I chose to write about the sexuality in Dracula. Sexuality is a predominant theme throughout the entire novel. Bram Stoker writes a thrilling novel that is gruesome in a sexual way. For example in this quote taken from chapter three, it gives the first glimpse of how sexuality is used by the three ladies who use seduction to manipulate Mr.Hawkins in order for them to suck his blood.
“I was afraid to raise my eyelids, but looked out and saw perfectly under the lashes. The girl went on her knees and bent over me, simply gloating. There was a deliberate voluptuousness which was both thrilling and repulsive, and as she arched her neck she actually licked her lips like an animal, till I could see in the moonlight the moisture shining on the scarlet lips and on the red tongue as it lapped the white sharp teeth” (chap 3).
The description in the quote about how the girl “arched her neck she actually licked her lips like an animal” leads me to imagine sexuality being used as a weapon to reach the grotesque goal of the killing. But the killing is not necessarily a violent form of attack like a knife stabbing would be. Dracula uses a newer approach to lure his “prey” to kill them. I think Dracula succeeded using this method because the Victorian era was set on stringent rules for women about how they appeared in public places. The dedication and loyalty of their husbands were super important. But in Dracula, Stoker uses a new approach to creating a character that can weaken these principles by using his sexuality to heighten the desire for him. In this link http://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/dracula, the author describes the relation of sexuality in Dracula to the two women Mina and Lucy and how each of them were marked by Dracula yet the two of them reacted in two separate ways. I thought this article was really interesting and the other makes awesome points and connections.