University of Plymouth, Faculty of Arts and Education / English, Engl211b LATE VICTORIAN
FICTION AND SOCIETY

March 29, 2001

DRACULA, GENDER AND SEXUALITY

Looking at gender and sexuality in late nineteenth century fiction through Dracula

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this essay is to look at gender and sexuality and their definitions in the late
nineteenth century fiction. This will be done through analysing Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897) it
being the main interest of the essay. In analysing the novel several different non-literary texts
will be used. The main aim of the essay is to be able to explore the question of transgressing and
keeping in place of the boundaries that circle the definitions of gender and sexual identity. In that
sense the interest is in both the literature and the society – especially its conceptions - of the late
nineteenth century.

Before moving on to analyse the novel there is one point that I want to call the attention to. This
is the "polyphonic" nature of Dracula that makes the novel not only interesting and somewhat
ambiguous but also more difficult to interpret and analyse. There are several different voices in
the novel as it consists almost entirely of diary entries made my Mina Murray (later Harker),
Jonathan Harker, Dr. Seward and Lucy Westenra. In Gelder’s (1994, 71) words, ‘one must
account not only for what is being said, but who is saying it – and to whom’. A good example of
this is the scene in which Dracula either forces or seduces Mina to drink blood from his chest
(see Stoker 1897, 336-344). Dr. Seward gives two different accounts of what happened in his
diary. The first one seems to implicate a rape as Dracula cruelly forces her to drink the blood
(see Stoker 1897, 336). But the other account, given to Dr. Van Helsing soon after, describes
Dracula as more gentle: ‘the hands tenderly and lovingly stroked the ruffled hair’ (Stoker 1897,
339). This "polyphonic" nature accounts for some of the novel’s ambiguity. It seems,
nevertheless, that even the scenes that are told by only one narrator, say Jonathan Harker, seem
to leave room for different interpretations. ‘It seems that there is always more to be said about
Dracula, always room for further interpretation and elaboration: this is a novel which seems
(these days, especially) to generate readings, rather than close them down’ (Gelder 1994, 65). All
the possible interpretations can be supported with a quote from the novel.

 DEFINITIONS OF GENDER AND SEXUALITY

Geddes and Thomson believe in gender differences that derive from biology. These differences
can, in their opinion, be either exaggerated or lessened. Despite this they portrait men and
women as two separate, completing and mutually dependent groups that have their own physical,
mental, psychological and social qualities that can become mingled. Carpenter, on the other
hand, writes about men and women being ‘two poles of one group’ (Carpenter 1908, 17).

Geddes and Thomson claim that the society in which the men are working and women
domesticated is ‘the best, the most moral, and the mostly kindly attainable’ (Geddes and
Thomson 1889, 269). Changing this arrangement would be a change for the worse and mean
things such as loss of employment and health. At the same time Geddes and Thomson criticise
the people that want to change the society and give all the women the right to work outside the
home. These people are said to be forgetting both the historic and the biological facts and
portraying the past as something horrible and sinister. Geddes and Thomson claim that the
historic subjection of women was not tyranny but ‘roughly tended to express the average division
of labour’ (ibid., 269).

Even though Geddes and Thomson seem to be almost misogynists they want to reconstitute co-
operation between the two sexes. The problem here - from a feminist point of view - is that this
they want to do through biology. They believe that ‘the social order will clear itself, as it comes
more in touch with biology’ (Geddes and Thomson 1889, 270). Geddes and Thomson go as far
as using animals and their differences and behaviour in analysing the differences between men
and women.

Geddes and Thomson use binary oppositions in describing the differences between men and
women. They see men as more evolved than women whose role is to ‘preserve the constancy and
integrity of the species’ (Geddes and Thomson 1889, 270). Women are passive, conservative,
affectionate, stable, sympathetic, patient, open-minded and receptive while men are active,
energetic, eager, passionate, variable, independent, courageous and have stronger lust and
passion. ‘Man thinks more, woman feels more. He discovers more, but remembers less; she is
more receptive, and less forgetful.’ (ibid., 271.) These kinds of gender differences, Geddes and
Thomson claim, derive from biology and are as such consistent with both ‘the general theory of
sex and verifiable in common experience’ (ibid., 271).

There is one point that comes up while analysing Geddes and Thomson’s ideas. Gender as I see
it – and as it is defined in The Dictionary of Feminist Theory (Humm 1989, 84-85) – has its
source in culture, not nature. Accordingly, Geddes and Thomson are describing sex instead of
gender in their essay. On the other hand, the qualities and attributes they are giving men and
women are culturally shaped. Culture, society and the time period affect their views. As such
what they are describing is a nineteenth century version – or a pro-gender version - of gender as
we understand it. During the late nineteenth century the science and the ways of thinking were
biology-driven. This was probably the reason why Geddes and Thomson were deriving gender
differences from biology rather than acknowledging them to be social constructions, structured
by the society.

