{"id":271,"date":"2016-03-11T19:48:02","date_gmt":"2016-03-11T19:48:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/?p=271"},"modified":"2018-09-02T22:05:55","modified_gmt":"2018-09-02T22:05:55","slug":"the-uncanny-revisited-victorian-gothic-fears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/2016\/03\/11\/the-uncanny-revisited-victorian-gothic-fears\/","title":{"rendered":"The Uncanny revisited: Victorian Gothic fears"},"content":{"rendered":"

Franco Moretti, in his article \u201cA Capital <\/span>Dracula<\/span><\/i>\u201d, examines the ways in which Dracula \u201cliberates and extracts sexual desire\u201d (Moretti, 439). \u00a0Without 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\u2019s notions of the uncanny. \u00a0While 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 <\/span>Dracula<\/span><\/i>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Stoker\u2019s 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\u2019s werewolf-esque features. \u00a0He even draws upon previously established Gothic forms and figures. \u00a0With Castle Dracula itself, Stoker draws heavily on the architecture described in Walpole\u2019s <\/span>The Castle of Otranto<\/span><\/i>, with a physical example set by Walpole\u2019s very own Strawberry Hill Estate. \u00a0In fact, the descriptions of Dracula\u2019s estate seem to almost directly reference it: \u201c\u2026for one part is of stone immensely thick, with only a few windows high up\u2026it looks like part of a keep\u201d (Dracula, 25). \u00a0While Strawberry Hill certainly includes many more windows than Stoker\u2019s description, the old, thick keep visual is spot on. <\/span><\/p>\n

Additionally, Stoker references the 1796 Gothic classic <\/span>The Monk<\/span><\/i> by Matthew Gregory Lewis, specifically in regards to Dracula\u2019s physical appearance. \u00a0Stoker draws a figure reminiscent of Lewis\u2019 Ambrosio, the once devout monk turned devil worshipper\/murderer\/rapist. \u00a0While the similarities are slight, the facial descriptions are comparable, with Dracula\u2019s: \u201cstrong- a very strong- aquiline, with high bridge of the thin nose\u2026 His eyebrows were very massive, almost meeting over the nose, and with bushy hair that seemed to curl in its own profusion\u201d (Dracula, 20). \u00a0Lewis depicts Ambrosio in similar terms, focusing on his strong, high, brow and thick eyebrows. \u00a0While the comparison is relatively shaky, any Victorian reader familiar with <\/span>The Monk<\/span><\/i> would be quickly reminded of Ambrosio and his depraved sexual tendencies, putting them on alert for similar actions from Dracula.<\/span><\/p>\n

As Moretti so succinctly details in his article, Dracula follows through with this. \u00a0Throughout the story, Dracula succeeds in ruling the English minds through an aversion to the sexual. \u00a0As Moretti describes, \u201cLucy is beautiful, but dangerous. \u00a0Fear and attraction one are the same\u201d. \u00a0Earlier, he describes Jonathan\u2019s ordeal in Transylvania as a \u201cterrible experience (which was also sexual)\u201d (Moretti, 439). \u00a0Stoker repeatedly associates sexual desire with danger, slowly building the reader to connect the two. \u00a0Lucy, both before and after her transformation, is much more sexual than any of the other main characters so far. \u00a0Before her transformation, however, she is sexually desired, as opposed to being more in charge of the desire post transformation. \u00a0And with this shift to her owning her sexual desires, comes also a shift in the danger presented. \u00a0She is no longer is danger from Dracula, it is instead the Englishmen who are in danger from her. \u00a0This sexual desire, always present and repressed within people, comes out and threatens the whole of Victorian society. \u00a0Once again, readers look at a character in <\/span>Dracula<\/span><\/i> and see that which is unfamiliar- but only because it is something familiar and repressed. \u00a0This 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. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Franco Moretti, in his article \u201cA Capital Dracula\u201d, examines the ways in which Dracula \u201cliberates and extracts sexual desire\u201d (Moretti, 439). \u00a0Without 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\u2019s notions of the uncanny. \u00a0While Moretti … Continue reading The Uncanny revisited: Victorian Gothic fears<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3043,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[123782,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2016-blog-post","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3043"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}