Dracula

Recently, I had to write an essay/article regarding Dracula and the themes of gender and sexuality written in the book and to be quite honest after writing that article my mind has been blown by the nuance and depth of the book Dracula.

“Now, before I continue with my random ass thoughts on Dracula lemme just say that I am a part-time proofreading and writer so hit me up if you don’t have time to proofread your essays because this bitch needs her coins. I am a better writer if its for serious purposes I swear, it just don’t show in my blog post because I’m lazy to think too hard right now.”

So, when I was writing that article it was only then it hit me how everything in Dracula had some sort of sexual undertone which I never fully realized before. I say never fully

because I did catch upon it but because I was reading it for fun and did not have the knowledge to analyze it too much I didn’t think much about it because ya’ll remember right the part where Lucy was killed by having a stake driven into her body by her fiance’ (ex-fiance’? I mean she dead by that time… eh who knows).

because I did catch upon it but because I was reading it for fun and did not have the knowledge to analyze it too much I didn’t think much about it because ya’ll remember right the part where Lucy was killed by having a stake driven into her body by her fiance’ (ex-fiance’? I mean she dead by that time… eh who knows).

because I did catch upon it but because I was reading it for fun and did not have the knowledge to analyze it too much I didn’t think much about it because ya’ll remember right the part where Lucy was killed by having a stake driven into her body by her fiance’ (ex-fiance’? I mean she dead by that time… eh who knows).

Anyways, yeah a stake be hit into Lucy’s body and all of her suitors and Van Helsing AND Jonathan Harker was there just seeing it go down. I mean in my memories of this plot point they didn’t help Arthur (It was Arthur right who was the fiance’?) restrain Lucy or nothing. They just observed with some odd glee and I was low key perturbed by it plus it didn’t help that the wording used by Bram Stoker was very sexually charged. He drove the stake “deeper and deeper” into the body like ooookayyyy….

Then I read the analysis for this done by other people and I was like what??? This was on purpose to indicate some sort of power play???!!! Whereby this new sexualized Lucy who relishes in her newfound sexuality is being punished and the others are observing through some sort of sick voyeurism ala punishing this woman who does not fit into the traditional feminine role during the Victorian era by literally killing her. Like talk about yikes!

And also let’s talk about Mina Harker. I mean I liked her character at the start of the book how she was bad ass, independent, intelligent and fierce yet towards the end of the book she lost all of these supposed masculine traits and became a woman with more traditional feminine traits and this is especially apparent after she was attacked by Dracula. Kind of like the author insinuating that these masculine traits of hers are what caused her to be a victim to Dracula hence it is bad equating to if you don’t want to die and cursed to be the undead you better get your shit together and get back to the role you were born for.

Am argument can be made though that these two ladies were willing victims of Dracula because I read somewhere in an analysis that Dracula cannot take unwilling victims and since Dracula is the poster boy for uninhibited sexuality and desires wouldn’t it mean that Lucy and Mina wanted to them good goods if you get my meaning.

Because throughout the book Mina doesn’t express any sort of sexual desire for Jonathan except maybe for wanting to have kids and sex is just a way for her to get them but there isn’t like an innate want to enjoy sexual acts but she must have these feelings and wants and desires for a man she loves no? Is it because she cannot express such feelings in fear of being ostracized? This can be seen from friend Lucy who chastises herself when she outwardly said that she wished she could marry all three of her suitors since she likes them all.

Also since reading such analysis I now wonder was the killing of Lucy and Dracula truly because they wanted to save her soul or is it partly because they do not want Victorian women to be a sexual being?

Aside from that I still do think Dracula is a lame antagonist I mean I am sure he had many other victims to choose from ya know? Why does it have to be Lucy and Mina all the damn time? Can’t he be choosing another hot chick from another house or something? or is this due to his aristocracy and his feeling that since he is an aristocrat he does not need to fear the mortal man? I don’t know I just thought it was stupid that he did not widen his victim circle… He needs to have a fuckboy mentality.

But all this just makes me want to reread Dracula again just to see how my perception has changed after having the knowledge I have now. It’s fun no? Like how a book can change in your mind after you gain insight and knowledge about it.