Carpenter’s (1908) article concerns what he calls an Intermediate sex but which is actually
homosexuality. He seems to portrait sexuality as somewhat static in noting that ‘special
affectional temperament of the ‘Intermediate’ is, as a rule, ineradicable’ (Carpenter 1908, 23).
Homosexuals to him are a group with certain characteristics in both women and men. These
characteristics are utterly differentiated and stereotypical. By this I mean that he attributes certain
traditionally female and feminine characteristics to male homosexuals and some traditionally
male and masculine characteristics to female homosexuals, i.e. lesbians. Summing up, it seems
rather obvious, in the light of Geddes and Thomson’s as well as Carpenter’s articles that gender
definitions were extremely differentiated, polarised and static in the late nineteenth century.
Gender was seen as something that can be divided into binary oppositions.

GENDER AND SEXUALITY IN DRACULA

Gender is often blurred, and the boundaries around definitions of gender and sexuality
transgressed in Dracula (Stoker 1897). There are several scenes in which men react in and cope
with situations in a manner that is in the definitions of Geddes, Thomson and Carpenter seen as
feminine. Firstly, only the count himself acts as a reproducer of new vampires as Lucy and the
three female vampires drink the blood of children but are not said to create vampires. In other
words, in Dracula the man has the reproductive power, not the woman. Secondly, throughout the
novel Jonathan Harker seems to be portrayed as rather weak and sensitive. His hair turns white
and he is very strongly affected by everything that happens: ‘a grey look which deepened and
deepened ... till ... the flesh stood darkly out against the whitening hair’ (Stoker 1897, 344). Both
Harker and Dr. Van Helsing go into some kind of hysteria, Harker after he has been awaken
from his stupor (see Stoker 1897, 338) and Van Helsing after Lucy’s death. ‘The moment we
were alone in the carriage he gave way to a regular fit of hysterics. [...] He laughed till he cried
and I had to draw down the blinds lest anyone should see us and misjudge; and he then he cried
till he laughed again; and laughed and cried together, just as a woman does.’ (Stoker 1897, 209-
210.) The latter scene shows that also men can behave - and do so - in a way that is seen as
feminine. This can be claimed to be an example of transgressing the boundaries around
definitions of gender. However, Dr. Seward’s remark ‘just as a woman does’ dismisses the
transgression when it points out that this hysteria is still seen as something women – and only
women – go into.

There is a lot to be said about Mina Murray (later Harker). She is the most interesting as well as
the most complex female character of the novel. She is a schoolmistress, a professional woman.
She knows shorthand, remembers all the train schedules and helps her husband and the other
men of the novel by organising records of events, learning to use Dr. Seward’s phonograph and
by typing all their diaries using the manifold function of her typewriter, producing three copies
of all the documents. Without Mina and her skills the hunt for Dracula would not be possible in
such an efficient way. Later in the novel Mina’s three copies prove to be lifesaving since Dracula
has burned what he thought to be the only copy of their records (Stoker 1897, 340). However,
despite Mina’s skills she is regularly seen as a maternal and extremely caring character. Dr. Van
Helsing comments on her by saying that she has a man’s brain but a woman’s heart (see Stoker
1897, 281). Mina might be intelligent and efficient but she also acts as the mother and nurturer of
the men by listening to them and helping them in their troubles. She even ends up feeling sorry
for Dracula who is so eagerly hunted (see ibid., 367). In other words, she might have a man’s
brain but it is exactly that, a masculine trait. Like Cranny-Francis (1988, 70) notes, ‘men are still
seen as dominating and controlling the agency by which women are recognised as intelligent; a
woman is intelligent if or because men think she thinks like them’.

Sex and sexuality are strongly present in the novel in an implicit manner. A good example of this
is the scene in which Crew of Light kills the vampire that Lucy has turned into (see Stoker 1897,
258-260). Craft (1984, 122) sees the scene as the novel’s real climax as well as very violent and
misogynist. According to Elaine Showalter ‘the sexual implications of the scene are
embarrassingly clear’ (Showalter 1990, 181). She interprets the killing as gang rape and notes
that it is done with ‘the impressive phallic instrument’ (ibid., 181). In the scene Arthur, Lucy’s
loved one, drives a wooden stake through Lucy after which the doctors decapitate her and stuff
her mouth with garlic. Lucy’s is the passive one and Arthur the active one as he penetrates her,
the sexually aggressive vampire, and makes her sweet and pure again, as she is described in the
novel after the killing (see Stoker 1897, 259-260). Cranny Francis (1988, 68) describes the
scenes meaning as follows: "...the sexual initiative is restored to the men ... by the negation of
Lucy’s ‘aggressive’ (because apparent) female sexuality. She can henceforth live on as a
beautiful, spiritual memory for all of them – her troublesome physical presence removed." The
scene is well summed up by Craft who notes that ‘A woman is ... better dead than sexual’ (Craft
1984, 122).

