Category: 2016 Blog Post

In Tennyson’s poem a woman known as “The Lady of Shalott” is cursed to live in an isolated tower. As a second condition of this curse, the woman is confined to look at a mirror. As she stares at the mirror she weaves together an image of Camelot as she sees it in the reflection. While in her tower, Sir Lancelot rides by and is seen by the lady. The final stanzas of Part 3 read, “the mirror crack’d from side to side; “The curse is come upon me,” cried The Lady of Shalott” (1184). In the poem’s conclusion, the lady leaves the tower in a boat, only to die before meeting Lancelot. Interestingly enough, this is the first time Lancelot sees the lady–who died traveling to the palace at Camelot. Upon seeing her body, Lancelot said “She has a lovely face; God in his mercy her grace” (1185).

This poem puts forth two complicated ideas about Victorian gender-dynamics. First we have the Lady of Shalott who induces the curse by her desire to see Lancelot. While her affinity with Lancelot ultimately results in her death, her interest in him also leads her to leave the tower. In this way, Lancelot appears representative of the freedom a man can bring to a woman. Her desire for companionship is evident in another line of the poem, “when the moon was overhead, Came two young lovers lately wed; ‘I am half sick of shadows,’ said Lady of Shalott” (1883). The loneliness the lady experiences in seeing the newly weds demonstrates her disscontempt with her isolation. In this way, Lancelot represents how the male being can alleviate the Lady of Shalott’s desolation.

The second idea put forth is the superficial value of women. When the Lady of Shalott is discovered, Lancelot says nothing of her character or situation, but simply comments on her physical qualities. It’s ironic, as Lancelot’s only lines in this poem are in reference to the lady’s features. Nearly this entire poem is dedicated to the lady’s curse and her struggles–yet the on lookers who received her body know none of this. To them and Lancelot, the lady appears as nothing more than “a lovely face” (1884). The Lady of Shalott signifies the only form of beauty that men found in women at the time–surface beauty. In these ways, the poem depicts a world where men are the saviors of women and where women are nothing more than vessels of beauty.

I recently read an interpretation of Goblin Market as a short story called Goblin Fruit by Laini Taylor. In this version Lizzie is the grandmother of the Kizzy who lives in a community that believes in myths of supernatural. Lizzie talks about Laura and how she grew up to be an amazing woman who after she was saved by the Goblin Men. Kizzy identifies with her Laura as wilding and ‘wanting’ girl. It is interesting to see the change in the sexual focus. Kizzy meets a boy at school who wants to seduce her and later is revealed to be the Goblin Men in disguise. Goblin Market has many sexualized language between Lizzie and the men “hugged and kissed her: squeezed and caressed her” (10)  but then moves to the sexualized language of Lizzie and Laura “hug me, kiss me, suck my juices”(13). In Goblin Fruit the only sexual encounter is with Kizzie and the Jack, the Goblin men in disguise. Kizzie kisses Jack and sucks the goblin fruit from his lips just like Laura and Lizzie but there is more implied sexual intention between Kizzie and Jack. Though Laura “Kissed and kissed and kiss’ it was to get the juice that she lusted and it does not seem intentionally for not her sister. Kizzie want to kiss Jack because of her sexual desires for him. She knows that he is covered in the juice that will kill her but kisses Jack anyway for sexual reasons. Even though both stories have theme of sexuality and kissing as a vehicle for it Goblin Fruit seems to be more explicit in implying sexual experiences whereas Goblin Market has sexuality that is more sub text (though there is much sexual language). This could be because of a taboo couple (sister/lesbians) vs a more accepted couple (heterosexual).

