International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) Volume 5 Issue 6, September-October 2021 Available Online: www.ijtsrd.com e-ISSN: 2456 – 6470 @ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD46422 | Volume – 5 | Issue – 6 | Sep-Oct 2021 Page 418 An Interpretation of Stoker’s Dracula on the Basis of Psychoanalysis and Gender Criticism Amritha V University of Calicut, Thenhipalam, Kerala, India ABSTRACT Be it a book, a movie or a series; vampires are the most common characters in all forms of art. From the ancient times onwards, there are myths and tales orbiting the vampires. Some of them are still prevalent which makes them a nightmare. They can be in any form – a bat, a wolf, a man or a woman; which casts no shadows, drinks blood and what not! Even small children are not spared from their attack. A discussion of vampires leads to the most iconic vampire in the history of arts – Count Dracula. Bram Stoker’s Dracula is an awe – inspiring vampire who still stands as an archetype in the world of vampires. The story of Dracula is taken as a model for most works of art in the vampire literature. Vampire literature becomes a zero without the story of the vampire hero Count Dracula in it. This study revolves around Stoker’s Dracula – a small interpretation of the Un-Dead by applying the theory of Psychoanalysis and Gender Studies. The first chapter deals with the psychic changes that is visible in the characters like Mina, Lucy etc. whilst the second chapter is about how the Victorian ladies emerged themselves as a New Woman. Dracula himself is a psychopath who manipulates every other characters. Major psychic changes occur to his preys. He is the crown figure of Oedipal complex. This study of the gothic fiction explores the concealed theme of sexuality. Also, the hidden fears and desires of the Victorian women. KEYWORDS: Psychoanalysis, gender studies, psychopath, Dracula, Oedipal complex, New Woman, sexuality, vampire, Victorian era How to cite this paper: Amritha V "An Interpretation of Stoker’s Dracula on the Basis of Psychoanalysis and Gender Criticism" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-5 | Issue-6, October 2021, pp.418-431, URL: www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd46422.pdf Copyright © 2021 by author(s) and International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development Journal. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0) (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) INTRODUCTION Blood athirst, seductive romantics’ deviants: there is a vampire for every personality type. Vampires (vampyres) prey upon humans by consuming their blood. Stories were told of the vampires that they attacked people and sucked in their bodily fluids. It is also believed that they spread plague. People who were unaware of the infectious disease trusted that these creatures preyed upon their families. Scholars of the 20th and 21st centuries put forth that feature associated with vampires can be traced back to certain diseases such as Porphyria, which makes one sensitive to sunlight; Tuberculosis, which causes wasting; Pellagra, a disease that thins the skin; and Rabies, which causes biting and general sensitivities that, could lead to repulsion by light or garlic. Mythologies related to the vampires were popular amongst the Eastern Europe and the very term ‘vampire’ originates from that region. Some vampires have the ability to transform into a bat or a wolf. They have super strength and often have a hypnotic and sensual effect on their victims. Their reflection cannot be seen in a mirror and cast no shadows. Vampires can be classified into eight based on the features that they exhibit.
Sanguine Vampires (Blood Drinkers) – They must drink fresh human blood regularly to sustain their undead existence. They are the most common vampires found in the myths and culture.
Psi- Vampires – These types of vampires do not harm their victims physically. They extract the life force of the victims and enable them to continue living.
Emphatic Vampires (Elemental Vampires) – These vampires feed from the emotions of people IJTSRD46422 International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470 @ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD46422 | Volume – 5 | Issue – 6 | Sep-Oct 2021 Page 419 around them. They feed both the positive and negative energies like happiness, anger, fear etc. Akin to them are the Elemental Vampires who feed on from the natural elements like wind and lightning.
Sexual Vampires– They take in the sexual life force of the partners during orgasm. They do it either physically or by sucking in the bodily fluids.
Soul Vampires – The soul energy is absorbed by the soul vampires thus shortening the life span of the victims.
Genetic Vampires – Scientifically created vampires or the offspring produced as a result of the intercourse between a vampire and a human being. They possess some of the vampire qualities.
Insane Vampires – They are also known as Malkavian Vampires. Unnecessary distortion of humans into vampires sometimes induces mental illness and hence creates insane vampires. They cannot be controlled easily.
Disfigured Vampires – These are best known as Nosferatu. Prolonged life as a vampire or a bad case of conversion can induce disfiguration and rotting of the flesh. The popularity of the vampires ascended with the publication of the literary works with vampires as the central character in it. Researchers say that The Vampyre by John Polidori was the first work published in English about the vampires which was to an extent influenced by Lord Byron. Then came out different works of art about these nocturnal creatures. Other popular works were Varney the Vampire (1847) by Rymer and Prest and Carmillaby Sheridan La Fanu, published in 1872. Abraham ‘Bram’ Stoker’s Dracula(1897) is the key work in vampire literature. It is one of the mightiest horror tales ever written. Numerous shows, films, fiction etc. have been made portraying the vampires. Tales of vampires aimed to warn the people against the possible dangers. Eventually those stories became a source of entertainment. Anne Rice’s bestselling novel Interview with the Vampire which came out in the year 1976 deeply influenced the writers of modern vampire fiction for the novelist brought forth vampire characters that caused people to view the vampires with more sympathy. The ‘old’ vampires depicted in the novels and movies were more like monsters who celebrated the evil inside them. While the ‘new’ vampires are more like humans than monsters. Lord Ruthven from The Vampyre, Mircalla from Carmilla, Count Dracula from Dracula, Lestat de Lioncourt from Interview with a Vampire, Joshua York from Fevre Dream, etc. are well known vampires in fiction. Most of these vampire fictions are featured as films too. Daybreakers, Dracula Untold, Shadow of the Vampire, The Twilight Series et cetera are the famous modern vampire movies. Not only in literature and movies but also in Television series, games etc we find the introduction of the demons. Even spoofs, comic books, animated series related to the terrific monsters had gained popularity. In short, the vampire stories earned much appreciation in popular culture. These vampires seen in the folklore can be warded off with garlic and Christian symbols of faith such as holy water, crucifix, or a rosary. Bloodsucker, Extortioner, Satan, Succubus, Phantasm etc. are some of the names by which these monsters are known. In due course the depiction of vampires underwent lots of changes. Some authors took in account the psychological aspects of the vampires. Thus, psychology started to play a major role in the vampire stories. Since the early 20th century, the widespread type of psychological literary criticism which deals with a work of literature primarily as an expression, in an indirect and fictional form, came to be called as psychoanalytic criticism whose premises and procedures were established by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). He developed this theory for the analysis and therapy of neuroses, but soon expanded it to account for many developments and practices in the history of civilization, including warfare, mythology and religion, as well as literature and other arts. Freud proposes that literature and the other arts, like dreams and neurotic symptoms, consist of the imagined, or fantasized, fulfillment of wishes that are either denied by reality or prohibited by the social standards of morality and propriety. The forbidden, mainly sexual (‘libidinal’) wishes come into conflict with the ‘censor’ and thus are repressed into the unconscious realm of the artist’s mind. Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytical theory posits that human behavior is the interaction of the three component parts of the mind – id, ego, and superego. Freud divided the mind into three parts – the conscious, the preconscious or the subconscious and the unconscious. The main objective of psychoanalysis is to bring what exists at the unconscious to the conscious. This method opens the way for new interpretations and discovery of hidden significance. Psychoanalytic criticism is mainly concerned with the author and the content of the work. It excludes the formal construction of the work and readers from its consideration. Freud’s works on dreams, sexuality International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470 @ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD46422 | Volume – 5 | Issue – 6 | Sep-Oct 2021 Page 420 and civilization form the basis of psychoanalytic criticism. Freud was the founder of psychoanalysis but there are other psychoanalysts who contributed a lot to the theory, including Freud’s daughter Anna Freud while others being Carl Jung, Erik Erikson, Jacques Lacan, Otto Rank, and Erich Fromm et cetera. The differing psychoanalytic interpretations help us understand the compelling fascination with narratives and images grounded in vampire mythology. This mythology rests on central metaphors of the mysterious power of human blood, images of the undead, forbidden, and sexualized longings and the ancient idea that evil is often hard to detect in the light of the day. Freud developed a modern map of the unconscious which he saw as a repository of denied desires, impulses and wishes of a sexual and sometimes destructively aggressive nature. According to Freudian psychoanalysis, vampire narratives express in complex form. He said that the repressed sexual and aggressive desires become plainly visible in vampirism. From Freudian perspective it can be noted that in Stoker’s Dracula, all the conventional mythical traits of the vampire are blended in such a way that it resembles the Oedipus complex. Count Dracula is seen as a father figure of enormous power and the whole story, one of incest, necrophilia and sadistic acting out of oral and anal fixations. Jungian psychoanalysts point to the worldwide interest in the vampire as evidence of its archetypal nature. From a Jungian perspective, the myriad varieties of vampire narratives found cross-culturally throughout history indicate that these images are not merely by-products of personal experience bit are grounded in species-wide psychological structures. In other words, vampire images reflect significant experiences and issues that are universal in human lives around the world. Jung believed that the vampire image could be understood as an expression of what he termed the ‘shadow’, those aspects of the self that the conscious ego was unable to recognize. Jung had said that the shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of; it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. Jung interpreted the vampire as an unconscious complex that could gain control over the psyche, taking over the conscious mind like an enchantment or spell. Of social importance, the image of the vampire in popular culture serves us as a useful scapegoat since through the mechanism of projection, the vampire allows us to disown the negative aspects of our personalities. Likewise, ‘gender criticism’ has also been applied to the vampire literature. Gender criticism is based on the idea that while sex is determined by anatomy, gender is a societal construction. According to the French feminist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir, sex is biological, and includes anatomy and physiology. The reproductive system of men and women is biological, but they are given particular meanings through a social process. Thus, sex is biological but gender is social. Gender is a system of roles and values assigned to the biological traits and functions. In other words, gender is a social construction, a process by which meanings are allotted to the acts like birth, sexual intercourse, homosexuality and nurture. Women’s studies (women, feminism, gender, and politics), men’s studies and queer studies are included in the gender studies. It is also presented with the study of sexuality. Gender and sexuality are studied in the fields of literature, geography, history, political science, sociology, anthropology, cinema, media studies et cetera. It also interprets how nationality, race, ethnicity, class et cetera come into contact with both gender and sexuality. A number of theories such as psychoanalysis, feminist psychoanalysis, literary theory and post- modernism had influenced the gender studies. Among these theories, it is the psychoanalysis that had influenced gender studies a lot. According to Freud, woman should accept their lack of penis (penis envy). Lacan organized femininity and masculinity on the basis of different unconscious structures. The Feminist theory of Psychoanalysis is articulated mainly by Julia Kristeva and Bracha L Ettinger. Other feminist theorists include Juliet Mitchell, Nancy Chodorov, and Jessica Benjamin et cetera. Jacques Lacan had been accused of maintaining a sexist tradition in psychoanalysis by critic like Elizabeth Grosz. At the same time the Lacanian theory had been used by Judith Butler and Jane Gallop to develop their gender theory. Post structuralism led to the emergence of queer theory in Gender Studies. Gender Studies examines the different ways in which historical, cultural and social events shape the role of gender in different societies. The concept of New Woman emerged during the then period. The male contemporaries imagined a New Woman who fulfilled their own fantasies of sexual freedom. The Gothic fiction had ignored the value systems and questioned the gender roles which were deliberately attributed by the patriarchy. Some of the writers of Gothic fiction portrayed female vampires as empowered women to an extent. While we also come across female vampires who are voiceless, nameless and at the same time horrific. In real, they represent International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470 @ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD46422 | Volume – 5 | Issue – 6 | Sep-Oct 2021 Page 421 the women of the Victorian era. In a way we can say that the depiction of the female vampires differed and moreover it varied as the different stages of feminism developed. The vampire literature which started to appear in the 18th century discussed the Victorian ideas and fears of the gender. Amongst the Gothic fiction, Stoker’s Dracula serves as one of the mightiest horror fictions ever written. It laid foundation for an entire genre of literature and film. It was published in the year 1897. The novel can be assigned to many literary genres such as vampire literature, horror fiction, gothic novel, and invasion literature. It is an iconic book which is written in an epistolary format. The story orbits around the major themes such as Victorian culture, immigration, colonialism, post colonialism and sexual conventions. Telegrams, letters, journals, diary entries etc. constitutes the novel. Abraham ‘Bram’ Stoker (1847-1912), an Irish novelist and short story writer is best known for his Gothic novel Dracula. He had written many other works which are hardly popular as his masterpiece work Dracula. The letters and newspaper reports which form the novel are woven skillfully that it creates a realistic picture in the minds of the readers. He was the business manager of Irving’s Lyceum Theatre, London; a post he held for twenty-seven years. Dracula was dedicated to Hall Caine – one of his closest friends whom he had met at London. Dracula was considered a straightforward horror novel at the time of its publication. The original manuscript of the novel Dracula was believed to have been lost. But later on, it was found in northwestern Pennsylvania. It was a typed manuscript and handwritten on the title page as THE UNDEAD. At the bottom of the page the author’s name was shown and the title was changed at the last minute. The novel became the basis for numerous plays, films and series. It is observed that Stoker himself had written the first theatrical adaptation and was presented at the Lyceum Theatre under the title Dracula. Dracula (1931), The Horror of Dracula (1950) are two popular adaptations of the novel. A film was directed by German director, F.W.Murnau, titled Nosferatu (1922) without taking permission from Stoker’s widow. To avoid the copyright issues, the title character was named Count Orlok. More than two hundred films were featured with Dracula as the major character. This seminal character still unleashes the mind’s deepest and darkest fears. The story starts on the 3rd of May, describing the journey of a young solicitor Mr. Jonathan Harker to the Eastern European country of Transylvania to conclude the real estate transaction with a noble man named Count Dracula. As Harker travels through Carpathian Mountains, the local peasants warn him and give him crucifixes and other charms. Despite all the warnings, Harker travels to the castle of Dracula. At first, he had a good impression about the Count but later on Harker understands that he is a prisoner at the Count’s castle. Harker starts his investigation