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Respectively in the movie Underworld, in Anne Rice¶s novel Pandora, and in the movies
Fright Night II and Dracula 3000.
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Thus, I decided that I should take my chances and risk being called a
³loafer´. And, except for this brief explanatory comment, I will no longer
revert to the discussion about the legitimacy of Dracula as a piece of
literature that stands on its own merits.
Regarding the image of the vampire as presented in Dracula or in
any other possible source, most people seem sure that they know what a
vampire is. Even if they are not that sure, they always have something to
say, most of the times a description based on the stereotypical image of the
vampire, whose crystallized features tend to be recurrent and non-negotiable:
ϴ
black clothes, long fangs, a dark and spooky castle or equivalent housing
conditions, and the presence of ³FUHDWXUHV RI the night´ EHLQJ WKH EDW D
frequent one. Female vampires are usually irresistible, and display blatant
sexual features. Indeed, those who have read the novel find support in it to
carry on with the stereotypes, and those who have not find it elsewhere:
movies, comics, TV series, and even soap operas.
Like television, literature has a wide audience range, and the fact that
in all those media the vampire is a hit has an explanation: we consume the
vampire because it is present in our imaginary and in our collective
unconscious. The concept of consumption is pertinent to the aims of this
thesis. The word can be read in two ways, and one of them means the
involvement the reader has with the literary character. It is difficult to deny
that the Count himself is, by far, the strongest image in the novel, and the
way the novel is structured ± with his strong presence in the beginning, his
implicit presence/concrete absence in the middle of the novel, and his return
for death in the end ± contributes immensely to it.
The second form by which I propose to interpret the term
³FRQVXPSWLRQ´ has to do with the vampiUH¶s role in our unconscious. In
spite of being academic or lay, the views and general notions on the
vampire help increase the interest around the character ± what is more, they
make the vampire go one step further, turning from character into persona.
Therefore, the questions this book aims at answering are: is there a
myth of the vampire, or a myth of Dracula? What are the social, political
and religious values typical of the Victorian society that are reflected or
denied in the way the story of Dracula is told? What are the roles of blood
imagery in the story, or in the myth, if such a myth exists?
The points that led me to ask myself these questions are: the success of
ϵ
the vampire as a character, the strong presence of this image in our collective
unconscious, the negligence with which the academy seems to have treated
the novel in past times, the controversy that seems to swirl around Dracula
regarding the relationship academic reception versus the publiF¶s response
and the multiple array of feasible analyses within the novel.
As a consequence, this is meant to be an argumentative thesis, divided
into three chapters. Chapter 1 provides some historical information which I
deem relevant in understanding the novel¶s creation process. The first
sections contextualize Victorian England and its society, and a main focus of
the contextualization chapter is the implication involved in the gender
behavioral code of the time, and how Dracula reinforces or denies the
patterns regarding middle and upper class men and women. This is a
central aspect in this study, because these groups do not only represent
the characters in the novel, but the intended audience as well. Thus, the
focus in the two first sections lies on the features that define Dracula¶s
audience in their anxieties, repression, fears and needs. The last section,
however, goes back in time as far as the fifteenth century, towards another
relevant time dimension for the novel, as historical information is provided
about Vlad Tepes, the Romanian prince who was Bram StokHU¶s main
influence while creating his vampire character.
Chapter 2 comprises the theoretical approaches that support the
reasoning presented in my analysis, which relies on a Jungian reading of
Dracula.
The five basic concepts applied refer to the collective
unconscious, myth, archetype, image and symbol. It is through the
intersection of these notions that the close reading chapter is constructed,
along with the idea of the influence of the novel upon the creation of
archetypes related to the vampire. On the other hand, Gilbert Durand¶s
ϭϬ
concept of the Orders of the Image will be necessary in my attempt to
disentangle (Nocturnal Order) the imagery presented in the novel from the
Western cultural binary representations of Good and Evil, or to corroborate it
(Diurnal Order).2
The fact that this work is committed to a Jungian psychological reading
of the collective archetypes presented in Dracula does not prevent me,
however, from borrowing from Sigmund Freud¶s contributions whenever his
comments prove pertinent to the analysis in progress. Although Jung deals
with myth, archetypes, and the collective, and Freud deals with the
individual psyche, and many of Freud¶s ideas will prove as useful to me as
they have proven to Jung. Therefore, it is from Sigmund Freud that I
borrow the comments respecting the Double, used to discuss the strong
connections between Victorian times and the Gothic genre. I do not think
by behaving in this way I have mixed the two schools. I believe I am
merely making use of the fact that, in spite of all differences, Jung is,
after all, a disciple of Freud.
Chapter 3 presents my reading of the novel, exploring scenes and
motifs connected to blood imagery, and coming full cycle with the concepts
discussed in chapter 2 and the social aspects dealt with in chapter 1. The
three diverse perspectives under which blood imagery is analyzed (as food
for the vampire, as a symbol of nobility or family connections, and as a
means for blood bonds other than kinship) help reinforce the differences
between the archetype of the male vampire ± personified exclusively in the
figure of Count Dracula ± and the female vampire, with Lucy Westenra and
Mina Harker as the main representatives of the category.
2
All the vocabulary specific to Gilbert Durand¶s The Anthropological Structures of the Imaginary
comes from the only translation in English, by Margaret Sankey and Judith Hatten.
ϭϭ
The conclusion aims at giving answers to the questions posed here,
especially the ones referring to the existence of the myth of Dracula based
on the continuously successful reception throughout the decades the novel
has had. I came across the expression ³myth of Dracula´ some times, and
being ³myth´ one of Jung¶s most important concepts, I became more
interested in discovering why some authors used that to refer to the novel.
I believe they are right, and in the conclusion I support that idea also based
on the whole thesis presented here.
Another aspect that deserves explanation is the use of certain terms
within the thesis. µFood¶, µIHHG¶ and µeat¶ are frequently used in the novel
to refer to the vampire attack. Even though blood is fluid, it is with blood
that the vampire nurtures itself, and the idea of wholesomeness is implicit
in the vampire biting process. Besides, all commentators I came across with
use the verb µeaW¶ instead of µdrink¶.
Three more words ± µsexuality¶, µunnatural¶ and µYLFWLP¶ ± are
recurrent throughout this book, and it is fundamental to determine in what
terms t h e y a r e u s e d , given the impact they cause and the meanings
they convey. These words appear frequently when the relationship of Count
Dracula and the female characters of the novel is discussed, and the
connotation they tend to have implies a Manichean point of view. Thus, it is
important to note that the ideas of µgRRG¶ or µeYLO¶ appear under two diverse
perspectives in this book: in the chapter of contextualization, they play an
important role as I draw the profile of Victorian society and its moral
beliefs. On the other hand, while presenting my reading, in chapter 3, I only
apply those notions when having the Victorian (or Christian, for that matter)
array of values in mind. The third section of chapter 2, dealing with the
Nocturnal Order of the image, also helps explain the absence of value
ϭϮ
judgment in the use of these terms.
For the purposes of this analysis, µsexuality¶ essentially means the
ability of experiencing or expressing sexual feelings. µ Unnatural¶ refers to
something different from what is expected or that goes against the laws of
nature (such as the vampire itself, for example). At the same time, based on
the triad Victorianism / Manicheism / general social values, one might tend
not to give serious thought to the use of the word µvictim¶ in this work. This
seems proper, after all the vampire is a tainted being, ³the epitome of evil´.3
As the Cambridge Advanced Learner¶s Dictionary points out, a victim is
³someone or something that has been injured, damaged, killed or has
suffered´. I also discuss in my conclusion ± having in mind the social context
and the situation of the female characters ± how negative the attack is for the
vampiUH¶s prey, and whether the use of the word µvicWLP¶ simply stands for a
case of catachresis.
Among the essays about Dracula I have come across during the
course of this research, I would like to stress the following contributions: in
the field of psychoanalysis, David Punter and Phyllis A. Roth; feminism,
Elisabeth Bronfen; post-colonialism, Stephen D. Arata; Marxism, Franco
Moretti; and also some hints on queer studies and Bakhtinian analysis by
Rebecca A. Pope. All these authors have added to my reading, which
concentrates, however, on the images, issues, stereotypes and archetypes
presented in the novel.
The same difficulty in choosing and disconnecting different theories I
had in separating my ideas regarding blood imagery in chapter 3. While the
division I propose is supposed to be effective and coherent, some scenes
and quotations appear more than once, for evoking one scene implies
3
Tagline for the 1931 movie version starring Bela Lugosi.
ϭϯ
going towards another one that might appear in a different section. For
instance, the biting process is related to all three divisions, because the
vampire feeds from the victim through it, hence creating a bond diverse from
genetic kinship with the victim, and concomitantly, a kind of genealogy is
established, as if vampire and victim belonged to the same family. As for the
final considerations of this introduction, I just need to point out that this
work is, more than anything else, the result of an intense relationship
between a reader and a work of literature, and one that is pervaded by
fortunate, ironic and interesting coincidences.
The first one involves the fact that this is a jubilee year for Dracula,
the celebration of its 116th anniversary. That may seem unimportant, but it is
quite an achievement, considering that the novel has never been out of print
throughout these years, and also that it has been translated into more than
fifty languages worldwide.
The second coincidence is related to three of the most relevant parts
in this work: the author of the novel, the main theoretician and myself.
Throughout the decades, the novel has received positive and negative
criticism. As Veeder points out, ³Stoker was less an artist than an automatic
writer´ (p. xiv), whereas The Athenaeum (June 26, 1897) said that the
novel is ³wanting in the constructive art as well as in the higher literary
sense´ (BYRON, p. 12) Before focusing on literature for adults, Bram Stoker
tried to establish a career as a writer of children¶s stories, but they were
considered too violent. That, plus the fact that he released such an ambitious,
supernatural and seemingly weak piece of literature such as Dracula, were
enough for Bram Stoker to be called a ³lunatic´ both by critics and more
reactionary audiences.
The same happened to Jung, before he decided to share his knowledge
ϭϰ
with the world, and when he tried to put his theory into words. John
Freeman explains, in the introduction to Man and His Symbols, that Jung
³had never managed to break through the general public and was always
considered too difficult for popular reaGLQJ´(1964, p. v). That is, Jung also
had to deal with the fact that many could not understand him, and also with
the derogatory labels of ³mystic´ and ³esoteriF´, both of them preventing
the full understanding of the complexity and broadness of thinking
pervading his studies.
As for myself, I have already been called ³tasteleVV´ and somebody
who ³Fould never be taken seriously´ because of my taste regarding
literature and movies. The important things I have tried uselessly to
explain before, I say here. All of them focus on Dracula, but some of
them can explain other choices I have made that people tend to find difficult
to understand.
My comfort is that the same happened to Jung and Stoker, two men
from whom I know to be apart due to their accomplishments, but to whom
I feel close, since I share the load of not being understood in my beliefs. I
have had the greatest pleasure in working with the novel written by one of
them, while relying on the sound and sage theoretical support granted by the
other.
ϭϱ
1
FROM
VICTORIAN
TRANSYLVANIA
ENGLAND
TO
MEDIEVAL
In fact, this age of Darwin, Marx, and Freud appears to be not only the first
that experienced modern problems but also the first that attempted modern
solutions. Victorian, in other words, can be taken to mean parent of the
modern -- and like most powerful parents, it provoked a powerful reaction
against itself. (George P. Landow, Victorian and Victorianism)
1.1 ³WHERE DO I COME FROM?´ THE VICTORIANS AND
THEIR ISSUES
The enterprise of studying late Victorian literature implies coming
across sentences such as: ³... reflected in a peculiarly vivid and urgent way
the social anxieties of their time´ (CALDER, p. 9), ³... exposes and
explores the desires, anxieties and fears that both society and the
individual (...) attain to suppreVV´(BYRON, p. 2) or ³...expressions of both
social and psychological dilemmas of the nineteenth century´ (idem, p. 13).
The recurrence of statements like these is due to the fact that Victorian
years were times of desire, fear and anxiety because of the human situation
both individually and in society, because that was a time of ambiguities,
contradictions and dissolution of certainties ± hence the link of Victorian
literature and the Gothic genre as an expression of such state of mind.
A glimpse of two novels from the late stage of Victorian Gothic
literature ± The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886), by Robert
Louis Stevenson, and Oscar WildH¶s The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) ±
ratifies this connection. Stevenson¶s novel, for example, shows the
demarcation between human feelings and reactions, providing an allegorical
Manichean reading that simplifies the definitions and boundaries of good
and evil. However clear it is for the reader to identify these aspects in the
ϭϲ
story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, it is an essentially simplistic and fantastic
view, which does not fulfill the audiencH¶s notions of goodness and evil
wholly, since the Victorians, as I point out throughout chapter 1, were
questioning people, who focused a great deal on what the eye could see, and
on the impressions and image one conveyed towards the others.
WildH¶s case, for that matter, may be considered indicative of the
constant pressure exerted upon the Victorian subject. Creator and creature
at the same time, Oscar Wilde was an eminent citizen of the demanding
and oppressive Victorian society. Creator because of his varied collection
of writings in several genres, and creature because he ended up a scapegoat,
a cruel example of what could happen to someone in Victorian society who
dared to cross the limits without discretion.
The publicity on Oscar WildH¶s personal affairs and the legal
consequences of his homosexual relationships are together the epitome
of the ³double life´ that was seemingly so frequent in Victorian times:
on the one hand, there are virtue, social rank, and onH¶s circle of
acquaintances; on the other, the anguish at the lack of freedom of
expression, the repression of desires and all the other burdens rooted in the
obligation of acting morally and being politically correct.
Starting with the trials he undertook, Wilde was humiliated, arrested,
left destitute and left to die ± first as a writer, due to the ostracism imposed
to him, and then physically (just to give an idea of how fast these events
took place in WildH¶s life, his last comedy, The Importance of Being
Earnest, was written in 1895, and his death in Paris happened in 1900).
The Picture of Dorian Gray, in a sense, expands the idea of the
double, more clearly represented in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde. At first, one tends to see the aspect of the double in the relationship
ϭϳ
of Dorian¶s physical beauty and youth against the hideous image on the
hidden painting. However, the novel presents another layer, another
possibility for a reading ± not only of the novel, but also of its author.
What seems to be double expands into a threefold mirror framed by
Dorian (the model, the Aristotelian ideal of beauty and perfection), Lord
Henry Wotton (the witty gentleman) and Basil Hallward (the artist). That
mirror reflected WildH¶s multiple dimensions: his wit and artistic qualities
are undisputed, and can be noticed in all of his work. His talent, like Basil¶s,
led to the creation of a work of art that brought him, as it did to Basil, harsh
consequences ± Basil died, and Wilde was arrested with excerpts of The
Picture of Dorian Gray being used as a legal evidence of his deviance.
WildH¶s case is just one example of a Victorian who led a double life,
who concealed his real wishes and had issues related to his situation as
an individual and as part of a social scheme. Attitudes and possibilities
were had as either good or bad by social groups, and Oscar Wilde was a
scapegoat, an example of what awaited the ones whose deep desires
surfaced, whose ³doubleV´Eecame evident.
The value judgment underpinning this dilemma accounts for the
predominance of the theme of the double (mostly in a Manichaean way) in
Victorian Gothic literature: on the one hand there is Dr. Jekyll, the healer,
versus Mr. Hyde, the hidden demon; or Dorian Gray¶s apparent beauty
versus his rotten soul and attitude. In the case of Victorian Gothic the
relationship between the audience and the work through dichotomies seemed
to work even more efficiently than in other contexts, due to their personal
tendency of rationalizing situations under a dichotomist perspective, by
separating good from evil, proper from improper, or acceptable from
unacceptable.
ϭϴ
In my readings of the novel, presented in chapters 2 and 3, I analyze
some of the imagery of the novel, aiming at illustrating how deeply Stoker
plunges into the presentation of dual images and the multiple possibilities
that derive from them.
Once the main characteristic of the period has been explained and
exemplified, it is important to provide a more specific definition of the
term Victorianism. It is a concept that outspread the meaning of the rule of
Queen Victoria. That was the time of establishing and reinforcing social
patterns, redefining the position of Britain in the international political
and economic scene and facing new patterns that caused the British to
question themselves about several matters. Trevelyan defines the Victorian
Age as the interval between the great Reform Bill of 1832 and the end of the
nineteenth century (p. 448). His argument for such a definition lies on the
fact that the strongest fixity to be found during that time lies solely on the
fact that the monarch was the same during those years. On the other hand,
the Victorian Age was characterized by a ³Fonstant and rapid change in
economic circumstance, social custom and intellectual atmosphere´ (idem, p.
448).
Stephen D. Arata agrees with Trevelyan¶s reading. In his article
The Occidental Tourist: Dracula and the Anxiety of Reverse Colonization, he
points out that,
Dracula appeared in a Jubilee year, but one marked by considerably more
introspection and less self-congratulation than the celebration of a decade
earlier. The decay of British global influence, the loss of overseas markets
for British goods, the economic and political rise of Germany and the United
States, the increasing unrest in British colonies and possessions, the growing
domestic uneasiness over the morality of imperialism ± all combined to
erode Victorian confidence in the inevitability of British progress and
ϭϵ
hegemony. Late-Victorian fiction in particular is saturated with the sense
that the entire nation ± as a race of people, as a political and imperial force,
as a social and cultural power ± was in irretrievable decline. (p. 120)
Hints of the ³uneasiness´ referred to in the excerpt are found in
Dracula; the presence of the North American Quincey Morris in the group
that chases Dracula is an example: he is Texan and displays a completely
different image from the typical Victorian gentlemen Harker, Seward and
Lord Godalming represent. In spite of Quincey¶s exoticism towards
Victorian life, his presence prophesies the United StateV¶ future role
internationally through John Seward¶s words, ³If America can go on
breeding men like that [Quincey], she will be a power in the world indeeG´
(STOKER, chapter 13, p. 209)4
The fact that the British seem to be unable to fight their enemy
without the help of foreigners might be an indication of the helplessness of
the
Victorians
that
Dracula represents.
In
the
novel, there are
representatives of the most respectful social branches in Britain: a nobleman
(Arthur Holmwood, who later becomes Lord Godalming), and two
distinguished members of the new middle class: a man of science (Doctor
John Seward) and a lawyer (Jonathan Harker). Readings of the novel such as
AratD¶s or Franco Moretti¶s (whose contributions enhance the analysis in
chapter 3) reveal that the presence of two foreign men ± the American
Quincey Morris and the Dutch Abraham Van Helsing ± turns out to be an
interesting insinuation of the scenario that the British would be obliged to
face in the twentieth century: collaborating with other peoples in order to
achieve common goals, and the consequent loss of Britain¶s status as the
4
All quotations from Dracula have been taken from the 1994 Penguin edition.
ϮϬ
main world leader.
As other countries such as the United States and Germany
consolidated their status as economic powers, the British felt that their own
position was slipping through their fingers ± a position granted by their
leading role during the second phase of the Industrial Revolution. The
uncertainty and awkwardness was not merely individual, it was also present
in the Victorian notion of national identity. As George P. Landow points out
(1990, online document),
(« Victorian England was, in many respects, a tremendously virile and
terrible affair, (...). There was the same kind of unblinking worship of
independence and hard cash; there was the same belief in institutions -patriotism, democracy, individualism, organized religion, philanthropy,
sexual morality, the family, capitalism and progress (...) and, at the core, was
the same tiny abscess -- the nagging guilt as to the inherent contradiction
between the morality and the system¶
One of the greatest symbols of the progress Landow mentions was
communication, which became faster and more dynamic. The inventions of
the telegraph (1832), the first postal system in Britain (the ³one-penny´
system, in 1840), and the telephone (1876) made information flow faster
than before, affecting the Victorian life and Bram StokHU¶s novel as well.
The tendency towards faster-flowing (and reliable) information is clear
in Dracula, and this is remarkably manifested through its narrative scheme,
comprising several narrators and diverse media: telegrams, newspaper
articles, letters, notes and the log of the Demeter ± the ship that transported
Dracula to England. Still, the main media used in the novel is the entry for
varied kinds of journals and diaries: Jonathan HarkeU¶s traveler journal,
MinD¶s and Lucy¶s personal diaries, and John Seward¶s professional entries,
Ϯϭ
recorded on the phonograph ± which, in spite of not having been invented by
a British, first appeared in 1863. ³... on the table opposite him was what I
knew at once from the description to be a phonograph. I had never seen one,
and was very much interested. ³ STOKER, chapter 17, p. 263) MinD¶s words
reflect what an achievement the use of a phonograph was, and her
amazement is enhanced due to the fact that Mina herself is representative of
another efficient way of quickly conveying information ± shorthand writing.