One of the strongest emotions all people experience is desire, but we are taught through society techniques that may suppress these temptations. However, there are times in which we give into these temptations and fall prey to these cravings. Thankfully there is guidance provided from those we love, along with time, and patience, that make us aware that if we give into our desires we become vulnerable and weak. Which allows others if they wish, to control and manipulate us. In the poem Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti, Laura is tempted by the goblin market men to buy the fruits they sell, which in the beginning of the poem doesn’t mention that there will be any consequences from consuming them. However, Lizzie is confident that “their offers should not charm us, their evil gifts would harm us” and out of fear and lack of knowledge runs away from the goblin market men and their tempting fruit. Laura on the other hand is not fazed by her sisters warning and decides to pursue the goblins due to her desire for knowledge. This scene is similar to a scene from the 1992 film of Dracula, which was not in the novel, where Mina stumbles upon an Arabian book that displays an illustration of a man and women in obscure sexual positions. She is extremely embarrassed by what she has stumbled upon because Lucy caught her glimpsing at the illustration; however, rather than criticizing Mina for looking upon something so un lady-like she giggles and encourages her to look on. Lucy like Laura easily gives into the temptation of knowledge, but Mina like Lizzie fears the consequences and is not easily persuaded. However, the difference within similarity between Mina and Lizzie is that Mina eventually gives into the temptations, while Lizzie even when the goblins “held her hands and squeezed their fruits against her mouth to make her eat” refused to give into the desires, which in the end saves her sister and makes her a stronger female character compared to Mina.

Nineteenth century gothic Victorian literature contains a variety of different themes within its pages. The goal of that time period was to be proper, religious and pure. Yet, a lot of these stories’ content contains underlying sexual innuendos. The Goblin Market, a children’s poem, and Dracula, a horrifying vampire novel, convey tales to the audience that mean one thing on the surface, but deep down, express sexuality as a whole.

The Goblin Market is supposed to be for young readers, yet at the end of the poem it leaves the audience contemplating the implicit idea of sex. The goblins are trying to lure in Laura, and feed her their magical “fruits”. Forcing her to eat their fruit, is essentially the goblins forcing Laura to have sex with them. A disturbing line from The Goblin Market is, “She sucked and sucked and sucked the more, Fruits which that unknown orchard bore; She sucked until her lips were sore” (134-136.) This literally means Laura was sucking the juice from the magical fruits, but on a deeper level, it’s implying she is engaging in oral sex. There are many other sexual innuendos in this poem.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula draws upon the sensualness of vampires, and the sexual seduction they give off. On the surface, the main objective of the story is vampires sucking blood in order to survive–but there is a sexual component to this. A line from this novel is “The fair girl went on her knees, and bent over me, fairly 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” (32.) This sounds like an erotic, sensual, and intimate interaction between two lovers, not like a vampire wanting blood and that is it . The element of sexualness is intriguing to the characters as well as the audience.

The authors of each narrative must have been very aware of the sexual innuendos between the lines. As previously stated, the people of the Victorian era were restricted in expressing themselves. In order to embrace their sexuality subtly, they weave in erotic language to their famous writings. People can interpret these works in many ways, but evidentially refer back to the theme of sex and sexuality.

In Rossetti’s frightening sonnet, “The World,” themes of physical worldly temptation and pleasures are explored alongside drawing a parallel to the beliefs of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. In the poem, the speaker encounters a deadly woman, who “woos [him] to the outer air [and tempts him with] ripe fruit, sweet flowers, and a full satiety”(Rossetti, 5-6). These material goods, including fruit, which can be an allusion to the tempting produce in Goblin Market, are symbols of material temptation. It can be assumed that if the speaker were to obtain these goods, he would “give her my life and youth [and become] a beast [with] pushing horns and clawed and clutching hands” (Rossetti,  13 ,7, 11). These ideas of temptation are reflective of the biblical story of Adam and Eve within the Garden of Eden. In the story, the characters are tempted into consuming fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and as a result, are corrupted by sin. This story’s influence can be seen within the sonnet, as the speaker character is being tempted into consuming goods that would corrupt his soul.

