Dracula's Brides: Economic Seclusion, Prostitution, and Domestic Neglect

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Dracula's Brides: Economic Seclusion, Prostitution, and Domestic Neglect International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences (IJELS) Vol-2, Issue-6, Nov - Dec, 2017 https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijels.2.6.27 ISSN: 2456-7620 Dracula’s Brides: Economic Seclusion, Prostitution, and Domestic Neglect Abriel Garrick Abstract-- Bram Stoker’s Dracula accrued international to be guarded, were secured. To the west was a great recognition and acclaim and is the foundation of an valley, and then, rising far away, great jagged expansive creative outpour of literature, film adaptations, mountain vastnesses, rising peak on peak, the sheer and numerous interpretations. The name Dracula is rock studded with mountain ash and thorn, whose familiar around the world and has been critiqued by roots clung in cracks and crevices and crannies of the numerous schools of thought. The paper looks at the Bram stone. This was evidently the portion of the castle Stoker’s use of female vampires to highlight the New occupied by the ladies in bygone days, for the Woman, economic dependence, and domestic neglect. furniture had more an air of comfort than any I had Keywords--Domestic, New Woman, vampire, Victorian seen. (35) Initially meant for protection from hostile society, the Bram Stoker’s Dracula was written in the midst of impenetrable fortress is now a controlled prison. The same intense social uproar; the New Woman fueled anxiety security against the dangerous outside world is a prison toward changing gender roles in Victorian era England; limiting their interaction and influence on the larger society. progressive women struggled for social equality and against The women’s suite was positioned where the natural terrain the negative impact of stagnant social expectations. The would not allow outside guidance to reach Dracula’s brides. restrictive gender roles in Victorian England kept women Women’s ‘occupation’ of wife and mother left their secluded to their homes. Thought of as delicate and fragile, financial security solely reliant on the men in their lives. women needed protection from the complications of Women’s intellectual, physical, and rational abilities were society. Thought of as a means of protection, women’s measured against their proficiency in their domestic duties. restriction to the home became a hindrance to their social The long held belief that women belonged by the hearth progress. By restricting Dracula’s brides to his castle, was based on their perceived inherent qualities. Women’s Stoker highlights women’s immobility and subsequent ability to perform adequately in occupations outside the dependence on the males in their family. Bram Stoker uses home was seen as non-existent because the effort needed Dracula’s brides’ restricted domain to highlight the limited was too rigorous. To break the cycle of dependence upon opportunities for women to progress outside of their men new employment opportunities were needed; better economic gender roles. Women who did venture beyond the employment required better education. In “Feminist hearth were thought to have ‘abandoned’ their domestic Thinking on Education in Victorian England” Laura duties, allowing the societal influence to penetrate the Schwartz asserts: home, and disturbing the atmosphere of respite in the home. Opposition to women’s education was based upon a While in Castle Dracula Jonathan Harker witnesses the strong assertion of sexual difference . women’s physical restrictive aspects of the female vampires’ intellects were seen as insightful and sensitive without surroundings. Dracula has placed his brides’ quarters in the the ability to make rational evidence-based most secure position; judgements; physiologically, they were not equipped From the windows I could see that the suite of rooms to deal with the rigours of university education . lay along to the south of the castle, the windows of the because women’s vocation in life was supposedly end room looking out both west and south. On the different from that of men, it was believed to be latter side, as well as to the former, there was a great pointless and cruel to educate her beyond her sphere as precipice. The castle was built on the corner of a great wife and mother. (674) rock, so that on three sides it was quite impregnable, Without skills to earn a living outside of their sexual and great windows were placed here where sling, or qualities women whom desired to maintain economic bow, or culverin could not reach, and consequently autonomy turned to the reliable profession open to women; light and comfort, impossible to a position which had prostitution. www.ijels.com Page | 181 International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences (IJELS) Vol-2, Issue-6, Nov - Dec, 2017 https://dx.doi.org/10.24001/ijels.2.6.27 ISSN: 2456-7620 The female vampires’ dependence on Dracula necessity to become over-sexualized as prostitutes. Without represents not only a dominating patriarch but also an alternative, women