In the Eighteenth Century, lamia literature started to foremost look. Vampirism in its literary signifier was seen as a representation of the Victorian thoughts and frights of gender. It was believed during the Victorian epoch the male meant to be forceful. He is “ the defender, the actor, the giver, the guardian. ” Whereas the female was non merely virginal, inactive yet receptive nevertheless Victorian adult females had to be intelligent and lead oning. Otherwise if they demonstrated feminine gender there would be fleet accusals of witchery, homosexuality that would originate. In Gothic fiction gender functions would be destabilized and inverted ; it about seems that the gender roles exchange amongst the two sexes. Carl Jung besides mentions this in his theory of analytical psychological science, specifically the animosity ; unconscious masculine constituent in adult females and anima ; the unconscious feminine feature in work forces. This theory would travel on to explicate and pull a relationship to the rise of dominant females and inactive males, non normal in a common civilization. In the Victorian civilization literary vampirism “ provenders ” off such anxiousnesss: gender destabilization, homosexualism, feminine gender.
In the narrative of Dracula by Bram Stoker, Jonathan Harker is feminized by his inability to move when he realizes he is a captive in Dracula ‘s palace and feels profoundly afraid, “ The palace is a regular prison, and I am a captive! ” ( Stoker 57 ) . As a male character in a Gothic literature Jonathan goes from the actor, the defender and is destabilized in footings of his gender. Jonathan has become inactive and merely feels as a captive of Dracula.
Jonathan ‘s inability to move is similar to the rights of adult females in the Victorian epoch. Womans did non hold many rights and when they found themselves in a state of affairs they were normally overcome with a sense of weakness.
“ When I found that I was a captive a kind of wild feeling came over me. I rushed up and down the stepss, seeking every door and peering out of every window I could happen ; but after a small the strong belief of my weakness overpowered all other feelings ” ( Stoker 58 ) .
In Jonathans ‘ instance he becomes wholly overpowered by this feeling. The quotation mark taken out of Dracula, could use to many adult females who felt the suppression of male laterality in a society where it was non incorrect to make so. What is more, Jonathan Harker demonstrates his unconscious feminine feature, the anima, which was going more lucid. The feminine constituent in that specific clip period as mentioned earlier was that adult females “ felt feelings ” , they were guiltless, virginal, helpless. Besides it would besides be the male, witting or unconscious possessing traits such as defender, guardian, actor to deliver the demoiselle in hurt. The strong belief of Harkers ‘ feelings overmastering all other feelings is non common, and could perchance be mentioning to Harkers ‘ gender inversion taking phase.
Jonathan encounters the three female lamias who are unfastened to their gender and is seduced by the three female lamias,
“ All three had superb white dentitions, that shone like pearls against the ruby of their juicy lips. There was something about them that made me uneasy, some yearning and at the same clip some lifelessly fear. I felt in my bosom a wicked, firing desire that they would snog me with those ruddy lips ” ( Stoker 68 ) .
The three female lamias were one time once more unfastened to their gender which is unheard of in Victorian adult females, “ He is immature and strong ; there are busss for us all. ” ( Stoker 69 ) . Mina encompasses the feminine inactive trait and “ artlessness ” which was considered as a “ proper ” Victorian adult female.
What is more, despite being engaged to Mina, Jonathan Harker enjoys the “ delightful incursion ” from these three lamias,
“ [ He ] could experience the soft, shuddering touch of the lips on the ace sensitive tegument of [ his ] pharynx, and the difficult dents of two crisp dentitions, merely touching and hesitating at that place. [ He ] closed [ his ] eyes in dreamy rapture and waited – waited with [ a ] whipping bosom ” ( Stoker 70 ) .
The gender inversion is a perfect lampoon of sexual intercourse where the female novice, penetrates and dominates and Jonathan the male illustration is the receiving system and who waits for the incursion. Furthermore, this love doing collides with what was force and kid slaying, “ If my ears did non lead on me there was a pant and a low lament, as of a half-smothered kid ” ( Stoker 71 ) .
The most violent scene seems to be the scene that first gives birth to gender stabilisation and the riddance of homosexuality for the first clip in Dracula. Similar to how Dracula penetrate adult females in non-sexual manner with his Fangs, Van Helsing is similar to Dracula with a needle. This occurs with the blood transfusion that Van Helsing along with Dr. Seward, and Arthur were administrating to Lucy in order to replace the blood she gave to Dracula. In add-on, the transfusion of blood from the crew of visible radiation helps stabilise Lucy from going sexually inverted. However it was non plenty to forestall her from going a lamia and in some ways subliminally become homoerotic and sexually inverted. It is up to the penetrating and forceful actions from Van Helsing that poses a menace to a sexualized adult female, it jeopardizes their feminine gender. Possibly one can do the statement that Van Helsing represents the common involvement of work forces in the Victorian Era ( repress adult females ) , whereas Lucy represents the feminist motion. What is more in the scene where Arthur stakes Lucy, she is punished for the unmasking of her unconscious masculine constituent ; the animosity. The venturing itself is symbolic because it assures “ Van Helsing ” that they purged the changeless “ hungering ” for feminine gender. Finally returning the homosexuality and enforcing the passive and receptive female function.
In Carmilla by J. Sheridan LeFanu, Carmilla and Laura are two familiarities. As the narrative progresses the audience begins to detect that Laura begins to fall under the seduction of her houseguest Carmilla. This narrative becomes of import in Gothic literature as it tackles the issues of same-sex relationships or homosexuality, as per usual for a repeating subject it would originate in Dracula every bit good. Carmillas ‘ nature was confident, forceful or speedy tempered which could explicate her aggression and more significantly her lubricious chase of Laura. Opposite to Carmilla is Laura who represents the pureness of a Victorian adult female, unconditioned artlessness, accepting, receptive and inactive.
