Preview

Such a Beast: Sexuality and Humanization in Dracula

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1624 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Such a Beast: Sexuality and Humanization in Dracula
Over the course of cinematic history, many filmmakers have attempted to recreate the chilling, unprecedented world of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Arguably very few have succeeded, for the majority of directors tend to avoid the pervasive sexuality inherent in the novel. It is a difficult task to achieve, considering the blatant imagery surrounding sex and vampirism, such as the reproduction following a vampiric encounter and the phallocentric nature of the violence committed both by and against these creatures: penetration is involved in their hunting, and one must impale them with a stake in order to destroy them. Readers are thereby forced to admit that Dracula is, in fact, a highly eroticized piece of literature, though whether or not Stoker himself was aware of this suggestiveness, we cannot be sure. The most successful effort at capturing that sexual energy on film has been Francis Ford Coppola 's 1992 movie, Bram Stoker 's Dracula. In fact, it has often been proposed that Coppola’s version is too carnally focused in comparison to the original work, which leads a viewer to wonder about the purpose in this overt sexualization. It can be concluded that adding copious amounts of eroticism to the film is directly related to Coppola’s strive to depict Count Dracula as more human rather than monster, and sexuality in his film serves as a balance so that the lines between good and evil are blurred. Evidence for this deduction is found in three scenes in particular: Jonathan’s seduction by Dracula’s vampiric wives, Lucy’s demonic transformation, and Mina and Van Helsing’s relationship during the climax of the story.

It has long been said that the most explicit scene in Coppola’s film occurs right at the beginning of the plot during Jonathan Harker’s imprisonment in Dracula’s castle. Bram Stoker’s original work also managed to make this incident highly eroticized as well, featuring such words and phrases as “voluptuousness” and “wicked, burning desire;” these



Cited: Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Dir. Francis Ford Coppola. Perf. Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins, Keanu Reeves. DVD. Columbia Pictures, 1992. Stoker, Bram. Dracula. Ed. Nina Auerbach and David J. Skal. New York: W. W. & Norton Company, 1997.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Bram Stoker’s book Dracula begins with a journal entry by Jonathan Harker. Harker is an English lawyer traveling to Transylvania, an Eastern European country, to meet with Count Dracula for business purposes. In his first journal entry, Jonathan records his trip to Dracula’s castle. Along the way local peasants warn him not proceed on to his destination especially so late at night. The worried peasants keep repeating the word “vampire” and give him crucifixes to ward off evil. Harker does get a bit scared but he still decides to continue on to the castle. When Jonathan arrives to his final destination, the friendly and gently Count greets him. During his stay at the castle, Harker feels more and more uncomfortable as certain events take place.…

    • 209 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Bram Stoker’s Dracula was written just before the turn of the 19th century; the beginning of this new era threatened a conservative, unchanging culture, and had people of all classes and religions in England on edge. Social fears such as the fall of the British Empire, the beginning of a new movement that would become what we now know as feminism, and changes in gender roles, gripped the nation. It is interesting the note that this not too dissimilar to the fear that gripped the world of the ‘millennium bug’ in 1999. Written and published in 1897, Dracula contains many of the fears that were in the minds of the Victorian public in this dawning age of social change. The British Empire was threatened by unrest and calls for independence in its…

    • 1817 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Bram Stokers, Dracula, from the late-Victorian era, is one of the best stories of vampire folklore. Dracula was tall, dark, handsome, and mysterious with immense sexual character. His snow white teeth which outlined his rosy red lips made us fantasize of him and ultimately become obsessed. The overwhelming fascination of Stoker’s novel has created individuals to overlook the true metaphoric mechanism behind the story. “Technologies of Monstrosity: Bram Stoker’s “Dracula””, Judith Halberstam points out the metaphor in which Dracula was created. Halberstam argues how Dracula was created as a metaphor for anti-Semitic representations and stereotypical sanctions of the Jew. Halberstam validates her hypothesis by comparing Dracula to physical characteristics of the Jew. Furthermore, she expresses the relation of blood and gold, race and sex, sexuality and ethnicity that consequently relate to the Jew. On the other hand, Kathleen Spencer, “In Purity and Danger: Dracula, The Urban Gothic, and the Late Victorian Degeneracy Crisis”, tries to relate the unconscious and conscious sexuality of Stoker and cultural identities. Spencer focuses on the ‘fantastic’, the urban gothic, romantic revival, and Mary Douglass’s purity and danger to justify her hypothesis. Both these texts provide great examples for the metaphors and symbolism which is hidden in the text of Stoker’s novel.…