turned to prostitution to support highlights society’s subjugation and lack of options for themselves Just as Dracula’s female vampires are forced financial security for women. This circumstance was into becoming fallen and have no alternative to survive present throughout history which often forced women into women without education or employable skills compulsory domesticity or prostitution. Just as Dracula’s female turned to prostitution. vampires were forced into becoming fallen, without The inference is given further weight once Van education women’s employment opportunities were scarce Helsing is able to end their ‘lives’ and the female vampires and many turned to prostitution to support themselves. have a relief that comes over them; they are freed of an In “Help to the Fallen” published 1859, Robert and existence they did not choose but were forced into. As William Chambers outline the perpetual cycle the lower Jennifer A. Swartz-Levine points out in "Staking Salvation: classes are fixed and thus: “are educated perforce-by The Reclamation of the Monstrous Female in Dracula”: Necessity as well as by Father and Mother-in thieving and “The creatures do not get to be female until after Van debauchery; are brought up to the profession of Crime . Helsing destroys them. They are a collective ‘it’ until after they will have committed no real crime at all, but only a ‘the soul had been won’ at which point they become ‘them’ necessity, discountenanced, for very sufficient reasons, by and ‘her’” (357). He is separating the women under the the law of the land” (original emphasis, 11). seductive vampires from the collective ‘fallen woman’ and As Brynne points out in his 1888 article “Women and their ‘prostitute’ label; restoring their nonsexual femininity. Just Sphere” the only reliable occupations for Victorian women before they turn to dust they have a look of “repose . were wife or prostitute: gladness . the realization that the soul had been won” Primarily, the value of women to men is their (359) as they are being spared their continued involvement sexual value, their value as workers being a very in vampirism (prostitution) and over-sexualization they secondary matter; whereas, primarily, the value of were forced into. men to women is their capacity and power for Harker’s vague recollection of the female vampires, his work and defense, their sexuality being but fear, and his “burning desire that they would kiss me with secondary . the wages of all women are those red lips” (37) is description of the English prostitutes. conditioned by their sexual resources; their The vague recognition, sexualizing, longing, and fear, of the sexuality is a saleable thing; marriage or vampires are the same hidden and unspoken societal prostitution is open to all, and a reserve fund being dynamics of prostitutes in the Victorian era. thus established in fact, their honest wages suffer. The female vampires are shut in their bedrooms; (original emphasis 6-7) only making an appearance when sought out. Their further In “Feminist Thinking on Education in Victorian seclusion to their prescribed domain in the shadows, only England” Laura Schwartz asserts: “Elizabeth Wolstenholme materializing at night, mirrors prostitutes’ ‘work’ schedule. protested that ‘It is to the last degree indecent that women Prostitutes are ‘women of the night’ consolidated and should be dependent upon marriage for a professional working in specific areas of the city. Carrol L. Fry states in maintenance’ (Wolstenholme, 1869, p. 318) . Without "Fictional Conventions and Sexuality in Dracula”; adequate training or employment, middle-class women were In fiction, it is conventional for the fallen woman forced into low-paid positions of ‘drudgery’” (673). to become an outcast, alienated from the rest of Mirroring Victorian England’s slums where, as mankind, or to die a painful death. If she lives, she Chambers and Chambers puts it: “the Dangerous Classes often becomes a prostitute or the chattel of her grow up, all by themselves, in filthy sties . are born and seducer. Similarly, Dracula’s castle is occupied bred every year in an atmosphere of temptation and by his ‘wives,’ who were at some earlier time his ignorance such as honesty cannot draw breath in” (11). victims. He has loved them with the vampire’s The ideal feminine wife and mother was a phallic bite, and they have become outsider, Un- nonsexual person; the over-sexualizing of Dracula’s brides Dead, and, like the fallen woman, not part of the leaves prostitution as an acceptable interpretation. The over- human race. (21) sexualizing attributed to Dracula’s brides is a forced The difficulty in maintaining independence in the characteristic they received with the vampire’s curse. This Victorian Era’s gender debate was not hidden from social forced sexualizing represents the lower class women’s consciousness. Women’s struggle to maintain independence www.ijels.com Page | 182 International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences (IJELS) Vol-2, Issue-6, Nov - Dec, 2017 https://dx.doi.org/10.24001/ijels.2.6.27 ISSN: 2456-7620 did not gain sympathy from all observers.