to know more about the castle and Mr. D. The more he learns about the castle, the more uneasy he becomes. Harker finds out that the Count had diabolic instincts within him. He was even attacked by three beautiful and seductive vampire sisters. Thus, Harker attempts to escape from the castle. Meanwhile Harker’s fiancée Ms. Mina Murray writes to her friend Lucy Westenra. Lucy has accepted the proposal of Arthur Holmwood and rejected the proposals of Dr. John Seward and Quincey Morris. Mina and Lucy encounter at the town of Whitby. A Russian ship is wrecked at the shore with its crew missing and the captain dead. Dracula reaches the town with 50 boxes of earth in it. All of a sudden Lucy begins sleepwalking. Lucy becomes pale and ill. Two red marks are found at her throat. None could identify that. Hence Dr. Seward sends for his old mentor, Prof. Abraham Van Helsing. Van Helsing covers her room with garlic- which is a defense against the vampires. Her mother unaware of the power removes the garlic from her room which makes Lucy further vulnerable to attack. Unfortunately, in a wolf attack both Lucy and her mother dies. Lucy transforms into a vampire. While the undead Lucy sleeps, Holm wood plunges a stake through her heart. Her head is cut off and mouth is stuffed with garlic. Mina and Harker get married and joined the team who pledged to destroy Dracula. Van Helsing and his team tracked down the boxes of Dracula and destroyed 49 of them. One of Seward’s mental patients, Renfield, lets Dracula into the asylum where the others are staying, allowing the count to prey upon Mina. Mina slowly starts becoming a vampire. Helsing takes Mina with him and heeds to the castle. They kill the vampire sisters and sealed the entrances with sacred objects. The others follow the Count and Jonathan and Quincey use knives to destroy him. This study focuses on the psychological transformations that occur in the major characters and also the Victorian concepts of gender and sex. In the first chapter the theory of Psychoanalysis propounded by Sigmund Freud is used to analyze the psychic changes that occurred within characters like Mina, Lucy, and Renfield etc. The psychological aspects of a vampire are described through the character analysis of Dracula. The symbols that suggest International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470 @ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD46422 | Volume – 5 | Issue – 6 | Sep-Oct 2021 Page 422 something evil are also discussed in the chapter. Since the novel was written during the reign of Queen Victoria, certain Victorian ideas especially that of gender are narrated in the second chapter. Dracula – The King of Oedipal Complex Sigmund Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis argues that human behaviour is the result of the interactions among three component parts of the mind i.e., id, ego and superego. Id incorporates all the biological components of personality present at the time of birth – i.e., sex (life) instinct – Eros (libido) and the aggressive (death) instinct – Thanatos. It responds directly and immediately to our basic needs and desires. By the direct influence of the external world, a part of the id is modified into ego. It is the decision- making component of the personality. It works by reason. The superego’s function is to control the id’s impulses, especially those which society forbids, such as sex and aggression etc. It consists of values and morals of society learnt from one’s parents. The psychoanalytical theory mainly focuses on the unconscious part of the mind rather than the preconscious and conscious part. It has been often said that the vampire tales probably emerged out of a fear of death, such as during the Middle Ages when those infected with the plague risked premature burial. Bram Stoker’s 1897 gothic novel Draculacreated a historic Count who has set out as the archetype for the universality of vampires in modern culture, evolving into new character as seen as in The TwilightSaga, True Blood, and The Vampire Diaries et cetera. Several non-licet matters have been explained throughout the novel Dracula. Thus, Stoker’s novel was taken into account by most of the psychoanalysts since characters like Mina, Lucy, Harker et cetera undergo psychic changes. It all started from the character of Count Dracula whose abnormal behavior had been learnt by his guest cum victim Mr. Jonathan Harker. Abnormal behavior is a kind of “behavior that departs from the norms or is harmful or distressing to the individual or to those around them” (Cardwell 01). People who possess abnormal behavior violate the society’s norms and ideas. Thus, we find Dracula violating the norms of the Victorian society. The main villain of the novel is Dracula himself. He is a Transylvanian nobleman with diabolical instincts and supernatural powers. He owns a castle at Carpathian Mountains. He possesses the ability to disguise himself into any shape and form. He hypnotizes his victims and can control the nocturnal beings. He is addressed in different names other than Dracula such as Count, Drac, Mr. D, vampire, Satan, the Un Dead et cetera. His powers are limited that he cannot enter into his victim’s place unless invited. He is in need of human blood to retain his youth and moreover to sustain his physical death. He is a vampire and all the more he bites his preys and turns them too into vampires. The readers are being introduced to the count through the eyes of Mr. Harker, who undergoes a journey to the Count’s castle for a legal procedure. As Jonathan Harker puts in, …. a tall man, clean shaven save for long white moustache, and clad in black from head to foot, without a single speck of color about him anywhere. He held in his hand an antique silver lamp, in which the flame burned without a chimney or globe of any kind, throwing long quivering shadows as it flickered in the draught of the open door. The old man motioned me in with his right hand with courtly gesture, saying in excellent English, but with strange intonation… (Stoker 25) His main aim is to travel from Transylvania to London. The story of Dracula is seen as one of incest and a necrophiliac acting out of Freudian psychosexual theory. In Dracula, Stoker makes use of the oedipal complex. According to Freud, Oedipus acts out a wish that everyone has had in early childhood. He discussed the oedipal complex in his 1899 book Interpretation of Dreams. Freud developed the psychosexual theory in which he explained the five psychosexual stages through which every individual undergoes. The five stages are Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency and Genital. Each stage represents the fixation of the libido. Freud believed that all the tensions that occur in the lives of human beings are due to the buildup of libido and once it is discharged, all the pleasures came. Each of these stages is associated with a particular conflict that must be resolved before the individual can successfully advance to the next stage. If it is not resolved then a fixation occurs at a particular stage. It is in the third stage that the oedipal complex occurs i.e., the Phallic Stage. The most important aspect of this stage is the Oedipus complex. This is one of Freud’s most controversial ideas which critics reject outright. The theory of oedipal complex is named after one of the famous tragic heroes Oedipus – a Greek mythological character which was created by the world-renowned Greek tragedian Sophocles. Oedipus, a young man kills his father and marries his mother. The term oedipal complex is used for both Oedipus and Electra complexes. In the Phallic Stage, the libido is concentrated in the genitals and masturbation becomes a new source of pleasure. The Phallic Stage starts during the age of three and ends at the age of International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470 @ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD46422 | Volume – 5 | Issue – 6 | Sep-Oct 2021 Page 423 six. Boys of this age develop a particular interest towards their mothers and try to get rid of their fathers. As a result, boys start to develop castration anxiety while in girls, grow penis envy. Boys begin to adapt the masculine qualities. Meanwhile girls of the same age attain the qualities of a female. Oedipal complex results in both love and hate relationship between a boy and his father. In Dracula, characters like Harker, Seward, and Quincey love their father- figure Van Helsing. At the same time there grow hatred toward the rival father-figure, Count Dracula. Not only the fixation in the Phallic Stage but also the fixation in the remaining stages too results in certain psychological changes such as anxiety, hysteria, et cetera. The word hysteria originated from the Greek word ‘Hystera’ which means womb or uterus. It was believed that only woman could suffer hysterical symptoms like paralysis, convulsions, somnambulism, hallucinations, loss of speech, sensations or memory. Moreover, hysterics were once persecuted as