{"id":1997,"date":"2021-11-14T14:20:23","date_gmt":"2021-11-14T19:20:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/?p=1997"},"modified":"2021-11-14T14:20:23","modified_gmt":"2021-11-14T19:20:23","slug":"monstrous-protagonists-victorian-fears-related-to-cultural-guilt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/2021\/11\/14\/monstrous-protagonists-victorian-fears-related-to-cultural-guilt\/","title":{"rendered":"Monstrous Protagonists: Victorian Fears Related to “Cultural Guilt”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dracula<\/span><\/i> as a novel seems to be about eradicating the evil influences of vampirism (and vampires\u2019 representation of foreignness) from Victorian society. However, in questioning who is evil in our text, Bram Stoker paints Victorians themselves as monstrous, calling attention to widespread cultural guilt resulting from imperialism. The monstrous and yet contrite nature of Victorianism is perhaps best captured by Stoker\u2019s portrayal of Dracula\u2019s death (401).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout this scene, exceptionally violent actions and tumultuous surroundings lead up to the tranquil death of Dracula\u2019s character. Opening this scene with the \u201clevel[ing] of weapons,\u201d \u201cthe flashing [of] knives,\u201d and the \u201chowling of wolves\u201d enables Stoker to build climactic tension (401). The resolution for this tension comes with Jonathan and Mr. Morris driving their knives into Dracula, who subsequently \u201ccrumbles\u201d away (Stoker 401). Perhaps most significant to this scene is Mina\u2019s<\/span> narration, which reveals that Dracula had a \u201clook of peace\u201d upon his \u201cface,\u201d one which she \u201cnever could have imagined might have rested there\u201d<\/span> as he dissolved into the air (401). In considering Dracula as a foreign influence to be vanquished, one may interpret Stoker\u2019s protagonists as crusaders. But the notion that Dracula needed to be at peace runs contrary to that theme and fits with the higher ethical standards of Victorian society. Stoker\u2019s juxtaposition of these chaotic and serene depictions demonstrates the dual themes running through the novel.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As Stephen Arata highlights, fears of reverse colonization were salient in the minds of Victorians. What had once been the pride of the \u201cwhite man\u2019s burden\u201d to \u201ccivilize\u201d the rest of the world had now turned into fears related to \u201cbeing colonized by \u2018primitive\u2019 forces;\u201d fears which Arata highlights as stemming from \u201ccultural guilt\u201d (Arata 623). The protagonists of Stoker\u2019s novel justify their actions by claiming that all of their efforts to \u201csterilize\u201d Dracula\u2019s ties to Transylvania and rid society from his vampire-like tendencies were for the good of the moral order and cultural progress – an idea which seems to parallel the justifications made by the Victorians for their colonization efforts (Stoker 317). A final \u201clook of peace\u201d on Dracula\u2019s face perhaps demonstrates the remorse that these Eurocentric characters felt and may have been Stoker\u2019s attempt to call attention to the cultural feelings of guilt around their previous influence over and eradication of the foreign.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dracula as a novel seems to be about eradicating the evil influences of vampirism (and vampires\u2019 representation of foreignness) from Victorian society. However, in questioning who is evil in our text, Bram Stoker paints Victorians themselves as monstrous, calling attention to widespread cultural guilt resulting from imperialism. The monstrous and yet contrite nature of Victorianism … Continue reading Monstrous Protagonists: Victorian Fears Related to “Cultural Guilt”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4754,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[169398],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2021-blog-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4754"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1997\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}