Recommended publications
  • Making Sense of Mina: Stoker's Vampirization of the Victorian Woman in Dracula Kathryn Boyd Trinity University
    Trinity University Digital Commons @ Trinity English Honors Theses English Department 5-2014 Making Sense of Mina: Stoker's Vampirization of the Victorian Woman in Dracula Kathryn Boyd Trinity University Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.trinity.edu/eng_honors Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Boyd, Kathryn, "Making Sense of Mina: Stoker's Vampirization of the Victorian Woman in Dracula" (2014). English Honors Theses. 20. http://digitalcommons.trinity.edu/eng_honors/20 This Thesis open access is brought to you for free and open access by the English Department at Digital Commons @ Trinity. It has been accepted for inclusion in English Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Trinity. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Despite its gothic trappings and origin in sensationalist fiction, Bram Stoker's Dracula, written in 1897, is a novel that looks forward. At the turn of the nineteenth century, Britons found themselves in a world of new possibilities and new perils –in a society rapidly advancing through imperialist explorations and scientific discoveries while attempting to cling to traditional institutions, men and woman struggled to make sense of the new cultural order. The genre of invasion literature, speaking to the fear of Victorian society becoming tainted by the influence of some creeping foreign Other, proliferated at the turn of the century, and Stoker's threatening depictions of the Transylvanian Count Dracula resonated with his readers. Stoker’s text has continued to resonate with readers, as further social and scientific developments in our modern world allow more and more opportunities to read allegories into the text.
    [Show full text]
  • The Dracula Film Adaptations
    DRACULA IN THE DARK DRACULA IN THE DARK The Dracula Film Adaptations JAMES CRAIG HOLTE Contributions to the Study of Science Fiction and Fantasy, Number 73 Donald Palumbo, Series Adviser GREENWOOD PRESS Westport, Connecticut • London Recent Titles in Contributions to the Study of Science Fiction and Fantasy Robbe-Grillet and the Fantastic: A Collection of Essays Virginia Harger-Grinling and Tony Chadwick, editors The Dystopian Impulse in Modern Literature: Fiction as Social Criticism M. Keith Booker The Company of Camelot: Arthurian Characters in Romance and Fantasy Charlotte Spivack and Roberta Lynne Staples Science Fiction Fandom Joe Sanders, editor Philip K. Dick: Contemporary Critical Interpretations Samuel J. Umland, editor Lord Dunsany: Master of the Anglo-Irish Imagination S. T. Joshi Modes of the Fantastic: Selected Essays from the Twelfth International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts Robert A. Latham and Robert A. Collins, editors Functions of the Fantastic: Selected Essays from the Thirteenth International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts Joe Sanders, editor Cosmic Engineers: A Study of Hard Science Fiction Gary Westfahl The Fantastic Sublime: Romanticism and Transcendence in Nineteenth-Century Children’s Fantasy Literature David Sandner Visions of the Fantastic: Selected Essays from the Fifteenth International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts Allienne R. Becker, editor The Dark Fantastic: Selected Essays from the Ninth International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts C. W. Sullivan III, editor Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Holte, James Craig. Dracula in the dark : the Dracula film adaptations / James Craig Holte. p. cm.—(Contributions to the study of science fiction and fantasy, ISSN 0193–6875 ; no.
    [Show full text]
  • Gender Roles in Jane Eyre, Dracula, and Middlemarch
    Gender roles in Jane Eyre, Dracula, and Middlemarch Simone Buijsman 1809075 MA Thesis Literary Studies: English Literature and Culture, Leiden University Supervisor: Prof. dr. P.Th.M.G. Liebregts Second Reader: Dr. M.S. Newton 23 June 2017 Buijsman 1809075/1 Table of Content Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 2 Chapter 1: Gender Roles in the Victorian Era ......................................................................................... 5 Chapter 2: Gender Roles in Jane Eyre .................................................................................................. 10 Chapter 3: Gender Roles in Middlemarch ............................................................................................. 18 Chapter 4: Gender Roles in Dracula ..................................................................................................... 30 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 41 Works Cited ........................................................................................................................................... 44 Buijsman 1809075/2 Introduction During the Victorian Era, the gender roles by which men and women were supposed to live were rigid. Masculinity and femininity were seen as separate categories, and people were not supposed to mix the two. In theory, men were hard workers
