Sexual And Sexual Repression In Bram Stoker's Dracula

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Throughout decades of cheesy horror movies, the image of vampires have been misconstrued as sparkly, angsty teenage boys or handsome men that lure in girls for the fresh blood of a virgin. Many of these stereotypical vampires are influenced by the story of Dracula, held in the Victorian era. During this period, sexuality is repressed by society, as sexual behaviors from women are viewed as unacceptable. Yet, many of the stories published about vampires diverge from the message that Bram Stoker was trying to make. In the Gothic horror novel Dracula, Bram Stoker uses the traumatic experience of Jonathan Harker at Count Dracula’s castle and the invasion of vampires in Great Britain to create a social commentary on the sexual repression occurring …show more content…

William Acton, an influential doctor from the Victorian era, states that “ [t]he best mothers, wives, and managers of households, know little or nothing of sexual indulgences. Love of the home, children, and domestic duties are the …show more content…

This patriarchal society represses the sexuality so much that both men and women are unsure what to do in the event that something sexual occurs to them. Occasionally, women experiences sexual excitement for a certain amount of period. Unsure what to do with these emotions, women themselves fear what they might do. They cannot talk about it either because “[i]n the traditional Victorian era, the idea of sex and sexual acts was seen as a ghastly subject.” (Difilippantonio 7) This temporary transformation can be what Bram Stoker is trying to represent in his novel. Considering the huge contrast in the personality after becoming a vampire, becoming angelic to demonic, Stoker implies how attraction to sexual pleasures corrupts the body and mind of the individuals, as well as influencing those around them. With the high correlation of vampires to sexual deviants, one can assume that the blood that the vampires consume correlates to semen. In accordance to spermatic economy, Hughes states that “semen is regarded as a product of the blood.” (Pektas 9) The

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