A Van Es Bram Stoker’s Gothic Critique on Victorian Society

Bram Stoker’s Gothic Critique on

Victorian Society:
Adapting the Gothic Genre to
Challenge Victorian Values

By Alex Van Es

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A Van Es Bram Stoker’s Gothic Critique on Victorian Society

The Question

ESSAY QUESTION: You are to compose a 1500-word critical essay in response to the
following:

With reference to ideas discussed in TWO academic articles, evaluate the way in which Bram
Stoker’s Dracula uses the Gothic genre to reflect the values of its time.

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A Van Es Bram Stoker’s Gothic Critique on Victorian Society

Introduction

Bram Stoker's narrative Dracula stands as an evocative and captivating representation of the
Gothic resonance period, while simultaneously serving as a powerful challenge to the
conservative public morality of Victorian society. The novel challenges significant values
within Victorian society. The values of Victorian society challenged by Bram Stoker’s novel
include the importance of a chaste and modest lifestyle and the merit of global British
superiority. These Victorian values are greatly challenged due to the vivid representation of
sexual expression, the temptation to “taste the forbidden fruit” and the deep-rooted Western
fear of reverse colonialism being manifested through Dracula.

The Value of the Chaste and Modest Lifestyle

Bram Stoker’s gothic narrative privileges the value of a chaste and modest lifestyle in
Victorian society, while concomitantly challenging the perceptions surrounding sexuality.
Bram Stoker’s novel was written before the suffragette movement and the traditional couple
model was the cultural norm. Moreover, Strict social standards were imposed on both genders
making patriarchal views evident at the time of the novel’s construction. This context is
challenged by the novel as it highlights perverse themes and glorifies lust.

In the article “Bram Stoker's Dracula: A Reflection and Rebuke of Victorian Society” by
Amanda M. Podonsky. Podonsky argues that Bram Stoker illustrated and manipulated the
value of a chaste and modest lifestyle. According to Podonsky Dracula is, “a time capsule of
thoughts, ideas and beliefs” which is challenged throughout by Stoker as they “boldly
represented” and adapted to the gothic genre.1

During the Victorian period, women were often overlooked, removed from Victorian stories'
or ill-represented and stereotyped. In Dracula, the portrayal of characters including Lucy
Westerna and Mina Harker is one of stereotypical divinity and purity.

“Ah, that wonderful Madam Mina! She has man's brain - a brain that a man should have
were he much gifted-and a woman's heart. The good God fashioned her for a purpose”.2

This underscores the patriarchal perception of female purity and depicts the ideal of a
harmonious family that must be defended from harm. In many ways, Mina is the regal female
whose morals and practises align with Victorian ideology. Another key characteristic of the
novel is the glorification of eroticism which is ubiquitous throughout. Early in the novel
when Harker meets the three women, they are meant to be representative of the qualities that
a Victorian woman should not have; voluptuous and sexually aggressive.

“The fair girl went on her knees and bent over me, fairly gloating. There was a deliberate
voluptuousness that was both thrilling and repulsive, and as she arched her neck, she licked

1
Amanda M. Podonsky, Bram Stoker's Dracula: A Reflection and Rebuke of Victorian Society, 2010.
2
Bram Stoker, Dracula, p. 218, 1897.

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A Van Es Bram Stoker’s Gothic Critique on Victorian Society

her lips like an animal, till I could see in the moonlight the moisture shining on the scarlet
lips and on the red tongue as it lapped the white, sharp, teeth”.3

The passage expresses the temptation that was frowned upon by Victorian society. In
addition, The “thrilling and repulsive” reaction of Johnathon Harker exposes defiance of
Victorian values. Lucy Westerna is also tempted by the forbidden fruit.

“Why can't they let a girl marry three men or as many as want her, and save all this
trouble? But this is heresy, and I must not say it.” 4

This subverts the view of Lucy’s virtuous and pure description while simultaneously
acknowledging her fear of persecution due to her thoughts surrounding sexuality. According
to Podonsky Victorian values are further challenged when Lucy is “tainted” with the evils of
Dracula due to their transformation of blood thus becoming a “lusty representation of the
female figure” contrasted with the prior descriptions of loving and virtuous when she was
chaste and conservative.5 The “tainted” Lucy Westerna changes as seen through Stoker’s
passage.