StokHU¶s commitment to reliable information is an important feature
in Dracula. Plotwise, the narrators worry about sounding truthful,
especially
because
the
facts
they
narrate
are supernatural. Such
concern is echoed in Jonathan HarkeU¶s words in his final note, ³We were
struck with the fact, that in all the mass of material of which the record is
composed, there is hardly one authentic document. (...) We could hardly ask
any one, even did we wish to, to accept these as proofs of so wild a story´
(idem, final note, p. 449). In reality, the denial in Jonathan¶s words, as if
excusing himself and his friends for such unbelievable facts, works in
the exact opposite direction it apparently does: when he says (in a short
note after the end of the story) that it is hard to believe them, he does not
mean to destroy or contradict what was narrated in the twenty-seven
previous chapters. It becomes a way to tease the readers, make them push
their boundaries and put their capacity of believing to the test. Regardless of
its apparent irrelevance, the final note is crucial within the novel, and the
excerpt quoted previously sums up a central aspect that originated the so
famous dualities, contradictions and dichotomies of Victorian times.
As Trevelyan highlights, ³the whole period was marked by interest in
religious questions and was deeply influenced by seriousness of thought and
self-discipline of character.´ (p.448) As a consequence, improvements on
ϮϮ
technology and science were still pursued, and possibly the highest Victorian
contribution to science appeared in 1859, materialized in Charles Darwin¶s
The Origin of Species (originally published as On the Origins of Species by
Means of Natural Selection, for the Preservation of Favoured Races in the
Struggle for Life ± the title was reduced in 1872).
Therefore, the dual focus on spiritual issues and the pursuit of higher
scientific discoveries led to one of the greatest contradictions of the time.
Before The Origin of Species people did not give much thinking about their
creation ± at least not to the point of questioning the Bible: ³the Lord God
formed the man from the dust on the ground and breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life, and the man became a living beinJ´ (Genesis 2:7).
Darwin¶s studies, on the other hand, brought up new perspectives and
contradicted the established biblical arguments: ³... species are produced
and exterminated by slowly acting and still existing causes, and not by
miraculous acts of creaWLRQ´(DARWIN, p. 646)
Darwinism and new discoveries in science had increasing success in
scientific and intellectual areas, whereas the Church and Christians in
general completely disapproved the new concepts proposed by Darwin. This
separation caused a massive strife starting in the 1860s, increasing and
exposing even more the state of uncertainty. The new discoveries put
peoplH¶s belief in the miraculous in jeopardy ± mostly regarding intellectuals
and scholars, who became ³more anticlerical, antireligious and materialistic
than ever´ (TREVELYAN, p. 503); once more, the relation with Dracula is
clear, because in the midst of so many weird and seemingly unexplained
events, the characters have the tendency to always give a scientific
explanation for everything. The clearest example ± a hilarious one as well ±
Ϯϯ
is John Seward¶s attempt to explain Lucy¶s beauty as a corpse, when in
reality she is going through her vampirization process, ³often happened that
after death faces become softened and even resolved into their youthful
beauty, that this was especially so when death had been preceded by any
acute or prolonged suffering.´ (STOKER, chapter 13, p. 203) Along with
plenty of other images, this specific passage of the novel will be discussed in
detail in section 3.3.
Another important feature of Darwin¶s theory appears in Dracula
more than implicitly. Darwin says that species are bound to disappear or
weaken so that other species can survive,
[T]he most important of all causes of organic change is one which is almost
independent of altered and perhaps suddenly altered physical conditions,
namely, the mutual relation of organism to organism ± the improvement of
one organism entailing the improvement or extermination of others. (...) To
my mind it accords better with what we know of the laws impressed on
matter by the Creator, that the production and extinction of the past and
present inhabitants of the world should have been due to secondary causes,
like those determining the birth and death of the individual. (pp. 646-7)
Even though Darwin did not mean to develop the concept of food
chain in The Origin of Species, it is certainly one of the external factors that
can determine whether a species should rise or fall. Under that viewpoint,
the vampire is nothing but a species that needs to survive, and to do so
must be a predator and fulfill its need for blood. Two instances of the food
chain are more obvious in the novel: the vampire preying on humans and
Ϯϰ
Renfield gathering animals in his cell. However, it is important to point out
that the idea of the food chain was thoroughly developed only in the 1950s
by the ecologist Charles Sutherland Elton (see The Ecological Survey of
Animal Communities (1954) and his 1958 text The Ecology of Invasions by
Animals and Plants), but many of Darwin¶s ideas regarding the evolution
and extinction of species were used by Elton in his writings.
In spite of the time gap between Darwin implicitly establishing the
premises of the food chain concept and its formalization in Elton¶s studies, it
can be stated that one of the main worries underlying Victorian society was
the struggle for survival, the necessity of keeping up with the joneses
domestically and internationally.
On the one hand, the British were adapting to their social classes,
learning how to live with the progress and social inequality (as in the
description of lower class citizens and the poorhouses in Charles DickeQV¶
work), and, whenever they could afford, showing off as much as possible
(Oscar WildH¶s comedies are great examples of such fact).
On the other hand, Britain was in the middle of an identity crisis as far
as their international hegemony was concerned. Still a superpower, Britain
had to learn to deal with the idea of sharing power and accepting theories
and ideas from other countries. The symptoms of this restlessness appear
in Dracula symbolized by the vampire (the outsider from Western Europe
who threatens the established order), and the group that chases him, formed
by Englishmen, a Dutchman (Van Helsing) and an American (Quincey
Morris).
Toward the social agitation and new political and social configuration
within and outside Britain comes one of the greatest thinkers of the
nineteenth century, Karl Marx. Even though Marx was not a Victorian
Ϯϱ
citizen, he was one of the most important figures of the political and
philosophical turmoil that took place in Europe during the nineteenth
century. It is curious that in 1867, exactly thirty years before Stoker wrote
his vampire novel, Marx created a metaphor with the vampire in order to
critically analyze capitalism and its application in practical terms. Volume
one of Das Kapital reads: ³Capital is dead labor, which, vampire-like, lives
only by sucking living labor, and lives the more, the more labor it sucks´.
(MARX, p. 342)5
As the previous paragraphs discuss, the content of Darwin¶s study was
somehow absorbed by Marx and by Stoker some years afterwards. In the
meantime, the major impact was felt by the average citizen on a shortterm basis. The idea of descending from the monkey caused the conflict of
different explanations for the origin of the human race: on the one hand, the
literal truths of the Bible seemed untenable, and on the other, the brand new
theories sounded too revolutionary, and the most conservative and less
intellectualized branches of society refused to accept further questionings to
the truths they had held dear since always: ³During this period of change
and strife, causing much personal and family unhappiness and many
searchings of heart, the world of educated men and women was rent by a
real controversy´ (TREVELYAN, p. 504).
Investigations on the human being took place not only regarding
the biological origin (Darwin) or the socioeconomic and political structures
(Marx), but also searching for the cause for their psychological traumas. In
fact, Dracula was published one year after the term psychoanalysis was
first used by Sigmund Freud in a paper published in French called The
ϱ
The struggle for survival and the idea of the vampire as the predator constitute core imagery in
Dracula, and diverse interpretations of the theme are presented in chapter 3.
Ϯϲ
Aetiology of Hysteria.6
The simultaneousness of psychoanalysis and Dracula
for
the
account
innumerous psychoanalytical readings of the novel, and not by
chance, these readings tend to share a common feature: the return to the
feminine element in the novel, especially considering Freud¶s ideas on
hysteria in women and the roles of the female characters in StokHU¶s novel.
The word ³hystericaO´appears in MinD¶s diary entry, when she describes her
reaction to Jonathan¶s ³brain fever´ (in reality, his survival to his stay in
Castle Dracula),
And here the whole thing seemed to overwhelm me in a rush. The pity for
Jonathan, the horror which he experienced, the whole fearful mystery of his
diary, and the fear that has been brooding over me ever since, all came in a
tumult. I suppose I was hysterical, for I threw myself on my knees and held
up my hands to him [John], and implored him to make my husband well
again. (Stoker, chapter 14, p. 222. Italics mine.)
Psychoanalytical studies came up by the end of the nineteenth
century as a consequence of the general lack of answers characteristic of
the period. It was a busy time in terms of political agitation, changes in
social structures and even of the roles of the individual in the world. Not
by chance, psychoanalysis aims at understanding human nature through the
observation of behaviors, feelings and representations. As chapters 2 and 3
prove, Dracula is a novel full of symbolic representations that occur through
rich imagery, and the issues somehow presented in the novel involve topics
about which one does not find concrete answers easily. The novel yields
According to the Sigmund Freud Museum Website. Available at < http://www.freudmuseum.at/freud/chronolg/1896- e.htm >. Access October 1, 2013.
ϲ
Ϯϳ
discussions related to life and death (for example, what happens after we
die? Is there some kind of post-mortem existence?), good and evil (how does
evil get us? How does it manifest itself?), science and supernatural, right and
wrong, moral and immoral, certainty and uncertainty.
At the same time, the idea of approaching the world through binary
oppositions (mostly Manichaean ones) becomes very intense in the
nineteenth-century Europe,
especially in
Victorian English society.
Psychoanalysis, in its process to explain human nature, deals with the idea of
dichotomies in its discussion about the double. The figure of the double has
been recurrent in literary studies ever since, particularly in the Gothic genre,
which is well-represented in Victorian times by Dracula, alongside with The
Picture of Dorian Gray and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde.
The remarks about these novels in the beginning of this section open
the discussion for the dichotomies presented thereafter. The characteristics
the three works share ± the representation of the anxieties and mood of the
late Victorian period, the presence of the supernatural, their affiliation to
Gothic literature, and, most of all, the dual symbolism ± come full cycle
with Freud¶s discussion about the double. In chapter 2 I present the double
under Freud¶s perspective in The Uncanny, and I also discuss how it fits an
analysis of Dracula.
However, one of these dichotomies seems, at the same time, so
important and veiled: men and women in the Victorian social schemes
portrayed by the novel. The next section focuses on that issue, discussing
how the novel implicitly or clearly reinforces and contradicts the values
related to each gender, and the social responses expected from Victorian men
Ϯϴ
and women.
1.2 ³THE
SOCIETY
LADY IS A VAMP´? WOMEN
IN VICTORIAN
In Women and Marriage in Victorian Fiction, Jenni Calder says that
the Victorian view of home was ³precisely of a haven isolated from the trials
and temptations of the µUeaO¶ world outside. Women presided over this
haven, partly because that was pre-eminently where they ought to be, but
also (...) because they could not be trusted in the outside worOG´ (p. 13).
The quotation above says a great deal about the social scheme of the
time. More than that, it shows that the roles of women within the Victorian
social structure were not free from the pervading contradictions mentioned in
the previous section. The tone used by Calder indicates that women¶s reality
and social desires did not go together, due to the concomitance of two factors
± the general idealization of the perfect woman and the multiple features of
the female struggle in order to achieve more rights and feel fulfilled. The
reinforcement of the idea that the woman could only develop and fulfill her
moral personality by relating to husband and children depicts the limited
female social roles in nineteenth-century Britain. The representation of those
issues in Bram StokeU¶s novel indicates that latent retaliatory feelings against
that condition take place in various manners.
A ³good´, ³deceQW´ 9ictorian middle-class woman was the
personification of the ideal housewife: married, with children, living in a
proper, cozy and preferably spacious house, managing or supervising,
Ϯϵ
according to her social condition, household activities and always supportive
of the husband¶s desires, which eventually become her own. Calder uses
words such as ³mentor´ and ³guide´ regarding the position of the husband
towards the wife (idem, p. 14), and points out that ³the mainstream of fiction
in the 1840s and µ50s stuck close to an uncritical presentation of the
Amelia type of heroines, and a corresponding interpretation of marriage´
(idem, p. 56).7
On the one hand, Victorians had the example set by their queen,
who was always seen in portraits depicting the life of the royal family as
a major supporter of her husband, Prince Albert. Stagno and Clemen
(2001) highlight that new and cheap photography techniques allowed
people ± easily and at low costs ± to have inspirational portraits of the
queen, her husband and children at home. Sir Edwin Landseer, one of the
best known portrait artists of the time, shows that clearly in Windsor Castle
in Modern Times. Victoria was concerned about bringing the royal family
closer to her subjects, hence the elimination of the grandeur and opulence
in the ambience depicted in the portraits, and her constant position as a
submissive wife. Aware of the impact her behavior had on her female
subjects, Victoria established the pattern to be followed: in spite of her
privileged social and political station, she was always seen as the
supportive wife and devoted mother. That became even clearer after her
husband¶s death in 1861, since she ³remained in self- imposed seclusion
I could not find a concrete origin for the ³$melia type of heroinH´ Calder mentions, but it
most probably refers to Amelia Booth, the main character is Henry Fielding¶s novel Amelia
(1751), whose plot takes place in London. She marries against her mother¶s wish, and goes
through her husband William¶s imprisonment and subsequent betrayal resisting the attentions paid
to her by different men. He goes to prison one more time due to gambling debts, and she manages
to settle the debt. By the end of the novel, she forgives him and they move to the countryside.
ϳ
ϯϬ
for ten years. Her genuine but obsessive mourning, which would occupy
her for the rest of her life, played an important role in the evolution of what
would become the Victorian mentality´ (CODY, 2006)
An undisputed feature of the ³Victorian mentality´ Cody refers to
are the social codes destined to women. That is perceived in Dracula,
because even though the main focus of the novel is not directly related to
gender issues, it subtly provides its reader with substantial scenes and
information on women within society. The issue can be approached through
two intertwined perspectives, the concrete one connected to women¶s daily
life and duties, and another one, involving religious and supernatural
aspects, focusing on more specific imagery and interpretations of female
symbols of Dracula. This approach appears incidentally in the present
section, whereas chapters 2 presents two readings of the female presence in
the novel (under the perspectives of the Diurnal and Nocturnal Orders
proposed by Durand), and chapter 3 presents three reading avenues that
tackle the female element.
The discussion initiated in this section with CaldHU¶s book of essays is
echoed in the writings of many theoreticians and scholars who have dealt
with Bram StokHU¶s novel. Calder, for example, refers to George DrysdalH¶s
1855 essay Physical, Sexual and Natural Religion, which states that
³women could not be healthy and happy without a due amount of sexual
enjoymeQW´ (p. 161). DrysdalH¶s essay defended the use of female
contraceptive methods, since ³by the last of the nineteenth century the
unquestioning acceptance of women¶s fate was crumbling a little. Women
wanted, often inarticulately and blindly, more choice and more contrRO´
(idem, p. 162) Conversely, when Stephen D. Arata studies Dracula he states
ϯϭ
that ³in the novel¶s (and Victorian Britain¶s) sexual economy, female
sexuality has only one legitimate function, propagation within the bounds of
marriage.´ (p. 128)
Dracula is symptomatic in that sense, since the female characters are
sexually idle ± at least until they have contact with the vampire. The
distorted, exacerbated sexuality displayed by the three female vampires
found by Harker in Count DraculD¶s castle reveal how unnatural the
associations involving women and sexuality seemed at that time. Rebecca
A. Pope deals with this issue in her article Writing and Biting in Dracula,
coining the term ³Victorian Dis-Ease´ and indicating, through the pun, the
thin line between the apparently careful male attitude towards Victorian
women and the annihilation of their rights.
To a certain extent, Mina Harker (née Murray) and Lucy Westenra
embody the archetypical images of the Victorian female. This becomes
evident when we consider certain elements in the letters they exchange.
Mina writes one letter, dated May 9, and Lucy writes two. There is no date
in the first one ± only the word µWednesday¶ as a time reference ± and the
second one is dated May 24. The position of these letters as the opening for
chapter 5 is strategic in the organization of the novel, since the four first
chapters are full of supernatural references and disruptive scenes in Castle
Dracula involving the Count, Jonathan Harker and the three female
vampires. Therefore, their correspondence is the first reference in the novel
to a more attainable notion of reality, and due to the fantastic characteristic
of the preceding chapters, it may be considered a kind of comfort zone for
the reader, causing an impression of closeness to reality that tends to be
increasingly absorbed by the audience.
Although they are good friends and reveal several common behavioral
ϯϮ
features, Mina and Lucy belong to two different ranks in a society that is
highly class-conscious. Representative of the new urban middle-class, Mina
has to work ± she is an assistant schoolmistress (STOKER, chapter 5, p. 70),
which is suggestive, since the school environment is one of the few realms in
which women could be trusted in the outside world. Accordingly, MinD¶s
behavior is more traditional and conservative than Lucy¶s. She is engaged
to Jonathan, and seems to be looking forward to her married role of
supporter to her husband, ³... 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 and
write it out for him on the typewriter, at which also I am practicing very
harG´ (idem, p. 70). On the other hand, when she talks about spending time
with her friend, Mina thinks about ³building castles in the aiU´, a metaphor
that comes full cycle with this section¶s opening quotation by Jenni Calder
about women not being able to deal with serious matters outside the
household milieu.
On the other hand, Lucy¶s upper-class upbringing comes across in her
letter through a wide range of elements. The first displays her notion of
demureness, ³...Three proposals in one day! Isn¶t it awful! I feel sorry,
really and truly sorry for the poor fellows. (...) But, for goodneVV¶ sake,
don¶t tell any of the girls, or they would be getting all sorts of extravagant
ideaV´ (ibidem, p. 73). Then come her ideas about fidelity, ³A woman
ought to tell her husband everything. Don¶t you think so, dear?´ (ib., 73);
humbleness, ³...why are men so noble when we women are so little
worthy of them?´ (ib., p. 76); cultural activities, ³Town is very pleasant just
now, and we go a great deal to picture-galleries and for walks and rides in
the parN´ (ib., p. 71); and a sensitivity that verges on childish silliness
some times, ³I can¶t help crying; and you must excuse this letter being all
ϯϯ
blotteG´(ib., p. 74), or ³... and I am crying like a baby´ (ib., p. 77).
What prevents Lucy from being regarded as a conforming Victorian
woman is a question she asks Mina in the same letter. Upset about refusing
two of the gentlemen who proposed to her, she says, ³Why can¶t they let a
girl marry three men, or as many as want her, and save all this trouble?´(ib.,
p. 76). Lucy¶s well humored questioning of the female monogamy probably
indicates that her social position ± higher than MinD¶s ± sets her free from
some taboos her friend could not escape. As an upper-class girl, Lucy has to
come across as a demure girl, but in a more intimate situation she shows
suffocated feelings and ideas. MinD¶s station, on the other hand, is more
fragile. As someone¶s employee and teacher, she has social and moral
obligations ± and keeping a respectable behavior is the most important of
them all.
The several Victorian characteristics presented in the three letters in
Dracula
versus Lucy¶s remarkable ³Hpiphany´ regarding her lack of
choice sum up the premises of the New Woman Movement ± a reaction
from members of cultural groups such as writers, journalists, playwrights,
artists and activists against the social roles reserved to Victorian women.
Works such as Grant Allen¶s The Woman Who Did It (1895) and H. G.
WeOOV¶ Ann Veronica (1909) were representative of the movement, along
with George Drysdale, the author of the previously quoted essay Physical,
Sexual and Natural Religion.
The advocates of the New Woman cause found support in the members
of an organization responsible for a great deal of the political agitation of
that time, the Fabian Society. The Fabians¶ ³opportunist collecWLYLVP´
(TREVELYAN, p. 510) was influential in Victorian London. Besides Wells,
Allen and Drysdale, other important figures associated to the New Woman
ϯϰ
Movement were Emmeline Pankhurst, the leading figure among the
suffragettes in the fight for the female right of vote, and George Bernard
Shaw, whose play Pygmalion tells the story of a woman who manages to
succeed financially and socially by the end through hard work and study.
All members of the Fabian Society were thorough defenders of communist
ideas, and the followers of the New Woman movement found suitable
protection and support in them.
