Sigmund Freud’s article “Creative Writers and Day Dreaming” explores the concept that “mental activity is directed toward inventing a situation in which unsatisfied wishes will be fulfilled” (419). Freud argues that as children become adults, their imaginative play gets replaced with phantasies. While children do not conceal their play, the adult on the other hand strives to conceal their phantasies. As stated by Freud, “the adult is ashamed of his phantasies, and hides them from other people” (422). Freud’s ideas about phantasies and shame complicate the scene on pages 44-47 in Dracula where the three women try to suck Jonathan Harker’s blood. Upon seeing the women for the first time, Jonathan states his reaction as: “There was something about them that made me uneasy, some longing and at the same time some deadly fear. I felt in my heart a wicked, burning desire that they would kiss me with those red lips” (45). Throughout the passage Jonathan seems torn between “thrill and repulsion” (45). The very things that he is repulsed by, like the woman’s animalistic tendencies, are the same things that he finds himself desiring. Interestingly, Jonathan begins this scene by writing that the encounter with these women might have been a dream. According to Freud’s argument, it makes perfect sense for Jonathan to suggest the scene is a dream because he is ashamed of his desires. The sexual things happening in the scene are not at all the traditional desires that a heterosexual man about to be married during the fin de siècle should be having. Some of the exotic things that happen in this scene are a sexual encounter with multiple women, biting, enjoying pain, seeing the repulsive as attractive, and enjoying fear. While these sexual desires were definitely shared by many during the fin de siècle, it was not common to discuss them or admit to having them. According to Freud, a man “would rather confess his misdeeds than tell anyone his phantasies” (422). I believe that because it was so taboo to discuss phantasies openly, many of the novels written during the fin de siècle engage in these “kinky” sexual desires as a way for writers and readers to gain comfort in identifying with the “weird”.
Freud’s arguments from “Creative Writers and Day Dreaming” give a clear reason as to why Jonathan would write this specific scene as a dream. By claiming he might have been asleep, Jonathan can write about the unusual sexual desires he is having without having to feel ashamed. This concept of Freud’s does not always seem plausible in all of the dream scenes mentioned in Dracula however. On page 19, Jonathan also begins his telling of a scene by stating, “I think I must have fallen asleep”. The scene encompasses Jonathan’s trip to Dracula’s house, where the driver repeatedly stops and investigates blue flames. If we were to read this scene according to Freud, Jonathan would state that the scene is a dream so he could hide hidden desires. However, I believe there is a totally different reason that Jonathan suggests he was dreaming at this moment. In many of the novels that were written during the fin de siècle, there is an emphasis from the narrator that what they are writing is the truth. By Jonathan suggesting this scene could have been a dream, he is essentially telling the readers “This scene seems unbelievable, and because I am striving to be as truthful as possible in my telling of this story, it is feasible I could have been asleep.” In this moment in the text, Jonathan’s use of the dream is not stemming from the shame of sexual desire, but is a way for him to tell a very implausible part of the story while still seeming like a trustworthy narrator.
You make very good connections to the idea of Harker’s pleasure/terror and dreams. I think the idea of masculinity also comes into play here. According to Freud, there are two categories of desire: “ambitious wishes, or erotic ones” (423). I think Freud would stipulate that for men these two desires often converged, yet Harker seems to enjoy the submissive aspects of his sexual encounter with the vampiresses. Harker may not want to believe his encounter was other than a dream because he would also have to acknowledge that he is not being the “manly character” that the fin de siecle desired him to be.
I am also interested in the suppressed sexual desires of the characters in Dracula – in the section we read for today’s class, I think it is interesting that we as readers also get a glimpse of a potentially suppressed desire of Mina’s in Chapter 21. As she describes her encounter with Dracula, she says that she was “bewildered, and, strangely enough, I did not want to hinder him” (306). She uses the excuse that maybe inciting desire is a part of Dracula’s evil repertoire, but it could also be read as an excuse for why she was not altogether opposed to it.