What role does sexuality play in Dracula - Essay Example

In the 19th century the position of women in the society left much to be desired. Women as well as sexual minorities suffered terrible discrimination as there was much prejudice around their reputation. If we try to imagine a woman of that time, our imagination will draw a rather shy, repressed creature whose head is full of rules she should follow in order to stay innocent. However, Stoker’s “Dracula” demonstrates that, despite all the prejudices, women still were curious about sex and the satisfaction of their secret desires.

For example, Lucy is shown as an attractive young woman, who has a choice, because three men want to marry her. Lucy can’t choose between them as she is surprised: “Why can’t they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want her?” (Stoker 80). This phrase testifies about the difference between men and women: men had an opportunity to state their desires, but women should have kept silent about them. Lucy wanted to express her desire, but this was her fatal mistake. The character of Lucy showed that women have always had sexual desires, but in Victorian times these desires were strictly restrained and any attempts to express them were suppressed.

In order to avoid humiliation and express her desire, Lucy had to transform into a vampire. This extremity testifies that it was absolutely impossible for women to show their feelings and the character of vampire transformed into the means of expressing secret emotions. The character of Mina is quite opposite to the character of Lucy, she is an innocent woman with strict principles, moreover she is a devoted wife: “I have been working very hard lately, because I want to keep up with Jonathan’s studies…I shall be able to be useful to [him]”. . The character of Mina is quite opposite to the character of Lucy, she is an innocent woman with strict principles, moreover she is a devoted wife: “I have been working very hard lately, because I want to keep up with Jonathan’s studies…I shall be able to be useful to [him]” (Stoker 75).

Women were considered weak creatures that needed protection all the time, thus it was necessary for women to be married. A man provided a woman with necessary protection, thus she had to be devoted and grateful to him for that. Needless to say that such an image of a woman is absolutely sexless, because a woman afraid of everything would never dare to express her sexual desires and if she tried to do that she would be severely punished and this attempt would turn into humiliation. The character of Dracula is very interesting in terms of sexuality, first of all because Dracula is bisexual.

The sexuality of Dracula is also demonstrated through vampires’ transformations and the rituals of blood sucking, which represent the realization of vampires’ reproductive function. “it is eminently notable, then, that male, not female vampires reproduce…Dracula alone reproduces his form” (Halberstam 7). Dracula is a creature without a particular gender that makes his character very interesting; he is a real embodiment of sexuality. According to Craft, Dracula’s sexuality is what the whole novel is based on: “a swooning desire for an overwhelming penetration and an intense aversion to the demonic potency empowered to gratify that desire” (Craft 109).

Stoker presents us with a unique and interesting representation of human sexuality.