    [Show full text]
  • Dracula by Bram Stoker
    Dracula By Bram Stoker ENG113 Professor Harris Kyle Brady, Amanda Saxer Aurora Smith, Taylor Smith Juliet Stubblebine Vampires: A Background Vampire s • General Definition – Vampires (and werewolves) are among oldest creatures in mythology & exist universally • Mesopotamians, Hebrews, Ancient Greeks, Romans • Origins of Vampire Myth – Stems almost exclusively from 18th Century Slavic tales – Began as vague demon & explanation for eclipses •Causes – Almost everything! • Reasons Behind the Myths We Know and Love – Stake through the heart – Decapitation – Lack of reflection – Garlic – Crosses Relevant History Historical Events Jack the Second cholera Irish Potato Ripper Pandemic reaches Famine terrorizes British Isles (until 1852) London 1832 1845 1888 1837 1851 1895 Queen Victoria Napoleon III of France Oscar Wilde Rules (until 1901) becomes dictator convicted (until 1870) of sodomy Major Themes of the Era Age of Reforms Worker’s rights Age of Empire Public health acts Voter reform Women’s Rights Food/Drug Acts Several revolts in colonies Bankruptcy/ Wars to create colonies/ Insolvency Act prevent other countries Limits to death from colonizing penalty Crimean War, Second Trade Unions Opium War, Anglo- Judicial Reforms Persian War, etc. Age of Consent raised Greater religious freedom Age of Scientific Advances Industrial Revolution Trains Shift from Astronomical agrarian to Darwin/Evolution urban Photography Frequent New Elements outbreaks Medical of disease Dynamite Invented Telegraph Oceanography Telephone Motion Pictures The Underground
    [Show full text]
  • 'Nosferatu' Revisted
    Fewster: 'Nosferatu' Revisted What is it about the Dracula narrative that is attractive dramatically? Its format is hardly exciting in that it is written as a series of letters. Similarly what could one possibly do in a theatrical production that has not been done? This would form the key research question that underlined my own subsequent production i.e. how does one approach such a classic? Indeed, when I ran a research seminar on the intended production, I was met with initial scepticism and resistance with a general response of “Why bother?” This is a fair question when one considers the plethora of dramatic renditions on stage and screen, in particular the ubiquitous vampire television series. Ultimately the answer to this question could only be explored through practice: textual in adapting the script, and physical in rehearsing the play. The capacity for Dracula and the vampires to turn into—variously—wolves, bats, rats and from smoke into the flesh of the living dead stimulated my creative thinking about how one might stage these transformations. I also began to imagine how an audience might literally follow the story’s protagonist, Jonathan Harker and his journey to Transylvania and back through everyday spaces such as corridors, café, paths and old buildings on the University Campus where I work. I re-read the Stoker novel and re-examined the two German films Nosferatu (1922 Dir. Friedrich Murnau) and the remake: Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979 Dir. Werner Herzog). As a playwright, I chose these sources for two reasons: I did not want to overload my creative sensibility with too much source material and the novel and the 1922 film are in my view historically the key transmitters of the Dracula fable.
    [Show full text]
  • Dracula Synopsis Audience Advisory
    DRACULA SYNOPSIS AUDIENCE ADVISORY Professor Van Helsing, a notable expert in the occult, PLEASE NOTE: This show includes effects such as fog, traps moving in the floor causing sudden changes to the stage, noise and strobe light mimicking arrives at the estate of an old friend, Dr. Seward, amid thunder and lightning, the use of fire, simulated explosions, gunshots, whispers of gruesome attacks and strange goings-on. use of fake blood, wolves howling and the use of flashlights in the dark. Seward’s fiancée, Mina, has recently died of a sudden and Violence includes fighting and physical combat that may be accompanied by bloodshed. Content includes suicidal intent and murder. Characters mysterious illness, and Mina’s friend, Lucy, has begun to frequently move throughout the theatre and interact with the audience in display the same symptoms. Could it be that Mina, and ways that can be scary or surprising. When characters are possessed, their voices will become distorted and their movements will become strange now Lucy, have suffered at the hands of a vampire? How to mimic them being unable to control their bodies. During the show, will Van Helsing and Seward fight this supernatural characters are in emotional states during which they may scream or make fiend? a lot of noise, including slamming doors and slamming items on surfaces. SENSORY & EMOTIONALLY INTENSE MOMENTS ACT I – 68 MINUTES Fog on stage with blackout and possible audience screams. Monster attacks OPENING MONTAGE 0-3 and bites. Screams are heard. Floor traps move to allow furniture to rise. 5 Renfield enters and screams.
