I read “Kiss Me with those Red Lips” to supplement my blog, and it added a whole new layer of information to my views about sexuality in Dracula. It talked about gender roles in the story. Men have power, and its “active, progressive, and defensive…. His intellect is for speculation and invention; his energy for adventure, for war and for conquest.” In the book, we see that as the men are the ones who fight Dracula and receive the credit. “Women [bear] a different burden, she must be … incorruptibly good… infallibly wise- not for self-development, but for self-renunciation.” (109) These core facts about how women and men were supposed to act and how they were seen definitely help my understanding of why the characters are portrayed thusly.
Dracula, then, is the corrupter, bringing about danger and neck sucking. Dracula threatens the order of society. The article makes a claim that “vampirism is an excellent example of the identity of desire and fear.” (107) The vampire bite itself is a mix of the traditional male vs. female characteristics. Beginning with the soft lips of the vampire and ending up with the pointy teeth and the bite, like the promise of the sweet actions more traditionally associated with females, but then ending up with a bite which is linked more towards the attributes of a man. Dracula seems to try to bring about change from the perceived gender roles, making women after they have been bitten more overt and outspoken.
With this mix up, men have to brave up and save the day, killing all the vampires and having women revert to their prescribed gender roles. But it is the association that this outside corrupter that turns women into “monsters,” that really makes the modern reader have to think about prescribed gender roles now, and back in the 19th century.
Just as Dracula acted as a corrupter of women, the various Goblins of Christina Rossetti’s poem, Goblin Market, act in a similar manner. In Goblin Market, Christina tells the story of two sisters, Lizzie and Laura, and their encounters with a group of fruit farming goblins. One evening, Laura stays by a stream, and eventually purchases a piece of fruit from the goblins for the price of “a golden curl… more rare than pearl” (4). After consuming the fruit that was “sweeter than honey from the rock, stronger than man-rejoicing wine [Laura] sucked [the fruit] until her lips were sore” (4). It is in this moment that Laura has become corrupted by the sweets of the goblins, just as Dracula was able to corrupt and turn the women he hunted. However, rather than becoming an undead vampire, Laura, who was unable to purchase more fruit, falls into a depression as her body and mind whiter away. It is because of this corruption that I saw an immediate parallel to Dracula. However, rather than being turned into a voluptuous vampire, Laura was unable to sweep “the house, tend… the fowls, or cows” or do other domestic chores. It is in this, that Dracula and the Goblins have a parallel; they prevent Victorian women from assuming their roles that are created by the patriarchy. Through these acts of corruption, they eventually lead to the death of those who are corrupted, and to the death of Victorian norms.
The points touched upon in both this blog post about gender roles and in the comment relating the Goblins in Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market” to the character of Dracula are incredibly thought provoking. Not only do I see the similarities between the masculinity of Dracula and the role of the goblins, I also find the discussion of gender and sexuality as it relates to the female characters in both works very interesting. Lizzie has to be the one to save her sister Laura by facing the Goblins by getting their fruit and for her sister. She says, almost attempting to incite guilt in her sister “For your sake I have braved the glen/ And had to do with goblin merchant men.” It is interesting that it is a young girl that is portrayed as having saved her sister, as in Dracula the saving only was accomplished by men and in a sense needed to be. In this tale however, a female character ends up being stronger then the male figures in the story. Even as she is attacked Lizzie is described as having shown strength “White and golden Lizzie stood/ Like a lily in a flood” comparing her to things withstanding powerful forces. This strength attributed to a young girl is a sharp contrast to the helplessness we see attributed to Lucy in Dracula. The independence of the these girls and their reliance on each other rather than a man is interesting considering the view of women presented in Dracula as well as the time period in which they were written. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the author of “Goblin Market” is in fact a woman. The overt sexuality that we see in the vampire women of Dracula is also very similar to the images and symbolism presented in “Goblin Market.” Much like vampires need to drink blood to survive, Lizzie needs the goblin fruit to survive and is tempted by it. It seems that in both texts, a woman with sexual desires; either Lizzie in “Goblin Market” or Lucy in Dracula is not only portrayed as ravenous and sick, but experience a downfall as a result. Perhaps this is an unintentional commentary of the time and the way women were viewed.