“Lucy Westenra, but yet how changed. The sweetness was turned to adamantine,
heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous wantonness. Van Helsing stepped out, and,
obedient to his gesture, we all advanced too; the four of us ranged in a line before the
door of the tomb. Van Helsing raised his lantern and drew the slide; by the concentrated
light that fell on Lucy's face we could see that the lips were crimson with fresh blood and
that the stream had trickled over her chin and stained the purity of her lawn
death-robe.”6

Stoker presents the 'Undead' creature of Lucy as sexual, primitive and aggressive. This is
because her physique has been corrupted as she has turned from a divine' to a Devilish
figure.7 This suggests that Dracula is a threat to the women of Britain, as Dracula is an
insidious seducer who tempts Victorian women away from chastity and toward sexual
aggression. This sexual aggression was shamed in Victorian society according to Podonsky
``It was unheard of for a female to be sexually assertive in any way, and such an idea would
have likely been a very disturbing and frightening concept to the conservative society”.8 This
view of sexual assertion may be due to a theory espoused within Victorian society that “Male
sexual pleasure is necessary for reproduction and female pleasure is not, therefore sexual
pleasure is the sole province of men”, this mentality supported the Victorian conclusion
female sex drive has no purpose.

3
Bram Stoker, Dracula, p. 56, 1897.
4
Bram Stoker, Dracula, p. 197, 1897.
5
Amanda M. Podonsky, 2010.
6
Bram Stoker, Dracula, p. 197, 1897.
7
Amanda M. Podonsky, 2010.
8
Amanda M. Podonsky, 2010.

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A Van Es Bram Stoker’s Gothic Critique on Victorian Society

Another provocative aspect of the novel is the ubiquity of homosexuality. Homosexuality is

expressed throughout the novel, with the most prominent reference being the Count’s
penetration and blood-sucking tendencies. Bloodsucking and ejaculation of semen are closely
related as both involve the exchange of bodily fluids. The Stoker passage, in which Harker’s
blood tempts Dracula, strongly suggests a homosexual impulse for pleasure despite the
suppression of homosexuality in Victorian England.

“When the Count saw my face, his eyes blazed with a sort of demoniac fury, and he
suddenly made a grab at my throat. I drew away and his hand touched the string of beads
which held the crucifix. It made an instant change in him, for the fury passed so quickly
that I could hardly believe that it was ever there”.9

Due to this connection, the relationship between blood and semen in Dracula can be seen as
an allegory to homoerotic impulses in Victorian society. Also, during this time in Victorian
literature, when Dracula was released, Oscar Wilde, a famous writer and close friend of Bram
Stoker, had recently been imprisoned for two years due to homosexuality. This is a potential
reason why homoerotica is so prevalent in Stoker’s novel as an act of support. Homoerotica
in Dracula and Victorian England may be summed up in the statement by Nilifer Pektas of
Souderton University, “Dracula shows Victorian society's suspicions and anxiety toward
forms of homosexuality”.10

The Value of Global British Superiority

The British Empire rose to hegemonic status during the Imperial era; their expansion through
Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, Central Asia and Oceania led to their global
influence and superiority. This superiority carried large merit for British society and the
monarchy. A spirit of supremacy and racial dominance over other “primitive” races were
firmly a part of British society. However, during the Victorian period British hegemony began
to stagnate and the Empire had reached its peak.

Late Victorian fiction is saturated with the inevitable decline of the British Empire. Bram
Stoker’s Dracula (1897) is particularly potent in foreshadowing the erosion of British value
over international counterparts. This Imperial crisis of Victorian England is shown through
Dracula as it is a narrative of reverse colonisation. Dracula’s excursion to Victorian England
is an allegory for the decay of Britain. According to Stephen D. Arata’s “Dracula enacts the
period's most important and persuasive narrative of decline, a narrative of reverse
colonisation”.11

9
Bram Stoker, Dracula, p. 24, 1897.
10
Nilifer Pektas, The Importance of Blood during the Victorian Era: Blood as a Sexual Signifier in Bram
Stoker’s Dracula, 2005.
11
Stephen D. Arata, The Occidental Tourist: "Dracula" and the Anxiety of Reverse Colonisation, p.623, 1990.

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A Van Es Bram Stoker’s Gothic Critique on Victorian Society

The narrative of Dracula illuminates a terrifying reversal for the British people: the English
men find themselves in the position of the colonised and exploited in a similar fashion to
British imperial practice. The epistolary technique manifests British fear of becoming
colonised and primitive, especially by perceived “primitive” races such as the Eastern
Europeans. In the novel Harker visits Eastern Europe looking down upon their culture.