witches. The psychoanalysts of the then period put forth two views i.e., either hysteria is an irritation of the female sexual organs or it is imaginary, mere play acting by women. Later on, it was proved that hysteria can only develop where there is hereditary degeneration of the brain. As per Freud, the fixation at oral and anal stages leads to hysteria. He also said that the repressed libidinal urges should be let free otherwise it may lead to sexual perversions. He even propounded ‘Seduction Theory’ which explains that the repressed memories always revealed seduction or sexual molestation by a parent or adult. Through this theory he tried to justify the act of his father who had molested his siblings. Thus, according to Freud, it was not the fault of parents but children who develop a sexual interest towards their parents during the Phallic Stage. Hence, we see Dracula, the rival father- figure molesting Mina and Lucy. Dracula at first, attacks Lucy Westenra. Lucy is a 19- year-old girl who lives with her mother at London. She and Mina are friends. Lucy writes to Mina about the three suitors Arthur, Quincey and Dr. Seward. She accepts Arthur as her would be. Through the diary entry of Lucy, it becomes clear that she became the prey of Count Dracula. In her diary Lucy writes that she feels so weak and worn out. She becomes pale day by day. It was an indication that she had already become a victim of the Un Dead. Later on she started showing the symptoms of hysteria such as anxiety, insomnia et cetera. She started sleepwalking. Dr. Van Helsing learns the fact that it was Dracula that had attacked Lucy. He suggested Lucy’s suitors to perform blood transfusions so that she can retain her life. But unfortunately, Lucy and her mother were attacked by wolves. Thus, both of them died. Van Helsing notices that Lucy’s canine teeth have grown a bit longer. Soon after Lucy’s death, little kids in England report being stalked in the night by a ‘bloofer lady’. Van Helsing and Seward suspect that it might be Lucy and to confirm that, both of them went to her coffin and found out that her body was missing in the coffin. They even found Lucy feeding upon a child. They were convinced that Lucy became a vampire and to avoid further attacks from her they decided to call upon her suitors and destroy her. It was led by Art, who stabbed a stake through her heart and later on they cut off her head and filled her mouth with garlic. Thus, Lucy was killed truly. Lucy was an angelic girl, who as a result of the influence of the Count underwent psychological changes – which restricted her entry to Heaven after death. Even death could not spare her from being a vampire. There lays Lucy, seemingly just as we had seen her the night before her funeral. She was, if possible, more radiantly beautiful than ever, and I could not believe that she was dead. The lips were red, nay redder than before, and on the cheeks was a delicate bloom. (Stoker 198) The sweetness was turned into adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous wantonness.” (Stoker 208) She became a sanguine vampire i.e., blood sucking vampire and that too a paedophilic. Paedophilia is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult is sexually attracted towards children. “…. the child that up to now she had clutched strenuously to her breast…The child gave a sharp cry, and lay there moaning (Stoker 208) As a part of the psychiatric changes that affected Lucy, she started to show the symptoms of rabies. Rabies is usually transmitted through animal bites, which in case of Lucy can be partially correct since Dracula disguises himself into bat and wolf at times. Lucy began to show sexual forwardness – symptom of rabies and hysteria. …with a languorous, voluptuous grace, said, “Come to me, Arthur…. My arms are hungry for you. Come, and we can rest together…” There was something diabolically sweet in her tones… (Stoker 208) Most of the critics are of the opinion that the novel Dracula is all about sex. It is believed that vampires are supposed to come from their tombs for sexual satisfaction. Thus, in a way the opinion of the critics would be true because the novel is all about vampires and hence the dominant theme ought to be about sex. International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470 @ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD46422 | Volume – 5 | Issue – 6 | Sep-Oct 2021 Page 424 The third chapter of the novel happens to be Harker’s journal in which the vampire sisters are introduced to the readers. “In the moonlight opposite me were three young, ladies by their dress and manner…they threw no shadow on the floor.” (Stoker 45) They are also referred to as the Brides of Dracula or the Weird Sisters. The title ‘weird sisters’ links the vampire sisters to the ‘three witches’ in Shakespeare’s one of the best tragic plays Macbeth. Harker encounters with the three sensual creatures in the castle of Dracula at Transylvania. Harker’s encounter with the brides, terrified him. They are sanguine vampires who rely upon the blood of humans. Two of them were dark and had high aquiline noses, piercing eyes that seemed to be almost red. The other one was fair, with golden hair and eyes like pale sapphires. Three of them had white teeth and voluptuous ruby lips. Their appearance made him uneasy. The sisters tried to grope him but were stopped by the entry of the Count. Instead of Harker, the sisters had a half-smothered child. The vampire sisters are then seen at the climax of the novel. They try to seduce Van Helsing but ultimately die with their master, Dracula. “…she actually licked her lips like an animal…I could hear the churning sound of her tongue as it licked her teeth and lips…” (Stoker 46) These lines from the novel imply the beast like nature of the weird sisters. They, in real, tried to maul the young solicitor. It is because of the aggressive sexual nature that is hidden in most of the vampires. Since the sisters’ relationship with Dracula is not revealed, a possibility can be mentioned that they might be once the victims of the Count. They are also referred to as the daughters of Dracula. Thus, it can be said that the Count was also a father – figure for them. They might have had an incestuous affair because of Dracula’s oedipal complex. In the last part of the third chapter, the sisters feed upon a child; who gives an impression that they are paedophilic i.e., an adult’s sexual attraction toward children. Mina Harker is one of the important characters of Stoker’s novel. She is the victim of Dracula who was able to resist herself from being a complete vampire. In the beginning of the novel, she was betrothed to Jonathan Harker and was the best friend of Lucy Westenra. She was the one who assembled all the information regarding Dracula and in the end, she joined with Van Helsing in destroying the Count. Mina, in her journal described about being silently attacked by the Count. She said that he came as ‘a thin streak of white mist’. In the chapter before, Van Helsing had mentioned that the Count may appear as mist. But unfortunately, Mina couldn’t recognize him. She felt terribly weak and spiritless. Then she explained to her fellow beings about how she was attacked again by the Count. “…with his long sharp nails opened a vein in his breast…seized my neck and pressed my mouth to the wound.” (Stoker 280) Some of the critics often see this scene as a rape done by Dracula since he made Mina to drink his blood as well as he drank Mina’s blood. She had become sleepless after the first attack of Dracula. It is clear in the scene where she asks Dr. Seward to opiate her. When everyone came to know that Mina was attacked by the devil, Prof Van Helsing placed a Sacred Wafer on Madam Mina’s forehead but sadly it turned out to be a bane that it burnt the flesh as though it had been ‘a piece of white – hot meal’. Van Helsing hypnotized her before the dawn and then Mina spoke about Dracula and his movements. Mina sometimes ended up in a semi – trance condition. Thus, she made a telepathic communication with Dracula. In the last part she went to Transylvania with Van Helsing and faced the vampire sisters. Mina was becoming a vampire. As Helsing puts in, “...she looks in her sleep more healthy and more redder than before.” (Stoker 354) The vampire sisters beckoned Mina to join them at the castle of Dracula since Mina was partially a vampire. It can be observed that Mina’s telepathic communication with the Count in a way became a boon i.e., it was with the help of this communication that the crew was able to destroy the Satan. Not only women but also men were not spared from the magic spell of Dracula. It is clear in the case of Jonathan Harker. He went to the castle for a legal transaction and became a prisoner not knowing that he was targeted by the Count. Woefully after his imprisonment at the castle, he had suffered from a severe brain fever which is evident in the letter of Sister Agatha who worked at the hospital of St. Joseph and St. Mary, Buda