“This Man Belongs to me!”: Edward Carpenter, Dracula, and Premature Sexuality

Will Parshley Guilford College Faculty Mentor: James Hood Guilford College

Abstract The study of homosociality in literature is relatively new. Investigations into the nature of pla- tonic male-male relationships have risen within masculinity studies - an offshoot of feminism now linked to the more expansive discipline of gender studies – since the 1980’s. Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick defi nes homosociality in relation to its semiotic partner, homosexuality. Like homo- sexual relationships, homosocial relationships take place between members of the same gender, but are, at least superfi cially, without a sexual element. However, when analyzed closely, the lines between homosocial and homosexual relationships easily blur. This becomes clear when examining literature published in Victorian England, a period suffused with male-male interac- tions. Through a study of male homosocial bonds discussed in Edward Carpenter’s essays and exhibited in Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, I begin to unravel striking Victorian anxieties sur- rounding the infl uence of males over other males, and particularly the detrimental effects older men could have upon the sexual development of young boys.

ueen Victoria’s reign saw the rise of nu- middle-class, the Industrial Revolution en- Qmerous homosocial spheres, and nearly tailed a masculine move from the agricultural all areas of Victorian life hinged upon rela- life of the farm and home to urban factory tionships between men. As the period pro- work, which promoted a similar dichotomy gressed, true men, no matter their class, were between the sexes (Sussman 4 – 5). Finally, more and more those who interacted primar- to the inspired Imperialist, the exciting explo- ily and almost exclusively with other men. ration of foreign countries in Africa and Asia The advent of all-male higher education sys- allowed an escape from society, a chance to tems running from grade school all the way grow with other men without the pressures of through Oxford and Cambridge ensured that courtship and matrimony. upper-class boys would rarely (if ever) in- As John Tosh notes, such a separation be- teract with females prior to engaging in, and tween domestic and public, tmale spheres ultimately anywhere outside of, domestic promoted a clear division between the sexes. life, certainly, in any case, far less than their Self-improvement, economic progression, predecessors (Tosh 465). For an ascending and production were all associated with male

45 Explorations | Art and Humanities homosocial arenas of education, industrial- I ization, and colonization, whereas females Edward Carpenter, a pioneering gay relegated to the home – “angelic” keepers of writer of the Victorian period, was born in a “spiritual… shrine” -- were markedly lim- Brighton in 1844. The son of a well-to-do ited in their physical, social, and mental mo- investor, Carpenter was raised in consider- bility (Tosh 463). In turn, interaction between able wealth and luxury. Thus, as biographer the genders waned, and by the latter half of Sheila Robowtham notes, after attending the century, virile adventure writers like H. Cambridge, Carpenter might have settled Rider Haggard were rejecting the constant into the easy life of an indolent priest for a and expected discourse between men and small parish community (Robertson 53). In women once epitomized in Netherfi eld Hall. fact, this was Carpenter’s intended track. Thus, male-bonding became a centerpiece However, just weeks before his ordina- in Victorian society and, importantly for our tion, Carpenter (much like others after) en- purposes here, within its literature. dured a revelatory experience upon read- Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s commentary ing Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, and began on erotic, Oedipal triangles provides a help- to view the complaisant, refi ned setting of ful, theoretical basis from which to investi- Brighton through a different lens (53 – 54). gate ties between men in this work (21). The Carpenter became active in the British social- Oedipal triangle is a Freudian notion, a tenet ist movement, and throughout his life cam- of the psychoanalyst’s theory of development paigned for progress in a variety of social famously fi gured around Sophocles’ great areas, including but not limited to “feminism, Athenian tragedy. In Freud’s eyes, a “homo- anticolonialism, [and] environmentalism” erotic identifi cation with [the] father, a posi- (53). Close acquaintance E.M. Forster once tion of effeminized subordination to the fa- aptly described Carpenter as “a poet, prose ther” is vital to a boy’s development of proper writer, a prophet, a socialist, a mystic, a man- heterosexuality; through such a close bond, ual laborer, an anti-vivisectionist, etc. etc. the boy is provided a “model for his own etc. …” (as qtd. in “Homogenic Love” 535). heterosexual role” by watching his father’s Yet Carpenter left his most lasting impres- interactions with his mother (Klein as qtd. in sions with his works on sexuality. Writing an Sedgwick 23). Due to ubiquitous male-male abundance of texts on the clandestine topic interactions in Victorian England, a boy often of “homogenic love,” Carpenter promoted engaged with one or more mentors -- “sur- radical leftist notions that remain relevant rogate fathers” -- involved in whichever male to modern society. While many of his early sphere he entered (Sussman 100). The men essays and their topics required small, fur- might be comrades on the Colonialist lines, tive publications for a select audience, this older male students, or even male teachers. changed when Carpenter published a land- Using Freud’s Oedipal theory, we can be- mark essay in 1899 in the International gin to untangle the intimate ties that grew Journal of Ethics. The piece focuses upon between elders and youth. Such an investi- the pervasive relationships between men and gation reveals an intriguing resemblance and boys then taking place in the public schools, resonance of ideas existing between Edward a subject that, following the infamous Oscar Carpenter’s essays and Bram Stoker’s most Wilde trials in 1895, was severely troubling famous work, Dracula. This resonance lies in the public conscience. the simultaneous celebration of and caution- In his article “Affection in Education,” ing against male-male, and particularly man- published 1899, Edward Carpenter argues boy, relationships. Thus, both pieces evince a that male-male relationships in the public tension on the part of the writers, who reveal school, particularly those between elder and a considerable Victorian anxiety surrounding youth, are imperative to boyhood develop- the proper facilitation of such relationships. ment. Often far away from their homes,

