In the novel there are many instances of sexuality as an indicator of deviance. As both Lucy and Mina become more vampires they also transform into sexual being, a taboo for women in Victorian times. There is a strong implication to uncivilized which would be even more clear to a Victorian audience that prizes propriety. The very movements of Lucy are languorous and carless. More words show uncivilized characteristics is the way she is referred to as, “diabolically, cold-bloodedness, unclean”. These seem to imply a wicked evil in a sexual powerful woman.
An example of sexual taboo is when Lucy is a vampire and calls to her husband. The way she is described is wrought with sexual language like “voluptuous, wanton, hungry”. Not only is she sexual but she is also sexually aggressive. She is the one calling for him by saying, “Come to me, Arthur… My arms are hungry for you”. This is very atypical of a Victorian woman who is sexually demure and at the power of men. This could reflect a fear of the changing culture that woman may become sexually aggressive and therefore a threat to men. These men are men, like Arthur, who cannot resist the call of his wife even though she attends to kill him. There could be an anxiety about how women be an unpreserved danger to husbands and men who are at women’s power and also the devils and animals within the skin of woman.
(Quotes from chapter 16, page 191 in Barnes and Noble edition)
In the poems by Christina Rossetti, a similar topic of sexuality is seen. The use of such ‘vulgar’ and overly sexualized text can clearly be seen in Goblin Market. In this text the goblin’s actions are sexualized, as seen in the lines:
Then sucked their fruit globes fair or red:
Sweeter than honey from the rock.
Stronger than man-rejoicing wine,
Clearer than water flowed that juice
This is similar to the way in which Lucy is over sexualized. By using such language, it promotes the ‘new woman’ and I agree with the author that this shows that there is a changing culture surrounding woman.