    • 1425 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Bram Stoker 's Dracula, presents an interesting perspective on death and illness in the Victorian period. This can be viewed as a creativity on Stoker 's part, or as a form of religious or social commentary on his changing era. There are several flaws presented throughout the novel as the plot unfolds, which are: characters in the novel dismiss the old traditional belief of the supernatural, the constant power struggle between the sexes and the Victorian views on sexuality. The supernatural or metaphysical aspects presented in Dracula reflect the tragic flaws of the patriarchal society during the Victorian Era.…

    • 1794 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Gothic Horror is a term used to depict fictitious work that has incorporated a lot of horror scenes as well as elements of the unreal world, exploring the conflict between good and evil and dealing with the supernatural in some sort of way. The episodic novel Dracula written by Bram Stoker in 1897 and the movie Blade by Stephen Norrington created in 1998 bring to the fore many conventions relating to the Gothic Horror genre despite their vastly different contexts. Gothic elements of imprisonment, eccentricity and death are clearly represented through each of the texts. Stoker and Norrington present these conventions through a variety of literary and film techniques, paying particular attention to character and setting to explore the elements of the genre. Through these interactions, the audience can feel a sense of Gothic Horror in which the composers of the two texts aim to convey.…

    • 1346 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Stoker’s novel Dracula, presents the fear of female promiscuity, for which vampirism is a metaphor. Such fear can be related to the time in which Dracula was written, where strict Victorian gender norms and sexual mores stipulated that women should be either both pure and chaste as a virgin, or a wife and mother. It is the fear of women surpassing these sexual boundaries, as prescribed by a patriarchal society, that Stoker explores through the reversal of gender roles. This is evident in the “seduction scene”, where Harker is shown to be passively subjugated by the female vampires he encounters in Dracula’s castle, “looking out from his eyelashes”. His passivity highlights the Gothic motif of duality, by reversing typical Victorian gender roles, whilst expressing the Victorian concern of female sexual proficiency threatening a man’s ability to reason and maintain control. This is further shown through the vampire’s primal sexuality; “licked her lips like an animal”. Such simile, depicting them as sexually aggressive predators, effectively allows Stoker to portray how their promiscuous behaviour is in direct opposition of what the Victorian ideal stipulates women should be.…

    • 1044 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Feminism In Dracula

    • 998 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In Phyllis A. Roth’s article, Suddenly Sexual Women in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, she argues the “pre-Oedipal focus of the fantasies, specifically the child's relation with and hostility toward the mother, and to indicate how the novel’s fantasies are managed in such a…

    • 998 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Elizabeth Bathory has been portrayed over time as one of the most prolific and sadistic serial killers the world has known. She was nicknamed “The Blood Countess”, and also “Lady Dracula”. Elizabeth Bathory is reputed to have not only drunk but bathed in the blood of young virgin girls. She is perhaps less well-known only than the infamous Vlad Dracula, who was an inspiration for Bram Stoker’s fictional Count Dracula. During the years since Dracula was published, the Blood Countess has exercised a powerful fascination on many writers and film-makers. However, recently, there have been many books and films that go against the usual image of Bathory, and take a new look at her. Through my essay, I hope to give a fresh look at the life and death of Countess Elizabeth Bathory and pick out the truth from many myths surrounding her, due to the portrayal of Elizabeth Bathory’s crimes in popular culture.…

    • 1956 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Shadow of the Vampire is a post-modern text which is a reconstruction of Dracula, a novel by Bram Stoker, and Nosferatu a film directed by F.W. Murnau. The use of intertexuality in Shadow of the Vampire is a key aspect which allows it to echo; themes, the gothic mode and issues that are present in the other two texts. Through a clear pastiche, Merhige produces a new text from the old.…