Pest. She wrote a letter to Harker’s spouse, saying that Harker had been under their care for nearly six weeks suffering from violent brain fever. As the nun puts in, “he has had some fearful shock,….in his delirium his ravings have been dreadful, of wolves and poison and blood, of ghosts and demons.” (Stoker 104) Homosexuality is an inevitable mental illness when discussed about vampires. It is a term used to refer “either to sexual contact with members of same sex, or a sexual preference for one’s own sex” (Cardwell 133). Homosexual or gay are the terms that are used interchangeably for males while for females, the term lesbian is being used. “This man belongs to me!” (Stoker 47) – this is delivered by Dracula himself when the vampire sisters tried to maul Harker. “Well, now I promise you that when I am done with him you International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470 @ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD46422 | Volume – 5 | Issue – 6 | Sep-Oct 2021 Page 425 shall kiss him at your will.” (Stoker 47) Dracula’s desire to mate with his guest is lucidly portrayed in the second chapter where Harker had cut himself. It had bled a little. When the Count saw the blood “his eyes blazed with a sort of demoniac fury, and he suddenly made a grab at my throat.” (Stoker 34) These lines from the text clarify the fact that Dracula is interested to engage in homosexual intercourse with Harker. In of the diaries of Dr. Seward, he mentions about one of his patients at the lunatic asylum named R.M. Renfield of 59 years with a sanguine temperament. “…great physical strength, morbidly excitable, a possibly dangerous man...” (Stoker 68) Seward also mentions about the sudden changes that happens in Renfield. “About 8 O’ clock he began to get excited and sniff about as a dog does when setting.” (Stoker 105) He eats spiders and flies and absorbs their life force. It is noticeable that he becomes more excited when his master is somewhere nearby. He also keeps a telepathic correspondence with Dracula as seen in the case of Mina. He even tried to break free from the asylum so that he can meet his master who had then reached London. This is really a psychiatric disorder which is termed as Clinical Vampirism. Psychiatrists also call this disorder as ‘Renfield’s Syndrome’. It is named after the background character Renfield of this novel. It is a condition where the patients feed upon blood of the living creatures. It starts early and is believed to progress in three phases. The first phase is that of ‘Auto vampirism’ where the patient sips blood from his/her wounds. Then develops the next phase i.e., ‘Zoophagia’ where the subject consumes living creatures like insects, cats, birds et cetera. The next phase results in ‘Vampirism’ i.e., drinking the blood of another. Renfield in this novel is diagnosed as a zoophagus maniac and at the last part; Dracula brutally killed him for his betrayal. Dracula is considered as a sadistic serial rapist. The act of bloodsucking is a metaphor for coitus since the canines penetrate into the neck. A sexual sadist inflicts psychological or physical suffering on another person to stimulate orgasm. Sexual sadism disorder can be categorized under Paraphilia i.e., it demands sexual arousal to atypical objects or targets (children, corpses or animals). Sadism is explicit in the 21st chapter where Mina is attacked by the Count. It is considered as the most violent scene where Dracula opens the vein of his chest and pressurizes Mina to suck the blood that was oozing out. Thus, through this act of sadism Dracula attained complete control over Mina Harker. It is symbolic of enforced fellation. He is a sanguine vampire who feeds upon human blood to sustain his Un Dead nature. Blood is equated to semen in the then period, i.e., the Victorian era. Thus, the acts performed by the vampire are considered as something sexual. Hence it gives the idea that the act of bloodsucking and the penetration of the canine tooth arouse orgasm in the victims. Dracula entered the room of Mina while she was sleeping and drank her blood as well as forced Mina to drink his blood; which was not consensual. Consequently, that was an example for molestation. Dracula crawled down the castle wall just as a lizard moves along and lay down in a coffin to escape from the daylight. He could not attack Jonathan while he was bleeding from the cut since Jonathan had a crucifix with him. Lucy could have been saved unless her mother had taken the garlic flowers from her bedroom. Dracula thus repelled from sunlight, crucifix and garlic which are used as protection from Satan. Dracula is the only male vampire seen throughout the novel. His desire to fuse with a male is comprehensible in the scene where he intervenes the vampire sisters who were about to maul Jonathan. Blood transfusions had been done by the suitors of Lucy and Van Helsing to keep her alive. Blood is a bodily fluid and as mentioned earlier it is equal to that of semen. Thus, it can be said that a group of men had experienced same sexual activity through the transfusion of blood. Dracula stands as a father – figure for the vampire sisters, Mina, Lucy, Harker et cetera. Hence by fusing with them he formed an incestuous relationship with his so-called sons and daughters. Reading the novel with a Freudian perspective, Dracula acts out the oedipal wishes. His relationship with the three sisters can be interpreted as an image of father – daughter acting out the repressed incestuous desires which is continued by holding the three seductive women under his control. The women unconsciously agree to the father’s wish to keep the daughters with him to satisfy his narcissist needs. Likewise, the women enact their suppressed wishes as propounded by Carl Jung as Electra complex. Whereas all the men turn out to be the rivals of their father as related in the case of Oedipal complex. Possibly, Dracula may humiliate them, bite them, do whatever he wants while the victims ought to obey him and enact his wishes. It is an example for Narcissist Personality Disorder (NPD). It is a mental condition in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance and lack of empathy for others. Thus, by performing the repressed libidinal energies Dracula becomes the oedipal king of hysteria. Not only Dracula but also his influence had made his victims hysteric too. The Freudian ideas of id, ego, and superego are also portrayed by the characters. Dracula can be equated with the ‘superego’ to his International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470 @ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD46422 | Volume – 5 | Issue – 6 | Sep-Oct 2021 Page 426 victims since he had control over them. Lucy and Renfield carry out the id – after they became the victims of Dracula, they became more and more like their Master, carrying out his wishes. Lucy, under the direct influence of Dracula became a complete vampire and started to do things in her own way even though controlled by Dracula. Thus, she demonstrated the ‘ego’. In short, it can be concluded that the novel is purely erotic and Dracula is the vampire king of libidinal urges who influenced his subjects to execute the oppressed longings. Stoker had twisted the words in such a way that it cannot be easily deciphered. Dracula – The Petrifying Seducer Stoker’s iconic novel Dracula was published in the year 1897- a year which belonged to the second greatest era in the history of England i.e. The Victorian Era. Queen Victoria reigned for about 64 years (1837-1901). It is only second to the Elizabethan age in importance. Nevertheless, it witnessed tremendous changes in all fields. It was a period of growth; an era of growing industrial civilization at home and aggressive imperialism abroad. It was a period of peace and prosperity. The social life of the Victorians was noted for its’ material progress and the mitigation of social evils. There were advancements in the fields of literature and learning, religion and thought. The spread of education facilitated the intellectual growth of the people. New scientific theories like that of Darwin brought about a revolutionary change in the attitude of the reading public. The Victorian age was also one of reforms. The general prosperity and the resultant satisfaction induced the Victorians to adopt an attitude of complacency which was often criticized. Equally notorious is ‘Victorian morality’. The Victorians in general gave importance to conventional morality. But there were critics among the contemporaries who criticized the dignity and snobbishness. In spite of the new tendencies and ideas the age continued to be essentially religious. They tried to reconcile religious dogma and scientific truth. The various theories of science, especially Darwin’s Evolutionary theory caused skepticism in the Victorians. However, they tried to make a compromise between science and religion. Thus, the Victorian age was an ‘Age of Compromise’. Religion played an important role in the lives