    [Show full text]
  • Of the Requirernents for the Degree of Masters of Arts Department Of
    University of Alberta 'That's Why the Lady is a Vamp' Discounes of Crirninality, Sexual Inversion and Vampirism in Fin-de-Siècle and Modemist Culhues April Miller A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Stucües and Research as partial fulnllment of the requirernents for the degree of Masters of Arts Department of English Edmonton, Alberta Spring 2000 National Liibrary Bibliothèque nationale du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions el Bbliographic Sewiees senrices bibliographiques 395 welltngton Street 395, Ne Welliigton Ortawa ON KIA W OEEawaON K1AW Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Liiof Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distri'bute or seii reproduire, prêter, distr'buer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfichdnim, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substântial extracts from it Ni Ia thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or othenvise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. Abstract This thesis hvestigates scientifïc discourses of criminality and homosexuality as indicators of public anxiety over the changing status of women in America and Bntain at the tum of the century. As women began to move beyond the confines of domesticity and the women's Bghts movement took hold, fernale social and sexual deviance was represented, in a myriad of cultural forms, as a dangerous source of social and racial decline.
    [Show full text]
  • SLC 442 Dracula and Vampire Belief in the World Global Awareness (G)
    GENERAL STUDIES COURSE PROPOSAL COVER FORM Course information: Copy and paste current course information from Class Search/Course Catalog. School of International College/School College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Department/School Letters & Cultures Prefix: Number: Title: Dracula and Vampire Belief in the World Units: SLC 442 3 Course description: Is this a cross-listed course? No If yes, please identify course(s): Is this a shared course? No If so, list all academic units offering this course: Note- For courses that are crosslisted and/or shared, a letter of support from the chair/director of each department that offers the course is required for each designation requested. By submitting this letter of support, the chair/director agrees to ensure that all faculty teaching the course are aware of the General Studies designation(s) and will teach the course in a manner that meets the criteria for each approved designation. Is this a permanent-numbered course with topics? Yes If yes, all topics under this permanent-numbered course must be taught in a manner that meets the criteria Chair/Director Initials for the approved designation(s). It is the responsibility of the chair/director to ensure that all faculty teaching the course are aware of the General Studies designation(s) and adhere to the above guidelines. (Required) Requested designation: Global Awareness–G Mandatory Review: Yes Note- a separate proposal is required for each designation. Eligibility: Permanent numbered courses must have completed the university’s review and approval process. For the rules governing approval of omnibus courses, contact [email protected].
    [Show full text]
  • Expressionism and Bram Stokerâ•Žs Dracula on the Stage
    Susquehanna University Scholarly Commons Senior Scholars Day Apr 28th, 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM At the Mercy of Monsters: Expressionism and Bram Stoker’s Dracula on the Stage Nicholas Cardillo Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.susqu.edu/ssd Part of the Dramatic Literature, Criticism and Theory Commons, Literature in English, British Isles Commons, and the Theatre History Commons Cardillo, Nicholas, "At the Mercy of Monsters: Expressionism and Bram Stoker’s Dracula on the Stage" (2020). Senior Scholars Day. 32. https://scholarlycommons.susqu.edu/ssd/2020/posters/32 This Event is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Senior Scholars Day by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Cardillo 1 Nick Cardillo Dr. Andes Dramatic Theory & Criticism 16 April 2019 At the Mercy of Monsters: Expressionism and Bram Stoker’s Dracula on the Stage Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula, is today considered a cornerstone of horror fiction. From its pages sprang one of literature’s most enduring creations and today Count Dracula is known the world over as a figure of not only the printed word, but the silver screen and beyond. Count Dracula has taken on a life of his own; a character so clearly defined in the public consciousness that he is no longer tethered to the Gothic genre alone and who has become a figure of both parody and horrific reverence. Among Dracula’s many forays into mediums of visual art are several plays all of which seek to put Bram Stoker’s characters (if not his entire original story) on the stage and dramatize horror.