For the blood is the Life, Angelo is a affluent unmarried man in his small town, He lives with his male parent Alario, unluckily when Alario passes off, Angelo is left unprotected and entirely with his heritage stolen. “ Angelo was really unhappy. So long as his male parent had been alive and rich, every miss in the small town had been in love with him ; but that has all changed now ” ( Crawford 196 ) . In add-on to Angelo ‘s heritage being stolen all the adult females in the small town disregard him. Possibly this demonstrates how barbarous and mercenary the society is turning to be with currency, this could perchance be an statement made subliminally in literature. What is more a relationship was driven by the chief rule that the male was the supplier and demand to be finically established and the female common to history stayed at place. However intellectually and dishonestly ( Tiger and Elena Woods ) , the adult females would try to run out the adult male of his “ life force ” , in hard currency and in sperm.
In the narrative For the blood is the life, “ Cristina smiled at [ Angelo ] she showed two little crisp dentition ” ( Crawford 197 ) . The two little crisp dentitions that Cristina shows are possibly her method of perforating Angelo, “ They feasted on his psyche and cast a enchantment over him ” ( Crawford 197 ) . The incursion throughout this scene seems to happen in a dream, which could indicate out a non-physical mean of perforating Angelo. Once once more this is similar to how Dracula uses his dentitions to non-sexually perforate their “ victim ” . Cristina does non show traits of feminine gender but possibly it must be taken in context, because she has the ability to set Angelo in a enchantment. During this enchantment province Angelo has a dual consciousness, he is non cognizant nevertheless all he is witting is approximately is they are fantastic,
“ And as she glided beside him, Cristina whispered unusual sweet things in his ear, which someway, if he had been awake, he know that he could non hold understood ; but now they were the most fantastic words he had of all time heard in his life. ” ( Crawford 198 )
Furthermore, in the narrative of For the blood is the life and Dracula there is grounds associating to Sigmund Freud ‘s Primal Horde theory. The Primal host theory fundamentally refers to a system where a boy becomes a male parent non frailty versa. In For the blood is the life, what can be seen is the manner the Primal Horde theory would work under normal fortunes. The boy Angelo is the replacement of Algario and his luck. Angelo will go the new caput of the household. However in Dracula when the Count refers Mina, as “ flesh of my flesh ; blood of my blood ; family of my kinaˆ¦ ” ( Stoker 328 ) . This implies that they will go blood related most likely through matrimony and it is so that Mina will go the loyal retainer a girl of Dracula. This works queerly as Dracula would works in the opposite way of Sigmund ‘s cardinal host, “ My big wine-press for a piece ; and shall be subsequently on my comrade and my assistant ” ( Stoker 328 ) .
As a repeating subject in Gothic literature, one can reason that it is ever the female that instigates the sexual or non-sexual interaction. Whereas the male who is the forceful one, seems to invert into what was considered a Victorian adult female, inactive yet receptive. However as it has been established in this paper the context is really of import into understanding the significance within these fearful yet exciting narratives. The three plants of fiction: Dracula by Bram Stoker, For the blood is the life by F. Marion Crawford and Carmilla by J. Sheridan LeFanu, encompasses the chief subjects found in Gothic literature. Just to name a few of the subjects gender destabilization and inversion, homosexuality and homosexualism and feminine gender are the subjects that Gothic literature uses to work the frights during the Victorian Era.
The destabilization of 1s gender gives an rebellion to the unconscious constituent male or female. This is known as the psychoanalytical theory known as the animosity and anima coined by Carl Jung. We saw this in Dracula with the three lamias that instigated and seduced ( Animus ) the upside-down inactive Jonathan Harker ( Anima ) who required the Count as the savior to salvage him.
In a clip to a great extent dominated by male sentiment and power it would be a incubus to in vision a feminist motion. The gender functions have been established far before the maturing of the current society, where the outlook of adult females would been seen as barbaric. “ Society and Culture ” expected its adult females to be obedient, inactive with no sentiment, having particularly to look guiltless. Any adult females who was intelligent plenty would non advert a word of this repression of adult females rights. Possibly the history of adult females repression and the fright of gender inversion, homosexualism and feminine gender, paved manner for literary vampirism to be such an interesting read. What is more are some of these features of Gothic literature still exist today, surely the repression of adult females and the thought of traditional gender function still exist to some extent, although there may non be the accusal of witchery. Stoning a adult female to decease is still an option in some Islamic civilizations.
Work Cited
Crawford, F. Marion. “ For the Blood is the Life. ” The Penguin Book of Vampire Stories. Ed. Allan Ryan.
New York: The Penguin Group, 1987. Print.
Freud, Sigmund. “ Civilization and its Discontentments. ”
Web. 5 April 2011
Jung, G. Carl. “ Aion: Researches into the phenomenology of the ego. ” Vol. 9.2 of the Collected plants of C.J. Jung. Trans. R.F.C. Hull.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969. Web. 5 April 2011
LeFanu, J. Sheridan. “ Carmilla. ” The Penguin Book of Vampire Stories. Ed. Allan Ryan.
New York: The Penguin Group, 1987. Print.
Stoker, Bram. “ Dracula. ” Broadview Press Ltd. Ed. Glennis Byron.
Peterbrough, Ontario: Broadview Press, 2000. Print.