Franco Moretti, in his article “A Capital Dracula”, examines the ways in which Dracula “liberates and extracts sexual desire” (Moretti, 439). Without actually referencing it, Moretti establishes the repressed nature of sexual desire as something which should be unfamiliar and is not, and creates a perfect example of Freud’s notions of the uncanny. While Moretti discusses this uncanny notion in relation to the unexplored sexual desires and the fear this creates in Victorian readers, he does not choose to view this as an extension of the Gothic themes throughout Dracula.
Stoker’s famous novel opens with incredibly overt Gothic themes, from the supernatural presence in the form of Dracula himself to the animism present in the count’s werewolf-esque features. He even draws upon previously established Gothic forms and figures. With Castle Dracula itself, Stoker draws heavily on the architecture described in Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto, with a physical example set by Walpole’s very own Strawberry Hill Estate. In fact, the descriptions of Dracula’s estate seem to almost directly reference it: “…for one part is of stone immensely thick, with only a few windows high up…it looks like part of a keep” (Dracula, 25). While Strawberry Hill certainly includes many more windows than Stoker’s description, the old, thick keep visual is spot on.
Additionally, Stoker references the 1796 Gothic classic The Monk by Matthew Gregory Lewis, specifically in regards to Dracula’s physical appearance. Stoker draws a figure reminiscent of Lewis’ Ambrosio, the once devout monk turned devil worshipper/murderer/rapist. While the similarities are slight, the facial descriptions are comparable, with Dracula’s: “strong- a very strong- aquiline, with high bridge of the thin nose… His eyebrows were very massive, almost meeting over the nose, and with bushy hair that seemed to curl in its own profusion” (Dracula, 20). Lewis depicts Ambrosio in similar terms, focusing on his strong, high, brow and thick eyebrows. While the comparison is relatively shaky, any Victorian reader familiar with The Monk would be quickly reminded of Ambrosio and his depraved sexual tendencies, putting them on alert for similar actions from Dracula.
As Moretti so succinctly details in his article, Dracula follows through with this. Throughout the story, Dracula succeeds in ruling the English minds through an aversion to the sexual. As Moretti describes, “Lucy is beautiful, but dangerous. Fear and attraction one are the same”. Earlier, he describes Jonathan’s ordeal in Transylvania as a “terrible experience (which was also sexual)” (Moretti, 439). Stoker repeatedly associates sexual desire with danger, slowly building the reader to connect the two. Lucy, both before and after her transformation, is much more sexual than any of the other main characters so far. Before her transformation, however, she is sexually desired, as opposed to being more in charge of the desire post transformation. And with this shift to her owning her sexual desires, comes also a shift in the danger presented. She is no longer is danger from Dracula, it is instead the Englishmen who are in danger from her. This sexual desire, always present and repressed within people, comes out and threatens the whole of Victorian society. Once again, readers look at a character in Dracula and see that which is unfamiliar- but only because it is something familiar and repressed. This repeated usage of the uncanny to further the fear of Dracula and his companions creates a sense of the Gothic which transcends the tropes of the genre, making it constantly relevant to its Victorian audience.
I don’t know much about early Gothic literature, so this was really interesting! Dracula has established so many Gothic/horror tropes, but it’s a new dimension to see the novels and tropes that Stoker was drawing on. It also raises some interesting questions: does earlier Gothic make as much use of the English/foreign divide as Dracula does? If not, why would Stoker introduce that theme so strongly?
Christopher Craft also mentions the danger of female sexual desire in his article: “Dracula’s authorizing kiss, like that of a demonic Prince Charming, triggers the release of this latent power and excites in these women a sexuality so mobile, so aggressive, that it thoroughly disrupts Van Helsing’s compartmental conception of gender. “(454) Through the influence of Dracula’s “kiss,” the women’s sexuality is unleashed, and they are transformed from the pure, innocent virgin to the “voluptuous,” seductive predator. Once the women become vampires, they have the ability to “penetrate” the men with their vampire teeth, resulting in a reversal of gender roles – which is the main threat and paranoid fear of the Crew of Light.