“The strangest figures we saw were the Slovaks, who were more barbarian than the rest”.12

This reflects a sense of hegemony within British society. Harker views his journey to Eastern
Europe as “primitive” and Harker is filled with a sense of superiority and the need to assert
control over a “lesser” region of Europe. This significantly backfires on Harker as Dracula
unleashes forces of evil on Harker and Harker becomes a victim losing his colonising spirit.
This may be seen as an allegory for the erosion of British power and the manifestation of
anxiety caused by the threat of “primitive” countries fighting back against their English
colonists. This fight against British imperialism is highlighted in the novel due to the fact that
colony uprisings were becoming more frequent as seen through the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
Furthermore, during Harker’s experience in Dracula’s castle, the text insists that Dracula and
Johnathon Harker are capable of substituting one another. Dracula twice disguises himself as
the travelling Englishman to leave the Castle. Since during both instances, Dracula’s mission
is to plunder the town, the reader is strongly encouraged to see an interrelationship between
the vampire's actions and those of the travelling Westerner who is seen as a coloniser. This is
highlighted by the reaction of the townspeople, who have no trouble believing that it really is
Harker, the visiting Englishman, who is stealing their goods, their money, and their children.
The peasant woman's anguished cry is directed at Harker.13

"Monster, give me my child!".14

The thematic concern of reverse colonialism is ubiquitous in Dracula’s occidental travelling.

According to Arata, “Vampires are intimately linked to military conquest and the rise and fall
of empire”.15 This means Dracula’s trip to Victorian England is provocative of colonisation
and the decline of British power which provokes the reader to understand cultural upheaval
during the Victorian era. Furthermore, according to Stephen D. Arata,

“Dracula's move to London indicates that Great Britain, rather than the Carpathians, is
now the scene of these connected struggles. The Count has penetrated the heart of
modern Europe's largest empire, and his presence seems to presage its doom”.16

This demonstrates that Dracula’s invasion of England is an act of reverse colonialism and that
the “stronger” nation has been conquered by a “primitive” coloniser which manifests the

12
Bram Stoker, Dracula, p. 3, 1897.
13
Stephen D. Arata, p. 638 , 1990.
14
Bram Stoker, Dracula, p. 43, 1897.
15
Stephen D. Arata, p. 627, 1990.
16
Stephen D. Arata, p. 629, 1990.

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A Van Es Bram Stoker’s Gothic Critique on Victorian Society

anxieties of Victorian society. Dracula's practises are also reflective of British colonial
practises. In the words of Arata,

“In Dracula, the British characters see their own ideology reflected back as a form of
bad faith, since the Count's Occidentalism both mimics and reverses the more familiar
Orientalism underwriting Western imperial practices”.17

Dracula’s ability to develop himself and become superior also manifests fears surrounding
foreign invaders. Dracula's rapidly developing ability to become superior to British
counterparts and invade the empire is evident in Van Helsing’s statement,

“In some faculties of mind he has been, and is, only a child; but he is growing, and some
things that were childish at the first are now of man's stature. ... That big child-brain of
his is working. Well for us, it is, as yet, a child-brain; for had he dared, at the first, to
attempt certain things he would long ago have been beyond our power”.18

This shows that Dracula is not only mirroring imperial practise, but he is rapidly becoming
superior and threatening the merit of British global superiority.

Another indicator of Dracula’s reverse colonisation is Arata’s statement

“Dracula is the most Western character in the novel. No one is more rational, more
intelligent, more organized, or even more punctual than the Count. No one plans more
carefully or researches more thoroughly. No one is more learned within his own spheres
of expertise and more receptive to new knowledge”.19

The statement by Arata communicates Dracula as mirroring the imperial practises of the West
and becoming Western in terms of his mannerisms. This is because Dracula has Western traits
and a sense of hegemony in his colonisation of England. Yet, this judgment fails to consider
Van Helsing. By Arata’s qualifiers, Van Helsing is rational, intelligent, and organised and
researches thoroughly as evident by the fact Van Helsing is able to understand Dracula which
leads to Dracula’s ultimate downfall.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Dracula stands as an evocative and captivating representation of the Gothic

resonance period, while simultaneously serving as a powerful challenge to the conservative
public morality of Victorian society. Significant values such as a chaste and modest lifestyle
and the merit of global British superiority are greatly challenged due to the vivid
representation of sexual expression, the temptation to “taste the forbidden fruit” and the
deep-rooted Western fear of reverse colonialism being manifested through Dracula.

17
Stephen D. Arata, p. 634, 1990.
18
Bram Stoker, Dracula, p. 282, 1897.
19
Stephen D. Arata, p. 636, 1990

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A Van Es Bram Stoker’s Gothic Critique on Victorian Society

References

Stoker, Bram. 1897. “Dracula”. Archibald Constable and Company

Podonsky, A.M. (2013). Bram Stoker’s Dracula: A Reflection and Rebuke of Victorian
Society. Inquiries Journal, [online] 2(02). Available at:
http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1678/2/bram-stokers-dracula-a-reflection-and-rebuk
e-of-victorian-society.

Arata, Stephen D. “The Occidental Tourist: “Dracula” and the Anxiety of Reverse
Colonization.” Victorian Studies, vol. 33, no. 4, 1990, pp. 621–645,
www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/3827794.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A0c7d281d78ca3f38e753aac61c
e7cf02&ab_segments=&origin=&initiator=&acceptTC=1.