When commenting on Ibsen¶s play A Doll¶s House, Gail Finney
gives a concise description of the New Woman as someone who typically
values self-fulfillment and independence rather than the stereotypically
feminine ideal of self-sacrifice; she also believes in equality, be it legal
and sexual; she also ³often remains single because of the difficulty of
combining such equality with marriage; is more open about her sexuality
than the 'Old Woman', is well-educated and reads a great deal, and she has a
job as weOO´ (FINNEY, pp. 195 ± 196)
The movement aimed at providing women with opportunities that had
been denied to them up to that point. The idea of a woman working as
many hours as a man, performing tasks and having jobs that had been, until
then, exclusive to males was inconceivable. From a Victorian conservative
perspective, it was not only improper but also the certainty of moral and
social bankruptcy for the ones who dared pursue that.
Stoker never took part in the movement, but in Dracula we find the
echoes of this movement. Mina is presented simultaneously as a modern
working woman and as a highly respectable Victorian female. However, she
gives her own hints of uneasiness with her social station. As Lucy sleeps,
she writes an entry in her journal. She wonders how Arthur Holmwood
would react if he saw his fiancée Lucy asleep before marriage. Her
ϯϱ
observation seems somewhat ambiguous, but the final idea is clear,
Some of the µNew WomHQ¶writers will some day start an idea that men and
women should be allowed to see each other asleep before proposing or
accepting. But I suppose the µNew WomDQ¶ won¶t condescend in future to
accept. She will do the proposing herself. And a nice job she will make of it
too! There¶s some consolation in that. (Stoker, chapter 8, p. 110)
What may sound at first as an irony turns out to be a reason for
³Fonsolation´. Both main female characters in Dracula display a rebel
quality against their static and rather dull social roles. However, the major
bond between them is the fact that both are assaulted by Count Dracula, that
primitive and age-old force of nature. As a consequence, both undergo
transformations in terms of physical appearance, attitude, apparent autonomy
and sexuality (a detailed analysis of such transformations is provided in
chapter 3). Such changes are connected with a restlessness resulting from
youth and social circumstances, which enables them to be entitled to be
vampirized ± probably because they will make exemplar vampires
themselves.
In spite of their clearly Victorian background, they ask
questions, they wonder about the future and have desires.
Interestingly (and conveniently), the connection of the women with
Dracula is considered in the novel unholy, unnatural and evil. One possible
interpretation for that is the fear of what might result from the future of this
generation ± the same generation to which Mina and Lucy belong, formed
by ladies in their twenties by the end of the nineteenth century. Women
will no longer be fully available at home to their husbands and children,
who will not be so numerous. In the new urban society man is being
sucked on his vital energy by the vampire (capitalism), as Marx¶s quotation
ϯϲ
expresses in section 1.1.
Undoubtedly, Lucy becomes more independent after she becomes a
vampire. Even her beauty, which is an undisputed fact according to Mina
and the male characters (three of them are Lucy¶s suitors), changes
dramatically. As a mortal, Lucy is described in words as ³angeliF´. Now, as
a vampire, her lips become redder, even her eyes become cruel. MinD¶s
prophecy about the New Woman proposing to her man comes true, as the
group of men gathers in the cemetery to find Lucy as a vampire. Lucy¶s
new look intimidates them, as she goes towards Arthur and, ³with a
languorous, voluptuous grace, said, µCome to me, Arthur. Leave these
others and come to me. My arms are hungry for you. Come, and we can
rest together. Come, my husband, come!´ (idem, chapter 16, p. 253). This
is blatant in vampire movies, in which females with evident sexuality are
depicted either as caricatures or as threats.
Christopher Craft offers his interpretation of this idea through a
Psychoanalytical point of view, as he points out that
Dracula¶s authorising kiss, like that of a demonic Prince Charming, triggers
the release of this latent power and excites in these women a sexuality so
mobile, so aggressive that it thoroughly disrupts Van Helsing¶s
compartmental conception of gender (...) Lucy, now toothed like the Count,
usurps the function of penetration that Van Helsing¶s moralised taxonomy of
gender reserves for males. Dracula, in thus figuring the sexualisation of
woman as deformation, parallels exactly some of the more extreme medical
uses of the idea of inversion. (Craft, p. 104)
This fluid agitation in Victorian times manifests itself at this point of
the analysis through varied
and
mingled
aspects:
the
rising
of
Psychoanalysis as a crucial moment in the study of the human being, and
ϯϳ
the consequent study of then essentially feminine disorders, such as
hysteria (whose source is to be found in sexual traumas and disfunctions);
society-wise, women start fighting against oppression and repression openly,
and the New Woman Movement rises as an icon of their struggle; in
association to it, the Fabian Society, standing for political revolution, and the
lasting issues The Origin of Species brought up in society as whole in terms
of questioning human origin and religious beliefs.
In that sense, Dracula is a novel representative of its own time,
multiple in interpretations, concomitant to all the historical changes
witnessed in Victorianism, and openly contradictory in its nature.
Besides all the examples provided regarding Lucy and Mina and their
roles as Victorian women, there is also the play involving science and the
supernatural. The vampire annuls many (if not all) certainties a mortal has:
what seemed to be death turns out to be a different level of existence (a
rather appealing one, if one focuses on the absence of repression
and sexual or social conventions). When Lucy is supposed to be dead, she
looks healthier and redder than before; female vampires are allowed to
make the first move towards a man without breaking any conventions or
laws ± simply because there are none.
Even Dracula¶s relation to his victims is contradictory; on the one
hand there seems to be a freer, more outrageous attitude from female
vampires; on the other hand, they are directly subjected to DraculD¶s will,
and it is important to notice that he is the only male vampire in the story.
However, if the sexual aspect of a vampiUH¶s behavior is to be thought of as
the most obvious among the ones to be taken into consideration, then
Dracula¶s oddness and deviance ³do not bespeak merely Stoker¶s personal
ϯϴ
or idiosyncratic anxiety but suggest as well a whole cultuUH¶s uncertainty
about the fluidity of gender roles (CRAFT, p. 99).
Julia Kristeva states that what causes horror or revulsion is not the
dirt, the uncanny or the monstrosity, but the disturbance of identity, system
or order that a work of art may cause (p. 4). The Victorian clash between
appearance and reality may account for the double reaction of rejection of
the sexuated female image and enthusiastic acceptance of the novel. The
restlessness that marks the period reevaluates the questions involving order,
system and identity, instead of establishing them. As a matter of fact,
Dracula exposes the fact that, in spite of the apparent order easily regulating
Victorian social life, people in fact do not possess the wished- for stability.
The never-ending, difficult search for a place in the social scheme ± a spot
that could not be questioned, that fulfilled them both individually and
collectively, and that could be recognized by the others as legitimate ± is
what Bram StokHU¶s novel represents through metaphors, spooky scenes and
a plot that seemed (and still seems) ridiculous and useless to some people.
One of the objectives of the present thesis is to observe in what ways
Dracula meets the representations of the imaginary, fulfilling the needs of
its audience. The first possibility has been presented: it expresses in strange
and supernatural ways the search for identity and the ambiguities that so far
have been portrayed as typically Victorian features, in spite of being
permanent historical processes that last until now. Those unfinished
processes are bonds connecting the Victorians and twenty-first century
audiences, assuring a continuous connection of Bram StokHU¶s novel to
the future through its readers.
The novel¶s connection to the past, on the other hand, is established
from its very beginning. There is a strong historical background in the
ϯϵ
plot¶s structure and in the construction of the main character, therefore a
study of the novel requires some contextualization before Victorian times as
well.
1.3 ³WHERE DID HE COME FROM?´ THE CREATION OF
COUNT DRACULA
As the previous sections discuss, there were plenty of reasons for the
standard Victorian middle and upper class citizen to consider Dracula a
ground-breaking piece of literature. The traditional Christian point of view
finds in it a great deal of subversion, since its main character is an unnatural
and perverted personification of the devil. Many of these Victorian social
and religious values persist until now in many societies, continuously
reinforcing some commonplace notions on Bram Stoker¶s novel.
The association of Count Dracula and evil is, more often than not,
simply taken for granted. It is very easy to do that, considering that the
vampire is indeed a representation of evil in most cultures and mythologies.
In the case of Bram StokHU¶s character, however, the range of analysis goes
beyond the idea of a mere blood-sucking creature derived from a perverted
mind or a nightmare8. Stoker had some external influences while creating his
main character, and none of his commentators have been blind to them.
Thus, this section contextualizes the factors that contributed towards
StokHU¶s final product. Such factors have been divided by biographers and
scholars in two categories: the ones related to StokeU¶s background,
ϴ
³As for more direct incentives for Stoker to write Dracula, a number of commentators have
related, parrot fashion, Ludlam¶s suggestion (itself offered tongue-in-cheek) that in 1895 Stoker
had a bad dream following µa too generous helping of dressed crab at supper¶.´ (WOLF, p. 81)
ϰϬ
upbringing and acquaintances, and the ones connected to his known
research on History.
Stoker suffered during his childhood with an unstable health, and a
mysterious disease kept him bedridden until the age of seven. As he
affirms, ³in my babyhood I used, I understand to be, often at the point of
death. Certainly till I was about seven years old I never knew what it was
to stand uprigKW´ (STOKER, 1906, pp. 31-32). That had consequences that
led directly to the creation of Dracula: first of all, his illness made his
mother focus on him more than on her other six children, and while she
spent time with him she used to tell him stories about Irish and Gaelic
legends, among which are the myths of the Dearg-due, or red bloodsucker, a
female creature ³UHputed to use her beauty to tempt passing men and then
suck their blood; the banshee, ³the indecipherable yet distinctively female
wailing which signals an impending deaWK´ and the Water Sheeries ±
omens of death that come from the souls of those who have been denied
entrance to either Heaven or Hell. They also frequent churchyards, can
appear if they choose as dancing flames, and can be repelled with a
crucifix´(ibidem, p. 78).
His acquaintances were also important in the sense that some people
have been acknowledged as highly influential in the writing of the novel.
One of them is the person to whom Stoker dedicated Dracula, ³Hommy
Beg´. In reality, it was Hall Caine, StokHU¶s long-time friend, a renowned
novelist who was also influenced by folklore and legends, as well as a
source of supernatural stimulation, with whom Stoker shared horror stories.9
ϵ
Even though Hall Caine was born in Runcorn, Cheshire, and brought up in Liverpool, he
moved to the Isle of Man in 1894, a place full of fantastic stories. The influence of such folklore
is perceived in Caine¶s novel The Deemster. His unique web of relationships was also said to
ϰϭ
Another important person in StokHU¶s creation process was Sir Richard
Burton, an Oriental explorer and scholar who was a close friend and
introduced him to Arabian short stories, such as the Arabian Nights and
Vikram and the Vampire. Another factor that reinforces Burton¶s impact
in Dracula is that in his personal notes, Stoker points out that Burton¶s
most remarkable feature were his ³sharp canine teeWK´
Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his wife Elizabeth Siddall were also part of
StokHU¶s social circle ± as a matter of fact, they were Stoker¶s neighbors in
London. Elizabeth died in 1862 from an overdose of laudanum, and seven
years later Rossetti had her corpse exhumed. As a close friend, Stoker was a
constant companion throughout the process, and legend says that when the
two men saw Elizabeth Siddall¶s corpse in the opened coffin it was almost
perfect, and even her hair had grown. (LEATHERDALE, p. 81) This episode
might have influenced Stoker, since the uncanny beauty of the corpse
appears in his description of Lucy as a vampire ± that is, when she was
technically dead.
Another major influence was Stoker¶s employer, Henry Irving, with
whom he had a very close relationship. At first, Stoker followed his fathHU¶s
steps and started working as a servant at the Dublin Castle. He did that in
order to please his parents, who wanted their children to have stable careers.
However, Stoker¶s cultural effervescence and restlessness prevented him
from settling down: he ³inherited from his father a deep interest in the
theatUH´, (idem, p. 59) and lack of regular theatrical coverage in the
Dublin press resulted in 1871 with his taking of the responsibilities of unpaid
include the Rossettis, Oscar Wilde and even Jack the Ripper, according to Vivien Allen¶s
biography Hall Caine: Portrait of a Victorian Romancer.
ϰϮ
drama critic of the Evening Mail. One year later he moved to England with
his family, and started developing his short story writing skills. As Stoker
took up this job, he participated of most circles of the cultural scenario both
in Dublin and London ± which included the Wildes in his Dublin days
(Oscar and his parents, Sir William Wilde ± Egyptologist, and Lady Jane ± a
poet), and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Elizabeth Siddall, Sir Richard Burton and
Hall Caine, when he moved to London. In 1876 he met Irving, a rising actor
that impressed him very much.
Stoker expressed his amazement in his weekly column through some
positive criticism, which brought the two together personally and
professionally: ³Soul had looked into soul. From that hour began a
friendship as profound, as close, as lasting, as can be between two men´.
(STOKER, 1906, p. 31) In 1879 ± right after StokHU¶s wedding to Florence
Balcombe ± Irving took over the London Lyceum, his own theater company,
and put Stoker in charge of management. Their professional relationship
forced Stoker to spend six out of twelve months every year away from home
and from Florence, since he had to travel with the company on tour.
StokHU¶s long relationship with Henry Irving resulted not only in a
commercial partnership, but also in some of StokHU¶s other ventures in
literature, such as Irving¶s two-volume memoirs, Personal Reminiscences of
Henry Irving. In reality, these memoirs ended up forming a biography of
Henry Irving and Bram Stoker himself, as he discusses his political and
religious views, and also adopts a very personal, biased tone when
speaking of Irving. What lies underneath the surface in StokHU¶s
description of his employer is the latter¶s egomania and absorbing
personality, due to his privileged position as the company¶s owner
ϰϯ
associated to his artistic talent and moody behavior. It is the idea of Irving¶s
³absorSWLRQ´ that corroborates the theory that some of Count DraculD¶s
persona is owing to Henry Irving ± whereas Irving absorbed peoplH¶s
attention and effort, Dracula refuels on otherV¶ blood and youth.
Barbara Belford points out that aspect in Bram Stoker and the Man
Who Was Dracula, and, as the title suggests, Henry Irving being an
influence in the creation of Count Dracula is a recurrent hypothesis in her
writing. That becomes even more feasible considering the following
description of Irving published in The New York Tribune, in 1883: ³...a tall,
spare man... a peculiarly striking face, long grey hair thrown carelessly
back behind the ears, clean shaven features remarkable for their delicate
refinement, united with the suggestion of virile force (...) and rather aquiline
nose´(LEATHERDALE, p. 102). Some of these features are repeated in the
description of Count Dracula Jonathan Harker delivers in the beginning of
the novel (see chapter 2, page 54), particularly the expression ³Dquiline
nosH´.
And finally, the last possible influence in Bram StokHU¶s Dracula is
Hungarian professor Arminius Vambery, whose effective participation in
StokHU¶s creative process is uncertain, in reality. Nevertheless, Vambery¶s
possible contribution cannot be neglected, because it is related to one of the
most important and concrete features of the novel ± Count Dracula¶s
historical origin. The subject has caused some controversy among the
scholars of the novel.
Bram
Stoker
started
taking
notes
for
Dracula
in
1890
(LEATHERDALE, p. 67), and within the seven-year period until the
publication of the final version he faced a dilemma: he did not deny the
ϰϰ
supernatural character of his work (on the contrary, that was exactly what
he was looking for), but he wanted to add interest by giving to it an aura of
reality, even if a faint one. He found a way to do that as he came across the
story of two real people who, according to historical records, had in their
lives the strong need of blood: Elizabeth Bathory, also known as the
³Bloody CounteVV´ and Vlad Tepes ± or Vlad the Impaler, a fifteenth
century Romanian ruler.
Early notes for the novel indicate that he had in mind a female
vampire as his main character10, probably under the influence of his reading
of Sheridan Le Fanu¶s short story Carmilla and the story of Countess
Elizabeth Bathory. As Leatherdale explains,
StokeU¶s general focus on Hungary was enhanced by his reading in Sabine
Baring- Gould¶s The Book of Were-Wolves of the exploits of Elizabeth
Bathory, born 130 years after the Impaler. Apart from the fact of her being a
woman, Bathory supplied the pieces absent in Tepes. She was Hungarian;
she was a Countess; her crest also featured a dragon; (...) she actually drank
blood ± she was a living vampire. The Guinness Book of Records accredits
the µBloody Countess¶ as the most prolific murderess in history, with at
least 610 victims confirmed (p. 99)11
But Stoker decided to have a male vampire in his novel, granting
more originality to his work and avoiding a number of comparisons between
his work and Le Fanu¶s, who was also Irish and wrote Carmilla only 26
years before Dracula.
Traces of TepeV¶ story in Dracula are undeniable, and so is the
ϭϬ
According to the documentary Vampires: Thrist for the Truth (c 1996).
ϭϭ
The consequences of the intertwining of readings and inspirations in Bram Stoker¶s creative
process are discussed in section 3.2.
ϰϱ
documentation about his researches on the Romanian prince. However,
many researchers of the novel in Europe and the United States have
unsuccessfully tried to establish how Stoker became acquainted with Vlap
TepeV¶ life story.
That Vlad the Impaler was the ³inspiratiRQ´ for Count Dracula is for most a
³giveQ´ Various scholars make claims (all speculative) about what Stoker
knew about Vlad and how he found the information: that the source was a
Hungarian professor named Arminius Vambery; or that Stoker found one
of the German pamphlets [about Tepes¶ war techniques] that was housed at
the British Museum (MILLER, p. 219)
On the other hand, the assertion that Arminius was the one who
presented Stoker Vlad Tepes¶s story appears in Harry Ludlam¶s biography
of Bram Stoker ± in which he is echoed by the editor of the best-known
annotated edition of Dracula, Leonard Wolf. According to Ludlam and
Wolf, Vambery was a Hungarian professor of Oriental languages at the
University of Budapest, and his first meeting with Stoker took place in 1890.
He had a unique personality, for ³he wrote twelve languages, spoke sixteen,
knew twenty, and had been to Central Asia, following after centuries in the
track of Marco Polo. He was full of experiences fascinating to hear, and
spoke of places where mystery and intense superstition still reigned. Places
like Transylvania´ (WOLF, p. 291) It is most probable that Vambery indeed
enlarged Bram StokHU¶s understanding of Vlad Tepes.
Two of the main researchers of Dracula, professors Raymond
McNally and Radu Florescu, have also tried to find material evidence of this
connection in the letters Arminius and Stoker exchanged. However, as they
explain, ³unfortunately, no correspondence between Vambery and Stoker
ϰϲ
can be found today. Moreover, a search through all of the professor¶s
published writings fails to reveal any comments on Vlad, Dracula, or
vampireV´ (FLORESCU and McNALLY, p. 150)
The possibility of Arminius Vambery being the link between Stoker
and the story of Vlad Tepes is reinforced because there is the presence of
one Arminius in Dracula ± as a matter of fact, he is not an active character in
the plot, but has a fundamental symbolic function in the story and is most
probably a tribute Bram Stoker paid to his friend, for not only does he live in
Budapest, but also he is the one who provides Van Helsing with all the
information about the Count¶s historical background: ³I have asked my friend
Arminius of Buda-Pesth University, to make his record; and, from all the
means that are, he tell me of what he has beeQ´ (STOKER, chapter 18,
p. 287). This excerpt introduces an explanation by Van Helsing (whose first
name is Abraham, like Stoker) about Count Dracula, and it is the strongest
evidence of Arminius Vambery¶s connection to Vlad TepeV¶ story in the
novel.
Hints of TepeV¶ life appear right in the beginning of the novel, when
Jonathan Harker arrives in Castle Dracula. He becomes flabbergasted by the
Count¶s ³DUistocratic´ speech, in which words such as boyar and Szekely
appear. Another peculiarity that calls Harker¶s attention is the use of the
pronoun ³we´LQ DraculD¶s description of battles that had taken place
centuries before. This staggering use of ³we´ made Harker reach certain
conclusions immediately: ³In his speaking of things and people, and
especially of battles, he spoke as if he had been present at them all. (...)
Whenever he spoke of his house he always said ³wH´, and spoke almost in
the plural, like a king speaking´. (idem, chapter 3, p. 40)
HarkeU¶s and DraculD¶s conversation introduces a different time
ϰϳ
dimension in the plot. In his first diary entries, Harker gives enough evidence
that he is a typical Victorian gentleman: he complains about the trains being
unpunctual (chapter 1, p. 10), he thinks about getting an exotic recipe of
chicken with red pepper so that his fiancée Mina can cook for him when he
returns to England (idem, p. 9), and he does not know how to act when a local
woman gives him a crucifix for protection, ³for, as an English Churchman, I
have been taught to regard such things as in some measure idolatrous´
(ibidem, p. 13). But in Transylvania, he is a foreigner in a land different from
everything he knows, away from his comfort zone, which includes his
faithful fiancée and the modernity of London by the turn of the century. In
Castle Dracula, Jonathan Harker is indeed in the 1890s, but is at the mercy of
Vlad Dracula, a man whose violence and cunning had been known for
centuries.