In a way, this poem is also reflective of the Pre- Raphaelite Brotherhood, how they viewed mechanized goods. According to the British Library, “were a loose and baggy collective of Victorian poets, painters, illustrators and designers” who, at the turn of an age of mass industrialization, wished to share a message of artistic renewal with their society. Many of their pieces are lavish with color, and are drawn and painted by hand. When reading the sonnet with this piece of knowledge, it could be considered that the poem reflects anxieties over the loss of handmade goods to a mechanized society. In falling to the temptation of using goods from this mass produced culture, it could be viewed as a form of “heresy” to the brotherhood, and as a result, was “corrupted.” The reason why this individual could be seen as “corrupted” in the eyes of the Brotherhood was because they sought after and acquired goods that were produced by machines, rather than humans. In a “World” that has been defiled by with mechanized goods, a member of this group would think that society was tainted with sin.  Although this viewpoint could be seen as somewhat abstract, it is one of many ways one could read this terrifying sonnet.

Christina Rossetti’s “No, Thank You, John” and Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s Lady Audley’s Secret (LAS) both contain critiques of heterosexual courtship and marriage and refute the total control of the male over these relationships. These literary icons were published contemporaneously, both in 1862, and must have riled their respective audiences given what our class has discussed about Victorian sensationalist writing. To begin, LAS contains a whole episode where an older gentleman, Sir Audley, proposes to Lucy Graham and she attempts to dissuade him (Braddon, 17). Although she ultimately accepts, Sir Audley is left feeling disappointed. Much later in the text, it is revealed that Lucy is really an alias for another woman who abandoned her family in pursuit of better status and wealth through unlawful bigamy. Through this sensationalized narrative Braddon critiques marriage practices, the inability for women to attain a divorce once married, and women’s dependence on a spouse for livelihood or enrichment.

In the Rossetti poem, the narrator denies a man during his first overtures to her. To begin, “I never said I loved you, John/ Why will you tease me day by day” sets the stage for heartbreak for this unfortunate man (Rossetti, 30). Rossetti, however, imbues us to consider that he is being ridiculous and that the narrator is making a logical decision. “I have no heart?- Perhaps I have not; But then you’re mad to take offense/ That I don’t give you what I have not got/ Use your own common sense” (Rossetti, 31). Rossetti is denying the premise that any overture for courtship and eventual marriage needs to be accepted due to the dominance of the male figure in the situation. Women have the power to deny them and can be very logical in this decision given that they too can understand the fundamentals of love.

Within these two narratives, we can see similarities within difference. In both, the female figure assumes the position of power by their own accord. Lucy is able to attain social status and security through her acceptance of a marriage offer (in spite of the illegality of doing so) and Rossetti’s narrator is able to drive away an unwanted suitor and thus make her will and forethought known. There are, however, some discrepancies between the two. LAS is resolved with Lucy’s true identity and crimes being revealed. For this she is sent to a mental asylum and dies while Sir Michael Audley becomes a sympathetic, if unwitting, character. There is some back tracking as the once powerful Lucy is reduced to nothing and the “correct” balance of marriage restored. Rossetti’s poem is too brief to go to such narrative lengths, but our sympathies ultimately remain with the narrator. There are simply too many reasons for her to not marry him and this refusal is justified. In then end, the woman is still dominant. Better luck next time, John!

The debate about science versus pseudo science is so prevalent in Dracula because of it’s place in Victorian era literature. As a part of the industrial revolution, we see the scientific method and many other sciences becoming far more developed and able to explain a larger multitude of different phenomenon. When you combine this with the fact that in many of the works we have read including, Dracula, Lady Audley’s Secret, and The Hound of the Baskervilles, feature a diminishing role for conventional religion, the role for spiritualism becomes more apparent. In Lady Audley’s Secret, the robes of the priests are found dusty and old and unworn for a long period of time, while in Dracula, Drs. Seward and Van Helsing attempt to save lives through the use of advanced medical techniques (though somewhat flawed ones). This lack of belief in conventional religion could very well have precipitated the rise of spiritualism as Diniejko writes that “many Victorians particularly those who had begun to abandon conventional religion, fervently believed in spiritualism.” The priest robes that are clearly old and unused in Lady Audley’s Secret are indicative of the decline of the very conventional religion that kept spiritualism at bay. Spiritualism is also extremely prevalent in Dracula as the entire plot of the story is based off of pagan and spiritual beliefs. The attempts by Van Helsing to use new scientific and medical means to cure Lucy fail and they are forced to fight spiritualism with conventional religion in the form of wafers and crosses. Stoker and Braddon land on opposite sides of the debate, while Braddon fights spiritualism with the science and deductive reasoning of the character Robert Audley, Stoker favors fighting back by re-embracing the role of conventional religion by showing off the ineffectiveness of science to explain the story of Dracula.