46 Will Parshley schoolboys looked to older males (“surro- development of sexual curiosity, the boys gate fathers”) for guidance. Carpenter opens show no real interest in women, their “love to in vigorous celebration of the warm affec- the other sex” having “hardly declared itself” tion that grows between mentor and protégé. (485); no true heterosexual attraction has Letters from numerous men reveal the pas- formed. Even further, Carpenter claims that sion they had for a beloved elder: “… when a boy’s “unformed mind requires an ideal of I saw him, my heart beat… violently… and itself … towards which it can grow” (485). I could not speak,” writes one who remem- Thus, like the Oedipal relationship between bers writing “weekly, veritable love-letters” father and son in which a boy attains a role of to an elder boy at his school (483). However, “effeminized subordination” to his father, the Carpenter is quick to note and to continu- schoolboy’s introduction to sexuality occurs ously reassure his readers of the absence of when he “imitates” and “contracts [the] hab- sexual attraction between the two parties. He its” of his elder male mentor through a rela- explains that the older does not approach the tionship with a “certain physical element,” a boy with “secondary motives” or “personal “real affection and tenderness” (484), before ends,” allowing these “strong affections” to he develops a taste for females. Carpenter arise “quite spontaneously” (484). In other connects the development of heterosexuality words, Carpenter is suggesting that the seeds to the fruition of masculinity: the boy’s rela- of such attachments grow naturally. The tionship with his mentor prepares him for fu- teacher does not prompt the initiation of the ture interactions with the opposite sex, while relationship and makes no conscious effort simultaneously developing his “conduct of towards the affection. Rather, the boy “na- life and morals” (492). ively allows his admiration” (484) to develop Such interactions provide the elder male into a deep attraction. an opportunity to infl uence the fl ourishing of To reach full bloom, the bonds must be the young child’s masculinity. Acting nobly properly cultivated. The fi rst step in develop- and with an eye for the boy’s future, he can ing the affectionate relationship is its accep- ensure that the youth grows into a man with tance. While the seeds sprout naturally, they substantial “strength of character,” capable develop through nurturance. Thus the elder of heterosexual relationships rich with love must decide whether or not he will fulfi ll or and affection (Carpenter 488). Yet when the “deny” (Carpenter 484) his role as mentor, elder attends to this bond perversely, his in- and the benefi ts of the former are boundless. fl uence can be equally abject and detrimen- For the rest of the relationship, the boy mod- tal. For example, if he attempts to form the els and shapes his behavior after the elder’s bond unnaturally, with secondary motives, example, ultimately sharing the essence of the consequences for the youth are dire; “the his masculinity, the man’s “ideals of life and disease of premature sexuality” (486) be- thought and work” (484). Further, the rela- tween mentor and child “cheapens and weak- tionship deeply infl uences the boy’s sexual ens” the boy’s “affectional capacity” (488). development. Rather than “blossom[ing] the young mind” Carpenter’s reasoning sounds distinctly (489), these “wretched practices and habits” Freudian when he makes clear that adoles- threaten the boy’s understanding of “true cent boys are not fully sexualized. No actual love and friendship” (486). Thus, and impor- conception of sex is yet formed: “desire… tantly, the breaching of such a potentially in- has not manifested itself strongly”, and the nocent, warm, and benefi cial bond fogs the young boys likely experience a general aver- boy’s psychology; this early sexual experi- sion to “any thing like sexual practices” ence “arrests” his “mental growth” (488). In (489). The youth simply shows pubescent an earlier paper titled “Homogenic Love and interest and it is the place of the same-sex Its Place in a Free Society,” Carpenter de- mentor to answer his questions. In the initial fi nes sexual “mania” as an excessive form of,

