Author: The Batman

 

What is a monster? Some think that it’s a big scary thing that needs to get taken down by the good guys in order to save the day. Others think it’s the guy under the bed, in the closet, or conspicuously lurking as a pile of clothes. The truth of the matter is that a monster is what people at the time dictate is a monster, so media and stories reflect that telling. According to the Longman Anthology the British had a lot to fear and call ‘monstrous’. This shows through the various parts of Dracula demonstrating the many fears of Victorian England.

 One facet of this was undoubtedly the idea of the New Woman, that idea exemplified by the way Lucy was portrayed in the novel. Introduced to us talking about the multiple suitors she was immediately painted as different from females in other novels, having her pick her future husband is unlike how women acted previously even within the books we read in class. Lady Audley was asked by Michael to be his wife, so the fact that Lucy immediately is put in this position is one of strangeness that the Victorian audience wasn’t used to in their literature.

Another is the complication of science and religion, throughout the novel it is pointed to that the modern trappings/advancements of culture have nothing against the superstitions of yore. Dracula is a supposedly ancient monster immune to our modern arms and weapons. A fear that must have popped up in the minds of Victorians reading this, which would be something along the lines of “Modern technology is nice, but what if it’s all ineffective against evil?”. This is where the whole religion part comes in, Van Helsing (coolest fucking name ever in literature don’t come at me) a sort of scientist when it comes to the act of vampire murder. He has all the tools at his discretion where he uses religious artifacts to beat Dracula ultimately.

” Lucy Westenra, but yet how changed. The sweetness was turned to adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous wantonness. Van Helsing stepped out, and, obedient to his gesture, we all advanced too; the four of us ranged in a line before the door of the tomb. Van Helsing raised his lantern and drew the slide; by the concentrated light that fell on Lucy’s face we could see that the lips were crimson with fresh blood, and that the stream had trickled over her chin and stained the purity of her lawn death-robe.” (Stoker,Chapter 16)

In this blog post, I will discuss the femme fatale as it’s relation to Lucy and the rest of the book. As there is no exact origin to the femme fatale, the differences have been boiled down to four types. In terms of the 4 kinds femme fatale, the one I will be focusing on is the witch as it has the most pertinent relation to the story. The witch is basically any woman with power over/superior of that of a man (fucked up i know). In this quotation, this is after Lucy drains a bunch of kids of blood, and is visibly stained with blood. Only in figure resembling a woman, but not in soul or emotion. The power that Lucy has over the men is that of fear. Fear is a strong power in Dracula, it motivates a lot of the plot as it goes along, whether it’s presence or absence is felt. The reason that it is important to bring up the fact that Lucy, in this moment, is a femme fatale or a female with any semblance of power is the brutal scene to follow.  It is very important to note that this scene was written by a man, who either didn’t understand, know or care that this scene reads like a terribly brutal rape scene. It should not be understated that the only woman who was given a ‘power’ albeit considered ‘evil’ is murdered in such a way. To add insult to injury, Mina is kept in the relative dark about all of this, indirectly causing her eventual, unfortunate demise.

I chose the passage “Dear me!” she said, “this is very strange. I did not think men were capable of these deep and lasting affections. I thought that one pretty face was as good as another pretty face to them; and that when number one with blue eyes and fair hair died, they had only to look out for number two, with dark eyes and black hair, by way of variety.” (Braddon, Chapt. 11)

This passage is a comment made by Lady Audley right after Robert talks about George’s disappearance and sadness over his late wife. This passage has a double meaning to it. On the surface it’s a longer comment about the apparent fickleness of men, but if you scratch below the surface it might be a commentary of society in general. Hear me out, this is the first indication that Lady Audley is not as virtuous as she says she is. This comment is later plastered over by the fellow dinner guests as Lady Audley being childish and immature. This lack of seriousness in reaction to her concerning statement is an obvious message by the author that even by women, women’s opinions were not respected or heard. If they had taken a more serious license to listen to her words, a more serious investigation could have happened earlier in the book. Since they didn’t listen, Lady Audley could do more devious acts in the future.