In Chapter 13, Van Helsing and Seward share a moment of vulnerability after Lucy’s burial that reveals the representation of emotional expression in men and between men within the novel. In the train carriage, Seward witnesses Van Helsing’s breakdown into a “fit of hysterics”, which Helsing denies and insists it was his “sense of humour” under “terrible conditions” (186). Seward then draws the blinds of the carriage so that onlookers would not make a judgment of them. This passage demonstrates the way in which the men in this novel reserve their emotional intimacy for the women in their lives, upholding gendered behavioral distinctions. The laughing and crying over the death of an innocent girl and feelings of compassion and pity for her widower as a father and a husband are regarded as feminine in this passage and behaviors that require a stern response from another man. Additionally, the use of “stern” for how Seward attempts to “comfort” Helsing in his emotional state, while noting that sternness is how one would attempt to console a woman in these circumstances, also hints at the relationship of the sharing of emotions between men, which its displays seem to be a discomfort to Seward as Helsing continues to cry and laugh despite Seward’s efforts. This instance of vulnerability as Helsing pours out his pain for Arthur is noted as something “a woman does” which reveals Seward’s association with emotional intimacy, compassion, and comfort as womanly tasks or responsibilities. The tasks of men on the other hand involve the protection of women, or the killing of if they see fit, violence, and danger, as later they take on the responsibility of saving Lucy (pg 186).
This passage felt like an attempt to convey camaraderie between the men in the novel to set up the later banding-together-to-kill-the-monster while also making note of the differences in weaknesses and strengths between men and women and distracting from deeper emotional male relationships that are more acceptable between women (186). In this passage, Seward is concerned about others judging Helsing’s display of “hysterics” after the funeral, which would be a fairly normal response to someone’s death, and consoles him in the way “a man would” when a woman, who is implied to be the typical perpetrator of hysterics, would have an emotional breakdown such as this. However, later on this same page, Helsing reveals how he feels emotionally compelled to feel pity for Arthur as both a father and husband which causes him to “yearn to him (Arthur) as to no other man” (186). Here, the novel reveals that the men are capable and willing to express emotions towards each other despite their belonging to women, but are veiled beneath reiterations of comforting one another in the form of shielding them from judgment by others or encouraging them to repress their emotions in order to maintain the strength and focus to complete their more difficult and acceptable tasks, being that of protecting women, such as Mina, from danger, and taking the responsibility of braving the murder of “Lucy”. Additionally, the subsequent band of men determined to destroy the monster in Lucy’s body is formed both from the desire to protect, but also to bring Arthur peace and the ability to truly say goodbye to his wife. Again, there are expressions of compassion and love between the men, but they are manifested in either stern repressions of emotion, like Van Helsing and Seward, or through acts of violence to distinguish them from the warm and delicate embraces of women like Mina who rather cradle Arthur in her arms as he cries. Ultimately, the major crux of the group’s success in saving Lucy resulted from the men’s compassion towards Arthur as they pity his pain at the loss of his wife and support him as he saves her body through gruesome violence; again asserting the differences in which men emotionally express themselves and emotionally support each other in comparison to women in the novel.
It’s very interesting how these points still hold true today, there is an air of protecting one’s friend from judgement by others when comforting them among men. One thing I found interesting was how Van Helsing writes “friend John” in his letters whereas Mina writes “my dearest Lucy.” While this may be because Mina and Lucy are possibly closer, it also shows how men may express their relationships differently. Even the fact that a woman (Lucy as a vampire) brought them together as closer friends is intriguing.
I think this has to do with Victorian rationality and “stiff upper lip” being inadequate in dealing with the supernatural issues of the novel. Van Helsing brings in unconventional and, to the three suitors, preposterous methods to deal with the vampires. the British characters often doubt his methods and think him ridiculous at first. He is ALWAYS RIGHT. “These garlic flowers are stupid” = “your different emotional reaction to mine makes no sense.” Emotions make no sense, John. The Victorians’ strictness makes them blind to truth.
You really captured here well the way that the men in Dracula have emotions with each other, in a way that honestly surprised me. Although it is not such a surprising thing in our modern day the fact that Stoker would show the men being anything other than brave or possibly showing a small amount of sadness was shocking to me. I think that a lot of what you said shares the same theme of what Eve Sedwick discusses in Between Men where she brought up the term homosocial desire. Although you didn’t really get too much into the desire that could come with this scene I would like to explore it. In our modern day, men supporting other men is still not seen in the same non-erotic light that it is seen in for women but it is at least better than in the time prions that Dracula was written in so the fact that Stoker still goes out of his way to show true emotion between men and that they can be as hysterical as only women where supposedly meant to b during the time is more interesting when considered thought this additional layer.
There are definitely several moments in the book where the emotions displayed by the men in Dracula don’t quite align with what would be expected during a particular scene or action. The scene you mentioned is a prime example, as is the scene in which Lucy dies. While one might expect Arthur to be distraught at having to kill his fiancée, he instead plunges a wooden stake into her chest with an almost reverent attitude, and is described as “a figure of Thor” and conveys a look of “high duty” while doing so, as noted by Carol Senf.