47 Explorations | Art and Humanities or obsession with, “physical desire” (539). novel’s end, this horrifi c image of the Count Thus, when discussing premature sexuality is so fi xed that it is often diffi cult to remem- between men and boys, Carpenter is imply- ber that the purpose of Harker’s trip was ing a potential madness that is born in the quite mundane; at this point in the narrative, latter; they become lecherous fi ends, “licen- Harker’s sole purpose is to inform Dracula of tious… odious little wretches” (“Affection in land that he has purchased in London. This Education” 487) with an insatiable desire for point may sound obvious, but is very impor- sex. tant when considering the relationship that Although his words may appear harsh or develops between the two characters. Harker extreme, Carpenter reveals a fairly universal arrives in Transylvania on business, and thus Victorian anxiety surrounding what occurs enters the Victorian homosocial sphere of the when males are prematurely and unnaturally workplace. introduced to sexual activity. A pioneering Before we go further, we should note gay writer, Carpenter understands the subtle- two characteristics of Harker’s journey that ties of male-male relationships, yet there is distinctly connect his situation to that of a perceptible tension in his writing. While Carpenter’s schoolboys. Similarly to the clearly celebratory of the bonds he describes, young boys in Carpenter’s public schools, he appears equally concerned with the dan- Harker fi nds himself in an area far away ger of their improper facilitation; on the one from home and without friends or family. hand, Carpenter emphasizes the importance He arrives at Castle Dracula in place of Peter of man-boy relationships, and on the other, Hawkins, the solicitor he works for who dou- he warns against their potentially dire con- bles as a father fi gure (Stoker 23). Hawkins’ sequences. As we turn to Bram Stoker’s role as primary mentor and father fi gure is Dracula, published 1897, just two years prior secured when the Count reads aloud a letter to “Affection in Education,” we will begin to describing Harker’s “[growth] into manhood recognize very similar themes being played in [Hawkins’] service.” Now, fi nding himself out in homosocial spheres beyond the pub- far away from Hawkins’ care, Harker must lic school. On the novel’s surface, Stoker “take [Dracula’s] instructions in all mat- clearly extols the beauty he sees in mascu- ters” (23). In this way, Hawkins’ letter sig- line bonding and comradeship. And yet, like nifi es an exchange in which a father passes Carpenter’s essay, Dracula simultaneously his son off to a “surrogate father” as the boy portrays the baleful effects that can occur enters a new, unfamiliar homosocial sphere. when male-male relationships develop inap- Thus, like a boyhood development dependent propriately. Indeed, as we will see, improper upon relationships with older men, Harker’s masculine interactions prove destructive for growth in this homosocial sphere will lean characters of both sexes. heavily upon his interactions with Dracula, a man who, having lived for centuries, is about II as “elder” as one can be (212). The opening section of Dracula is its most Initially, the connection between Harker eventful. The turmoil within Castle Dracula and Dracula appears natural. The Count even involves two men only. Jonathan Harker trav- shares a few of Harker’s interests. In the cas- els to Transylvania as a “solicitor’s clerk” tle’s library, Harker marvels at Dracula’s col- whose purpose is to “explain the purchase of lection of “English books” that cover a range a London estate to a foreigner” (Stoker 21). of subjects and disciplines, but is especially That foreigner, of course, is Count Dracula, drawn with “gladdened heart” to the Count’s a man with birdlike features; diabolic red copy of the “Law List” (Stoker 25), a docu- eyes, so often surrounded by darkness; and ment directly relevant to his own work as a “peculiarly sharp white teeth” hanging over solicitor’s clerk. When the time comes for “lips” of “remarkable ruddiness” (23). By the Harker to discuss the London land purchase