In order to fully understand how Vlad Tepes became Vlad Dracula, and
consequently influenced the vampire in Bram StokHU¶s work, some
historical and geographical information becomes necessary. The objective
of the following paragraphs is to depict aspects of Vlad Dracula¶s life towards
an understanding of how they affected Bram StokHU¶s final result when
creating Count Dracula. Thus, information with no direct influence on the
novel and its main character (dates, events, places and names) has been
omitted. Data has been gathered from various sources, being Elizabeth
MillHU¶s Dracula the main one.
Vlad Tepes (pronounced ³Tsepesh´ ± LEATHERDALE, p. 92) was
born around 1430-1 in the Transylvanian town of Sighisoara. In that time,
Transylvania was a semi-independent principality, neighboring Moldavia
and Wallachia. In spite of Transylvania¶s importance as the home of Vlad
Tepes and the site of the literary character¶s castle, Wallachia plays a
ϰϴ
fundamental role in the real DraculD¶s life. His grandfather, Mircea cel Batrin,
was the first famous early ruler of Wallachia (which made him a boyar, or a
nobleman12). The Romanian Orthodox Church was the dominant religious
power, which left no room for the Roman Catholic Church in the territory.
Mircea had many illegitimate children (including Vlad TepeV¶ father,
whose name was also Vlad), and that raised an issue regarding the succession
line, since his only legitimate son died two years after Mircea¶s death. Being
an illegitimate child, Vlad (hence called Vlad Sr) was sent away from
Wallachia, being raised in the court of King Sigismund in Buda (nowadays
Budapest). At that time, Sigismund had a prominent position (as the Holy
Roman Emperor), and he invested deeply in Vlad Sr, who was exposed to
high culture and education, and ended up becoming one of the ³King¶s meQ´
by his early twenties. At first he was sent to Sighisoara, ³in the military
capacity of frontier commander with responsibility for guarding the mountain
passes from Transylvania into Wallachia from enemy incursion´ (MILLER,
p. 17). During that time, he had two sons, Mircea and Vlad Jr, who later
became the Impaler upon which Dracula is inspired.
In 1431, however, Vlad Sr was sent to Nuremberg to be initiated
into the Order of the Dragon. As Miller explains,
It was created in 1408 by Sigismund (while he was still king of Hungary) and
his queen Barbara Cilli, mainly for the purpose of gaining protection for
the royal family. The statute which survives in a copy dated 1707 states that
the Order also required its initiates to defend the Cross and to do battle
against its enemies, principally the Turks. (...) It adopted as its symbol in
1408 the image of a circular dragon with its tail coiled around its neck. On
its back, from the base of its neck to its tail, was the red cross of St George
ϭϮ
Dracula even says: ³Here I am noble; I am boyar; the common people know me, and I am
master.´ (Stoker, chapter 2, p. 31).
ϰϵ
on the background of a silver field. With the expansion on the Order, other
symbols were adopted, all variations on the theme of dragon and cross.
(Miller, p. 19)
Being summoned by the king to join the Order was a great
achievement to Vlad Sr, who took on the nickname ³DracuO´ (pronounced
³Drah-cool´ ± LEATHERDALE, p. 90), in a reference to his entering the
Order. In Ancient Romanian, one of the possible translations for ³dracXO´
was ³dragon´, leading to the conclusion that the reference behind the name
originally implied a connection of its owner to a Catholic organization. The
possibility of the word ³dracula´ being rooted in ³dragoQ´ Erings into
discussion a twist in peoplH¶s common sense as far as the novel is concerned:
how could a devilish creature like Dracula have a name based on an order
that aimed at the spreading and defense of Catholicism?
Sigismund also promised to support Vlad Dracul in his pursuit of the
Wallachian throne, provided that Catholic institutions had an open way into
Wallachia. Vlad gained the throne and became WallachiD¶s voivode13 in
1436, and spent almost ten years in total as the ruler. During that period,
Vlad Dracul moved into the capital city, Târgoviste, with his wife and two
sons, and in 1438 the third male child, Radu, was born.
Sigismund¶s death, however, brought significant changes in Vlad
Dracul¶s rule. In order to protect Wallachia and defend its interests, he
³UDnged from pro-Turkish policies to neutrality´ (MILLER, p. 23). The
Turkish sultan did not believe in Vlad Dracul¶s new foreign policies, though,
so he required of Vlad that two of his sons ± Vlad Jr and Radu ± should
ϭϯ
A word of Slavic origin, used in Romania for the leader of a principality, a warlord or a
supreme chief (Miller, p. 9). Van Helsing uses this word to refer to Dracula.
ϱϬ
be kept in Turkey as a guarantee of Dracul¶s support and peace towards
Turkey.
That was a turning point in 11-year-old Vlad JU¶s life, and also as far
as Dracula is concerned, since it was during his stay in Turkey (which may
have lasted up to six years) that he came to learn ³the weight of Turkish
methods, discipline, and barbarity ± the psychological weapon of terror put
into full use´ (LEATHERDALE, p. 90)
Vlad JU¶s return to Wallachia was forced by his fathHU¶s and elder
brotheU¶s assassination in 1447, as a consequence of a plot from a branch of
boyars in Târgoviste to gain the throne. Vlad Jr gained and lost the throne
three times between 1456 and 1476, the year of his death. Most of the
information about Vlad Jr regards this twenty-year period, during which he
solidified his fame as a brave and violent warrior, and also as a blood lover.
Vlad Jr is known by two separate names: Vlad Tepes14 and Vlad
Dracula, with the particle ±a ³son of´) added to his fathHU¶s chosen name.
Therefore, the word ³dracula´ originally means ³the son of the son of the
dragon´. But the spread of German pamphlets focused on Vlad¶s cruelty and
numerous murders by the end of the fifteenth century led to the
misinterpretation of the word as a synonym of ³demon´, providing a second
possibility of translation that, in opposition to ³dragoQ´ agrees with the
unchristian and more current analyses of the novel.
The surviving manuscripts indicate that Vlad Dracula was a skilled
warrior, a prince who stood in the frontline among his subordinates in wars.
ϭϰ
Elizabeth Miller explains that ³Tepes´ comes from the Romanian word ³epH´ (impaler),
which derives from the Turkish nickname ³kaziklu bey´ used in Turkish chronicles from the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in a reference to Vlad¶s favorite means of execution.
ϱϭ
Despite the difficulty of assessing how traumatizing the assassinations of his
father and brother were, most historians believe that they explain Vlad¶s
violence and ³thirst for blood´.
He became known all through Europe because of his peculiar
intimidation technique on the battlefield, the impalement: huge stakes with
sharp edges were placed next to one another, and the defeated soldiers from
enemy armies were pushed through them, most frequently penetrating the
navel, the rectum or the heart. That way, he and his soldiers used to build up
barricades of impaled soldiers. As professor Raymond McNally points out,
³it was not a very moral technique. Effective, EXW QRW PRUDO´15 However,
what scared the Europeans the most about Vlad Dracula was not his
violence on the battlefield, but its maintenance on a daily basis.
The German writers relate that aside from impaling his victims, Dracula
decapitated them; cut off noses, ears, sexual organs, limbs; hacked them to
pieces; and burned, boiled, roasted, skinned, nailed and buried them
alive. In one verse Beheim described Dracula as dipping his bread in the
blood of his victims, which technically makes him a living vampire ± a
reference that may have induced Stoker to make use of this term. According
to the German sources he also compelled people to eat human flesh. His
cruel refinements included smearing salt on the soles of a prisoneU¶s feet
and allow animals to lick it off. If a relative or a friend of an impaled victim
dared to remove the body from the stake, he was apt to hang from the bough
of a nearby tree. Dracula terrorized the citizenry, leaving cadavers at various
strategic places until beasts or the elements or both had reduced them to
bones and dust. (McNally and Florescu, p. 85)
That description comes full cycle with the information Arminius
provided to Van Helsing. This is one of the most important passages of the
ϭϱ
According to the documentary Vampires: Thrist for the Truth (c 1996).
ϱϮ
novel for two reasons: first of all, because the reader has the chance of
understanding DraculD¶s historical references in his first conversation with
Jonathan Harker (as Van Helsing¶s allies learn about the vampire, so does the
reader). Secondly, because it is the crucial evidence of Vlad TepeV¶ story in
the novel, including terms in Ancient Romanian and aspects of Vlad
DraculD¶s life.
I have asked my friend Arminius, of Buda-Pesth University, to make his
record; and, from all the means that are, he tell me of what he has been. He
must, indeed, have been that Voivode Dracula who won his name against the
Turk, over the great river on the very frontier of Turkey-land. If it be so,
then he was no common man; for in that time, and for centuries after, he
was spoken of as the cleverest and the most cunning, as well as the bravest
(...) The Draculas were, says Arminius, a great and noble race (...) In the
records are such words as ³stregoica´ ± witch; ³ordog´ aQG ³SRkol´ ± Satan
and hell; and in one manuscript this very Dracula is spoken of DV³wampyr´
which we all understand too well (Stoker, chapter 18, pp. 287-288).
Vlad Dracula was killed under unclear circumstances during his last
turn as the Wallachian voivode in 1476, in a battle near Bucharest. Some
claim that, in order to infiltrate the Turkish troops more easily, he put on the
clothes of a Turk he had killed, and ended up murdered by one of his own
soldiers. Nonetheless, it is most likely that he was attacked by Basarab
Laiota, a rival claimant who succeeded him as voivode.
Two other moments in Vlad TepeV¶ life are worth mentioning. In
1462 he was held imprisoned in Buda, and then in Visegrad. There are few
accounts of his life during this period, but one of them remained. It was
written by Fedor Kurystin, a Russian diplomat at the Hungarian court in the
1480s. According to him, Vlad did not abandon his violent habits while in
ϱϯ
jail: he caught mice and bought birds in the market. He tortured the animals
through impalement, by beheading them, or plucking their feathers out and
letting them go. (MILLER, p. 61) Curiously, Kurystin¶s account also states
that Dracula ³Dbandoned Orthodoxy and forsook the truth and light and
received the darkness´(idem) ± in other words, he converted to Catholicism.
Another curiosity about him is related to his death. There is a grave in
the Snagov Monastery with Vlad TepeV¶ portrait, but when it was opened
there was no corpse in it, only some tiny animal bones. Most probably the
burial site in the monastery is just a tribute to the man who has an important
role in the history of Romania, and the bones found in the grave could
even be a practical joke. But still, the absence of the corpse has only added
interest to the imaginary around the connection man/vampire present in
Dracula.
Another important feature in the creation of Count Dracula was
StokHU¶s previous readings, which consisted of works of literature and
historical documents.
In the former, he gathered inspiration and gave
Dracula more vampiric features by making use of some archetypal images
associated to the vampire in other pieces of literature; in the latter, he found
information to provide his character with fictional features borrowed from
Vlad Tepes and Elizabeth Bathory.
On the one hand, it is known that in spite of being considered the
ultimate and best-known work of literature dealing with vampires and/or
vampiric characters, Dracula has its literary predecessors. Three are the most
relevant ones: Samuel Taylor ColeridgH¶s Christabel (a poem written in two
parts, between 1798 and 1800), John Polidori¶s The Vampyre (1816) and
Sheridan Le Fanu¶s Carmilla (1872). Often included in this list is Edgar
ϱϰ
Allan PoH¶s 1840 tale The Fall of the House of Usher (as in J. O. Bailey¶s
What Happens in The Fall of the House of Usher? and Lyle H. Kendall¶s
The Vampire Motif in The Fall of the House of Usher).
In his notes, Bram Stoker clearly acknowledges The Vampyre and
Carmilla as being fundamental bases for his novel. The influence of Le
Fanu¶s work is obvious because many of these notes indicate that Stoker had
already written more than half the novel with the main character as a female
vampire when he came across books and other sources about the life of Vlad
Tepes.
Another indication of StokHU¶s reading of Carmilla influencing Dracula
reveals itself in spite of the authoU¶s power: one portion originally written
to be included in the novel ended up excluded from the final version, and
Florence Stoker, Bram¶s widow, published it as a short story called
Dracula¶s Guest in 1914, two years after StokHU¶s death (the compendium
includes some of StokHU¶s unpublished tales and it is also named DraculD¶s
Guest). Even though Jonathan HarkeU¶s name is never mentioned, it is very
easy to identify him in the story on his way to Castle Dracula, and the action
takes place in Styria instead of Transylvania; It is a region in southern
Austria, and not coincidentally the action in Carmilla also takes place there.
This small example shows how StokHU¶s parallel researches changed his
directions when writing, and also how one influenced the other.
Considering previous works that influenced Bram Stoker, the most
striking similarity among Dracula and other vampires is their nobility.
Before Count Dracula came Lady Geraldine (in Christabel), Lord Ruthven
(The Vampyre) and Countess Carmilla Karnstein. Once more, fiction
becomes mixed with real History, for Vlad Tepes was not only noble, but
also a Prince. Some critics, such as David Punter and Franco Moretti, have
ϱϱ
already pointed that out, ³... but Dracula is not merely an individual; he
is, as he tells Harker, a dynasty, a ³house´, the proud descendant and bearer
of a long aristocratic tradLWLRQ´ (PUNTER, p. 23) ³...Count Dracula, the
aristocrat, the figure of the past, the relic of distant lands and dark ages.´
(MORETTI, p. 47)
The vampirH¶s nobility is one of the issues approached in the next
chapter, as I present the two Orders of the imaginary and how they deal
with nobility. That will also open the way for the implications of Dracula¶s
high status in Transylvania (as a Boyar, a nobleman) and its consequences in
his stay in England presented in chapter 3.
ϱϲ
2
IMAGINARY
ARCHETYPES
AND
SYMBOLISM:
THE
VAMPIRE
In reality, the acceptance of the shadow-side of human nature verges on the
impossible. Consider for a moment what it means to grant the right of
existence to what is unreasonable, senseless, and evil! Yet it is just this that
the modern man insists upon. He wants to live with every side of himself ± to
know what he is. That is why he casts history aside. He wants to break
with tradition so that he can experiment with his life and determine what
value and meaning things have in themselves, apart from traditional
resuppositions. (Carl Gustav Jung. Psychology and Religion: West and
East)
Connecting blood and Dracula might seem obvious ± after all, one of
the most popular recurrent images when defining a vampire consists on a
long-fanged creature feeding on its victim¶s blood. However, underneath
the misconceptions and common-place readings of the novel, lies a wide
range of symbolic interpretations, and the objective of this section is
to introduce some concepts that will be recurrent in the readings presented
in chapter 3.
Two theoreticians have been chosen as the basis for the analysis of
Dracula presented here: Carl Gustav Jung and Gilbert Durand. Their studies
enrich manifold the array of readings of the novel, for they focus on two
essential areas in human relations ± Psychology and Anthropology,
respectively ± and the combination of such approaches proves to be
complementary to one another.
Therefore, the first section of this chapter presents Jung¶s definitions
of the concepts that will be applied in the specific reading presented in
chapter 3, whereas the second and third sections present a broader
reading of the novel based on the study of symbolism and the orders of
ϱϳ
the image developed by Gilbert Durand.
The conceptualization required for my analysis has the same problem
as the novel I have chosen: commonsensical interpretations and judgments at
face value. As a matter of fact, many of the concepts I borrow from Jung
are used by scholars (whose definitions may vary according to their field
of expertise and inclinations) and, on a daily basis, by laymen (who
probably do not know exactly what they mean). Hence the importance of
Jung¶s studies in this analysis, for his are the definitions of myth, archetype,
symbol, image used throughout this study. Along with these come other
ideas, such as the collective unconscious and the archetypal images, which
will be also necessary for a full understanding both of Jung¶s study and the
readings of Dracula.
At the same time, French anthropologist Gilbert Durand, in his
essential work The Anthropological Structures of the Imaginary, discusses
and defines the way the imaginary works as far as symbols and images are
concerned. Durand¶s writing is marked by several citations and references to
many theoreticians of different fields, but his main influences are French
philosopher Gaston Bachelard and Jung, especially when Durand comments
on the archetype and the image.
Besides the theoretical affinity between Jung and Durand, what
justifies the presence of Durand¶s ideas in this thesis is his contribution in
the form of a division of symbolism into two orders ± the Diurnal and the
Nocturnal ones. In spite of the differences between the two orders, both are
fit towards a rich reading of Dracula, and each order covers diverse
aspects of the symbolism involving the novel.
ϱϴ
2.1 ARCHETYPAL IMAGES: CARL GUSTAV JUNG
Three are the ideas linked to blood imagery submitted to an analysis
in this thesis. The first one relies on the aspect of blood as food for the
vampire, as something to be coveted and longed for, something the vampire
cannot survive without; the second one involves metaphorical meanings for
the use of the term ³blooG´ regarding land, origin and family. Such idea
becomes relevant because of Bram StokHU¶s historical research on Vlad
Tepes (or Vlad the Impaler) in the formation of Count Dracula. Stoker deals
with the ideas of origin and land mainly through Dracula and the historical
link between him and Tepes, whereas the idea of family appears in two
diverse ways: through kinship, sharing the same blood and belonging to the
same family, and the vampiric family ± the genealogy created between the
matrix vampire and the human who is converted. Finally, the third idea is
the one of blood as a means of bond, but not through kinship. Being that
blood is so important in the vampiUH¶s existence, it also changes the
vampire¶s relationship with the victim, broadening blood connections and, in
a sense, creating an entire genealogy.
Four concepts are crucial in the blood-focused reading proposed:
myth, archetype, symbol and image. They are intimately connected with one
another, and such intertwining may lead to contradictions and certain
confusion. Due to this significant amount of definitions and to the
reliance of the concepts on one another, and also for the sake of organization
and proper understanding, the above mentioned concepts are defined
according to Carl Gustav Jung¶s writings, implying a reliance on the idea
of the collective unconscious, fundamental in order to fully understand
Jung¶s theory. But before going deep into the novel, it becomes necessary to
ϱϵ
provide relevant information concerning these concepts and about Jung
himself.
Carl Gustav Jung was a disciple of Sigmund Freud, and he carried on
his studies with Freud for many years. Even though their break-up became
clear only in the mid-1910s, he already experimented some writing of his
own before that point, since the origins of Jung¶s theory regarding the
archetypes and the collective unconscious can be traced to his earliest
publication, On the Psychology and Pathology of So-Called Occult
Phenomena, in 1902. According to John Freeman in the introduction for
Man and His Symbols, Jung¶s main concern was to transform his ideas ±
that most probably sounded confused, even absurd at first ± into accessible
concepts, so that anyone, even laymen, could understand. It also happened
because Freudian Psychoanalysis was fashionable at the time; therefore Jung
wanted to state very clearly the differences between his thinking and Freud¶s.
The collective unconscious, one of Jung¶s most innovative and
important contributions to psychology, turned out to be the source of a great
deal of discussion between the two psychiatrists, and one of the major
theoretical differences between them as well. According to Jung, Freud
associates the unconscious to repressed or forgotten contents (JUNG, 1969,
p. 3), consequently becoming some kind of tainted den in the human mind.
Also, Freud says that these contents in our collective unconscious have
personal origins ± we unconsciously select what ends up there.
Like Freud, Jung creates a whole theory on how the unconscious
works and exists. The difference lies on Jung¶s focus on the ideas of symbol,
myth, image and, above all, archetype, to explain the unconscLRXV¶ working
process. In his article Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious, he says that
indeed there is a part of the unconscious that is personal ± a superficial layer,
ϲϬ
which he calls personal unconscious, which derives from personal
experience and is a personal acquisition. Lying underneath this one rests the
collective unconscious, a deeper, bigger, more significant layer of our
unconscious that is inborn and universal. Also according to Jung, the
collective unconscious ³has contents and modes of behaviour that are more
or less the same everywhere and in all individuals´. (JUNG, 1969, p. 4)
The archetypes are simply the contents of the collective unconscious.
Jung brings his idea close to Lévy-Bruhl¶s concept of the ³représentations
collectives´, but he points out a major issue here: even though the archetypes
have an unconscious origin, they cannot be expressed without conscious
thinking. Lévy-Bruhl deals with symbolic figures, which are ³processed´
archetypes, submitted to conscious ³HlaboraWLRQ´ (another term used by
Jung). The archetype, when it is in our unconscious in its pure form, is not
processed or elaborated. Only after the elaboration process do the
archetypes become archetypal images ± in other words, unconscious contents
that receive a defined form so that they can be represented. To the means
of transmission of such processed contents Jung gives the name of esoteric
teaching. The archetypal image is a cardinal point for the understanding of
chapter 3, which is fully based on the imagery presented in the novel. All the
crystallized ideas about vampires and stereotypes are, in reality, nothing but
archetypal images.
These archetypal images can be conveyed through some forms, and
Jung points the myth as one of the most relevant ways of expressing
archetypes: ³... myths are first and foremost psychic phenomena that reveal
the nature of the VRXO´ (JUNG, 1969, p. 6) I came across a definition of
myth that at the same time agrees with Jung¶s and is more objective.
ϲϭ
So we may say that a myth is typically a traditional sacred story of
anonymous authorship and archetypal or universal significance which is
recounted in a certain community and is often linked with a ritual; that it tells
of the deeds of superhuman beings such as gods, demigods, heroes, spirits or
ghosts; that it is set outside historical time (...) or in the supernatural world,
or may deal with comings and goings between the supernatural world and
the world of human history; that the superhuman beings are imagined in
anthropomorphic ways, although their powers are more than human and
often the story is not naturalistic but has the fractured, disorderly logic of
dreams (Cupitt, p. 29)
Myths are constructed with material (images) provided by our psyche
± in more practical terms, if one takes Bram StokHU¶s description of Count
Dracula, one will realize that the most classic and recurrent representations
of the vampire nowadays, be it Dracula or not, be it in literature or in the
movies, will not differ very much from the image Stoker proposed,
His face was a strong, a very strong, aquiline, with high bridge of the thin
nose and peculiarly arched nostrils, with lofty domed forehead, and hair
growing scantly round the temples but profusely elsewhere. His eyebrows
very massive, almost meeting over the nose, and with bushy hair that
seemed to curl in its own profusion. The mouth, so far as I could see it
under the heavy moustache, was fixed and rather cruel- looking, with
peculiarly sharp white teeth. These protruded over the lips, whose remarkable
ruddiness showed astonishing vitality in a man of his years. For the rest, his
ears were pale, and at the tops extremely pointed. The chin was broad and
strong, and the cheeks firm though thin. The general effect was one of
extraordinary pallor. (Stoker, chapter 2, p. 28)
Jung¶s theory on archetypal images finds some kind of reinforcement
in the very composition of the literary character Count Dracula by Bram
ϲϮ
Stoker, who based the physical description of the Count in his old age on
John William Polidori¶s Lord Ruthven, in The Vampyre, written in 1816 and
published in 1819. That means the image Stoker proposed can also be
traced back almost one hundred years before Dracula was published ±
therefore, there already was some kind of archetypal image, a processed idea
of how a vampire should look like,
Those who felt this sensation of awe, could not explain whence it arose:
some attributed it to the dead grey eye, which, fixing upon the object's face,
did not seem to penetrate, and at one glance to pierce through to the inward
workings of the heart; but fell upon the cheek with a leaden ray that
weighed upon the skin it could not pass. (Polidori, 2003, online document)
Polidori also uses phrases such as ³deadly hue of his face´ and ³the
dread of his singular character´ to describe Lord Ruthven, proving that
Dracula¶s uncanny appearance was not created from scratch ± more than
that, it also proves that in spite of Bram Stoker providing the ³ultimate´
version of the archetypal image of the vampire we have inherited, his was not
the first one. But nor was Polidori¶s. The images regarding vampires can be
traced back to thousands of years, for virtually every Ancient civilization had
its own version of blood-sucking creatures, in spite of certain variations. J.
Gordon Melton mentions vampiric creatures among Babylons, Greeks,
Romans, Egyptians, Mayans, Aztecs, and other African, American and
Asian civilizations, among others. In all of these civilizations, the vampire
was a monster, a bad omen or a blood-sucker. As it can be seen, Jung¶s
archetypes and archetypal images find strong proof in the history of vampire
imagery.
If the archetype is the product of the unconscious in its pure form (that
ϲϯ
is, not processed, and therefore impossible to be represented accurately), the
archetypal image is the archetype after having suffered the influence of the
consciousness and the myth is a wider form of expressing such images, the
next stage is the symbol.
The concept of symbol has a major influence on all of Jung¶s work,
because among all the concepts described so far, the symbol is the most
personal one. That becomes important when considering Jung¶s work
method, which essentially relied on the practical analysis of his patients.
Many of his techniques were alternative ones, basing therapeutic
procedures on representations of dreams and feelings through paintings,
drawings and mandalas, for example. Based on his experience with
individual cases, Jung differentiates symbol and experience: a person has an
experience, but it is a moment that can never be fully recovered. Therefore,
one will struggle to re- enact, remember or keep that moment to oneself as
hard as possible. The point is that in order to recover the experience, one
must use conscious material: something that is familiar and available in
onH¶s mind ± hence his definition, which says that the symbol is ³the best
possible expression for an unconscious content whose nature can only be
guessed, because it is still XQNQRZQ´ (1969, p. 6). In other words, the symbol
is not the object it symbolizes, but an expression of it that depends on
feelings, states of mind and moods.
This can also be exemplified by tracing a parallel between vampires
and Christianity. In all civilizations (whether Christian or not) vampires are
represented, their range of actions comprises murder, deceit, an uncanny
appeal and the search for otherV¶ vital fluids ± in other words, it goes
against all Christian precepts because the symbolism pervading the vampire
ϲϰ
is completely opposite to the one predominant in Christian codes of
symbols. Therefore, the vampire is a symbol of evil, of the anti-Christ. Such
symbolism is represented through images belonging to each set of values, as
a comparison between an archetypal image of Jesus Christ and an archetypal
image of Count Dracula shows.
Images are related to form, they express and shape figures of our
unconsciousness. However, Jung recognizes that once more consciousness
plays an important role here because there is no image without a conscious
process, and that eliminates the true impact and the magnitude of the
archetype. Due to the fact that man always thinks about images through
reason, his views might be, as Jung states, prejudiced or myopic. (1969, p.
13)
It is through the idea of image that the first intersections between
Jung¶s concepts and Durand¶s orders take place. For example, Durand
points
out
that
³the
first
characteristic
of
image revealed by
phenomenological description is that of consciousness and, consequently,
the image is transcendent, as is all consciousneVV´ (pp. 24-25). He also
agrees with Jung when he states that classical thinkers reduce the
imagination to the ³IUinge-area bordering on sensation, known as the afterimage´ (idem, p. 24). As he mentions Sartre and Bergson, Durand
reinforces one of Jung¶s main concerns, that is differentiating experience
from memory,
Sartre¶s substantial criticism of the classical theory of the miniature image,
and of the Bergsonian doctrine of the memory image, finds fault with both
these positions because they ³reif\´ the image and interfere with the
dynamism of consciousness by alienating its principal function, which is
knowing rather than being. (idem, p. 24)
ϲϱ
Durand also presents some ideas that agree with the collective
unconscious when he discusses symbols, since he says that the fundamental
power of symbols is to ³surmount natural contradictions and bind together
irreconcilable elements, social partitions and segregated periods of history. It
becomes obvious, then, that the motivating categories of symbols are to be
sought in the elementary behavior of the human psyche´ (ibidem, p. 39). As
far the vampire is concerned, different periods of time can be linked if one
considers the image of the vampire and what it symbolizes and has
symbolized so far. There is no record, for instance, of essentially positive
connotations regarding it ± for that matter, the vampire would be basically
one more option in the repertoire of monsters and fantastic beings humanity
has access to. And also there are no traces of a civilization or an era on the
timeline in which the vampire represented positive values for a branch or
branches of a society and negative values for the rest ± simply because all
social segments have always feared the vampire.
We could say that this happens because in all times, and regardless of
social position, people have been taught to fear the vampire. In Jung¶s own
words, this esoteric teaching happens in most unconscious and subtle ways ±
for example, a moviemaker such as Francis Ford Coppola makes a movie
about vampires, or a writer such as Bram Stoker or Anne Rice writes a book
about them. Scaring is certainly among their ultimate objectives, and
conversely, parents tend to prevent their children from watching such
movies and reading such books, in order to avoid nightmares or more severe
disorders.
ϲϲ
Durand borrows from Jung the expression ³psychological µgermen´
(ibidem, p. 40), in order to explain the concept that has just been presented ±
the hereditary symbols. Their solidification is a serious matter, since the
power of symbols, as we have seen, transcends time and social barriers. And
Durand does not neglect that aspect, once he quotes Gaston Bachelard,
³V\PEROV PXVW QRW EH MXGJHG from the point of view of their form [...] but
from the point of view of their force´(BACHELARD in DURAND, p. 47).
And by stating that the literary image is important because it is ³more vivid
than any draZLQJ´ (DURAND, p. 47) and because it transcends form and is
³movement without matter´ (idem, p. 47), Durand enhances the idea of
studying the impact of the vampiric literary images. Indeed, readers have
solidified their ideas about vampires for the past 110 years essentially based
on their contact with Bram StokHU¶s novel, and even the weirdest variations
proposed by contemporary writers and moviemakers are, ultimately,
products of readings of Dracula.
So far, I have identified fear as one of the objectives of vampire
stories, and discussed how it is conveyed through the symbolism attributed
to images. It is time now to approach the issue from the psychological point
of view.
As it has been stated, there were significant theoretical differences
between Freud and Jung, but they seemed to agree on one point in their
theories: how the double manifests itself. It becomes relevant to analyze that
because of the double¶s dichotomist nature and its function in Gothic
literature.
Freud refers to the µuncanny¶ as a province of aesthetics related to the
qualities of feeling, ³it is undoubtedly related to what is frightening ± to
ϲϳ
what arouses dread and horror´ (FREUD, part I). The uncanny is also
connected to ³what is known of old and long familiar´ (idem, part I). In
reality, Freud plays a word game with the term in German µUnheimlich¶ ±
not familiar) by proving that man considers something uncanny or unfamiliar
when he cannot make any connections to what he already knows ± in other
words, when there is no ³Fomfort zonH´. Finally, he points out that the
essential factor in the feeling of the uncanny is ³intellectual uncertainty´,
when something cannot be explained logically or in reliance to previous
scientific knowledge. The themes of the uncanny are all concerned
with the phenomenon of the µdoublH¶, the process of
³doubling,
dividing and interchanging of the self´ (idem, part II).
Given that Freud and Jung carried researches together and exchanged
ideas for a long time, it does not come as a surprise that Jung has his
own
nomenclature for
Freud¶s
double,
or Doppelgänger. In Jung¶s
reading the projection of feelings takes place through the archetype of the
shadow, which ³does not denote the whole of the unconscious, but only the
personal segment of iW´(JUNG, 1969, p. 244).
Basically, all individuals have an amount of data as worldly reference,
and whenever it is necessary we access those data in order to understand or
explain something. That amount varies according to one¶s readings,
experiences, likes and dislikes ± therefore, it is related to the most superficial
layer of our unconscious ± the personal unconscious.
Underneath that layer rests the collective unconscious. Whenever the
data in the personal unconscious does not suffice in order to understand the
world (when something is considered unfamiliar and uncanny), we rely on
the collective unconscious: universal, inborn, and containing psychic data
ϲϴ
that invokes the same emotional effect in all of mankind.
The unconscious reacts by projecting archetypal images that
represent the uncanny ± therefore the representations tend to be
uncanny
themselves. For example, Dracula might be considered the
psychological result of the difficulty the Victorians felt in coping with the
changes discussed in chapter 1. Of course, the novel is the work of one man,
but its continuous reception and success since 1897 proves that Dracula
still works as a reflection of feelings and anxieties of the collective
unconscious.
To the archetypal images of the shadow are attributed symbols with
different values, which are thoroughly studied by Gilbert Durand and his
theory of the Diurnal and Nocturnal Orders of the symbol. Before plunging
into the Orders of the symbol, however, it becomes necessary to define
them and make some observations regarding the nomenclature used by
Durand.
At first, we risk confusing Diurnal and Nocturnal with ³day´ and
³nigKW´ ± hence a possibly Manichaean association of the Diurnal Order of
the symbol with goodness, light and God, whereas the Nocturnal Order
could refer to evil, darkness and the devil. However, that is not what Durand
actually postulates. In each of the next sections a scheme is presented
towards a definition of how Durand justifies these terms, but for the time
being it could be said that the Diurnal Order is defined as the ³Order of
antitheVLV´(ibidem, p. 66), which studies the symbol under the perspective of
polarized values, ideas and images. The Diurnal Order is marked by the
existence of dichotomies such as ³being and not-beLQJ´ or ³µpure¶ and
µshadow¶.´ (ibidem, p. 66)
ϲϵ
The Nocturnal Order, on the other hand, ³is constantly characterized
by conversion and euphePLVP´ (ibidem, p. 191) ± that is, what is
presented in the Diurnal Order in a drastic way is reconsidered and reevaluated in the Nocturnal Order. Durand deals with the idea of continuous
processes of euphemization, which begin with a simple inversion of the
emotional value attributed to an image or symbol in the Diurnal Order.
These processes become more and more pronounced until they turn into
antiphrasis ± namely, ³a radical inversion of the affective meaning of
imageV´ (ibidem, p, 191). In order to clarify the groups of images dealt with
in each Order the following quote helps:
The Diurnal Order is concerned with the postural dominant, the technology
of arms, the sociology of the magus-warrior-sovereign, and the rituals of
elevation and purification, whereas the Nocturnal Order is subdivided into
cyclical and digestive dominants, the cyclical dominants subsuming the
techniques of the container and habitat, alimentary and digestive values,
matriarchal and nurturing sociology; and the digestive dominant grouping
together the techniques of the cycle, the agricultural calendar, the fabrication
of textiles, natural or artificial symbols of return and myths and
astrobiological dramas (Durand, p. 58)
Therefore, the Diurnal Order is the Order of antithesis and involves
dichotomies which are sometimes Manichaean. From the binaries of the
Diurnal Order comes the Nocturnal Order, which is the Order of antiphrasis
and works with euphemization, relativization and re-evaluation of symbols
previously divided within the Diurnal Order.
The Anthropological Structures of the Imaginary tends to be a dense
reading, because he presents innumerous concepts and brings varied
ϳϬ
examples from Ancient and mediaeval culture with overwhelming fluency
and ease. Thus, my first reading of Durand served mostly to make me adapt
to his discourse and depth. My second reading, however, was essentially
focused on Dracula. Having Stoker¶s novel in perspective all the time as I
tackled the Orders, I concluded that there is a great deal of possibilities to be
explored. When it came to deciding on how to present the orders, the most
effective solution was to balance Durand¶s applied theory and a close
reading of the novel altogether. The two orders provide complementary and
broad readings of Dracula, whereas the reading in chapter 3 has one specific
facet (blood imagery) as the backbone of the imagetic analysis presented.
And the contextualization given in chapter 1 is also referred to whenever it is
pertinent.
ϳϭ
2.2 DICHOTOMIES: THE DIURNAL ORDER OF THE IMAGE
Analyzing Dracula under the perspective of the Diurnal Order proves
to be a prolific enterprise. All the divisions of the human soul that were
particularly flagrant during the Victorian period presented in the previous
chapter re-emerge, and the idea of opposite values and polarizations gains
force in the Diurnal Order.
In the introduction of his chapter about the Diurnal Order,
Durand proposes
some dichotomies, namely ³being and non-being [...]
absence and presence [...] order and disorder´. (DURAND, p. 66) All of
these are perceived in the novel, and all of them involve the figure of
Count Dracula.
For example, the idea of being and non-being can be interpreted in
two ways. The puzzle becomes clear as we question DraculD¶s status as a
human being ± which he obviously is not. At the same time, he is not dead,
for he walks, eats, socializes and thinks. The word used to describe him ± the
UnDead ± addresses that problem and, in a way, solves it as well. What is
the definition of ³undead´? It is not a living being, nor a dead one. It is not
a ³living dead´, like many brain-eating zombies depicted in horror movies.
Therefore, the undead is and is not at the same time: it is and is not dead, it is
and is not alive.
The opposition of absence and presence suits Dracula very well due
to the structure of the novel. The Count is presented in the first chapters, a
moment during which he dazzles the reader. It becomes clear that all the
action in the plot will involve Dracula, and after the end of chapter 4 he all
but disappears. We do not have his concrete presence, his human figure, but
we know he is responsible for Lucy¶s and MinD¶s loss of blood (and
ϳϮ
ultimately, for Lucy¶s death), Renfield¶s madness, Jonathan¶s near-death
experience, the slaughter in the ship and for the death of Mr. Swales, just to
mention some examples. His voice is not heard, and his human figure is not
seen, but we all know he is there.
And the dichotomy order and disorder is perceived in the supernatural
feature of the novel. As pointed out in chapter 1, the Victorians were
scientific people who worked towards progress and who were very focused
on what could be proven, on what the eye could see. The idea of a bloodsucking creature walking the streets of London in the twilight of the nineteen
century jeopardizes an entire notion of beliefs and scientific facts ±
prerogatives that are not only Victorian, but human, above all. At the same
time, the vampire twists a biological order, which says that we must be born,
grow up and die. The vampire lives and dies as a regular human being, starts
existing as an undead (which is the first stage of the disorder), feeds on
animal blood (and when it is human blood the orthodox order of the white
man is once more distorted, since it becomes cannibalism), and he even
grows younger, which is, obviously against human nature.
If the Diurnal Order presents a dichotomist condition in its discourse,
the division proposed by Durand within the order also follows that pattern.
The chapter about the Diurnal Order is divided in two parts (The Faces of
Time and The Sceptre and the Sword), each with three categories of
symbols. For each category in The Faces of Time there is one in an opposite
position in The Sceptre and the Sword. I shall explore each of these
categories, presenting them in the three opposite pairs they form, according
to Durand¶s definition.
In The Faces of Time, the first category is the one of the
ϳϯ
theriomorphic symbols, in which Durand explores the symbolism, the
universality and ubiquity of animal archetypology (or Bestiary). It is an
interesting point for the start of an analysis of Dracula, given the fact that
the Count has multiple forms, and the novel is pervaded with the presence
and action of animals.
Durand explores the interpretations of the Rorschach test16, in which
most of the patients identified ³aggressive animals reflecting powerful
feelings of bestiality and aggression.´ (DURAND, p. 69) In our imaginary,
some symbolic associations between animals and values can be traced, such
as: dove/purity, cat/power of omen and turtle/patience. These associations
are reinforced in dictionaries of symbols such as Jean ChevaliHU¶s and Jack
TresiddHU¶s. In Dracula, on the other hand, there is the strong presence of
some animals: the bat and the dog are animal shapes Dracula assumes in
certain passages of the novel; the very beginning of the novel brings scenes
of the Count commanding horses (chapter 1) and wolves (chapter 3); and
there is also a strong scene with rats in chapter 19.
Durand associates the animal with movement and agitation, which can
be seen in Dracula considering that the Count transforms himself
ultimately for the sake of mere locomotion: he becomes a dog so that he
can escape from the Demeter without raising suspicions regarding the
strange occurrences in the ship; and he becomes a bat so that he can have
access to the rooms where Lucy and Mina are, each in their due time.
The agitation referred to in the previous paragraph is also
ϭϲ
The Rorschach inkblot test uses ten cards with inkblots ± five black inblots on white
background and five white blots on black background. The person taking the test tells what
he/she sees in the inkblots, and from these answers the psychologist draws the person¶s profile.
Information taken from The Rorschach Test Original Website.