There is only one explicit remark on Lucy and Mina’s sexuality in the novel: ‘I believe we
should have shocked the ‘New Woman’ with our appetites’, writes Mina in her diary (Stoker
1897, 110). Nevertheless, their sexuality is an interesting theme to look at. According to
Showalter (1990, 180) Lucy ‘represents the New Woman’s sexual daring’. She supports her
claim with Lucy’s wish to marry all the men that she wants to marry. ‘Why can’t they let a girl
marry three men, or as many as want her, and save all this trouble?’ (Stoker 1897, 76.) Cranny-
Francis disagrees with this interpretation of Lucy’s strong sexuality by noting that when Lucy
first enters the novel ‘there is no suggestion that she is sexually active or unusually sexually
aware’ (Cranny-Francis 1988, 68). It is only after she is ‘kissed into sexuality’ – with Craft’s
(1984, 119) words – that she becomes explicitly sexual. ‘The sweetness was turned to
adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous wantonness’ (Stoker 1897, 252-253).
This voluptuousness and sexuality is something that the men cannot accept, as I noted in the
previous paragraph. With Cranny-Francis’s (1988, 67) words: ‘Lucy’s sexual aggressiveness ...
will be seen as her greatest crime and will provoke a combined male assault and assertion of
dominance’.

Unlike Lucy Mina, however, is represented - as Cranny-Francis (1988, 69, 71) notes - as
sexually passive and submissive as well as childishly asexual. The reader gets the impression
that Mina and Jonathan cannot possibly have a sexual relationship before or after their wedding.
This, however, changes when Dracula seduces Mina (see Stoker 1897, 336-344). ‘Then she is
attacked by the vampire – and her sexuality, so effectively concealed by intelligence and
motherliness, is made apparent. [...] The (displaced) oral rape is followed by the beginning of
Mina’s metamorphosis – into a sexually assertive, sensual woman...’ (Cranny-Francis 1988, 71.)
The arousal of Mina’s sexuality Cranny-Francis links with her asking the men to kill her if she
becomes a vampire (see Stoker 1897, 393). ‘In her acceptance of patriarchal ideology Mina asks
that, if she transgresses patriarchal norms by becoming sexually assertive, the men should return
her to normality – rendering her sexually passive, submissive, receptive’ (Cranny-Francis 1988,
71-72). This does require killing Mina as the killing of Dracula "saves" her from being sexually
aggressive and initiatory and makes her "stainless" again – and in the very end a mother.

FINAL WORDS

Although the boundaries around the definitions of gender and sexuality are transgressed in the
fiction of late nineteenth century, particularly in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, they are ultimately kept
in place. Lucy who turned into the voluptuous and sexually aggressive vampire and child-
molester was killed, decapitated and rendered pure and sweet by four men. (Furthermore, it was
Lucy who was the passive and receiving one in the scene.) Killing Dracula saved Mina who was,
after her seduction, turning from an asexual and maternal woman into a sexual and
uncontrollable vampire. In the very end of the novel she takes her place as a mother which
indicates the conception that ultimately a woman is defined by reproduction and her role as a
mother. This conception is entertained several times in the novel in scenes such as the one in
which the mother of the eaten child is torn apart by Dracula’s wolves (see Cranny-Francis 1988,
66). As far as sexuality goes: the main character, count Dracula himself, can be seen as having an
ambiguous sexuality - as well as a somewhat feminine appearance with fair skin and red lips.
Summing up, there is gender blurring and transgression in the novel but they are not taken far
enough but rather dismissed in the scenes and language of the novel. Ultimately, men and
women are kept as two separate groups with certain characteristics and qualities.

In this essay I have taken only a brief look at the fascinating and extremely interesting novel of
Dracula through mainly gender but also sexuality. There are several issues and points - such as
Dracula’s homosexuality, Jonathan Harker’s seduction by three female vampires and his views
on women writers or little Quincey’s role in the novel - I could not include. These are among the
issues I will take up later on during other modules of English or Women’s Studies in Finland.
There is a lot more to say about Dracula, gender and sexuality.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary source
Stoker, Bram 1897. Dracula, Hamondsworth: Penguin 1994.

Secondary Sources

Carpenter, Edward 1908. The Intermediate Sex, London: George Allen and Unwin, 16-

38.

Craft, Christopher. ‘"Kiss me with Those Red Lips": Gender and Inversion in Bram

Stoker’s Dracula’, Representations, no. 8, 107-133.

Cranny-Francis, Anne 1988. ‘Sexual Politics and Political Repression in Bram Stoker’s

Dracula’, in Bloom, Docherty, Gibb and Shana, Nineteenth Century Suspense, London:
MacMillan, 64-79.

Geddes, Patrick J. and J. Arthur Thomson 1889. The Evolution of Sex, London: Walter

Scott, 266-271.

Gelder, Ken 1994. Reading the Vampire, London & New York: Routledge.

Halberstam, Judith 1993. ‘Technologies of Monstrosity: Bram Stoker’s Dracula’,

Victorian Studies, vol. 36, no. 3, 333-352.

Humm, Maggie 1989. The Dictionary of Feminist Theory. New York: Harvester

Wheatsheaf.

 
Showalter, Elaine 1990. Sexual Anarchy: Gender and Culture at the Fin de Siecle,

London: Virago.