Throughout Dracula, Stoker represents societal anxieties toward the “New Woman” and changing female sexuality through Lucy’s modern morality and eventual Vampiric transformation, while Mina plays the role of the pure traditional woman with strong values. From the very beginning Lucy and Mina are set apart, Mina wanting only to marry Jonathan, while Lucy laments not being able to accept marriage proposals from three men saying, “Why can’t they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want her, and save all this trouble?” (67). As Dracula preys on Lucy, she receives blood transfusions from four men, representing sexual encounters with them. Stoker reinforces the underlying message of the dangers of female sexuality when Lucy, the only sexually impure and liberally thinking woman in the story, becomes a vampire, telling readers that the “New Woman” is a monster. Finally, Stoker puts the final nail in the New Woman’s coffin when Lucy demonstrates her lack of all maternity as, “With a careless motion, she flung to the ground, callous as a devil, the child she had clutched strenuously to her breast, growling over it as a dog growls over a bone” (226). As a Victorian woman, Lucy is a true monster as a woman who throws aside any maternal instinct or care for children, which is still thought of as a mark of femininity.

In order to ensure that readers understand the monstrosity that is the “New Woman,” Stoker presents Mina Harker as the ideal representation of traditional Victorian femininity. Throughout the story, Mina is true to her husband and loyal to her friends. Remaining pure until marriage in love, lust, blood, and sex, Mina presents Victorian ideals of women’s sexuality perfectly in that she lacks any. Once Dracula decides to prey on Mina, even then she shows that she is an unwilling subject, wishing she could fight him and doing everything she can to help the men end Dracula’s existence. While Lucy’s relationship with the four men is group of men is represented as a polygamous marriage due to their blood sharing, Stoker portrays Mina as a queen and the men as her knights, as more than once they all kneel at her feet and pledge to be true to each other and to do whatever they can to save her or to kill her if she becomes a vampire (317, 352). Mina still has a career, but works only to help her husband. She is the perfect wife and even acts as a motherly figure at times. She is truly the perfect Victorian woman. Lucy is doomed to Vampirism and death due to her sexuality and modernity as a “New Woman”, while Mina’s traditional character saves her from Dracula in the end.

It might be hard for us to remember, but all the technologies used in Dracula – the phonograph, the telegrams, the trains, the blood transfusions, the typewriter – were absolutely something new in 1897. But at the same time, there’s something that these new technologies cannot explain and/or be helpful for, Dracula himself. So, this creates a contrast between the science Van Helsing and his crew have on their side with the tradition and superstition governing Dracula’s world – which is actually what they use to defeat him because the formers do not apply to him.

“This concern with the disjuncture between late-Victorian technology and medieval methods suggests the discomfort with which many Victorians saw the resurgence of old-world superstition destabilizing scientific and technological progress.“

This doesn’t mean though that the good guys aren’t able to use technology to their advantage, they eventually do use it in many cases but it has its limits: for example, the blood transfusions don’t save Lucy’s life, and the telegraph system keeps Seward from getting Van Helsing’s message in time to rush to Lucy. Technology and science seems not to have all the answers.

After a while, Seward and the others actually have to give up their faith in science, logic, and modern science in order to defeat the Count. First of all, they have to accept that vampires exist, and then they have to reconsider Van Helsing’s approach, learning about ancient traditions and superstitions, in order to figure out the way to defeat this creature. Dracula is, after all, ancient, centuries old. He cannot be treated with the Modern World mentality, he only responds to old and forgotten rules, manners, and weapons.