48 Will Parshley with the Count, he remarks that the elder man wishes on account of business. Harker even posited “myriad questions,” and admits that admits that to the Count “alone can [he] look Dracula is so knowledgeable that he likely for safety” (41). The Count need not wait for “[knows] very much more” (28) than even Harker to show interest; he must simply take he. Dracula’s aptitude for all things English, advantage of what is already an optimum sit- and particularly this familiarity with the uation; the castle is a “veritable prison,” and practice of Law, sets the elder man up as a Harker its “prisoner” (Stoker 32). In this con- surrogate father that Harker might “contract text, Dracula’s sordid infl uence can continue the habits of.” Indeed, the situation seems op- unchecked, and with time such infl uence be- portune for the young man. Under the care gins to turn the relationship from homosocial of such a learned mentor in a new homoso- to homoerotic. cial sphere, Harker may accrue skills, attain There are conspicuous signs that the re- a deeper understanding, and further cultivate lationship is growing unhealthy, especially the masculinity planted during his time with when Dracula threatens to violently pen- Hawkins. Thus Harker’s relationship with etrate Harker after seeing the man’s blood Dracula -- a surrogate father with the poten- (Stoker 31; Craft 446). The climactic inter- tial of being a true workplace mentor – could action between the two men -- which criti- potentially bolster the young man’s mascu- cism of the novel has explicated tirelessly line development. -- occurs in the castle’s west wing. At this However, despite the bond being a homo- point in the novel, Harker has gone directly social one formed through business, the two against Dracula’s advice and fallen asleep men’s relationship quickly grows sensual. in an area away from the safety of his room. The affection that the Count shows Harker He awakens in a dreamlike state, and before further establishes his role as both surro- long, three female vampires (reminiscent of gate and Oedipal father. If this affectionate Macbeth’s weird sisters) appear and threaten, bond were healthy, Harker would be able to like Dracula previously, to pierce Harker. Yet reach his full potential within the homoso- Dracula cannot have this; he has been prep- cial sphere, and his masculinity would take a ping the young man for over a month. With major step if he were to establish the “man- his emphatic line “This man belongs to me!” hood” he found with Hawkins in an entirely (43), Dracula claims Jonathan Harker and es- new arena. However, this proves impossible, tablishes his homosexuality within the novel. as Dracula breaks one of Carpenter’s crucial Harker then swoons, and our interpretation of tenets. When the Count “leans over [Harker]” their interaction (and potential intercourse) is to affectionately stroke him, evoking a “shud- left to speculation. Yet when Harker wakes der” (Stoker 24) from the young man, he is the next morning with his clothes folded by initiating contact with a secondary motive. his bedside, presumably by the Count, we can Harker has not “naively allow[ed] his admi- assume that their interaction was more than ration” to grow into a deep attraction; rather, friendly (44). Further, if we are to believe that the Count is touching the man consciously, a sexual act did take place between the two, evidenced by his “drawing back” upon being we must remember that because the affection “noticed” (24). Unlike the fruitful relation- did not grow naturally, this would constitute ships that spring naturally between boys and a “premature sexual act,” as Dracula has mentors, this affection between the two men specifi cally taken advantage of a vulnerable, is purposefully initiated by the elder. This younger man. allows Dracula a level of control over their After this crucial moment, Harker’s sexu- interactions that Harker does not have. The ality begins to change. In her article “A Wilde young man is particularly vulnerable: he is Desire Took Me,” Talia Schaffer references separated from society and thus in the hands other critics who characterize the Count’s de- of Dracula, expected to fulfi ll all of the man’s based chapel as “the anal orifi ce… littered…

49 Explorations | Art and Humanities with Dracula’s fecal/phallic coffi ns” (Hanlon him into Dracula’s chapel. Thus Stoker ap- as qtd. in Schaffer 480). As such, the cha- pears to be illustrating a considerable anxiety pel becomes the setting for the most direct surrounding homosexuality, and the potential male-male penetration between Dracula and corruption it can cause young men during Harker in the novel. Imprisoned in the castle, their sexual development. Harker is forced into Dracula’s temple out of Luckily for Jonathan Harker, he is saved necessity, realizing that his only chance at es- by a symbolic crux of masculinity within the cape is to procure Dracula’s master key. Thus novel: in the hospital, he is married. While although Harker seeks control of his own recovering from his “violent brain fever” destiny by taking “action!” (49), it is action (Stoker 95) -- a diagnosis implicating the that is intrinsically linked to his lack of con- “mental arrest” he experienced in the castle -- trol in the castle. As Harker descends into the Harker is still vulnerable to the Count, whose Count’s lair, through the “dark, tunnel-like presence always threatens to subvert his passage, through which came a deathly, sickly manliness; nurses remind Mina that she must odour” (Stoker 50), it is he who is penetrat- be careful with her husband, for “the traces ing Dracula’s, albeit symbolic, anal orifi ce. of such an illness… do not die lightly away” Figuratively, the young man is committing an (95). But when the couple observes Dracula uncontrollable sexual penetration; given what for the fi rst time in London, and Harker is has occurred between himself and the Count, “evidently terrifi ed at something” (155), he this penetration cannot be avoided. Further, can lean on his wife, or the symbolic bond the behavior becomes habitual. When a “wild of marriage, for support. We are left wonder- desire” brings Harker back through the “dark ing what might have happened without Mina passage” in another desperate attempt to “ob- at his side; the woman herself is convinced tain (the) key,” Harker is well accustomed that “he would have sunk down” (155). It ap- to the clandestine activity, stating, “I knew pears then that the symbolic value of the het- now well enough where to fi nd the monster I erosexual marriage in a way helps to control, sought” (53). Dracula’s sexual infl uence thus or at least veil, Harker’s homoerotic desires. causes Harker to perform a homoerotic act, In other areas of the novel, heterosexual re- one reminiscent of the dark and “wretched lations play a similarly pivotal role in one’s practices” that Carpenter sees as products of masculine identity. Moving to the other ma- premature sexuality in public schools. jor homosocial sphere in Dracula, we will see By the close of the novel’s opening section, that marriage, or the prospect of marriage, is Jonathan Harker is a fallen man. While the an ideal that is crucial for one’s development young solicitor’s clerk arrives with a certain of true manliness. degree of manhood in this new homosocial sphere, he falls victim to an Oedipal father III fi gure who traps and perverts his proper mas- Opposite Dracula and Jonathan Harker’s culine development by unnaturally breach- homosocial interaction is The Crew of ing the line between the homosocial and Light. This group consists of three close the homoerotic. Stoker presents Harker’s friends, Dr. Seward, Quincey Morris, and homoeroticism as a perversion, a develop- Arthur Holmwood, who were intimate long ment caused by Count Dracula’s uncontrol- before the events of the novel take place. lable sexual deviance. Deliberately or not, Together, they carried the Imperialist ban- Stoker is portraying a darkened image of ner to the frontier of “Titicaca” and “Korea” the homosexual man. Dracula is a man who, (62), and Morris’ acute recollection of these unable to control his lust for blood and pen- past experiences reveals how close he keeps etration, stains a young man’s masculine de- the memories to his heart. His laconic let- velopment. He causes unnatural homoerotic ter to Holmwood early in the narrative re- desires to grow within Harker’s mind, such veals that the familiarity between friends is uncontrollable “physical desires” that lead not only emotional, but quite physical; by

