Bloodsucking Beauties
and the Not-So-Sexy Bloodsucking Beast
In Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula, the fact that Dracula
is not portrayed as sexy but the women vampires are is symbolic of how men were
seen as more superior than women in the late 1800’s. It is symbolizing that
Dracula does not need help catching his prey because he is a man, but the women
need help so they have their attractiveness to lure in their prey.
From the beginning of the novel to
the end, Dracula is portrayed as a very creepy
and
strange-looking man. When Jonathon Harker, businessman, comes to visit him he
notes that Dracula
is “a tall man, with a long brown beard and a great black hat, which
seemed to hide
his face… I could only see the gleam of a pair of very bright eyes, which
seemed red in the lamplight…” (pg. 15). Even though Dracula
is not seen as an attractive or appealing man, he has no problem throughout the
novel finding prey and surviving on his own until the very end.
In chapter
three, the women vampires make their entrance. Immediately, Jonathon is
attracted to them.
“All three had brilliant white teeth, that shone like pearls
against the ruby of their voluptuous lips. There was something about them that
made me uneasy, some longing and at the same time some deadly fear. I felt in
my heart a wicked, burning desire that they would kiss me with those red lips”
(pg. 60). Unlike Dracula, these women are dependent and have to use their
attractiveness to get close to their prey. At one point, Dracula actually
brings the women a baby to feed on, implying that it is easier for Dracula to
hunt than for them to hunt for themselves.
....... Because Dracula is a man (be it a vampire man), he
is seen as superior to women. The vampire women take orders from Dracula, showing
that even though they are vampires, they see themselves below Dracula and not
as his equal.
Even today, men are still seen as
more superior than women. Bram Stoker makes it clear in Dracula how women were seen as inferior to men in the late 1800’s. Making
Dracula unappealing yet a successful hunter and the women vampires purposefully
sexy to help attract their prey is just one more way that Stoker subtly restates
this.
What do you guys think? I would
really appreciate any constructive criticism from you. I’m not sure if this is
the topic I’m going to stick with for my final paper, but I’m playing around
with it in my head. I also realize that maybe the real reason the women
vampires are sexy and Dracula is not might be simply because Dracula is a
shallow bastard that only changes beautiful women to join him, but hey, that
makes my thesis arguable then, right? I’m just not sure how much information I
could get out of it to make it 5 pages long. Any help on my thesis statement? I
think it’s kind of wordy, as is the title. I’m very open to suggestions! Please
be honest!!!
I really like this topic! To be honest, the idea never even crossed my mind. I especially like your title! I think you are on the right track here, but the only thing that seems to be missing is textual evidence explaining the relationship between man and woman in Stoker's book. I have no idea where in the novel this would be, though, and perhaps you may need to look into outside resources. There is also blatant evidence that Victorian Age gender gaps were atrocious (which is ironic because the era was named after a woman). You can even look at the book's gender issues at a more basic level: why was the bad guy a guy at all? Why didn't Stoker make Van Helsing a woman? Why aren't any of these female characters strong and why are they so susceptible to Dracula's wrath?
ReplyDeleteI agree, Rusty, I definitely need to do some more research. I really like what you pointed out about how the Victorian Age was, in fact, named after a woman. I might have to do some research on that and make a whole paragraph about how ironic that is in my paper. And very true about why the bad guy is a guy and not a bad girl. Van Helsing as a woman would have been amazing! I wonder if Stoker played around with this idea at all, it would have been such an interesting take on the book.
DeleteI love your topic that you have chosen! I think that you could take this a lot of places and argue different things. I also agree with Rusty about doing some outside research on the Victorian men and women. This might help you further your argument and make it stronger.
ReplyDeleteYou had me cracking up laughing when you said that Dracula is a shallow bastard. It is a very strong but I feel like TRUE statement. To me he seems like someone I wouldn't be attracted to so why are the women in the book so attracted to him?? This was a question that continually kept running through my head while I was reading the book. Good luck!
Shelby,
DeleteI read through all of these comments before I came back to reply to them, and I think David might have answered that question you had about why the women attracted to Dracula in the book. It seems to me that the attraction has nothing to do with lust or his appearance being appealing, it has to do with his weird magnetic-pull power he seems to have over them in the book. Like the mist in the air and the spots that were seen by more than one character in the book that seemed to be hypnotizing them. Do you think it had anything to do with his physical appearance along with this?
Brooke, I like your topic it will make a great 5 page paper but it won't be easy. I agree with Rusty about looking up a journal about the Victorian Age, it seems that a lot of aspects in this novel is linked to that time period because I found an Victorian Age journal related to my topic (reglion/superstition). Also as Rusty said, you should find some textual evidence, maybe you can use somewhere in your paper how Van Helsing adored Mina, how she has the brain of a man (Stoker 274). Why is it that Mina is looked so highly of but still insuperior? Does Stoker seem sexist? Doesn't support women's rights? You should look into one of the stories or articles called "Gender" at the end of the book. I don't know, just throwing out ideas to add to your topic. Good Luck!
ReplyDeleteBianca,
DeleteI also agree with Rusty that I need to look up some information on the Victorian Age, I'm thinking about making a whole section of my paper about it, along with the modern age. I was talking to you in class today about how I might be able to open up more with this topic by comparing modern day men and women relationships with Victorian Age men and women relationships. This would also help a ton with getting five pages out of it.
And that is a great idea about reading "Gender" in the back of Dracula! I have a different book that doesn't have this article available, but you showed me it in your book earlier today, I'm going to try to find it online to read it. Thank you!
I have a few thoughts and i'm not sure if they're going to make any sense, but here goes nothing.
ReplyDeleteFirst, i don't think Dracula attracting women has anything to do with his looks. If you reread the part where Mina retells her weird interaction with Dracula she seems to imply that he has some sort of hypnotic power to subdue her. So, i don't think Dracula being attractive or not comes into play here. Reread that passage and see what you get out of it, i could be wrong.
In regards to the question of Dracula being a shallow bastard (which i thought was hilarious by the way), i have two thoughts which may be helpful. First, Dracula does prey on attractive women. Both Lucy and Mina were described as beautiful (especially Lucy), but I don't believe there is ever mention of Dracula preying on them based upon their looks, but check because this could be something i overlooked. Second, Lucy becomes infinitely more sexy once she transforms so i wonder if his "brides" were attractive so start with or if they became that way after being bitten.
Final thought, i wonder what Stoker is trying to say by making them attractive. Is it because he is trying to say men are stronger? I can't say I think this is the reason. I think he makes them attractive because the sex appeal would have been appalling to Victorian men and women. I think it may have been shock value. Also, perhaps you're accusing the wrong person of being a shallow bastard. Perhaps Stoker is the one who makes them sexy simply because he wanted some sexual element in his book.
I hope some of these are helpful. I definitely think you have a good topic, but some more research needs to be done.
David,
DeleteI also think that Dracula does not attract women with his looks, I think it's with his weird magic-magnetic-hypnotic thing that he does. I will for sure find proof of this in the book to put in my paper.
On your second point, I think that there is no mention of Dracula preying on attractive women purposefully because none of them put it together and write it out, since the book is written through their diaries. What I'm thinking is that the women were all beautiful to start with, and they just turned into a different kind of beautiful (sexy) when they are turned into vampires. Interesting how you ue the term "brides", I'm going to look into that.
On your final thought, I think Stoker is definitely trying to say something by making the women attractive. I also think he does this because sex appeal is looked at being such a sinful thing for Victorian men and omen. It really does add shock value, like you said. And I think you're right about me accusing the wrong person, I think Stoker put a lot of his desire into this book, adding the sexual element so strongly.
All of this was really helpful, I appreciate so much feedback!! Thank you!
I agree with David on his first point. Dracula does seem to have an attractiveness to him, even though it isn't sexual. Perhaps this is the dichotomy of attractiveness in the Victorian age: feminine sexuality vs. masculine persuasion?
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, David gave me a wild idea when he started talking about Dracula's "brides." Was there an increasing amount of polygamy in the Victorian Age? Maybe "Dracula" is a reaction against this practice and Stoker is simply mocking it? This might be a stretch, but I'd say it's worth a shot researching it. Polygamy (or really, polygyny)is an anti-femininist practice.
!!!!!!
DeleteI think about 10 light bulbs just went off in my head when I read this part: "feminine sexuality vs. masculine peruasion?" I'm going to have to work that into my paper for sure. That kind of puts a whole new twist to how Stoker portrays his women and men in Dracula, but I think it still fits into my idea of thinking men are superior. I'm going to play around with this for my thesis statement. Thanks, Rusty!
And I also thougt that it was interesting that David used "brides" to describe Dracula's clan of women, I'm going to definitely do some research on that.