This is not a secret to the reader, Bram Stoker is actually hinting these theories from the very beginning -the further Harker gets from Great Britain, “the center of modern civilization” (in his opinion), the less reliable the trains are and the less reliable his knowledge of how things work is. So, Count Dracula could be seen as the past, and Great Britain (aka the British) as the present – Dracula’s “invasion” of Britain might be a reminder of the way history has on influencing or haunting the present. We should never forget about the past. Dracula, himself, knows that to conquer a new land he must learn everything about it, you cannot be unprepared to what may comes: “Unable to rely on his supernatural powers alone, Dracula prepares himself for his assault on England by mastering reference books that catalog the country’s vital statistic”. He combines the old and then new, a lesson that eventually the British side will learn.

In Chapter XVII, Van Helsing actually teaches and warns Seward that “to rid the earth of this terrible monster we must have all the knowledge and all the help which we can get,” (Dracula, 237) he literally means all the knowledge. Beliefs on the new technology must not be a blind trust. “It is the fault of our science,” he says, “that it wants to explain all; and if it explains not, then it says there is nothing to explain.” (Dracula, 204). Here, Van Helsing states the consequences of subscribing only to contemporary currents of thought. Van Helsing is hence the bridge for both the old and the new world – we should also never forget that he is not British. He later points out that “in this enlightened age, when men believe not even what they see, the doubting of wise men would be [Dracula’s] greatest strength” (339), for it would prevent them from acting against him. Like other late Victorian critics of science, Van Helsing argues that it is really scientists who lack an open mind, since they believe that what they can see and prove constitutes the whole of reality. He dismisses the facts of materialist science as “little bits of truth” that can “check the rush of a big truth, like a small rock does a railway truck” (202). Knowledge, he counsels Seward, must be kept in its place- in the head and the heart- until it can bear fruit (126).

As we all know, Dracula by Bram Stoker is one of those books that have influenced and will always influence the horror genre and many others. In particular, what I found fascinating the first time I read this novel was the way people think about Dracula’s quotes as Stoker’s original thoughts while what most people don’t know is that Stoker was such a brilliant writer with such a wide knowledge and culture that used many references in his book. As a consequence, nowadays watching a movie, a TV-series, or reading a book, we point at those sentences as quotes from one of the many characters in the Victorian Horror Masterpiece.

There are many examples of what I stated above, but the one that stuck in my mind most is when in Chapter XI Dr Seward is writing in his diary about Renfield’s aggression that instantly stopped right after he cut the Doctor’s arm because << he was easily secured, and to my surprise, went with the attendants quite placidly, simply repeating over and over again, “The blood is the life! The blood is the life!” >> (Dracula, 152).

It is not a surprise that Bram Stoker himself explains later on the text what he was referring to through Renfield’s words: << The doctor here will bear me out that on one occasion I tried to kill him for the purpose of strengthening my vital powers by the assimilation with my own body of his life through the medium of his blood, relying of course, upon the Scriptural phrase, “For the blood is the life.” >> (Dracula, 249)

The Scriptural phrase he is talking about comes directly from the Bible, Leviticus 17:10-14: << And any man from the house of Israel, or from the aliens who sojourn among them, who eats any blood, I will set My face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people. “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.” Therefore, I said to the sons of Israel, “No person among you may eat blood, nor may any alien who sojourns among you eat blood” >>. According to this passage nobody must eat blood, but somebody does: Dracula, the one that disobeys the orders of Christ making him the one who is closer to the Anti-Christ than anybody else.

That simply explains why still nowadays blood and vampires are always link, only one person so far could turn this “Stokerian” theory upside down: Joss Whedon. The director of Buffy the Vampire Slayer cleverly used the connection between vampires and blood to come in handy when Buffy is again the only one who can safe the world, as a sort of Goddess herself, ennobling the function of blood once for all. Blood is not only something that is helpful for the “undead” but also something that could save the world. After all, Spike sums it up pretty well so that Buffy can actually understand the real meaning of this mystic substance:

“Blood is life, lack-brain. Why do you think we [vampires] eat it? It’s what keeps you going. Makes you warm. Makes you hard. Makes you other than dead.”

Spike, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 5 Episode 22