50 Will Parshley memorializing “dress(ing) one another’s society” (467). Such a title upholds Morris as wounds” (62), Morris fondly remembers an a man of “character,” representing “the moral act that would have drawn each man inti- order embodied in the individual” (450). mately close to the other’s body. Thus, the same girl whose rejection threatens Having returned from the frontier, The Morris’ masculinity reaffi rms his manliness. Crew of Light fi nds itself transfi xed around Lucy’s second suitor, Dr. Seward, re-estab- the angelic Lucy Westenra. A mutual love lishes his masculine identity differently, turn- for the young girl connects the three friends, ing to a common Victorian mode of express- and marrying Lucy would prove pivotal in ing one’s manliness: he works, and works, establishing one’s masculinity. As we saw and works. After his rejected proposal, with Jonathan Harker, marriage would help Seward intimates a deep depression and dis- veil any potentially homoerotic experiences interest for life; his “empty feelings” cause that took place on the Imperialist frontier. nothing to be of “suffi cient importance to be As the sought after female, Lucy retains the worth the doing” (Stoker 61). Having been role of moderator; her choice will uphold the rebuffed by the woman he loves, Seward masculinity of one man, and jeopardize two reasons that “the only cure for this sort of others. She fi nds herself confl icted: “Three thing was work” (61). Seward’s words sug- proposals in one day! Isn’t it awful! ... I am gest a view promoted by Thomas Carlyle. As so happy that I don’t know what to do with Herbert Sussman explains, for Carlyle and myself” (Stoker 57). Her ambivalence is jus- others, the workplace offered men a locale tifi ed, having just accepted her love, Arthur for masculine development that was without Holmwood, while recognizing the risk she’s the limiting, oppressive, or threatening exis- caused “two of the poor fellows” (57) in re- tence of women (4 – 5). In the homosocial jecting them. Thus Quincey Morris and Dr. sphere of the workplace, any erotic or sexual Seward enter the novel on unstable ground. feelings were displaced into productivity. Having been denied the heterosexual security The mental hospital that Seward oversees of marrying the woman they love, both char- is a place noticeably unfi t for women, em- acters must re-establish their roles as men. phasized late in the novel when Mina Murray For Quincey Morris, such a challenge is unable to “repress a slight shutter” (Stoker does not prove diffi cult, for he is a “True 195) upon entering the grounds. Thus, the Gentleman.” Morris is most distinguishable mental hospital serves as an all-male sphere from others in the Crew of Light due to his in which Seward can build his masculin- use of American slang, a characteristic that ity without the pressures of winning over or threatens his chances with Lucy; he’s so fulfi lling the needs of women, a place where funny, so “jolly and good humored,” that he sublimates his sexuality into his work; “It the young girl mistakenly teases the man seems to me only yesterday that my whole as he prepares to propose (Stoker 58 – 59). life ended…” he refl ects, “Oh Lucy … I must His silliness might have eased Lucy’s re- wait on hopeless and work. Work! Work!” jection; it wasn’t “half so hard” for Lucy to (71). Seward consciously focuses his en- deny his proposal as it was for her to deny ergy upon his career, a move that takes him Dr. Seward’s (59). However, Morris recog- away from interactions with women; “How nizes his slip-up. Mid-proposal, he turns his can he…” asks Dr. Van Helsing, “… know tone with an earnest directness, and effuses anything of young ladies” when “he has his his emotional attraction to the girl, thus caus- madmans to play with …” (108). Ultimately, ing Lucy to refer to him as a “great-hearted, “playing with madmen” helps Seward assert true gentleman” (60). To Victorian essayist his manliness through the control he has over Samuel Smiles, the “True Gentleman” signi- fallen, fl awed men. fi ed “one whose nature has been fashioned These two men of the Crew of Light, after the highest models,” an individual Quincey Morris and Dr. Steward, have their with prodigious importance “in all stages of masculinity challenged upon entering the

