has been enjoyed and feared by readers for centuries. With that said, even though it is commonly known as a classic horror novel, it can also be seen as an erotica. Throughout the novel, Stoker incorporates sexual scenes, and scenes of desire that may or may not capture readers’ attention due to the presence of horror.

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At first glance, the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker appears to be a typical gothic horror novel set in the late 1890s that gives readers an exciting look into the fight between good and evil. Upon closer inspection, it becomes apparent that Dracula is a statement piece about gender roles and expectations for men and women during the Victorian age. Looking at the personalities, actions, and character development of each of the characters in Dracula bring to light startling revelations about Victorian society and how Stoker viewed the roles of men and women during this time period. To really understand Dracula, it is important to note that this novel was written during a time “of political and social upheaval, with anxieties not just about the

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In Dracula, the two leading ladies, Mina and Lucy, represent the two stereotypes of women that existed during the time period. The way each woman is described frames them directly against one another, because even if they are close friends, a woman’s worth is determined by how she is compared to other women. Each woman is described, as in Frankenstein, relative to their position to men and how they interacted with men. Moving past Jonathan’s time in Transylvania and back to London, the two main women, Mina and Lucy, are both markedly feminine. They don’t do anything that is “improper” by society’s standards, which makes them worthy of the respect and attention that the male characters pay them.

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1991 Words | 8 Pages

It’s A Man’s World Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a highly controversial work of fiction. Bram Stoker’s Dracula touches on many different categories of literature which is why it can be analyzed in many different ways using an assortment of different criticisms. Throughout this piece, however, it is only focused on the patriarchal society and how women are portrayed throughout, leading to the expectations of women during this time period. Amongst this novel a feminist approach comes into play, but cannot be used to analyze Dracula as a whole but, more so to analyze multiple female characters. Bram’s stoker’s

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833 Words | 4 Pages

A controversial issue from the text I would like to take a stand against is the portrayal of the women in the book of “Dracula” by Bram Stoker. I believe that Bram Stoker had wrongfully portrayed women in his classic novel called “Dracula”. He either made them seem weak and innocent or impure and horrible. Stoker had written Dracula in 1897, during the Victorian Era (1837-1901).

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513 Words | 3 Pages

Chopin empowers female sexuality by showing an woman who expresses sexual desire and lacks guilt and a legitimate excuse for the society, like men have been

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During the Victorian period in which Dracula was written, morals and ethics were often strictly enforced. Some of the morals that were upheld had to do with personal duty, hard work, honesty, as well as sexual proprietary. It was very important during this period that one was proper in their sexual behaviors and conventional in whom they had sexual relations with. However, during this period, many authors sought to challenge the ‘norm’ with ideas of reform and change and Bram Stoker was no exception to this. In his novel, Dracula, Stoker provides a critique of this rigidity in his portrayal of Dracula and Dracula’s relationship with Jonathan Harker.

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865 Words | 4 Pages

Sexual Tendencies : Sex in “Dracula” Sometimes you can be sexually attracted to someone for their appearance or just by the way they make you feel at that moment . When sex is present in literature , nothing can separate reality from the spicy imagination that makes you keep reading and interested . As for Bram Stoker’s chapter book , “Dracula”, the three main characters Jonathan Harker , his fiance Mina Harker and her best friend Lucy Westerna , have life incidents that fall into the category of sex .

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