Category: 2017 Blog Post

The Victorian period experienced many cases of authors and artists thinking about and expressing women’s roles in society differently. One fear pertained to marriage and sexuality. During this time young girls were expected to be looking for a husband, but to make sure they were never suggestive of having a sexual appetite. Women desired marriage because it allowed them to become mothers, not because they could pursue their sexual desires. Once married women were inferior to men, women had no say or choice over their life. In most cases men held all the resources and women were dependent on them. The ideal was that women would be under the control of, and in the service of, a man. However, Christina Rossetti’s poem “No, Thank You, John” is a piece of literature that challenges the relationship and power between men and women of the Victorian era.

The poem shows a conflicting love relationship between a male and female. The male is interested in pursuing their friendship further, however, the speaker does not reciprocate those feelings. Throughout the poem, the speaker repeatedly informs the suitor that she does not love him and refuses to be more than friends with him.

You know I never loved you, John;
No fault of mine made me your toast:
Why will you haunt me with a face as wan
As shows an hour-old ghost? (5-8)
[…]
Let bygones be bygones:
Don’t call me false, who owed not to be true:
I’d rather answer “No” to fifty Johns
Than answer “Yes” to you. (17-20)
[…]
In open treat. Rise above
Quibbles and shuffling off and on:
Here’s friendship for you if you like; but love, –
No, thank you, John. (29-32)

Rossetti gives the female speaker power. The speaker can use her voice to get what she wants. It enables her the power to achieve agency, equality, and self-sufficiency. She no longer must be weak and inferior to men, she has the control. This poem goes against the norms of the Victorian era and challenges the ideal of women’s rights and gender relations.

 

Rossetti, Christina. “No, Thank You, John.” Goblin Market and Other Poems. Ed. Candace Ward. New York: Dover Publications, Inc, 2004. Print.

In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the monster Count Dracula is a manifestation of a multitude of Victorian fears and obsessions. Dracula represents the simultaneous fear and obsession with people from other lands. Although it is natural to fear the unknown, such as what could be creeping in the dark, the British population fears lied in the foreign people they knew little about. Dracula represents a common demonization of foreigners seen in other novels such as Jane Eyre, Heart of Darkness, in which non-British people are shown to be subhuman (or in Dracula’s case not human at all) and pose a threat to the pure British characters. Even without his supernatural powers, Dracula is a fearful figure in the sense that he embodies the anxieties of reverse colonization. When Jonathan was going around Dracula’s castle, he came across a myriad of English literature. On these Dracula states, “Through them I have come to know your great England; and to know her is to love her. I long to go through the crowded streets of your mighty London…” (Stroker 27) Unlike the British, Dracula knows all about the people foreign to him leaving him with the upper hand. At the same time historically, the people who had been colonized by the British were assimilated and taught the Victorian way of life. In the Victorian eye, this left them vulnerable to be colonized in return.

One would argue that Van Helsing’s presence on the good side meant that the depiction of foreigners was not completely negative, but in reality, Stoker painted just as bad a picture of foreigners with Van Helsing as he did with Dracula only he used different techniques to do so. Even if Van Helsing is a protagonist in the story, his depiction still shows a demeaning representation of foreign peoples. Even if he is said to be an extremely learned man, yet Stoker put great effort in making Van Helsing speech choppy and grammatically confusing. On top of this, he rarely went beyond being the superstitious foreigner trope in his characterization.  His presence in the novel serves to praise the British on their “perfection”,  as seen when he praises Mina and Arthur multiple times. Van Helsing serves to reassure the Victorian reader that there are still good, loyal foreigners who knew their place.  The fixation on these representations of different ethnicity stems from the vast brutality of the British Empire.  The Victorian people were exposed to diverse people from all around the world and treated them like specimen rather than human since they first stepped into foreign lands. The fascination with “otherness” is basically the Victorian people trying to hypothesis, examine, and come to conclusions in an attempt to understand “others”,  while doing everything to not have to consider non-British people their counterparts. 

 

In Conclusion,

              With a sharp tongue, willingness to defy gender roles, and a spark of scandal, a “New Woman” has entered Victorian literature. Christina Rossetti explores this New Woman and her connection to gender and sexuality through her poem, “‘No, Thank You, John’.”