    • 1237 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dracula vs Van Helsing

    • 949 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Dracula ( novel) written by Bram stoker is a text which reflects its English Victorian era context, where gender roles were repressed and science and religion had a conflicting relationship. Van Helsing (Stephen Summers) is a contemporary reproduction which demonstrates the same concepts and concerns that have endured but evolved, and so they have been represented for the modern day audience. The evolution of the concern of Gender roles and the idea of the new woman is very obvious through the comparison this essay will make between the conservative Victorian era Mina Harker and the superwoman 2004 Anna. The Victorian era’s idea of Science and Technology Vs Religion evident in Dracula, has endured, and reincarnated through the characterization such as the equipped superhero-type Van Helsing and the ageless scientific Dracula. Modernised concepts are heavily represented through clever usage of film devices and technique such as shot angles, music and scene structure.…

    • 949 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Written in the late 19th century Brom Stokers Dracula the danger of female sexuality was put on display. Brom stokers Dracula dealt a lot with Victorian women and how they were belittle. There were certain standards women had to meet to be considered Victorian women. In the Victorian society women had very narrow gender roles. There were two paths a women could take she could be pure and virginal which would include being a mother and a wife. Or you were regarded to as a whore or expendable to the world. The idea of this is expressed in Dracula by two main characters Mina and Lucy. Mina is a secretary for "The Children of Light" which was considered a man’s job, while Lucy on the other hand had three different men wanting to marry her which was not very ideal in this time. Victorian women and their duties after they were married were to cook clean have kid’s and cater to their husbands every need women were also not suppose to work there main job was to take care of the house.…

    • 1041 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bram Stoker’s Dracula was ahead of its time. This story dove into topics that were considered unthinkable in the era it was written, forcing the reader to become truly invested in the plot. Through clever manipulation and giving only fragments of some details through the pages discovery happens for the reader at a similar pace as it does for the characters. This is a highly unique characteristic that Stoker was able to fuse into several aspects of his novel. For example, the way that Dracula is not seen in actual human form until late in the book when Jonathan realizes how dastardly the Count truly is. Additionally, the means by which Stoker creates a subtle, yet building, thematic of lust and desire; almost everything in the book has a flare…

    • 299 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    ‘In Dracula, Lucy represents a 19th century ideal of femininity, whereas Mina embodies a more modern view of the role of women’.…

    • 1627 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Abraham Stoker was born on November 8, 1847 in the small town of Clontorf, Ireland. His father, whom he was named after, was a civil servant and his mother, Charlotte Matilda Blake, was a social activist. As a child Bram was very sick, so he was unable to leave his bed for most of his childhood. As an adult, Bram went to Trinity College and was a very brilliant student. Graduating with Honors in Mathematics in 1870. After his education, Bram served in the Irish Civil Service for 10 years. Bram was an aspiring writer in which his 10 years of Civil Service he wrote for the Dublin Mail. As years went on Bram started to write and publish novels. His first was The Snakes Pass which he wrote in 1890. His most well-known novel, Dracula, was published in 1897. Dracula was received very well by the public which helped garner him a greater audience of readers. Stoker then began to work with the London Telegraph and wrote more horror novels such as: The Lady of the Shroud (1909) and The Lair of the White Worm which was published in 1911. The following year after the publication of The Lair of the White Worm Stoker died in London.…

    • 1568 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Paganism In Dracula

    • 165 Words
    • 1 Page

    Gothic fiction had been a dominant literary genre dating back to the Victorian era. As individuals began to promote unexplained phenomenon, it took a tole on everybody’s way of thoughts and how they see the indefinable nature of supernatural. These cause and effects have now abandoned the conventional religion in the Victorian era, and grabbed people’s attention to focus more on the appealing and fascinating, spiritualism. The novel Dracula, by Bram Stoker, is a story based on Count Dracula who is a centuries-old blood sucking vampire and lives in a ancient decaying castle in the Carpathian Mountains on the border of Transylvania. The storyteller, Jonathan Harker, visits to Dracula’s castle to provide a real estate transaction overseen by…

    • 165 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays