Gender Roles In Bram Stoker's Dracula

Fiction of each era reflects the insecurities, concerns, and ideals of its generation, and through this genre, authors are able to construct entire universes of their own fantasy without fear of prosecution. These universes might contain characters that push boundaries of what is socially acceptable, but the authors need not be held accountable for their actions because after all, it is pure fiction. The same holds true for works of the 19th century, where authors question traditional Victorian notions of the boundaries of acceptable gendered behavior and sexual roles. Specifically, the titular character in Bram Stoker’s Dracula pushes social conceptions of customary gendered conduct through the vampires’ and Dracula’s actions and characterizations …show more content…
Though able to operate the London timetables, and escape the hunters, Dracula’s unnatural longevity anchors him to a time and place where the world is less developed. The West’s xenophobia and fear of devolution are only exacerbated by Dracula’s gender performance. He makes the bed and cooks food during Jonathan’s stay in Transylvania, both tasks of which Mina is capable and expected to perform as Jonathans’ wife. Moreover, Dracula calls off the seduction of the three vampire women, exclaiming, “Back, I tell you all! This man belongs to me!” (Chapter 3). In these scenes, he first assumes the role of the wife, but the word selection in the second suggests that Jonathan Harker “belongs” to Dracula, as a man might own his wife. Dracula blurs gender roles by showing behaviors associated with both married men and women, but combined with the idea Dracula is considered to be atavistic in Harker’s realm, this implies that Dracula pollutes the concept of a wife as she is characterized in the “modern” Victorian …show more content…
The fair girl went on her knees, and bent over me, fairly gloating. There was a deliberate voluptuousness which was both thrilling and repulsive, and as she arched her neck she actually licked her lips like an animal, till I could see in the moonlight the moisture shining on the scarlet lips and on the red tongue as it lapped the white sharp teeth. Lower and lower went her head as the lips went below the range of my mouth and chin and seemed to fasten on my throat. I could feel the soft, shivering touch of the lips on the supersensitive skin of my throat, and the hard dents of two sharp teeth, just touching and pausing there. I closed my eyes in a languorous ecstasy and waited - waited with beating heart (Chapter