              The poem begins with, “I never said I loved you John,” (Rossetti, 1) a blunt declaration that immediately strays away from the definition of an ideal Victorian woman. Rather than being submissive, our speaker becomes authoritative and directly attacks a man with whose views she doesn’t agree with. In the next line, she mentions that John has “tease[d] [her] day by day” (Rossetti, 2). This statement juxtaposes tradition gender roles and takes a stab at masculinity. Normally, it is presumed that women are the ones teasing and taunting men. This theme is seen in our previous poem, “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning, where the Duke’s wife, “thanked men—good!” (Browning, 31) which became the main source of the female downfall. Yet, through the words of Rossetti’s strong, confident, female speaker, we learn that the tables have turned. Therefore, the topic of sexuality is challenged considering the man is now the person pining over his lover, rather than the other way around. This is important for this era because typically females don’t have much power in their marriage or relationships. Browning’s work revealed that women often become the property of their male counterpart once he gives them a “nine-hundred-years-old-name” (Browning, 33) they can’t refuse.

               However, we see a completely different version of women through Rossetti’s poem. In fact, any masculine authority is taken away all together. The only time we hear John’s thoughts are when the speaker is recalling them to the reader. “I have no heart?” (Rossetti, 13) she mentions, bringing up a statement John previously used to undermine her with. By hearing his words coming from her mouth, she completely takes control of the situation, taking his former accusation and making him the victim of the attack instead. Later that stanza, she tells him to “use [his] own common sense” (Rossetti, 16). Here, she commands him and refers to him in a child-like manner. Rather than the male and female being equals, she speaks lower of him as if she is on an elevated plain.   

               The idea of sexuality is perhaps seen best in the endings line, “Here’s friendship for you if you like; but love, –No, thank you John” (Rossetti, 31-32). The speaker asserts that a woman doesn’t have to love a man even though he’s interested in her, she has control over whether or not see wants to love him as well. The ideas of the New Woman ring true through Rossetti’s poem and prove that women are progressing and taking a stand for what they believe.

England’s industrial revolution brought with it expansive colonization in countries like India and Africa, where England sought to conduct extensive trade. England established its colonies along with a network of trade routes, so that products could be shipped to and from England’s shores. With new innovations in nautical technology, such as steamships, England’s 19th century colonization efforts worked in full force. This kind of volume of economic activity also brought with it a significant volume of fears and doubts regarding this new and connected world. Evidence of this fear of colonization is can be found in Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
As products flowed through England’s ports, so did people of different nations and of different races. This clearly created much unrest amongst the British population, as elements of other cultures began to mingle traditional British culture. On page 60 in Dracula Johnathan Harker states “this was the being I was helping to transfer to London, where, perhaps for centuries to come he might, amongst its teeming millions, satiate his lust for blood, and create a new and ever-widening circle of semi-demons.” Based this quote by Harker, the point can be made that Dracula is viewed as more of an invader than an immigrant. The cultural practices and traditions he may bring to England as an immigrant, disregarding the fact that he is a blood thirsty vampire, posed a threat to traditional English culture in the eyes of many British citizens.
The creation of Dracula as a foreign character with intentions of purchasing property in England played directly into the fears of the Victorian era population, thus making the novel incredibly popular, as it provided exactly what its genre suggested, horror.
Source:
https://www.britannica.com/place/British-Empire

During the Victorian period and as we have seen in many of our text this far  a women’s sexuality tends to define her role in society. Some women use there gender as power such as Lady Audley for example. However there are some women who fall into the trap of letting society dictate what they yearn for and the position that they are suppose to acquire in life. This is not the case in the poem “No, Thank You, John” a young women is vehemently trying to explain to a man named John that she is not interested in him in the most polite way possible. The poem gives the reader the appearance that she has already given him an answer of I am not interested and he refused to let that be her final answer.

The young women’s voice in this poem feels very familiar to the struggles of women in the modern day. Men have still not learned that when a woman expresses she is disinterested the best thing to do is take your rejection and keep it moving! In Victorian times men were under the impression that woman would have to be interested in them if she wanted to have good position in society. She could not do that unless she was wed and John appears to be a man who thought he was the best catch for her.

The young women in this poem seems to be an outspoken woman for her time as she asserts her power to inform John once again that despite his insults and aggression, she still had a lack of interest maybe even more so than before. ” I have no heart?—perhaps I have not;  But then you’re mad to take offence. That I don’t give you what I have not got: Use your own common sense.”