ϳϰ
connected to harsh, sudden changes. Durand comments that the animal
moves so quickly because it frequently has to run away from a predator, or
simply because it is part of the animal¶s nature ± and once again,
Dracula provides us with correspondence towards the Diurnal Order:
Dracula¶s massive absence is an example of an animal preparing itself for
the attack (which is exactly what he does, for after having killed Lucy away
from the readHU¶s sight he reappears in his human form to take Mina as
well); the final section of the novel goes around the chase after him ± and in
that moment DraculD¶s situation is clearly animal-like: after having preyed
on others, he fears being preyed on. Durand also emphasizes the
relationship of movement and anguish, but he expands it to mankind
as he analyzes the symbolism underneath,
The schema of accelerated animation, in this instance swarming,
wriggling, or chaotic movement, appears to be an assimilatory projection of
human anguish in the face of change, whereas animals, by means of flight,
simply compensate for one sudden change by another. (Durand, p. 72)
Another important feature in the theriomorphic symbols is the negative
valorization of sudden movement. Durand justifies this connection through
the idea of the ³schema of the flight from Fate´(idem, p. 72). Therefore, the
movement is negative because it makes the individual go further from his
destiny ± of course, that is not Durand¶s most original claim, since Homer
already points that out in the Iliad through the moira, which was a law for
men and gods that not even Zeus was allowed to modify ± in one word,
destiny.
We could consider DraculD¶s constant running away a form of
ϳϱ
representing that idea. It is established that the vampire is not human, but it
does have a human form, and what is more, it does evil ± therefore, it must
perish by the end of the story. It makes even more sense when we add to this
scenario the notorious morality in which the Victorian society was
embedded, as chapter 1 highlights. Dracula has no moral possibility of
being physically saved ± that is, escaping from annihilation ± and his efforts
towards an escape fit well Durand¶s idea of the flight from Fate.
Even though the horse is not an animal whose imagery is
fundamental in Dracula, there is one notion worth mentioning. Durand states
that ³in every case [related to the hippomorphic character of animal
symbolism] we have the general schema of animation together with
anguish in the face of change, the voyage of no return and deaWK´ (ibidem, p.
74), in which he is echoed by Jean Chevalier in his Dictionary of Symbols,
when he states that one of quintessential archetypal images of the horse is
the one of ³the mysterious child of darkness and carrier of death.´(p. 516) In
the very beginning of the novel, Jonathan Harker is taken to Castle Dracula
in a carriage moved by horses, on a trip one could easily consider a voyage
to death and of which he would probably not return.
It is also interesting to point out that one of the weakest rings in the
chain that ties the plot of Dracula together is Jonathan¶s escape from the
castle ± the reader is left with nothing but a brief comment in a letter from
Mina to Lucy: ³He [Jonathan] is only a wreck of himself, and he does not
remember anything that has happened to him for a long time past. At least,
he wants me to believe so, and I shall never ask.´ (STOKER, chapter 9, pp.
127-128) Plotwise, StokHU¶s single excuse not to reveal the truth is MinD¶s
Victorian humbleness of a bride-to-be. In a broader sense, Jonathan¶s
ϳϲ
escape is not explained simply because there is no feasible explanation for it
± even though Dracula does not bite males (which is a focal point I discuss
in chapter 3), Jonathan could not possibly have escaped the three female
vampires in the castle. However, Stoker needed a link between
Transylvania and England, hence the need for Jonathan¶s survival.
Durand also comments briefly on the canine symbolism, as he says that
some features may be the same even if the animal shape changes from place
to place: ³... these symbols are easily interchangeable and can always, in the
Bestiary, be given cultural or geographical substitutes.´(DURAND, p. 81)
The ideas previously mentioned can be applied to the appearance of the
dog figure in Dracula as well: Dracula assumes the shape of a dog in a
crucial moment of the story ± when he escapes from the ship ± and once
more, the idea of running away dominates the scene. It is also suggestive that
of all animals Dracula transformed himself into a canine. According to
Durand, ³Ior the Western imagination, the wolf is the savage animal par
excellence´ (p. 83). His becoming a dog can be considered a kind of
euphemization, since he does not show his bestiality through the figure of
a ferocious wolf ± on the contrary, according to the reporter who describes
the ship episode: ³No trace has ever been found of the great dog, at which
there is much mourning, for, with public opinion in its present state, he
would, I believe, be adopted by the town.´ (STOKER, chapter 7, p. 108)
Connected to the canine image rises the concept of dental sadism,
which he deals with in depth. Excluding the idea of psychic vampirism
debated in chapter 1, and focusing on the vampire as a literary or cinematic
character, the only feature that is not eliminated is the protruding canines. In
The Anthropological Structures of the Imaginary, Durand uses the term
ϳϳ
³DUFhetype of the sharp- toothed jaZ´ (p. 77) and comprises a great deal of
our vampiric imaginary. The jaws symbolize all the animalism, and ³one
essential characteristic of this symbolism is that the mouth is equipped with
sharp teeth, ready to crush and bite´ (idem, p. 82). All the hideous fantasies
are thus concentrated in the animal jaw: ³agitation, aggressive mastication,
sinister grunting and roarLQJ´ (ibidem, p. 83).
There are two major intricacies in the analysis of Durand¶s concept of
dental sadism within Dracula. The first one involves the fact that this
aggressive mastication and its consequent horrors are represented in the
figure of the bat, which is all but neglected in DuranG¶s study. When he
discusses the ascensional symbols (which appear in section 2.3), he excludes
the bat (and other nocturnal birds as well) for being ³simple products of
darkness.´ (ibidem, p. 127) Obviously one cannot afford to give up the
figure of the bat in an analysis of the animal symbolism in Bram StokHU¶s
novel ± thus, the best form to decode the archetype of the sharp-toothed
jaw in Dracula is to apply what Durand says about it in relation to the wolf,
but adapting to the bat.
Also, the biting process in Dracula has a sexual connotation that
Durand does not explore concomitantly to the imagery of the sharp-toothed
mouth (I have attempted to do so in section 3.3, which discusses different
kinds of blood bonds in the novel). ³The animal symbol is the figure of
sexual OLELGR´(JUNG, 1967, p. 173), and that statement in association to the
bat can be seen in Dracula through the Count¶s ³FourWLQJ´ next to Lucy¶s
window, when he flies and bumps onto the window pane as he tries to enter
the girl¶s bedroom.
The contrastive category to the theriomorphic symbols is the one he
ϳϴ
calls diæretic. In opposition to the animalization and savage nature of the
theriomorphic symbols Durand places the devices and weapons of the hero.
7KHILUVWSUDFWLFDOHYLGHQFHRI'XUDQG¶VGLFKRWRPLVWWKHRU\DSSHDUVhere, for
the analysis of the theriomorphic symbols focused mainly on Dracula,
whereas a search on the diæretic symbols will lead to his prosecutors.
As Durand specifies, the fighting hero is the figure mostly symbolized
through the Prince Charming archetype in fairy tales, since he is the one
who ³provides protection against evil spells and renders them harmless,
who discovers, delivers and awakes.´(DURAND, p. 157) Such figure does
not exist in Dracula, only if all the prosecutors are considered together. The
group of heroes is essentially masculine, which comes full cycle with the
diæretic symbolism, whose nature is predominantly masculine. The five
men ± Jonathan Harker, John Seward, Abraham Van Helsing, Quincey
Morris and Arthur Holmwood (also Lord Godalming) ± gather their weapons
and chase Dracula until the fulfillment of their mission.
A study of their weapons shows that Durand is correct when he states
that ³sharp-edged or pointed weaSRQV´ (idem, p. 155) are core imagery in
the diæretic symbolism. The archetypal image of the vampire hunter
requires the presence of his stake, which is an important element in the
elimination of the vampire and further purification of the body.
Being the diæretic symbolism one that reinforces the male sexual
allusion, it is important to highlight that only men get their weapons to
physically combat the vampire (Mina participates of the chase only through
her mental powers), and some readings of Dracula accordingly see the stake
as a phallic symbol, an instrument that demonstrates supremacy and
ϳϵ
potency. 17 Apart from that, Dracula¶s death also includes HarkHU¶s and
Quincey¶s knives, that account for the ³sharp-edged´ Zeapons Durand
mentions.
The power of the masculine diæretic symbolism turns itself against the
³Iurrow of the feminized ZRXQG´ (ib., p. 155), which is proven by analyzing
the ones who physically felt the impact of the men¶s weapons: Lucy and the
three nameless female vampires on the one hand, and Dracula on the other.
Even though the latter embodies a masculine image, he is the source of the
³IHminine HYLO´WKDWLVHOLPLQDWHGE\WKHPDOHJURXS 18
Plainly speaking, both Dracula and the Crew of Light commit murder
± the vampire kills mortals and the mortals kill vampires, always according
to the perspective of the one that is killed. What differs is their motivation:
whereas DraculD¶s is hardly acceptable from an anthropological, religious
and human point of view, ³the weapon with which the hero is equipped is a
symbol of both power and purity´ (ib., p. 156). The perforation caused by
the stake, in any other context, would be considered foul murder ± in the
novel it is purification, freedom from damnation; and towards that, the use
of the crucifix as an instrument to repel the vampire is symptomatic of the
pure intentions of the Crew.
But even if the crucifix did not appear as a tool against the vampire,
the diæretic symbolism justifies the action of killing when it comes from a
real hero. Due to the dual and polemic nature of the Diurnal Order, the hero
17
As in Phyllis A. Roth¶s Suddenly Sexual Women in Bram Stoker¶s Dracula and Christopher
Craft¶s µKiss Me :LWK7KRVH5HG/LSV¶*HQGHUDQG,QYHUVLRQLQ%UDP6WRNHU¶V'UDFXOD
18
Due to their collective fight against the evil Dracula represents and the fact that each of these
characters seems to add different values to the group, thus forming a unified whole, Christopher
Craft calls them the Crew of Light in his essay µKiss Me With Those Red Lips¶: Gender and
Inversion in Bram Stoker¶s Dracula (CRAFT, p. 96).
ϴϬ
only relies on the ³Uuses of time and the snares of (YLO´ (ib., 162) due to the
contamination of other intentions, leading to a shift in their symbolic
intentions. Or simply ± the mortal hero can kill because it is a vampire that is
going to be killed, and the vampiUH¶s evil was the factor that stimulated such
a reaction ± therefore, the violence implicit in the action is not the herR¶s
fault.
The diæretic perspective also focuses on the defense, through the ideas
of fortification. The fortifications represent a mixture of intimacy and
protection through the archetype of the fortified wall ± symbolized in the
novel by Castle Dracula and by the boxes of Transylvanian sand Dracula
takes to London ± both elements have the function of protecting the Count
and giving him a sense of separation from the external world whenever it
becomes necessary.
When dealing with the nyctomorphic symbols, Durand points out the
possibility of the ³black shocN´± namely, the impact of a darker image, or
³a character wearing blacN´ (DURAND, p. 88), which can provoke an
emotional shock and afterwards become a nervous crisis. For the purposes of
the novel, the darkness in DraculD¶s garments helps to remove the reader
from his comfort zone, by putting him in a state of closer and constant
attention.
The blackness in DraculD¶s suit alone does not cause such a state,
since it is part of the exoticism that characterizes the Count. That very
exoticism is what attracts the reader, since Dracula is so different from the
other characters in the novel (as Stephen D. Arata points out in the article
The Occidental Tourist: Dracula and the Anxiety of Reverse Colonization,
quoted in chapter 1.
ϴϭ
Durand postulates that we ³have all been sensitive to the nocturnal,
blind, disturbing aspect of the unconscious side of the soul. The dark
confidant and gloomy counselor, Mephistopheles, is the prototype of the
many Doppelgänger µFlad in blacN¶ who resemble us µlike a brother¶.´
(DURAND, p. 92) The original meaning of the word in German ³double
goer´, or ³double walker´) opens the possibility of thinking about Dracula as
a projected image of our unconscious, indeed a double to mankind, which is
represented in the novel by the humans who are not vampirized ± not
coincidentally they are all male, as will be discussed in section 3.1.
However, the translation in Portuguese fits the novel as well as the original
meaning, and with an extra connotation, for the word used is equivalent to
³foreigner´ ± in DraculD¶s case, another feature that enhances his exoticism,
for he is not only a foreigner, but also oriental and mediaeval at the same
time. The idea of resembling like a brother probably refers to the capacity
this character clad in black has of dazzling and seducing ± which, once
more, can be perceived in Dracula, through the relation of the Count with
the female characters: they all ³IDOO´ for the Count due to his charm, and
they all pay for having fallen in a way or another.
One of the strongest ideas within the nyctomorphic symbols is
blindness, which is entailed by darkness. Here, a metaphorical interpretation
is feasible: Dracula disappears as a physical presence in chapter 5, is seen
quickly by Mina and Jonathan during a walk in the park (chapter 13), and
only returns in chapter 21. Most of the time, he is not seen ± nor by the other
characters or by the reader. This makes us, as the audience, blind as far as
Dracula is concerned. We know what he does, the newspapers tell of strange
cases, Lucy becomes a vampire because of Dracula, and his presence is
insinuated through the shapes of a bat, a dog, fog, mist and dusk ± but he is
ϴϮ
never there concretely.
As rational, pragmatic and objective human beings, we rely on our
sight to determine whether something is right or possible. If on the one
hand not seeing Dracula¶s human form implies some kind of blindness, his
actions and his existence cause what Durand calls ³a weakness of intellecW´
(p. 92), a condition that he levels with senility and blindness itself. The
reality is that the book toys with what is real and feasible in the Victorian
world ± a hermetic micro-universe that stands for the humanity as a whole.
Some of the actions and facts in the story force the European intellectuals
and men of science (represented especially through doctor John Seward) to
question their sanity and beliefs. People returning from their graves to feed
on the blood of the living, sudden changes of the weather or wild animals
that obey to one single command are facts that force those rational men (and
ourselves, since they represent us in the novel) into a world of darkness, and
consequent blindness.
Another important aspect of the nyctomorphic symbols is the
symbolism of water, the mineral element that constitutes the universal
archetype of the dragon. The link between the dragon and Dracula is first
established through the etymology of the word ³dracula´ (as seen in section
1.3). Another possible reading relies on the hypothesis of Dracula being a
metaphor for a dragon, since ³the imagination seems to construct the
archetype of the Dragon (...) on the basis of fragmentary terrors, disgusts,
fears, instinctive as well as experienced repulsions, and ultimately to set up
the archetype as an awe-inspiring entity.´ (idem, p. 96)
Considering the original meaning of the word as µdragRQ¶ also
allows a connection of the novel to Durand¶s statement that, in the
ϴϯ
Apocalypse, the Dragon is linked to the archetype of the Sinful Woman, or
the Great Prostitute of the Apocalypse. (ib., p. 95) In Dracula, the
projection of this archetype is found in Lucy Westenra, the ³vaPS´ woman
of the story. The physical changes she undergoes after her vampirization
process (which are discussed in section 3.3) warrant the visual impact and
the negative valorization of the female vampire, ³the woman of darkness, the
evil water- spirit who, in the guise of a Lorelei, uses her bewitching
femininity to assume the power hitherto attributed to predatory animaOV´
(ib., p. 99)
It would be impossible to talk about the woman of darkness possessed
of ³bewitching femininity´ without mentioning the word ³vamp´, and
when Durand actually uses the word he sounds like John Seward, in his
description of Lucy as a vampire. The Diurnal Order sees that female
archetype as the ³Romantic prototype of the ³vaPS´ fatale, joining cruelty
and depravity to a delightful appearance´ (ib., p. 102). She is also ³fate, the
ghoul, the black soul of the world and of deaWK´ (ib.), in association with
the archetype of the Terrible Mother ± which is also projected in Dracula
through Lucy, and, to a lesser extent, through the three female vampires in
Castle Dracula. (see section 3.3)
Also under the umbrella of the negative valorization of the woman,
Durand connects femininity and blood through menstruation. It is important
to point out that in this section he presents one of the main supports behind
Dracula¶s appeal: vampire stories are closely connected to blood, and for
most peoples, blood is taboo (ib., p. 106). 19
19
³Harding notes that the Polynesian term µtabu¶ or µtapu¶ is akin to tapa, which means ³menses´
(DURAND, pp. 106-107)
ϴϰ
In opposition to the nyctomorphic symbols (visual darkness
leading afterwards to metaphorical darkness) are the spectacular symbols,
related to visual light that subsequently leads to metaphorical light. The
strongest archetypal image of this category is the sun, which renders a
difficulty in analyzing Dracula, for most of the action of the novel takes
place at night.
Durand traces a parallel between the sun and Jesus Christ, by pointing
out that in medieval times Christ was compared to the sun, and called sol
salutis or sol invictus. Accordingly, this relationship is clear: the vampire is
seen as an Anti-Christ in terms of values and morals, and at the same time it
weakens when the sun is high.20
However, concerning the spectacular symbols (and the ascensional
ones as well, as it will be seen further ahead), it seems that an analysis of
the imagery in Dracula becomes more prolific by focusing on both the
proof and subversion of Durand¶s ideas provided by the novel.
The universal archetype of the light is isomorphically connected to
the physical ascension, and ³it is luminous ascent that gives a positive value
to WKH VXQ´ (ib., 145). In Dracula it is the opposite: the Count rises both
concretely (in its flying shape of a bat) and metaphorically (he succeeds
in his endeavors throughout twenty-six chapters, to be killed only in the
twenty-seventh and final chapter). However, the ascension imagery
presented throughout the novel is associated to the night, and consequently
to darkness. The fact that Dracula¶s ascension is not permanent indicates that
20
In opposition to commonsensical interpretations reinforced by the movies, the vampire does not
die with the sunshine. As Van Helsing points out, ³his power ceases, as does that of all evil things,
at the coming of the day´ (STOKER, chapter 18, p. 287)
ϴϱ
the ending of the novel corroborates Durand¶s ideas, though.
When Durand uses the expression ³black VXQ´(p. 145), he refers to the
evil and devouring aspect of it. This idea works in Dracula according to
the perspective, and in order to make it work one must consider the
vampiUH¶s point of view: the sun only brings weakness (the devouring of
strength) and causes harm to the vampire. To humans, the sun assumes its
regular feature of relief and goodness.
Finally, from the association of the sun with the East comes the idea
that only good can come from the Orient, for ³it is in the East that the
Earthly Paradise is situated and it is there that the Psalmist situates the
$VFHQVLRQ RI &KULVW DQG 6W 0DWWKHZ WKH UHWXUQ RI &KULVW´ LGHP )URP WKH
Victorian perspective, Dracula is the oriental, and he brings damnation and
sin with him from the East.
The last binaries proposed by Durand start with the catamorphic
symbols, which refer to the third main expression of the human imagination
reacting in anguish to time, provided by dynamic images of the fall. ³The
fall appears as the existential quintessence of the dynamics of darkneVV´ (ib.,
109), and the movement downwards is frequently associated to the symbols
of fornication, jealousy, anger, idolatry and murder ± all elements appearing
in Dracula, as chapter 3 shows.
In the Old Testament, death is the direct result of the fall ± and the
best-known example is probably the passage when the serpent convinces
Eve to eat the apple from the tree of knowledge (the episode became
widely known as ³The Fall of Man´ ,
ϴϲ
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord
God had made. He said to the woman, µDid God really say, µYou must not
eat from any tree in the garden¶?¶
The woman said to the serpent, ³We may eat fruit from the trees in the
garden, but God did say, µYou must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the
middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will diH¶ (Genesis: 3,
1-3)
In Dracula that becomes evident through Lucy and Renfield, for they
get involved with the vampire/dragon/serpent, and that is their fall. Lucy¶s
sinful aspect is related to fornication, whereas Renfield represents mainly
idolatry (with Dracula as his god) and jealousy (with DraculD¶s promises of
powers towards him, Renfield turns his back to God).
Durand resumes his analysis of the negative valorization of the
feminine by saying that ³Ds the Christian tradition suggests, if evil came into
world through the female sex, it is because woman has power over evil and
can crush the serpeQW´ (p. 114) ± and here is once again the notion of fall.
The strictly Diurnal Order of the imagination distrusts feminine seductions
for they are negatively valorized.
One of the explanations for the downward movement is human anguish
in the face of time, pervaded with an ³ogre-like aggressiveness´, whose
main characteristic is the traumatism of teething, well-represented in
Dracula. As a matter of fact, it is possible to see the vampire in Bram
StokHU¶s novel as a metaphor of time, which ³Dppears as a disturbing animate
being and a terrifying devourer, (...) referring either to the irrevocably
fleeting aspect, or to the insatiable negativity of destiny and deaWK´ (p.
118). Dracula fits Durand¶s explanation in the sense that he comprises two
eras (Medieval Transylvania and Victorian England), it is, like time, felt but
ϴϳ
not seen, it assumes theriomorphic faces (in the shapes of a bat and a dog),
and consequent animation (flying/walking) and devouring (the bat sucking
Lucy¶s blood and the dog dilacerating a mastiII¶s throat and belly).