of the Victorians. The Victorians were ardently religious. The age was marked by religious earnestness and moral discipline. Not only Science but also great advancements were made in the field of literature. Stoker’s Dracula belongs to the gothic genre. The gothic fiction was born with the novels like ‘The Castle of Otranto’, ‘The Mysteries of Udolpho’, and ‘The Monk’ et cetera. The impossible is possible in these novels i.e., ghosts, witches, Satan, etc. These novels are ultimately psychological and thus the horrors are within us rather than in God or unknown spirit. During the Victorian era, the gender roles became more sharply defined than at any time in the history. Women were considered physically weaker yet morally superior to men. Hence it was believed that they were more suited to the domestic sphere. Girls usually married in the early to mid-20s. Consequently, they were denied of education, while, they prepared to be the ‘Angel’ in the home. It was taught that women should marry so that they can become mothers rather than to pursue their sexual satisfaction. According to John Ruskin, home is a place where there is a woman who transcends peace, security and love. Ruskin says, “Wherever a true wife comes, this home is always around her. The stars only may be over her head; the glow worm in the night- cold grass may be only fire at her foot, but home is yet wherever she is.” (Joseph 19) They had no choice but to remain chaste until marriage. Chastity then had a religious importance and hence women remained chaste until marriage. The case was the exact opposite for the men. They enjoyed all sorts of freedom. It was not necessary for them to remain chaste like that of a woman. Men kept extramarital affairs; they went in search of prostitutes which resulted in the spread of sexually transmitted diseases like syphilis, (incurable at that time) which were passed on to their wives. Unluckily, it was transmitted to innocent children too. George Egerton, in real Mary Chavelita Dunne Bright (women were not supposed to use their own name, instead they had to use a male pseudonym) wrote that “marriage becomes for many women a legal prostitution, a nightly degradation, a hateful yoke under which they age, mere bearers of children conceived in a sense of duty, not love.” (Joseph 22) Victorian ladies were supposed to dislike sex. Male ignorance, the dangers in pregnancy, venereal disease and child bearing, and the lack of any way to express their own sexual needs made abstinence the only rational response to the sexual dilemma many feminists perceived. Women were both physically and mentally tortured. Since they were denied of higher education, job opportunities were out of questions. Gradually they started to express their emotions in the form of poems, short stories etc. They had no access to the external world; thus, they wrote about the domestic matters they are familiar of. Eventually several movements broke out in different parts of the world supporting women which were International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470 @ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD46422 | Volume – 5 | Issue – 6 | Sep-Oct 2021 Page 427 started off by women. They had the notion of sisterhood and tried to help the cause of other women. In due course it was developed and included a wide array of discourses such as feminist criticism, gay studies, lesbian studies and men’s studies which came to be known as Gender Studies. “Gender studies are indebted to the social historian Michel Foucault, who analysed all sexual identities, whether perceived to be normal or transgressive, as constructed or reconstructed in various eras of social discourses under the impulse of the power-drive and power- competition.” (Abrams and Harpham 147) Mary Wollstonecraft, Simone de Beauvoir, Virginia Woolf, Julia Kristeva, Alice Walker, Helene Cixous, etc are the famous gender critics. It was in the 19th century that the vampire literature flourished. It was also the period when most of the feminist works were published. For example, ‘Pride and Prejudice’ by Jane Austen, ‘TheVampire Mistress’ by Elizabeth Caroline Grey, ‘The Scarlet Letter’ by Hawthorne, ‘The Awakening’ by Kate Chopin etc. were the major works published during the 19th century. During the early 1800s, vampires emerged not only in novels but also in poems, short stories and dramas and gained recognition in social, cultural, literary areas etc. Vampire literature became a mirror to the then period. It reflected the culture and society of the time. Male and female vampires created by the authors, represented the life of the Whites. Stoker himself had portrayed both male and female vampires of upper class. The character of Dracula was inspired from the historical figure named Vlad the Impaler or Vlad Dracula who was the prince of Wallachia. He is considered as a national hero of Romania. The three vampire sisters mentioned in the novel is said to be the ones who belonged to the upper class. Even Mina and Lucy came from upper class. Dracula was published in the age which was dominated by social constraints, and restrictions of expressing individual and sexual desires. The novel gave importance to the repressed desires of the Victorians. Vampirism was used as a shield by Stoker so that his characters could express their oppressed lust and desires. Dracula’s influence on the main characters helped them to manifest their wishes which were hidden. Dracula’s vampirism converted the female characters into vampires. He engages in sensual acts with the females which helped them to realize their needs. The count even tried to indulge in such an activity with one of the male characters. Mina, Lucy, the vampire sisters, Harker, Renfield are the characters who were attracted by the devil Count. The three sisters were vampires from the beginning of the novel. Their transformation into vampires is not explained in the novel. They are known as the Brides of Dracula and at times the ‘Weird’ sisters. Some critics call them as the daughters of Dracula, probably to show the incestuous relationship between them. The sisters’ relationship with Dracula is not mentioned in the novel. It is for sure that they have become vampires due to their involvement in sexual acts with Dracula. The readers see them as voluptuous and seducing ladies. “The fair girl shook her head coquettishly, and the other two urged her on.” (Stoker 45) Harker talks about them in one of his journals. To be more precise he mentions them in his third journal at first. Later on, they make appearance at the last part and try to seduce Van Helsing. They reside at the Count’s castle at Transylvania. Like Dracula, they too are repulsive toward the sunlight, garlic and crucifix and they threw no shadow on the floor. They went to the room of Harker at the night. In the day time Harker meets no one at the castle; not even the Count. The brides’ names are not given; simply addressed as the ‘sisters. Harker says that two of the sisters were dark. One was very fair with blonde hair and blue eyes which implies that she once belonged to the aristocratic family. Another instance which shows that the blonde lady was an aristocrat is from one of the dialogues from a dark-haired vampire, “Go on! You are first, and we shall follow. Yours is the right to begin.” (Stoker 46) Thus the authors made the upper-class ladies as vampires. ....as she arched her neck, she actually licked her lips like an animal.... lower and lower went her head as the lips went below the range of my mouth and chin and seem to fasten on my throat..I could hear the churning sound of her tongue as it licked her teeth and lips, and I could feel the hot breath on my neck. I could feel the soft, shivering touch of the lips ...and the hard dents of two sharp teeth, just touching and pausing there. (Stoker 46) These lines clearly show the hyper sexuality and the bestiality of the vampire sisters. It was believed that the Victorian women did dislike sex. But men were shocked to see the women whose sexual urges surpassed them. Same way Harker was frightened by the aggressive sexuality shown by the vampire sisters. The sisters discharged the inert sexual desires of the male characters. Jonathan Harker and Van Helsing exhibited their reposed libidinal urges through their interaction with the weird sisters. The sisters’ appearance was so enticing that Harker questions his reality. He thought that he was dreaming on seeing them. He was unable to repress his desires. “I felt in my heart a wicked, burning desire that they would kiss me with those red lips.” (Stoker 45) He becomes conscious that the vampire sisters are tempting him International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470 @ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD46422 | Volume – 5 | Issue – 6 | Sep-Oct 2021 Page 428 with their alluring features. He does not let them stop their sensual acts even though Harker was aware of the consequences that he might face from the Victorian society. He