Morality And Morality In Dracula

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. Though he could not be explicit in his representation of homosexuality or queerness, in the

Harker is a guest in Dracula 's castle and when he cannot sleep anymore he gets up to shave, hanging his mirror up on the wall of the bathroom. In that moment Dracula places his hand on hand on his back and Harker hears Dracula’s voice say to him “Good morning” (Stoker, 31), mimicking a very intimate moment that couples often experience together when they wake up. Then Harker continues on to say, “I started, for it amazed me that I had not seen him, since the reflection of the glass covered the whole room behind me” (31.) The fact that Dracula cannot be seen in a mirror, particularly Harker’s mirror, is not shocking due to Van Helsing’s rules (309) that a vampire has no reflection, yet Stoker seems to be suggesting through this simple “rule,” that Dracula’s true identity is erased or invisible. Dracula cannot be seen in a mirror, and just as Dracula is invisible those who are not conventional in their sexuality, especially those who identify closely with bisexuality are often silenced, forgotten, and identities labeled

This sheds a light on Dracula as a figure who truly does feel homosexual affection towards Harker. When Harker disobeys Dracula he finds himself in a room where Dracula’s three wives are. Harker journal entry recalling this event describes it in very close details. He describes the women in a very erotic way, saying “I could feel the hot breath on my neck. Then the skin of my throat began to tingle” (Stoker, 48), and the “soft shivering touch of lips.”(48) He then says that as he waiting he felt “ecstasy” as their “fair cheeks, blazing red with passion” (48) descended upon him. As Dracula notices what is happening he is furious. Harker describes him as having red eyes that were “lurid, as if the flames of hell fire blazed behind them” (48), then pushes the women aside. Dracula then yells at them saying, “‘How dare you touch him… This man belongs to me!’”(48.) This fury and possessive behavior are in no means typical in a healthy relationship, but perhaps Stoker chooses to represent Dracula in this way, as to show the jealous rage sometimes associated in obsessive, forbidden love, and the anger surrounding the acceptance of one 's