Eventually, whoever crosses Dracula¶s way is led to die, leading to the
³negativity of destiny and death´. Furthermore, death and time are fought
due to a ³polemical desire for eternal life´ (ib.), which is exactly what
Dracula claims to have and promises to his chosen ones, such as Renfield
and Mina.
Conversely, the ascensional symbols refer to the movement upwards,
to the act of flying and to high places. The cross, which is used in Dracula
as a repression means against the vampire, is had by Christian tradition as
³the ladder of sinnerV´ or the ³divine ladder´ (ib., p. 123). The positive
valorization of the ascent is reinforced, as the cross is considered a way up to
reach God and escape a terrible physical death.
The dualisms inherent to the Diurnal Order are perceived in the
ascensional symbols, due to the contrast of ³spiritual verticality to carnal
flatness or to the faOO´ (ib.). In the attempt of reaching God the ones who
manage to escape the vampire¶s dazzle avoid the fall, which is represented in
the novel by vampirization and the pollution of the flesh.
The ascensional movement is intrinsically linked to the wing, the
exemplary means of ascension: ³dreams of flying, while technically absurd,
are accepted and given a privileged status in angelistic inspiraWLRQV´(ib., p.
126). Like the spectacular symbols, the ascensional ones do not fit
completely Durand¶s idea of the Orders. The only flying image of the novel
is Dracula converted into a bat, whereas the ascensional movement focuses
on God¶s angels, birds and butterflies. Bats and nocturnal birds are
ϴϴ
considered ³simple products of darkness, and form a group quite distinct
from other theriomorphic symEROV´ (ib., p. 127)
Another aspect of subversion in the ascensional symbols of
Dracula
lies in the idea of spiritual verticality, which is a privilege
supposedly granted by God and the processes to reach Him (faith, fighting
the vampire, resisting temptation) ± in the novel, Dracula is the one who
makes this promise (the subject is developed in the next chapter, in section
3.1).
The next stage after ascending is remaining on the top, since ³the
frequentation of high places and the process of gigantization and
divinization inspired by altitude and ascent account for what Bachelard
calls an attitude of µmonarchic contemplaWLRQ¶ (...) linked to the psychosociological archetype of sovereign dominaWLRQ´ (ib., p. 132). This notion,
confirmed by the main characteU¶s noble ancestry, is presented in section
3.2.
All categories of the Diurnal Order of the imaginary have been
presented. Durand defines it as the order of antithesis, characterized by the
philosophy of dichotomy, and the transcendence that pervade the occidental
thought. One of the main basis of the order is the Manichaeism in man¶s
views on day and night, as inborn as his collective unconscious and clearly
represented in Dracula: the vampiUH¶s action takes place during the night,
and the only period during which humans are safer from the vampiUH¶s
attack is during daylight, establishing the ³dialectics embodied in the central
archetype of the µbarrier¶ separating darkness and ligKW´ (ib., p. 175).
Whereas dichotomy is the key to full understanding of the Diurnal
Order of the image, euphemization is the main concept in the Nocturnal
ϴϵ
Order, whose theoretical basis is presented in the next section. Many aspects
presented in this section in the form of binary oppositions are
euphemized, or, as Durand says, µminimized¶, in the reading of Dracula
based on the Nocturnal Order.
2.3. EUPHEMIZATION: THE NOCTURNAL ORDER OF THE
IMAGE
The Nocturnal Order of the image refuses the antitheses proposed in
the Diurnal Order. Therefore, the ideas that are framed within one specific
binary value (either ³good´ or ³bad´, or ³darN´ or ³cleaU´, for example)
under a Diurnal perspective are, according to Durand¶s words, euphemized
or minimized. (p. 191)
The minimization proposed in the Nocturnal Order is directly related
to an issue pointed out in the introduction of this thesis: the use of some
terms that involve judgment value. For example, the notion of victim loses its
power under the perspective of the Nocturnal Order. So that this idea can be
proven, one of the consequences of the euphemization discussed in this
section is that being bitten by the vampire does not necessarily lead to a
negative situation ± therefore, the victim does not exist. Whenever the word
µvicWLP¶ is used (especially in chapter 3), it is because the plot of the novel
presents a situation that causes some harm to the bitten one from a
Diurnal perspective. In other cases, the word used was µprey¶. The same
happens with the terms unholy, unnatural and evil.
In the first book of his Nocturnal Order (The Descent and the Cup),
ϵϬ
Durand presents the same images discussed in the Diurnal Order, but
³Hxorcised of the terrors they conveyed, and transmuteG´(idem, p. 193). To
that group of re-evaluated and minimized symbols Durand gives the name of
symbols of inversion. The fall, one of the most remarkable images of the
Diurnal Order, is euphemized into descent, being distinguished from the
former due to its slowness, preventing the sudden shock the fall causes.
The descent eliminates the radical consequences of the fall, and sin
becomes something pleasant, the negative values of anguish and fear are
converted into delight in ³slowly penetrated interiority´ (ib., p. 196).
Remarkably, Durand makes use of the notion of penetration ± a core aspect
in the vampirization process ± in order to explain the re-evaluation of sinful
values.
The first symptom of a change in the order of the image comes from
different interpretations of the awareness of the body. In Dracula, the
females who are bitten undergo expressive physical changes directly
connected to their vampirization. A Diurnal reading considers these
changes negative because they represent the moral decay and corruption
brought by the vampire, as section 3.3 discusses through the character of
Lucy Westenra. However, a reading of the body symbols under the
Nocturnal perspective brings a different light, particularly well-exemplified
by Mina Harker.
MinD¶s awareness of her own body becomes clear as she notices the
changes she goes through ± clearly represented by the mark caused by
Van Helsing¶s sacred wafer on her forehead. The change, however, is not
complete, and some of MinD¶s goodness can still be perceived in her eyes
and attitude. Therefore, she personifies the Diurnal struggle between good
and evil. The Nocturnal Order will interpret MinD¶s process as a journey of
ϵϭ
internalization, which eventually ends with Dracula¶s death. After that, her
body goes back to normal, the feelings of physical and psychological guilt
are removed, and she develops ³affecWLRQ´ for her figure again.21
Another aspect brought by the Nocturnal Order of the imaginary is the
notion of double negation, in which the positive is rebuilt through the
negative: ³by negation of a negative act the effect of negativity is
destroyed´ (ib., p. 197). In Dracula this idea finds support in the elimination
of the vampire ± the one who causes deaths is vanquished via assassination.
The violence in the act of vanquishing the vampire becomes completely free
of any negative Diurnal valorization because it is supposed to cleanse the
world and reestablish the previous order. When Durand says that ³death
itself is evoked against death in a remarkable religious double negaWLRQ´
(ib., p. 198), it becomes clear that the general idea fits the novel, but once
again, there is a problem with the use of a term. The vampire is an ³undead´,
a being in a limbo between life and death ± hence, it does not belong fully to
any of them, therefore it is not correct to say that a vampire can be ³killed´
(the word µHliminateG¶ is more neutral and applies more perfectly). Double
negation also relies on two other important notions: the dialectics of the
binder bound and the transmutation of values, whose presence in the novel is
discussed in section 3.3, in association to the concept of the shadow.
Another image that appears both in the Diurnal and Nocturnal orders is
chewing. Given the striking impact of the teeth in the archetype of the
vampire, it becomes necessary to analyze how the Nocturnal order
minimizes the biting. Where the Diurnal Order sees the mortal attacked by
21
In his parallel with the treatment of psychological conditions, Durand quotes one of
Séchehaye¶s patients, who declares: ³Then I began to be aware of my body and love it.´ (p. 196)
ϵϮ
the vampire as a profane and demonic being, whose only chance of salvation
is the desecration of the corpse or another painful process, the Nocturnal
order faces the vampire¶s prey as a being that has stopped being a mortal. As
other more orthodox beings, the new vampire has to fight for its survival
(through blood), can live in groups (such as the three female vampires in
the castle), they respect hierarchies (Dracula subjecting the three
vampires), and follow its instincts. Within the Nocturnal logic there is no
victim, but a new convert instead.
In that sense, the tearing of dental voracity so explored in the Diurnal
Order is re-interpreted as a gentle, harmless sucking. Swallowing, a process
closely related to sucking, does not destroy, it often adds value or renders
sacred, because ³the person swallowed does not undergo real misfortune, he
is not necessarily the victim of a harmful event. He retains a value.´ (ib., p.
200).
Based on the reversion of the Diurnal images that takes place in the
Nocturnal Order, the idea of the ³bitten biter´RU the swallower that becomes
swallowed becomes stronger and brings as a consequence processes of
reversal that enable the mirroring of certain images. It is interesting to
highlight that one of the characteristics of the vampire is the absence of
mirror reflection, guessed by Jonathan Harker as he notices that Castle
Dracula has no mirrors whatsoever (STOKER, chapter 2, p. 30), and
confirmed by Van Helsing in his lecture about vampires (idem, chapter 18, p.
286).
As Durand points out, ³one should not be surprised to see doubling
and inversion used constantly in literary imaginative worNV´ (p. 202). In
Dracula, the vampire becomes an extension of the ones he vampirizes and
ϵϯ
the ones who prosecute him as well. The concept of mirroring comes full
cycle with Jung¶s archetype of the shadow and Freud¶s double as well, and
section 3.3 shows how these notions unfold in the novel having Dracula as
the reflection/shadow of the ones he transforms in vampires (Lucy and, in
particular, Mina), and also of the members of the Crew of Light.
The Nocturnal Order presents an inversion of the values attributed to
night in the Diurnal Order. Most of the action of Dracula takes place at
night, and a diurnal reading interprets that fact as symptomatic of the evil in
the vampiUH¶s action. Conversely, the Nocturnal Order, bases itself on tribes
and peoples for whom ³night is day in the country of the dead, all being
inverted in the nocturnal kingGRP´ (idem, p. 211). Just like the issue related
to the impossibility of killing the vampire (a being that is no longer alive
from the biological point of view), the concept of ³world of the dead´
brings a problem to the analysis regarding the singular status of
Dracula: the term µvampire¶ indicates that it is a being that has not been
accepted in the world of the dead, and ends up misplaced in the world of the
living.22 The vampire requires a theory of its own in order to avoid this kind
of nomenclature problems, but if the word µdeaG¶ is replaced by the word
µundead¶ the theory of inversion of night values seems quite fit and
applicable to Bram StokHU¶s novel: ³µthe world of the dead (...) is in a way
the counterpart of the world of the living¶, what is suppressed on earth
reappears in the world of the dead, µbut the value of things is inverted: what
was old, damaged, poor or dead on earth, becomes new, solid, rich and
alive...´ (ib., p. 211)
22
The technical definition of the term µvampire¶ is presented in section 3.1, page 87. From this
point on, whenever the analysis of DuranG¶s Nocturnal Order requires nomenclature adaptations
to fit Dracula, it is due to the impossibility of framing the vampire either as living or dead. For
the purposes of my reading, I apply to the vampire¶s existence the values of death.
ϵϰ
The archetypal image of the vampire rising from its coffin is also
valorized differently in the Nocturnal Order, because night evokes a gentle
necrophilia, conferring a positive value on mourning and the tomb. The
density of night (p. 213) is closely connected to the schemata of the intimate
descent, whereas ascensional schemata is associated to light in the Diurnal
Order, as the previous section mentions, and a great deal of this positive
valorization of the tomb in the nocturnal reading is explained in the symbols
of intimacy, in which the grave ± the place of the sacred rite of burial ± has
an important function, because death may be faced as a chance of inverting
the naturally experienced terror or, as a ³symbol of primordial repose´ (ib.,
p. 229). Obviously, the vampirized one is entitled to such repose only after
the purification takes place through definitive death and the corpse resting
forever in the coffin ± consequently, mortuary rituals will be completed.
Durand also postulates that the euphemizing inversion of death starts
with the mortuary ritual, and the care people take of the corpse of their
beloved ones who departed. In Dracula these rituals can be seen after
Lucy¶s ³death´, with the chapel and decorations prepared to give to her
burial a ritualistic tone, in order to show affection and respect towards the
deceased girl. Besides, the Nocturnal Order considers the conversion of the
corpse a fundamental aspect in the euphemization of death and its
association to the eternal rest and the sheltering death provides.23
The feminine loses its negative aspects brought about by the
Diurnal Order, and is rehabilitated in the nocturnal reading. The sea, had
as the ³supreme primordial swallower´ (ib., p. 218), becomes a feminized
23
The euphemization of death and the images of rest and return to the mother¶s womb are
thoroughly developed in section 3.3.
ϵϱ
and maternal abyss associated to the archetypes of descent and of return to
primary happiness. In Dracula, the sea works as a two-way path: firstly, it
brings the medieval demon to modern civilization, and afterwards it serves
as a route to prosecute and destroy this very demon, in an unconscious
diurnal search for happiness and relief.
The element of femininity is rehabilitated particularly through the
connection of the sea and motherhood. Durand proposes the image of a
water creature, the Mother Lousine, as a link between ³the archetype of the
anima and the ancient sage´ (p. 220). Towards that idea, it can be
perceived that in Jung¶s Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
Mother Lousine becomes melusina, or a mermaid. The Mother Lousine is
tinged, in the Jungian doctrine, by the femininity of the masculine anima
(idem), and it is easy to perceive that in Mina Harker: firstly, the anima
manifests itself in many ways, and Jung mentions the mermaid, the lamia
and the succubus, all vampire-like forms. Secondly, this image gathers
together the femininity of the anima and the wisdom that the Diurnal Order
considers essentially masculine. In the novel, Mina is compared twice to a
man because of her intellectual capability: she has a good memory
(STOKER, chapter 14, p. 219) and quick thinking (chapter 18, p. 281).
One confirms Mina as a projection of the Mother Lousine ± that is,
feminine and at the same time wise as a man ± as one notices that such
thought is always proposed by a wise man, Van Helsing. In that sense, he
identifies with her and sees in her features he believes only men like himself
can have.
The mermaid is also the mother of ³Dll beings engendered by the
shadowy PLVW´ (DURAND, p. 220), which enables once more an analysis of
ϵϲ
Mina as a projection of the Mother Lousine. She is the only character in the
novel who becomes a mother by bearing a child, and the paternity of her
child can be interpreted under diverse perspectives: biologically, it is
assumed that Jonathan is Little Quincey¶s father; psychologically, all these
men were important in a way or another in his birth (the boy actually carries
the names of all of them), therefore they are entitled to a claim of paternity;
and a third possibility is to think of Dracula as the one who brought Mina
and Jonathan closer together (providing Jonathan with the rehabilitation of
the hero propagated by the Nocturnal Order); Dracula also united the
members of the Crew of Light and, if Durand¶s quotation is thoroughly
interpreted, Little Quincey could be considered DraculD¶s and MinD¶s
offspring: the two shared intimacy, they became each other¶s double (as
section 3.3 discusses), and Mina is the mermaid whereas Dracula is the
³shadowy PLVW´ ± conveniently, one of the shapes Dracula assumes in the
novel.
The second maternal archetype that can be associated to Mina Harker
is the one of the Great Mother. As Jung points out,
The mother-image in a man¶s psychology is entirely different in character
from a woman¶V. For a woman, the mother typifies her own conscious life
as conditioned by her sex. But for a man the mother typifies something alien,
which he has yet to experience and which is filled with the imagery latent in
the unconscious. For this reason, if for no other, the mother-image of a man is
essentially different from a woman¶V. The mother has from the outset a
decidedly symbolical significance for a man, which probably accounts for his
strong tendency to idealize her. (Jung, 2004, p. 44)
Alongside with all the projections of good feelings and search for
strength the men unfold towards her (³you must be our star and our hope´±
ϵϳ
chapter 18, p. 289) comes MinD¶s own awareness of her position as the
mother figure in the Crew. In chapter 17, in one of her journal entries, she
says that ³we women have something of the mother in us that makes us rise
above smaller matters when the mother spirit is invokeG´(p. 275), and also
³No one but a woman can help a man when he is in trouble of the heart, and
he [Arthur] had no one to comforWKLP´ (idem, p. 276).
On the Great Mother archetype, Durand points out that it is ³a
maternal woman towards whom the desires of humanity regress´ (pp. 227228), a universal religious and psychological entity. Durand reverts the
discussion of the Great Mother archetype in a link to the positive
valorization of the grave, stating that the ³UHturn to the mother´ complex (p.
228) inverts and over-determines the negative valorization of the tomb and
death perceived in the Diurnal Order.
Another female image in the Nocturnal Order of the imaginary is the
hidden sleeping maiden, best exemplified in the fairy tale of Sleeping
Beauty. In Dracula this image is associated to the euphemization of the
grave and mortuary values, for the sleeping beauties are turned into three
vampires. The obstacle in the reading of mortuary values connected to the
archetype of the sleeping maiden focuses on the unique status of the vampire
as a being that is nor dead or alive.
Durand also attributes positive feminine values to the boat, as a
means of intimacy and rest. As a dwelling place, the boat (as well as other
means of transportation) is feminized, and Durand points out that semitrailers and fishing boats are often given female names by their owners.
Interestingly, that is echoed in the novel, for the boat that takes Dracula to
Europe is called Demeter. The boat is also had as a symbol of departure
ϵϴ
and figure of closure, and once more the novel evidences that: in the
Demeter Dracula departs from Transylvania towards England, and it is also
in a boat that he goes back to his homeland.24
And finally, the last category of the symbols of intimacy presented in
The Anthropological Structures of the Imaginary comprises digestive and
alimentary over-determinations. Durand presents the notions of container
and content ± the latter being usually a fluid (blood, for example), linking
the aquatic symbols of the sea and the symbols of intimacy with the schema
of the alimentary canal and swallowing (p. 248).
I will not discuss the implications of blood in Dracula as the fluid
content Durand refers to because the next chapter is entirely devoted to
blood imagery. However, some theory about this fluid is pertinent at this
point of the analysis, given that I will revert to it and connect it to blood in
chapter 3: firstly, the sacralization of this beverage as a potion that
symbolizes youth, secrecy and life; secondly, Durand¶s mention to wine: it
has a reddish color, and symbolizes life and youth. Therefore, it is an
euphemization and consequent rehabilitation of blood (p. 252).
After presenting the core imagery of the Nocturnal Order
Durand deals with the four structures through which the order manifests
itself, giving them the name of ³mystical structures´ Eecause the term
³mysticaO´ symbolizes a wish for union and an inclination towards
intimacy. (p. 260)25
The first structure consists of doubling and perseveration, and here a
24
Durand discusses the nocturnal appreciation of the house as presented in section 3.2.
25
The concrete presence of the mystical structures of the Nocturnal Order is presented throughout
chapter 3.
ϵϵ
connection to the double/shadow is unavoidable. It is through the doubling
(repetition of events, facts and behaviors) that perseveration takes place. The
term ³perseveraWLRQ´ refers to perpetuation, preservation and the continuity
of existence.
The second structure comprises the viscosity and adhesiveness of the
style of nocturnal representation (p. 262). This structure, whose key word
is ³union´, refers to the effort of the Nocturnal Order to bring elements
together and to establish connections between elements or figures that are
logically separated (the vampire and the humans, in Dracula¶s case).
The third structure focuses on ³the sensorial realism of
representation and the vividness of images´ (p. 264), fully perceived in
Dracula through the actual sensation of movement provided by the
multiplicity of narrators and the variety of color responses, based on the
symbolism that colors such as black, red and white convey in the imagery of
the novel.
Finally, the fourth structure is the one of gulliverization, or the
tendency to miniaturize (p. 266). The main concept of the structure is the
microcosmic reduction, that is, reducing the whole to a few expressive
details ± in Dracula, for example, a few individuals fight against the
vampire a battle that actually includes humanity in its entirety.
The second set of nocturnal images proposed by Durand, under the
title of From the Denary to the Baton proves to be as prolific as the first
one, especially because of his definitions of myth and its three divisions:
synthetic, dramatic and polarity myths.
The synthetic myths deal with the terror at the passing of time and its
simultaneous euphemization into hope for the future. One example of this
category in the novel is precisely in its end, when after all the difficulty and
fear humans went through, they were rewarded with the birth of another
ϭϬϬ
human being, connected directly or indirectly to all of them, as chapter 3
shows.
The dramatic myths have this name because of their association to
Greek myths, which are comprised of one tragic phase in the beginning and
a triumphant phase by its end. In that sense, the birth of Little Quincey also
serves as an example of how the myth presented in Dracula is dramatic, but
some other characteristics contribute towards such dramaticity.