actually enjoys the fair lady’s acts while the other two stirs up his emotions but he remembers Mina. “It is not good to note this down, lest someday it should meet Mina’s eyes and cause her pain, but it is the truth.” (Stoker 45) According to the societal norms, males are supposed to be dominant, heroic, adventurous etc. and females should be repressive, passive, docile, and tender. It is said that a human being has both masculine and feminine characteristics. A gender reversal occurs in here where it can be learnt that Jonathan Harker shows the feminine side of him. He becomes submissive and does not stop the blonde lady. “I lay quiet, looking out from under my eyelashes in an agony of delightful anticipation...Sweet it was in one sense, ... I was afraid to raise my eyelids, but looked out and saw perfectly under the lashes.” (Stoker 46) Women confined to the walls of the house but they never tried to escape from there since they were taught that it was the women’s duty to stay at home, look after their husbands and children and moreover yield to the needs of the husbands. Here Jonathan Harker was imprisoned in the castle. “The castle is a veritable prison, and I am a prisoner!” (Stoker 35) His meek nature of that of a woman withdraws him from trying too hard to escape or react. He was in need of a moral and emotional support and hence he kept diaries. Harker was set free from the vampire sisters by Dracula because he desired to mate with Harker and that is evident in the scene where Dracula approached him while Harker had cut himself. Dracula says, “This man belongs to me!” (Stoker 47) Homosexuality was something that was not permitted during the Victorian age. Dracula’s same sex desire is shown in another scene where he threatens the male protagonists other than Harker. “Your girls that you all love are mine already. And through them you and others shall yet be mine, my creatures, to do my bidding and to be my jackals when I want to feed. Bah!” (Stoker 299) These lines clarify that Dracula is a bisexual creature with two genitals which exhibits the infusion of both the sexes. Another possible interpretation is that women are the vehicles who transport the men’s homosexual wishes which are not allowed in the case of women. Prof. Abraham Van Helsing is another victim of the seductive vampire sisters. He was the one who formed a crew to destroy Dracula and his castle; also directed Arthur Holmwood to prevent the ‘bloofer lady’ from attacking small children. He encountered the vampire sisters with a disgust and attempted to kill them, but he too was allured by them. She was so fair to look on, so radiantly beautiful, so exquisitely voluptuous, that the very instinct of man in me, which calls some of my sex to love and to protect one of hers; my head whirl with new emotion. (Stoker 359 – 360) Helsing opened the tombs of the sisters and tried to kill them. But he was tempted by the beauty of the vampires. Thus, he could not resist himself from staring at the enticing vampires. At the next moment he heard the wail of Mina which made him murder the Un Dead phantoms and conform to the norms of the then society. Van Helsing’s suppressed emotions were reawakened by the sisters’ beauty. However, the cry of Mrs. Harker made him oppress his desires. The surpassed sexual urges of women had enticed as well as frightened the Victorian men. The vampire sisters symbolize the repressed libidinal urges of a woman. The vampire sisters may also represent the aggressive sexual nature of Victorian men. The sisters take the role of the Victorian men, i.e., when they dominated Harker at the castle. Lucy Westenra and Wilhelmina ‘Mina’ Murray, were the two women who had all the qualities of a Victorian woman. Both of them are introduced in the 5th chapter in which Mina writes a letter to Lucy and Lucy in return writes a reply in which she mentions about her three suitors (Quincey P Morris, Dr. John Seward and Arthur Holmwood) and that she selected Arthur Holmwood as her would be amongst the three. Mina too was betrothed to Jonathan Harker who was imprisoned at the castle of the Count. Lucy was a chaste and innocent girl who lived in Whitby. She became a fallen woman after Lucy expressed her sexual desires when she became a vampire. A Victorian woman should seek to be a perfect wife and a doting mother. Lucy before her death thus symbolizes the so called ‘Angel’. “Why can’t they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want her, and save all this trouble?” (Stoker 66) This question was put forth by Lucy in her letter to Mina expressing her wish to marry three men. So, it is crystal clear that Lucy – the ideal Victorian woman wished to have a physical relationship with men other than her husband. Thus, she exhibits her repressed desire to flirt with many. But immediately she draws back her question and says it as a heresy. “But this is heresy, and I must not say it.” (Stoker 66) Heresy means a belief which is against the Christian doctrine. Lucy affirms that whatever she had asked in her letter is a heresy. Hence with this statement she suppresses her desire to have multiple sexual partners. She retreats her statement because if not, she will be ostracized International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470 @ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD46422 | Volume – 5 | Issue – 6 | Sep-Oct 2021 Page 429 from the Victorian society. Lucy, in real, does not want to conform herself to the societal rules and that made her admit her yearnings to Mina. Nonetheless she was aware of the aftermath of this and she unwillingly goes with the mob. Lucy’s repressed desires were fulfilled with the influence of Dracula. Count Dracula set his journey to London from Transylvania. Lucy was the first one to get attacked by the Count. As a result of Dracula’s intercourse with Lucy, she started to show the symptoms of a vampire. Prof. Van Helsing was the one who understood that Dracula was the reason why Lucy became anemic. She became pale day by day and her suitors as well as the professor himself helped her out by giving her blood. They left out garlic flowers in her room to resist the entry of the Satan. Sadly, Lucy’s mother took off the flowers from there, which facilitated the arrival of Dracula. The output was that Lucy enacted the wishes of Dracula. She became a paedophilic. At midnight, Lucy got up from her coffin, went outside the cemetery and began to attack small children. By the time news had spread bout a ‘bloofer lady’ who drank blood from children. ‘Blood’ is associated with the masculine fluid ‘semen’. Thus, the transfusion of blood implies the exchange of semen i.e., every time Lucy is been given blood, she engages in sexual activity and so is the act of blood sucking. The penetration of canines is interchangeable with that of the penis. Hence it can be concluded that Lucy and Dracula engage in sexual activity many times. That was why she became pale and blood transfusions had to be done. In real, Dracula helps Lucy to fulfill her wish of having multiple sexual partners which was not permitted in the Victorian society. Her three suitors and Van Helsing provide blood which symbolizes Lucy having sex with three men other than Mr. Holmwood. Hence it can be noticed that her wish came true. Not only Lucy’s but also Dracula’s wish of fulfilling the repressed ‘Oedipal’ wishes had been attained. After her transformation into a vampire, Lucy performs her suppressed yearnings by stalking small children. She became sexually aberrant that Lucy was able to accomplish her desire of multiple lovers and want for children. Lucy acted out her sexuality to such an extent that her suitors and the professor had to destroy her. They were unable to see such aggressive sexual acts and it was unacceptable at the then time. Arthur had to penetrate a stake through her heart. The penetration of the stake is also considered as a scene of sex and violence. The thing in the coffin writhed, and a hideous, blood- curdling screech came from the opened red lips. The body shook and quivered and twisted in wild contortions…. his untrembling arm rose and fell, driving deeper and deeper. (Stoker 212) The penetration of the stake is alluded to sex. It can be assumed that Lucy had an orgasm through the piercing of Holmwood’s stake. Lucy’s true death may mean the victory of the masculine powers over the females who tried to become a non- conformist in the society. Madam Mina was also a prey of Dracula. Mina was looked upon by everyone. She was at the lunatic asylum of Jack Seward. Not only them but also there were Van Helsing, Jonathan Harker, Quincey, and Art. They were plotting against Dracula and it was the same night Mina was attacked. She too became tired and sleepless. At first none were able to find out the reason. One night they caught Dracula red handed, feeding Mina his blood. It was after this incident that Mina drooped into the state of trance. She started to communicate with Dracula. This telepathic communication between them