Personally, I am pleased that this poem is showing the importance of woman’s choice and the right to always say no. However, I was surprised because woman’s choice and the right to say no do not seem to be very important factors during the Victorian period. In fact this poem signals a woman who is voicing her right to be independent. She is showing that women have the right to be in control of their decisions especially when it comes to choosing a suitor.

This poem shows that a women can challenge the social norms to be in charge of her sexuality. It defies the argument that a women is around solely for the purpose of men and that if a woman pleases she can choose not to be interested in a man, no matter his position in life.

 

Christina Rossetti deal with the theme of forbidden female sexuality and the new woman in her poem “Goblin Market”. Greg Buzwell in his article “Daughters of Decadence: the New Woman in Victorian fin de siècle” he describes the new woman as sexually free and independent as opposed to the stereotype of the dutiful wife. In her poem, Rossetti rejects the idea of the new woman by describing the consequences of a woman exploring her sexuality. Though, Rossetti describes Laura as indulging in the fruit from the goblin market which could be interpreted as evidence of sexual freedom, however Laura pays greatly for tasting the goblin’s fruit, “Day after day, night after night, / Laura kept watch in vain / In sullen silence of exceeding pain” (Rossetti 8). Laura experiences terrible pain because she longs for the fruit thus revealing that her exploring her sexuality prior to marriage was a bad decision. In contrast, her sister Lizzie, maintains her purity and is able to save her sister, “one may lead a horse to water, / Twenty cannot make him drink” (Rossetti 12). Though the goblins attempt to seduce Lizzie, she cannot be persuaded thus allowing her to save her purity and in the end her sister’s life. At the end of the poem Rossetti, “Afterwards, when both were wives / With children of their own” (Rossetti 15) thus revealing how in order for the poem to end happily both girls must embrace the mainstream female gender roles in order to have a happy ending, and escape the evils of tasting the fruit from the goblin market.

Dracula is, on the surface, a story about scary blood-sucking creatures of the night. But there are many moments in the novel where we see sexual connotations attached to certain characters, as well as to things such as blood. Lucy is a character who displays many of these sexual themes in various ways. Even early on in the novel, we can see hints at Lucy’s open sexuality: “Why can’t they let a girl marry three men or as many as want her and save all this trouble?” (Stoker 96). Lucy is clearly unhappy with the social norm of monogamy, wishing to be with all of her suitors at once. The word “want” is also important here, implying a more sexual tone. This portrayal of Lucy seems to play into one of the main societal fears during the Victorian era: the so-called “New Woman.” This was a term referring to women who were becoming more independent, breaking free of societal constraints. One of these constraints was the idea that women must be virgins, unless they had a husband and were planning to become a mother.

Some saw female sexual freedom as immoral, and fears mounted about rampant female sexuality. Greg Buzwell writes in his article about Dracula and Victorian anxieties, “Those who took a hostile attitude towards the New Woman saw her either as a mannish intellectual or, going to the opposite extreme, an over-sexed vamp.” The novel establishes Lucy as a more “modern” woman in terms of sexuality, and then later we see her descend into vampirism, which seems to be a metaphor for her supposed sexual immorality. This immorality is then corrected when Arthur, Lucy’s fiancé (and thus only suitable lover by Victorian standards) penetrates her with the stake, again providing us with a clear sexual image. It seems Stoker used the sexual anxieties of the time to his advantage – he gave the Victorian reader a sense of satisfaction by presenting this sexual, immoral woman, and then putting her in her place.

When looking at Dracula through a lens of Reviews & Reactions of the San Francisco Chronicle on Dracula, I realized that both writings include the linkage to beauty and death, but more interestingly the way they address sexuality is different.

In Dracula and Reviews & Reactions of the San Francisco Chronicle on Dracula they both include the idea of the human-vampire being attracted to beautiful women solely to use them for their blood. It can be inferred that beautiful women resemble beautiful blood, meaning that beauty is ultimately linked to death. Also, the term “human-vampire” (Chronicle, 366) implies that the Count was human on his exterior and a monstrous vampire in the inside. The Count could then pretend to be attracted to beautiful women and lure them in with his human exterior only to “use [the] beautiful women…. and compass the death of many innocent people” (Chronicle, 366). One might question why are the Count’s victims always women? Why not men? I think that women are easier targets for the Count because of his human exterior as a man. He can pretend to be attracted to them and aim for a kiss near a women’s “throat” (Stoker, 75). Similarly, the 3 female vampires attracted Jonathan and lured him in with their sexual attention to his body.

