Bram Stoker's Dracula: A Reflection and Rebuke of Victorian Society

Alongside the heterosexual insinuations are also the homosexual representations, as well. Again, the sexual references are “not directly expressed but (are) expressed through blood, where blood (transfusion) indicates sexual intercourse” (Pektas 11), so when Dracula exchanges blood with man (or an exchange occurs between men themselves), it can be associated with some form of homosexual act in which blood is the substitute for spermatic fluids. Apart from the homosexually-insinuative activities, Dracula also seems to possess some homoerotic emotions when experiencing pleasure, which become apparent at intimate moments with other men. “Dracula’s (exhilaration) at the sight of a man’s blood” (Pektas 18) seems very indicative of homosexual arousal. The best representation of homoerotic symbolism is when Lucy requires a blood transfusion, resulting in the participation of four different men:

“‘I take it both you and Van Helsing had done already what I did today? Is not that so?’…’ (And) I guess Art was in on it too… (Then) I guess, Jack Seward, that that poor, pretty creature that we all love has had put into her veins the blood of four strong men.” (Stoker 174-175)

The description of the blood transfusions themselves seems to emphasize the “connection” and participation of all four men, focusing on the blood of each individual becoming unified in one body. Even when recalling the affair in conversation between participants, the action is merely referenced without speaking of any specifics, making it seem as though the affair was something indecent, forbidden, and therefore not to be openly discussed in public; very much how one would expect homosexuals to discreetly discuss their affairs between one another in Victorian society.

Portraying another exaggeration of the Victorian heterosexual male, Stoker openly alludes to the Counts participation in bigotry, extenuating the “power of men over a woman’s body during the Victorian time” (Pektas 12) and the Victorian belief that “women (are helpless) creatures who are either seduced and penetrated or deluded” by a “masculine ideal” (Pektas 5). The three women whom Dracula seems to keep in his castle are presumably his “brides” and/or “mistresses”. As they are vampires themselves, they have obviously already been “penetrated” and exchanged blood (symbolic of having been deflowered) with the Count. He openly displays his dominance over the three seductresses (referencing the forcibly patriarchal traditions bias) via physical superiority, playing off the common belief that women were the inferior sex as they were physically weaker than their male counterparts,

“With a fierce sweep of his arm, he hurled the woman from him, and then motioned to the others as though he were beating them back; it was the very same imperious gesture that I had seen used to the wolves.” (Stoker 50-51)

Not only does the Count demonstrate physical dominance, but also intellectual superiority as well; he has the women ”trained” in such a manner that the narrator of the passage compares it to the domestication of animals (the wolves). The women seem to have a dependant relationship with Dracula, again, perfectly imitating the expectations of a forcefully male-dominated society, and recognizing the fact that women have a scarce quantity of rights available to them as opposed to the liberated Caucasian male.

“How dare you touch him? Any of you! How dare you cast eyes upon him when I had forbidden it? Back, I tell you all! Beware how you meddle with him, or you shall have to deal with me!” (Stoker 51)

When the women obeyed and were openly denied the “right” of access to the Count’s guest, Dracula carelessly tosses the women a “bag”, presumably containing their “meal” for the night, as a symbolic gesture of how desperately dependant women are upon “man”. They were then said to have “closed around” (Stoker 51) the mediocre gift in a very barbaric and animalistic fashion, as though it were of great value (though it clearly meant nothing to the Count himself). One can view this particular incident as Stoker’s attempt to mock just how “needy” society made women out to be, and how unjustly excessive the control was granted to the heterosexual white male.

Serving as Bram Stoker’s release of sexual frustration and despair in a time when it was suppressed, Dracula contains references to the behaviors known (in his day) as the three “chief” sexual perversions: the sexually active woman, the rapist (an exaggeration of an “excessively powerful” and “dominant” male figure), and, most prominently, the homosexual male. Whether in honor of his dear friend, Oscar Wilde, or an act of pure rebellion set to shock those who forced him to suppress his nature, the many underlying sexual references and connotations were undoubtedly placed to purposefully defy the common beliefs of the 19th century. “Hidden from the literary censors of the day” (Pektas 7), yet existing, nonetheless, was Stoker’s message silently protesting the smothering expectations of an overly confining and limiting society, right beneath their very noses.

Bohn, Michelle L. “Shadow of the Vampire: Understanding the Transformations of an Icon in Pop Culture”. Texas State University College; Mitte Honors Program. 2007. February 2008.

Craft, Christopher. “Kiss Me with Those Red Lips; Gender and Inversion in Bram Stoker’s Dracula”. Bram Stoker. Dracula. Ed. Glennis Byron. New York: MacMillian, 1999.

Levin, Judith. The Victorians. Missouri: Andrews and McMeel, 1996.

Pektas, Nilifer. “The Importance of Blood During the Victorian Era: Blood as a Sexual     Signifier in Bram Stoker’s Dracula”. Soderton University Colleges English  Department. Autumn 2005. February 2008.

Stoker, Bram. Dracula: New York: Archibald Constable and Company, 1897.