helped everyone to find out the coffins brought by Dracula and to follow him. Dracula could not win over Mina since she had not become a complete vampire. There is a scene where Dracula rapes Mina. Dracula drank Mina’s blood and also, he opened a vein from his chest and forced Mina to drink his blood. So, their blood too got mixed. Therefore, it can be observed that Dracula engaged in an intense intercourse with Mina while her husband is in the same room. The scene becomes very disturbing because Mina is seen sucking the blood of Dracula which symbolizes the swallowing of semen. Dr. Seward in his journal describes Mina whose night dress was soaked in blood. It can be an allusion to the first intercourse a female has. Mina realizes that her sexual intercourse with another man had made her impure and does not want to have a physical relationship with her husband. She asks God to forgive her since Mina enacted an act which was against the Christian morality. “Oh! My God! My God! What have I done? God pity me! Look down on a poor soul in worse than mortal peril. And in mercy pity those to whom she is dear!” (Stoker 280) The novel put forth the idea of ‘New Woman’, who wished to get liberated from all sorts of restrictions. A ‘New Woman’ demanded freedom in all sense – economically and sexually. The male characters in the novel respect and admire both Mina and Lucy. But they fear the aggressive sexual nature of the women. The relationships between the two women and the male protagonists are elevated which indicates that the women are virtuous and not rule breakers. Lucy had fallen prey to Dracula and her repressed desires were fulfilled. Lucy and the vampire sisters were the International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470 @ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD46422 | Volume – 5 | Issue – 6 | Sep-Oct 2021 Page 430 fallen women who rejected motherhood. It is evident in the scene where they feed upon small children. The vampire sisters were given the body of a smothered child by Dracula instead of Jonathan Harker. It was only in the vampire states that they could express their emotions. Lucy, before her death had expressed her wish to consummate with the three suitors. But she had drawn back the statement by saying it as a heresy. Madam Mina stands as a symbol of ideal Victorian woman. She never transforms into a complete vampire but still shows similar features of Lucy due to her interactions with Dracula. She seeks sexual gratification and is independent in the state of trance. Mina is economically independent since she is a schoolmistress. She is progressive and wishes to help her husband in all ways. Mina makes it clear in her letters to Lucy and her journals. When we are married, I shall be able to be useful to Jonathan, and if I can stenograph well enough, I can take down what he wants to say in this way and write it out for him on the typewriter, at which also I am practicing very hard. (Stoker 61) Mina slowly changes into a New Woman from a Victorian woman because of her vampirism. Even though Mina wishes to be a ‘New Woman’, she also expresses her disgust towards them. Some of the ‘New Women’ writers will someday start an idea that men and women should be allowed to see each other asleep before proposing or accepting. But I suppose the ‘New Women’ won’t condescend in future to accept. She will do the proposing herself. And a nice job she will make of it too! (Stoker 94) These repressed desires are fulfilled with the help of Dracula. The men i.e., Arthur, Quincey, Seward and Helsing did blood transfusion while Lucy was asleep. They also see her asleep in her coffin. There is also a part in the novel where Mina sees Harker in deep sleep at the time of his recovery at the hospital at Buda Pest. None of them were married to each other while these anecdotes happened. If Dracula had not seduced both Harker and Lucy, then chances will not be there for their partners to see them asleep. Mina appears more dominant and independent. She sucked in the bodily fluid of Dracula which suggests her intercourse with another man. Thereafter she becomes a ‘New Woman’ in all sense. A ‘note’ is written after the last chapter, which says that Mina gave birth to a baby boy who is named after Quincey, one of the suitors of Lucy and who died in between the battle with Dracula. Mina cannot erase her past. In that sense, Mina is married to Jonathan by love and connected to Dracula by blood. Therefore, it has a slight suggestion that the fatherhood of Mina’s child is shared by Harker as well as Dracula. The Count’s feeding of Mina is compared to a mother, breast feeding a baby. Blood can be substituted to milk – another bodily fluid. Thus, a role reversal occurs in the case of Dracula. That shows the fusion of masculine and feminine functions. According to William Veeder, “That Dracula makes Mina drink not from the nipple but from a slit gives a vaginal orientation to the moment and a menstrual cast to the blood.” (Craft 92) Thus he suggested a bleeding vagina since there prevailed a belief that vampires had two genitals. Dracula facilitates the male and female characters to act out their repressed desires. On that account all the characters, in a way, had undergone the fear of role reversal. It is also important to note that the women who had tried to outrun the males in the case of sexuality had been destroyed forever which gives the message that the Victorians never permitted the women of their society to be hypersexual than their men. Women were, hence, trained to be ‘good angels’ who protected their family rather than being a ‘fallen angel’ who tried to control everything and everyone. Conclusion ‘Dracula’ is a paradigmatic novel and a character in the vampire literature which was published in the era when advancements were made in all fields including literature. It is Bram Stoker’s novel that serves as a model for the vampire stories that came out afterwards. Even today, movies and series are releasing worldwide in different languages on the basis of this classic novel. The novel ‘Dracula’ primarily explores the theme of sexuality. It also discusses about the Victorian culture and the role of women of that period. The first chapter dealt with the Psychoanalytical theory of Sigmund Freud in which the psychological changes of the characters were found out using Freud’s Psychoanalysis and his findings about the psychosexual stages in a human being. Freud discussed about the five stages i.e., oral, anal, phallic, latent and genital in his theory. This theory was applied in the novel and it can be learnt that all the major characters of the novel had undergone psychological changes after their interactions with the major psychic character Dracula. Dracula himself is a kind of psychopath who tried to manipulate all the characters especially female characters under his control. His sadistic behaviour passed on to his ‘sons’ and ‘daughters’. He becomes the father figure or the crowned head of ‘Oedipal complex’ who found pleasure in having an incestuous relationship. It was only at his influence that the rest of the characters International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470 @ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD46422 | Volume – 5 | Issue – 6 | Sep-Oct 2021 Page 431 became paedophilic, hysteric and moreover a character named Lucy became a complete vampire. The second chapter was all about the application of ‘Gender Criticism’ in the novel since it mainly deals with the characters of women. “The myth of woman plays a significant role in literature.” (Beauvoir 315) The novel was released in the era when women had no rights in controlling men. The contrary happened in this novel where a character named Mina made her own decisions and she was a progressing ‘New Woman’. She was also encountered by the Count but his interactions with her could not turn her into a complete vampire. Role reversals occur in most of the major characters. It came out to be true that all the characters including the eponymous character had both masculine and feminine elements in them. The men in the novel killed the females who were presented as sexually liberal. The novel portrays the Victorian culture as such – the fear of men of role reversal, the fear of expressing the suppressed desires and their fear about women who had gone beyond their expectations. Dracula paved a way for all the characters to exhibit their hidden yearnings. He expresses the sexuality in both males and females. Dracula brings in the unconscious desires to the conscious state. As Foucault says, “he is a violator of the rules of marriage – stealer of wives, seducer of virgins, the shame of families, and an insult to husbands and fathers – another personage can be glimpsed: the individual driven, in spite of himself, by the sombre madness of sex.” (Foucault 894). Works Cited [1] Abraham, K.M. Social and Cultural History of Great Britain. Deepa Books, 2015.Print. 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