The way Dracula addresses sexuality is different from Reviews & Reactions of the San Francisco Chronicle on Dracula in that Bram Stoker addresses sexuality in a demonizing way. He portrays women as threatening or wicked as their method to lure in men. For example, when Lucy is a full on vampire and was supposed to be dead in her coffin, “she advanced [forward], however with a languorous, voluptuous grace, [and] said: –“Come to me, Arthur” (Stoker, 181). After Lucy called to Arthur, “he seemed under a spell” (Stoker, 181). This made me infer that beautiful women can get practically anything they want, despite how they act. While in the Chronicle Review, sexuality in Dracula is addressed in their opinion as “realistic… one actually accepts its wildest flights of fancy as real facts” (Chronicle, 367). This review made me question how is the way sexuality is addressed in Dracula realistic? Especially if someone who is wicked lures in men? If someone were wicked, wouldn’t that make one want to rebel, and not get drawn in? If human men are so easily drawn to women, why aren’t there more men as vampires in the novel?

The Victorian vampire, and specifically Dracula, is a frightening creature. He is completely mysterious, as well as corrupt with evil. He feeds on living people, even children, sentencing them to untimely deaths for his benefit. Only some minute presence of God can deter him. In Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula represents all manifestations of the devil. As the devil would, Dracula coerces young women into performing ungodly acts; he turns them into one of his own through mysterious forces, or meets them face-to-face and attempts to pervert them. Sexuality plays a strong role in the novel in that way; Dracula’s ability to change good-natured women is a large part of what gives him his evil nature.

In his article, Dracula: Vampires, Perversity, and Victorian Anxieties, Greg Buzwell describes the vampire as, “a strangely alluring representation of nocturnal glamour, and potent sexuality.” As explained in the article, Dracula imposes not only a physical threat of the women in the novel, but also poses a predatory threat on any land he chooses. As Dracula turns his victims, he lets loose a sort of virus, or foreign threat of any kind.

In addition, Buzwell says in his article that, “During the course of the book Dracula attacks both Mina and Lucy; but Mina, due to the traditional Victorian qualities of determination and loyalty towards her husband is able to resist his advances. The rather more free-spirited Lucy is not so lucky.” Here, he describes that Dracula’s evil advances are a metaphor for the realistic temptation that the women face in the book, not unlike the temptation that the devil would ensue. But that because Mina maintains her good values, she does not end up like Lucy. Here, the reader can see that Dracula imposes a metaphor for the morals a Victorian woman should follow, or succumb to, at her own risk.

 

While Dracula first appears to simply be a scary story, upon further examination, it becomes clear to the reader that Bram Stoker may have actually been writing a postcolonial novel. The concept of colonialism is exceedingly present in Victorian times, as the British Empire was a prevalent force across the entire globe. However, as the 19^th century came to a close, many of those residing in Great Britain at the time feared becoming the colonized, rather than the colonizer. Stoker expertly navigates this issue through Count Dracula’s role as the primitive outside force in Dracula. Dracula’s chosen method of evil power is to infiltrate the body and infect it, similar to how a nation infiltrates another nation and takes over: “This was the being I was helping to transfer to London, where, perhaps, for centuries to come he might, amongst its teeming millions, satiate his lust for blood, and create a new and ever-widening circle of semi-demons to batten on the helpless,” (Stoker, 60). Aside from his monstrous power though, Dracula is also often referenced as an outsider and loner, even in his residence. When the group goes to ultimately kill Dracula, the journey to get to his castle and the isolation of it is described in vivid detail: “All yesterday we travel, ever getting closer to the mountains, and moving into a more and more wild and desert land,” (Stoker, 388). By emphasizing how different Dracula’s land and domain is to theirs, it reveals their fear of the outside.

Furthermore, it is no coincidence that Stoker wraps up the novel in the way that he does. Dracula dies, and Mina goes on to become the perfect picture of a domesticated, pure woman (Stoker, 42). By ending the novel with the eradication of Dracula and the return of normalcy to the characters, Stoker calms any post-colonial fears. Dracula, the colonizer, is defeated by the native people, and is unable to colonize anymore. If Stoker had ended the novel with some question as to whether or not Dracula was alive, the post-colonial fear would still be present. But instead, Stoker reassures readers, and the English people, that no one can colonize them; the characters, as well as Great Britain, will remain triumphant.