51 Explorations | Art and Humanities novel by being denied their choice of wife. Throughout the novel, Lucy represents Both respond and ultimately regain a sem- the “sweet maid” (158), an angelic, virginal blance of masculine identity, one fi guring a woman continually associated with “virtue” “True Gentleman,” the other dedicated to his (121), white fl owers, and purity. The most work of controlling mad men. This reestab- prominent image of virginity affi xed to Lucy lishment occurs early in the novel and their is perhaps the white garlic fl owers that Dr. masculinity lies on an upward trajectory for Van Helsing strews about the sick-room dur- the remainder of the narrative. Such move- ing her transformation into a vampire. This ment crosses with their counterpart in the limited space in which Lucy fi nds herself Crew of Light, Arthur Holmwood. Winning is reminiscent of John Tosh’s notion of the over the prized girl gives Holmwood’s mas- “spiritual shrine.” In her sick-room, with its culinity great potential, but this potential “fastened up windows… latched… securely” disintegrates when Lucy is sucked into (by (121), the angelic Lucy is locked away from being physically sucked out of) an uninten- the outside world and from forces that could tional act of infi delity. stain her purity. The fl owers, of course, de- fend against the penetrating Count Dracula, IV who threatens to pierce Lucy unremorsefully Once Lucy rapturously states, “… I love with his sharp, dinted teeth. To Lucy, how- him; I love him; I love him!” (Stoker 57), ever, the “fl owers are only common garlic” Arthur Holmwood’s manliness grows in (121). Her ignorance enrages Van Helsing. light of his friends’ failures; he is the girl’s He responds to Lucy jarringly, reproaching chosen lover, and will now have her for a her for “trifl ing with (him),” indignant that wife. While the novel never touches upon it any medical procedure of his might be as- directly, particular qualities of Holmwood’s sumed a silly “jest” (121). Once his mood seem to infl uence her decision. Specifi cally, quells, he explains soothingly that “obedi- “the Hon. Arthur Holmwood” (72) is a man ence” is key; “obedience is to bring (her) of immense fortune, the most wealthy of the strong and well into loving arms that wait Crew of Light. The Holmwoods are aristo- for [her]” (121). Thus, if Lucy agrees to play crats and Arthur is to assume his father’s by his rules, remaining safely within the Lordship following his death (72). The title of confi nes of her immobile shrine, she will be “Lord Godalming” will provide considerable saved for Holmwood, whose “loving arms… clout (151); for example, during their pursuit wait for [her].” of Dracula, Harker uses Arthur’s aristocratic The problem, of course, is that Dracula name to collect all possible information sur- jeopardizes Lucy’s purity long before the rounding the Count’s real estate purchases waiting Arthur can fulfi ll his role as husband (233). Indeed, Arthur is the only character in and heterosexual partner. The “two little red the novel besides Count Dracula with a for- points like pinpricks” (Stoker 89) that Mina mal title. However, he cannot fully appropri- observes after Lucy’s fretful night walks en- ate the power of such a title until he proves sure the girl’s fall into an “aggressive sexual- his worth as a man. Holmwood responds to a ity” (Craft 452). In his essay “Kiss Me with premature use of his prestigious title with “… those Red Lips,” Christopher Craft explains no, not that, for God’s sake! Not yet at any that a bite from Dracula entails the trans- rate…” (153), thus acknowledging that more formation from a woman of purity into one needs to be accomplished. To do this, Arthur overtly sexualized. Stoker appears to be play- must fully realize the heterosexual manliness ing with the oft-mentioned Victorian binary he’s gained in winning Lucy by acting in op- between “the dark woman and the fair, the position to the homoeroticism exhibited by fallen and the idealized” (Roth 411). Despite Castle Dracula. In short, he must defl ower Lucy being unconscious during her forced his wife. coitus with Dracula, she has still faltered;

52 Will Parshley rape victim or not, her penetration prior to place of business, an arena in which, as a so- matrimony ensures her mutation into a dark, licitor’s clerk, his masculinity can be asserted morally corrupt woman. Further, and most in the fi eld of law. Under the guidance of importantly here, her perversion threatens Dracula, a surprisingly apt mentor, Harker’s Holmwood’s masculinity. If winning the masculinity has a high ceiling. Differently virginal Lucy’s hand in marriage boosts than Harker, Holmwood seeks a masculin- Holmwood’s manliness, her slip into forced ity rooted in his heterosexual relationship adultery undermines the realization of such with Lucy. However, like Harker’s surro- manhood. gate father, Holmwood’s mentor is an (albeit Thus Holmwood fi nds himself needing to self-proclaimed) expert. While as readers reassert his heterosexual masculinity. His we never actually witness Dracula mentor- situation is quite similar to Harker’s when he ing Harker, Van Helsing often quite literally arrives at Castle Dracula. Both men had pre- instructs, and even conducts, Holmwood’s viously established a certain degree of “man- interactions with Lucy. When Arthur fi rst hood,” but those characteristics are moot in comes face to face with Lucy during her the context of the novel. Harker established transformation, he is overcome with emotion, his manhood while working under Peter speaking with a “sort of choke in his voice” Hawkins, but in Castle Dracula, he enters (Stoker 114). Van Helsing is thus aware of a homosocial sphere where such manliness the man’s vulnerability, and gently exhorts must be re-established. Similarly, Holmwood Arthur on the proper mode of his interacting earns a degree of manhood by winning Lucy, with Lucy; he refers to Arthur as a “Good and such manhood is likely connected to the boy!” yet reminds him that he “shall kiss her wealth of his family and to his aristocratic once before it is done, but then [he] must go; blood. Yet after his father dies, Holmwood and [he] must leave at [the professor’s] sign” is without the man who has given him that (114). potential; like Jonathan Harker, he is without Van Helsing seems to be setting very dis- the father whose guidance has helped him es- tinct heterosexual guidelines, offering spe- tablish his masculinity. Now, like Carpenter’s cifi c instructions that allow the development schoolboys and Jonathan Harker, Holmwood of Arthur’s masculinity. Later, when Arthur needs guidance from an elder man if he is again shows signs of weakness, Van Helsing to fulfi ll his masculine potential. Luckily is more aggressive with his pedagogy. The for Holmwood, his “surrogate father” is not boy simply will not learn. Arthur is drawn Count Dracula, but Dr. Van Helsing, the by Lucy’s sensuous pleading -- her “soft, novel’s sanctimonious jack-of-all-trades, a voluptuous voice” – and thus Van Helsing man who is at once physician, philosopher, ferociously wrings his neck and drags him theologian, and heterosexual promoter. Yet away, declaring that “not for (Arthur’s) life” when we analyze the growing homosocial should the young man succumb to his adul- relationship between Holmwood and Van terous fi ancé (146). The professor recognizes Helsing closely, we will begin recognize dis- that Arthur’s masculine potential would be tinct similarities between the elder man and scotched if he were to fall victim to Lucy Count Dracula. and kiss the mutating girl. Because we can Despite seeking masculinity in different assume at this point in the novel that Lucy is homosocial spheres, Jonathan Harker and attempting to vamp Holmwood, Van Helsing Arthur Holmwood both rely upon surrogate appears to be protecting Arthur from a pre- fathers who hold a certain amount of exper- mature (and particularly unnatural) sexual tise in their fi elds. As we have discussed, interaction, and thus following the directions Jonathan Harker’s manliness in Castle of Edward Carpenter. Like an elder male stu- Dracula initially depends upon his success in dent or teacher acting as surrogate father, it the workforce. For Harker, Transylvania is a is Van Helsing’s responsibility to ensure that

53 Explorations | Art and Humanities

Arthur’s manliness is not threatened by in- man for the job given his engagement to appropriate sexual activity, and to teach the Lucy, Van Helsing appears to be choosing the young man a proper heterosexuality that pro- young man at least partially out of personal motes his masculine growth. preference; such “stalwart proportions” quite As Lucy’s transformation takes place, Van certainly arouse the doctor’s fancy, and make Helsing appears to provide Arthur the af- his eyes gleam. In this way, Van Helsing’s fection that Carpenter calls for and Dracula choice fi gures another instance in which an perverts. Recognizing the man’s plight at elder male selects a youth for secondary mo- witnessing his fi ance’s mutation and his own tives; quite literally, the doctor is selecting failing masculinity, Van Helsing offers his Holmwood as the man he will fi rst penetrate hand; “Come, my child… you are sick and during the blood transfusions. weak…” he pleads with Holmwood. “Come This homoerotic act of a male penetrat- to the drawing room where there are two so- ing a male, like Dracula’s veiled coitus with fas. You shall lie on one, and I on the other, Jonathan Harker, is a premature one. Arthur and our sympathy will be comfort” (Stoker has not taken to Dr. Van Helsing; Dr. Van 144). Here, in the wake of Holmwood’s fa- Helsing has taken to Arthur. The relationship ther’s death, Van Helsing maintains his role hasn’t grown out of a natural attraction of as surrogate, Oedipal father, referring to the youth to the elder; rather, like Dracula, Arthur as he would his own offspring. He in- Van Helsing has taken advantage of a pre- vites Arthur to an intimate setting in which his mier opportunity to penetrate a young man comfort will help heal the young man. This of “stalwart proportions.” Thus in line with interaction between the two appears quite Carpenter’s teachings, the proper develop- healthy, and suggests the type of sentimen- ment of the young man’s sexuality is in jeop- tal affection that Carpenter held would help a ardy. Ironically, the elder man who protected boy’s masculinity fl ourish. Yet, like the rela- the youth from premature sexual intercourse tionship between Harker and Dracula, this is with a bloodthirsty fi ancé has broken his own a bond that has been formed unnaturally, and rules. The threat that Van Helsing’s homo- thus, the development of Holmwood’s mas- erotic behavior poses becomes actualized in culinity is destined for a similarly mad and Lucy’s tomb. In this scene, fi lled with “mur- sordid fate as his friend’s in Castle Dracula. derous phallicism” (Craft 455), Holmwood’s Holmwood fi rst comes face to face with Dr. growth as a heterosexual man comes to a Van Helsing via a strangely homoerotic intro- startling climax. In a blatant attempt to pun- duction prior to the novel’s infamous blood ish a young girl who threatened his masculin- transfusions. Upon seeing the stout young ity with infi delity, Holmwood violently pen- man, Van Helsing is awestruck; “… as he took etrates his fi ancé, “driving deeper and deeper in his stalwart proportions and recognized the (his) mercy-bearing stake” (Stoker 192). The strong young manhood which seemed to em- image of Holmwood “(striking) with all his anate from him, his eyes gleamed. Without a might” illustrates quite clearly the type of pause… he held out his hand” (Stoker 113). sexual mania that Carpenter warns against, When this passage is read in its entirety, we the “coarse…, licentious,… (and) hard… recognize clearly that Arthur is the supreme physical desire” (“Affection in Education” man for the job; being her fi ancé, it is vital 487) that pervades a youth’s mind when it that his be the fi rst blood to mix with Lucy’s. is improperly and prematurely introduced to Quincey Morris makes this point later when sexual activity. he is so drastically concerned that “Arthur Thus, much like the improper interactions was the fi rst” to give Lucy his blood (138). between Count Dracula and Jonathan Harker, Yet, it is hard to discount the homoeroticism the relationship between Dr. Van Helsing and evident in Seward’s description of this mo- Arthur Holmwood, drastically infl uences ment. Although Holmwood is the default the young man’s sexual development into

54 Will Parshley manhood. Both relationships cause a per- workplace, the lines between homosocial and verse sexuality that Edward Carpenter cen- homoerotic are easily blurred, and the conse- sures in “Affection in Education.” Writing quences are dire. Ultimately, both Stoker and in Victorian England, where outwardly Carpenter reveal that for Victorians, the po- male-male homosocial relationships were tential corruption of homosocial spheres and ubiquitous, Carpenter and Stoker suggest a male-male interactions so intrinsic to the de- substantial anxiety surrounding the power- velopment of masculine identity was greatly ful infl uence of men over young boys. Their distressing, and permanently changed soci- writings show that even in the distinctly ho- etal perceptions of male-male relationships. mosocial spheres of the public school and the

55 Explorations | Art and Humanities

Works Cited

Carpenter, Edward. “Affection in Education.” International Journal of Ethics 9.4 (1899): 482-494. Web. 20 Sept. 2012. .

---. “Homogenic Love and Its Place in a Free Society.” The Victorian Age: An Anthology of Sources and Documents. 536 – 548. London and New York: Routledge, 1998. Print.

Craft, Christopher. “’Kiss Me with Those Red Lips’: Gender and Inversion in Bram Stoker’s Dracula”. Dracula. Ed. Nina Auerbach & David Skal. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1997. 444 – 459. Print

Robertson, Michael. “The Long Happy Life of Edward Carpenter.” Common Review 8.2 (2009). Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. 16 August 2013.

Roth, Phyllis. “Suddenly Sexual Women in Bram Stoker’s Dracula”. Dracula. Ed. Nina Auerbach & David Skal. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1997. 411 – 421. Print.

Schaffer, Talia. “’A Wilde Desire Took Me’: The Homoerotic History of Dracula”. Dracula. Ed. Nina Auerbach & David Skal. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1997. 470 – 482. Print.

Sedgwick, Eve Kosofosky. Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire. New York:Columbia University Press, 1985. Print.

Smiles, Samuel. Self-Help; with Illustrations of Conduct and Perseverance. 1859. New edition. London: John Murray, 1876. Books.google.com. Web. 19 Sept. 2012.

Sussman, Herbert L. Victorian Masculinities: Manhood and Masculine Poetics in Early Victorian Literature And Art. Cambridge [England]; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Print.

56 Will Parshley

Stoker, Bram. Dracula. Ed. Nina Auerbach & David Skal. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1997. Print.

Tosh, John. “Gentlemanly Politeness and Manly Simplicity in Victorian England.” Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 12 (2002): 455 – 472. Jstor. Web. 19 Sept. 2012.

57