    [Show full text]
  • Nosferatu: the Legend of Dracula
    NOSFERATU: THE LEGEND OF DRACULA A Thriller in Two Acts Adapted from the Bram Stoker novel By L. Don Swartz Performance Rights It is an infringement of the federal copyright law to copy this script in any way or to perform this play without royalty payment. All rights are controlled by Eldridge Publishing Co., Inc. Contact the publisher for additional scripts and further licensing information. On all programs and advertising the author’s name must appear as well as this notice: “Produced by special arrangement with Eldridge Publishing Co.” PUBLISHED BY ELDRIDGE PUBLISHING COMPANY www.histage.com © 2000 by L. Don Swartz Download your complete script from Eldridge Publishing https://histage.com/nosferatu-legend-of-dracula Nosferatu: The Legend of Dracula - 2 - DEDICATION For my big brother Tim Swartz who introduced me to DRACULA on the Friday Fright Night Late Late Show The Playwright STORY OF THE PLAY No modern-day monster can equal the chill factor than that of Dracula and his nosferatu, the undead who must feed on the blood of the living to exist. Their lust, shown only in the darkest hours, haunts even the bravest of us mortal souls. This adaptation of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel is done with a sure and steady hand by frightmesiter L. Don Swartz. We encounter Dracula's horror from his centuries-old castle in Europe, to the ship he travels on, and finally to his new feeding grounds near an English asylum. When Dracula causes the death of a young woman named Lucy, her fiancé Holmwood, her friend Mina, Mina's husband Jonathan Harker, a physician Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • Biting Back: Racism, Homophobia and Vampires in Bram Stoker, Anne Rice and Alan Ball Alyssa Gammello Long Island University, [email protected]
    Long Island University Digital Commons @ LIU Undergraduate Honors College Theses 2016- LIU Post 2018 Biting Back: Racism, Homophobia and Vampires in Bram Stoker, Anne Rice and Alan Ball Alyssa Gammello Long Island University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.liu.edu/post_honors_theses Recommended Citation Gammello, Alyssa, "Biting Back: Racism, Homophobia and Vampires in Bram Stoker, Anne Rice and Alan Ball" (2018). Undergraduate Honors College Theses 2016-. 47. https://digitalcommons.liu.edu/post_honors_theses/47 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the LIU Post at Digital Commons @ LIU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Undergraduate Honors College Theses 2016- by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ LIU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Biting Back: Racism, Homophobia and Vampires in Bram Stoker, Anne Rice and Alan Ball An Honors Program Thesis by Alyssa Gammello Fall 2018 English Department ____________________________ Faculty Advisor, Dr. Thomas Fahy ____________________________ Faculty Reader Dr. John Lutz December 3rd, 2018 1 Table of Contents Introduction and Overview 3 Chapter 1: Dracula and Stoker’s Bloody Depictions 10 Dracula’s Women: The Dangers of Sexuality in Victorian Culture Dangerous Others: Ethnicity in Dracula Chapter 2: Interview with the Vampire and the New Family 33 Twisted Families and Lovers: Sexuality in Interview with the Vampire The Vampire as Slave: Rice’s Plantation Life and the Other Vampire Chapter 3: The Modern Vampire’s Metaphor in True Blood 49 Alan Ball Shocks America: Sexuality and Race in True Blood 53 Conclusion: All the Kids Are Doing It: Critiques of Patriarchal America in Teenaged Vampires 69 Works Cited 74 2 Introduction Vampires have been an enduring and powerful image throughout history, and each individual probably conjures up a different vampire in his or her head when hearing the word.
    [Show full text]
  • The Emancipation of Mina? the Portrayal of Mina in Stoker’S Dracula and Coppola’S Bram Stoker’S Dracula
    The Emancipation of Mina? The Portrayal of Mina in Stoker’s Dracula and Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula Katharina Mewald [Katharina Mewald is a research assistant at the Department of English at the University of Vienna. Her research interests are Scottish and North American Studies as well as Film Studies.] Over the last decades, Bram Stoker’s Dracula has been reworked and translated into film versions – or at least provided inspiration for films – hundreds of times. Of the film versions which refer to Stoker as an important inspiration, Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) claims a very high degree of fidelity to its literary source. An analysis of Stoker’s novel and the film version by Coppola reveals crucial differences in the portrayal of characters, especially with respect to Mina (Murray) Harker. A central question is how far the depictions of Mina in the novel and film diverge. Even though he attempted an essentially faithful rendition, Coppola made one far-reaching alteration to Stoker’s original: the inclusion of the romance between Mina and Dracula, based on the identification of Mina as Dracula’s long-lost bride, Elisabeta. The reason for this may be found in economic considerations, which are likely to have demanded the film to be made attractive to a wider audience than the horror movie-goers. Additionally, it has been argued that Mina has been adapted to reflect the more modern and emancipated gender roles of women today, a contention that is open to challenge. In Stoker’s novel, Mina is presented as the prototype of the ideal Victorian woman.
    [Show full text]