One of the aspects Durand points out is the presence of a time
reference, through which ³the imagination controls the contingent fluidity
of time´ (p. 273). Dracula is full of those references, since every entry is
dated, and sometimes even includes the hour. This is important in the sense
that the calendar has a periodic and circular structure that marks and
determines the re-commencing of temporal periods (p 274). In doing so, the
calendar symbolizes the cycle, whose importance for the Nocturnal Order
will be discussed in section 3.
The myths of polarity, on the other hand, associate contradictory
characteristics in one deity. The two main symbols Durand uses to illustrate
that are the door, ³the synthesis or arrivals and departureV´ (p. 281) and the
myth of androgyny, both of them personified by Dracula and aiming at the
unification of contraries through the mythical drama of death and rebirth (p.
283). A major aspect of the junction of contrary characteristics is the
³syncretic effort to reintegrate Evil and darkness LQWR *RRG´ (p. 283),
aiming at the ³mythical rehabilitation of evil´. By the end of the myth of
polarity, evil falls and reaches final redemption, which is echoed in
Dracula, since the vampire being vanquished in the last chapter provides
the hero (Jonathan) with his own rehabilitation, and also eliminates the traces
ϭϬϭ
of his presence on earth, reestablishing the previous order. This agrees with
another characteristic of the myths of polarity, the euphemization of death in
renewal. Dracula¶s disappearance also implies the possibility of the
continuation and renovation of life, symbolized in the birth of Little
Quincey.
However, the myths of polarity are associated to moon deities and to
the moon itself, and as Durand highlights, the moon has different phases
that repeat themselves (p. 285). Likewise, the phases of the polar myths
will reappear in the future, reinforcing the idea of the vampire as a traditional
archetype in our collective unconscious. If Dracula physically and
symbolically disappears by the end of the novel, that does not mean that as a
unconscious content it will be erased so easily. In sum, that explains why the
myth of the vampire has been retold so many times and so many different
ways ± because of the impossibility of erasing the vampire from our
collective unconscious for good.
The historical background of the novel allows another interpretation of
the lunar aspect of the vampire: as the offspring of the moon goddess (p.
289), the vampire has what Durand calls a ³mythical father´ (p. 294),
another role performed by Dracula. Technically, the vampire has a biological
father ± the one who conceived him ± and then the mythical one appears.
Such parental relationship is particularly perceived in DraculD¶s involvement
with Mina, who undergoes the blood baptism and ends up being, at the
same time, DraculD¶s daughter and wife (further discussions on that topic
are presented in chapter 3). Conversely, Dracula also had a biological father
(Vlad Dracul, if we consider Vlad Tepes and Count Dracula the same
being), and eventually he was converted into a vampire by his own
ϭϬϮ
mythical father, whose origin is not explained by Stoker in the novel. The
vampire becomes a ³twice-born´VRQ (p. 294), who will be born again after
dying: Mina is reborn to life, whereas all other vampires are reborn to
biological death.
Also focusing on Count Dracula in connection to the moon is another
aspect of Durand¶s dramatic structure of the Nocturnal Order ± the agrolunar drama. The references to agriculture and the moon direct the analysis
again to the cyclic nature of the myth. The agro-lunar drama is constituted by
³the execution and resurrection of a mythical, usually divine, charactHU´, and
it ³Hxploits harmful situations and negative values in order to produce
positive values by constructing an imaginary narrative or perspective´ (p.
289). This divine creature also has a Messianic character, better expressed
in DraculD¶s relationship with Renfield (see chapter 3 for further discussion
of the character of Renfield).
The cycles of the Nocturnal Order of the Imaginary also include other
features discussed in their due time in chapter 3, such as what Durand
calls the ³doubles of the first nameV´ (p. 294), found in Dracula through
the baby that is born by the end, and the initiation ceremonies (p. 295),
represented in Mina and the blood baptism she undergoes.
Durand claims that initiation rites include a wounding or sacrificial
ordeal that symbolizes divine passion, reverting to the twisted godlike status
Dracula has. The rituals stand for commitment and magical bonding,
clearly seen in DraculD¶s and MinD¶s personal mind connection. In these
rituals, still states Durand, ³there is an obvious intention to highlight the
momentary victory of demons, evil and deaWK´ (p. 296) and the
compulsory sacrification of virginal girls or maidens (p. 297), opening the
ϭϬϯ
way to the discussion about DraculD¶s preference for female victims, as
pointed out in chapter 3.
The cyclical and mythical character of death is thoroughly discussed
by Durand, that ³participates of the double negation of the death of deaWK´
(p. 300). The example provided consists of an aspect obviously perceived in
Dracula: one death (Lucy WestenUD¶s) heralds the desired death of a tyrant
or important personage, ³thereby prophesying the end of collective death
through war. In other words, once accepted, sacrificial death prepares for,
and signals, the death of a tyrant, a death which will be the death of deaWK´
(idem).
The connection of the rites of initiation and sacrifice to orgiastic
practices also find support in the underpinning ideas in Dracula. Orgies and
practices related to it bring a return to chaos, or the ³loss of forms: social
norms,
personalities
and
characters;
people
experience anew
the
primordial, pre-formal, chaotic state´ (ib., p. 301). In reality, those changes
agree with the discussion proposed in chapter 1 about Victorian social
standards: the blurring of social forms and behaviors due to collective
pressure, the need of keeping up appearances, and the suffocation of primary
instincts. In StokHU¶s novel, the return to the chaotic state are simply
reproduced in the consequences and changes brought by the vampirization
process.
Durand¶s proposal of the dragon as the lunar animal par excellence (p.
302) comes full cycle with the association of Dracula as the son of the moon
and the twice-born son, since his historical forefather was closely connected
to the symbols of the dragon himself, as section 1.3 evidences. And another
animal whose image is frequently associated to evil by the Diurnal Order is
ϭϬϰ
euphemized and debated in the Nocturnal one: the serpent.
It may come as a surprise to those who have their first contact with
Dracula that the serpent is not an image explored by Bram Stoker. It could
easily be one of Dracula¶s animal forms, it could appear in the
Transylvanian forests, or it could be one of the animals Dracula controls
with his power. As a matter of fact, the serpent does not appear clearly at all
in the novel, but an analysis of Durand¶s view about the Nocturnal reading
of the serpent shows that underneath the bat, the dog and the human forms of
the vampire lies a snake as well. The serpent is a triple symbol of time
transformation, fertility and ancestral immortality (p. 305). It changes its
skin, even though it remains the same animal (like the vampire changes its
form and remains the same being). Furthermore, like the vampire in Bram
StokHU¶s story, the serpent is related to the temporal cycle in the figure of
the ouroboros, the snake that by biting its tail forms a circle: ³So in its first
symbolic meaning the ophidian ouroboros appears as the great symbol of the
totalization of contraries, and of the perpetual rhythm of the alternately
negative and positive phases of cosmic eYROXWLRQ´ (DURAND, p. 307)
The quotation in the previous paragraph reverts the discussion to other
aspects of the Nocturnal Order presented in the novel, such as the adherence
of the mystic structures of the imaginary (the idea of bringing together
opposite ideas) and rebirths and returns of the dramatic myths.
Like the vampire, the serpent is euphemized in its existence and
mythical function: ³it is because the Sphinx, Dragon and Serpent are
vanquished that the hero is affirmed (...) The serpent thus has a
symbolically positive role in the myth of the hero who conquers deaWK´
(idem, p. 309)
ϭϬϱ
If the Diurnal Order attributes some negative value to the
animalization through the theriomorphic symbology, the Nocturnal Order
euphemizes the animal negativity, which is necessary to the advent of
complete positivity (ib., p. 309). More than that, the Nocturnal Order
euphemizes the vampire and its animalism, turning it into a necessary evil
towards a future cleansing and consequent improvement of the world. In
addition to this, it reinforces the fact that the vampire always ³Fomes back´,
since
the
essentially
character
on
fits
perfectly
dramatic
myths,
which
focus
returning, renewal, periodical rebirth and temporal
recommencement.
And once the relevant aspects of both orders of the imagination for a
reading of Dracula have been presented, it is time to verify how they appear
allied to a reading of the novel focused on the symbolical meanings of blood
and the imagery used to convey such meanings.
ϭϬϲ
3 BLOOD IMAGERY IN DRACULA
But be sure you do not eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you
must not eat the life with the meat. You must not eat the blood; pour it
out on the ground like water. Do not eat it, so that it may go well with you
and your children after you, because you will be doing what is right in the
eyes of the Lord. (DEUTERONOMY, 12: 23 ±25)
3.1 ³BLOOD IS TOO PRECIOUS A THING´: THE CYCLIC
SEARCH FOR FOOD
Thinking of a vampire feeding on the victim¶s blood might seem
unnecessary, even a waste of time. This image is basic when one thinks
about the archetype of the vampire and its correlate representations present
in general imaginary. Obviously, this has been reinforced through decades in
movie versions. Artists such as Bela Lugosi, Sir Christopher Lee, Chris
Sarandon and Gary Oldman, to mention a few26, have helped to solidify that
image with their performances in vampire blockbusters. However, there is
more behind blood eating than it seems. Besides its biological function,
blood suggests deep symbolic meanings. Through them a web of relations
can be traced in Dracula.
In his Dictionary of Symbols, Jean Chevalier highlights that blood ³is
universally held to be the medium of life and is sometimes taken for the
principle of procreatioQ´(1997, p. 100) and adds that it ³Dlso corresponds to
vital and bodily heat (...) Hence blood, as the corporeal principle, is the
channel of paVVLRQV´ (idem). Some peoples, still according to Chevalier,
Ϯϲ
Respectively: Dracula (c1931), a series of Hammer films such as Dracula ± Prince of
Darkness (c 1965), Fright Night (c1985) and Bram Stoker¶s Dracula (c1992).
ϭϬϳ
consider blood to be the medium of the soul, in which he is echoed by Jack
Tresidder, who deals with blood as a ritualistic symbol of the force of life, or
a container of some divine energy and a great deal of individual energy.
(TRESIDDER, 2003, p. 308)
Therefore, the first group of images proposed in this thesis is of
blood as food for the vampire, or its main source of energy. In chapter 3
of the novel (STOKER, p. 42), when Count Dracula says the sentence that
opens the tile of this section, he gives a significant hint of the relevance and
consequent recurrence of blood and its related imagery in the novel.
However, the vampire is not merely a ³blood-eateU´. Indeed, in practical
and immediate terms, the vampire feeds on its prey¶s blood, but what lies
underneath such an act is as important as the blood-drinking action in itself.
Melton (2003) gives a broader definition of the term vampire: he says
that the vampire is a peculiar kind of dead that returns to life, in a sort of
continuous existence that takes place through drinking the blood of the
living. The vampire is generally had as some kind of ³living dead´,
someone that has completed their earthly existence, but that is still
connected to this world and has not been received in the world of the
dead yet. As this definition invokes the image of a ghost, Melton also
points out the main difference between a ghost and a vampire, that is, the
materialization through a concrete body. However, he highlights a crucial
aspect that most people tend not to consider, but one that turns out to be
fundamental when analyzing the vampiUH¶s behavior: the term has been used
to describe people (and spirits) that engage in psychic vampirism ± the
process of draining the vitals or the energy (not necessarily the blood) from
other people. Bram StokHU¶s novel does not neglect that aspect, for in the
moment Count Dracula welcomes Jonathan Harker into his castle he says:
ϭϬϴ
³Enter freely. Go safely, and leave something of the happiness you bring!´
(STOKER, chapter 2, p. 26)
Considering the vampire an archetype that represents feelings and
needs in projection, the classic vampirism (based on blood) is a microrepresentation of the psychic vampirism (based on feelings). With the
novel¶s historical context in mind, blood can be a metaphor of some feeling
or desire that is as necessary to life as blood. Or, in terms agreeing with
Durand¶s Nocturnal Order, these feelings are minimized or euphemised
into blood, in order to better represent Victorian anxieties.
The range of associations depends on the imaginary in perspective.
For the Catholic imaginary, the vampire is obviously connected to sin ± it
taints whoever crosses its way, from a merely Catholic ponit of view. Even
though the vampire brings its prey away from a decent earthly life, it opens
the way for new layers of perception and a new existence. In that sense,
blood still means life both for the Catholic and vamp imaginaries.
Under the light of analytical psychology, it is a representation of
the unconscious (anima when it is a female representation or animus when it
is a masculine one like Dracula). As an archetypal image, the vampire does
not feed on blood, but on archetypes instead. It means that ultimately the
vampire feeds on images ± contents from the collective unconscious
euphemized through blood for the long-fanged vampire and through any
minor material or sentimental achievement in the case of pyschic vampirism,
or evil eye.
Whether animus or anima, the vampire is a projection from the
collective unconscious. Among Jung¶s archetypes proposed for such a case
is the shadow, closely connected with Freud¶s double, as it is discussed in
chapter 2. A deeper reading of Dracula as the shadow/double is presented in
ϭϬϵ
section 3.3, but one aspect is relevant at this point of the analysis: if the
vampire derives from an individual projection, and it feeds on images
(euphemized into blood) found in the individual¶s collective unconscious
(euphemized into veins), the focus of a vampire story does not lie on the
vampire itself, but on the individual, who is bitten, preyed on and
dominated. The vampire¶s existence does not change with the attack at the
same rate the attacked person¶s life changes.
One of the complicating aspects when dealing with the myth of the
vampire is that people tend not to understand that vampire stories are not
about killing the ³beast´, but to assimilate it and re absorb it, hence coming
to terms with onH¶s unconscious. The attempt of killing the vampire is
useless because the vampire comes from the collective unconscious, and
relying on a moralistic, Manichaean reading is the easiest (and socially best
accepted) way to deal with the story. Dracula, like all vampire stories, is
connected to a two-fold allegory in which readers tend to perceive clearly
the fight of Good against Evil. In most readings, it is hardly discussed that
Dracula represents evil and that his prosecutors and the ladies they defend
represent good ± it is simply taken for granted. Dracula¶s search for blood is
generally seen as harsh murder and satanism. As my reading of the novel
unfolds, I mention how deeply Dracula changes his prey, and, as the
Nocturnal Order has proven, being in contact with the vampire does not have
to be necessarily something negative.
Therefore, ³food for the vampire´ goes much beyond fulfilling the
vampirH¶s physical needs; it involves the prey¶s psyche as well, and
consequent issues connected to dominance and subordination (which will be
approached in sections 3.2. and 3.3). However, at this point a brief analysis
on the vampire preying process becomes necessary in order to understand
ϭϭϬ
both the physical aspect of blood eating and the idea of obtaining psychic
energy as well.
Dracula provides grounds for the establishment of the idea of a
pattern in the vampire¶s method to obtain blood. Firstly, the Count always
attacks somebody who is physically weaker, at least in theory. He displays
both his physical and psychological power many times and in different ways.
In spite of his old age, in the beginning of the novel he drives the carriage
and crawls down the castle walls. Such power could allow him to attack all
kinds of prey. However, an overview of the list of his victims leads to
certain conclusions. As far as the reader can see, Dracula attacks only
females: Mina, Lucy, and the three females that inhabit his castle (sometimes
referred to by commentators as ³the three sisters´ or ³DraculD¶s wives).
Although they do not undergo the vampirization process in the novel, it is
implicit that Dracula has ³vampirizeG´ them. They display enormous
subjection and clearly do not have control over their existence.
On the other hand, Count Dracula has the chance of biting Jonathan
Harker by the end of chapter 3, when they stand in front of one another.
Jonathan reports that in that moment ³the horror overcame me, and I sank
down unconscLRXV´ (idem, chapter 3, p. 54). However, the Count chooses
not to attack the man, even though his blood seems to be as tempting as
anyone else¶s: previously, when Harker tries to shave and cuts himself,
³[Dracula¶s] eyes blazed with a sort of demoniac fury, and he suddenly made
a grab at my throat. I drew away and his hand touched the string of beads
which held the crucifix. It made an instant change in him, for the fury
passed so quickly that I could hardly believe that it was ever there´ (ibidem,
p. 37-38).
And there are also the males who could have been bitten: Renfield,
ϭϭϭ
who is under Dracula¶s control due to the latteU¶s hypnotizing power; Mr.
Swales, who is found dead with a broken neck; and the crew at the Demeter.
It cannot be stated for sure whether Dracula bit them or not, but it is
suggestive that the captain¶s log only says that the members of the crew
³disappear´ as days go by. The only one whose ending is clear is the one
who throws himself at the ocean, and the captain is lashed to the helm with a
dropping head ± but nothing is mentioned about his corpse being emptyblooded or with holes resembling a biting.
In total, Dracula makes fourteen victims (thirteen of them fatal, except
for Mina). Among the fourteen there are five women ± all of them either
clearly or implictly bitten, and nine men ± none of them bitten, or so it
seems. Another feature the females share is their age: Lucy is nineteen years
old, and Mina, whose age is not revealed, seems to be about the same age as
her friend Lucy. The three vampires in castle Dracula also seem to be young,
whereas Renfield is fifty-nine years old (ibidem, chapter 5, p. 78), and
Harker is a strong young man. In all cases, it becomes clear that
Dracula¶s victims have no condition whatsoever to defend themselves.
The same goes for Lucy, after she becomes a vampire. She cannot
attack men, for they are supposedly stronger, and she does not attack
women, once that would be an equal battle. Therefore she attacks children,
more precisely for two or three days after her ³death´. None of the children
die, and they claim to be lured away by the ³bloofer lady´ (ibidem, chapter
13, p. 213). An evidence of such idea lies on the children not becoming
vampires in the novel (for there would not be a human prey weaker than
they), and also on the fact that Stoker does not clarify whether the children
would have become vampires had not Lucy been killed.
Renfield¶s situation is a peculiar one. Not having been vampirized,
ϭϭϮ
he does not have the power to feed on people¶s blood, so he preys on
animals. In a sense, that agrees with the Marxist view of the vampire,
since the vampiric social structure seems to display hierarchical positions
that have the aristocrat or the owner as its highest instance, and the lowclass worker subjected to them. It is interesting to point out that Renfield
ends up in John Seward¶s lunatic asylum, and as Seward observes Renfield
he becomes more certain of the patient¶s delusion. However, the doctor
reaches astonishing conclusions about the logic in Renfield¶s behavior
pattern when it comes to animals,
5 June. ± The case of Renfield grows more interesting the more I get to
understand the man. (...) His pets are of odd sorts. (...) Just now his hobby is
catching flies.
18 June. ± He has turned his mind now to spiders, and has got several big
fellows in a box. He keeps feeding them his flies (...) he has used half his
food in attracting more flies from outside to his room.
1 July. ± (...) He disgusted me much while with him, for when a horrid
blowfly, bloated with some carrion food, buzzed into the room, he caught it,
held it exultantly for a few moments between his finger and thumb, (...) put
it in his mouth and ate it. (...) I scolded him for it, but he argued quietly
that it was very good and very wholesome, that it was life, strong life, and
gave life to him.
8 July. ± There is a method in his madness. (...) He has managed to get a
sparrow, and has already partially tamed it.
19 July. ± We are progressing. My friend now has a whole colony of
sparrows, and his flies and spiders are almost obliterated. When I came in
he ran to me and said he wanted to ask me a great favour, a very, very great
favour. (...) I asked him what it was, and he said, with a sort of rapture in his
voice and bearing, ³$ kitten, a nice, little, sleek, playful kitten, that I can
play with, and teach, and feed, and feed, and feed!´ I was not unprepared
for this request, for I had noticed how his pets went on increasing in size
and vivacity. (ibidem, chapter 6, pp.87-88)
The idea of the food chain becomes clear in Renfield¶s behavior, but
ϭϭϯ
the aspect of obtaining energy from the victim also appears when Renfield
says that the blowfly will give him ³strong lifH´. In a sense, Renfield
reproduces in the micro-universe of his cell what Dracula does in the real
world to humans, and it is the promise of being able to do the same that
holds him together with Dracula: ³I am here to do your bidding, Master. I
am your slave, and you will reward me, for I shall be faithful. I have
worshipped you long. (...) I await your commands, and you will not pass me
by, will you, dear Master, in your distribution of good things?´ (ibidem,
chapter 8, p. 126). Renfield¶s rhetoric in this scene is very similar to the one
found in prayers ± analogically, Dracula becomes Renfield¶s God, as the
former promises the latter ³spiritual verticality´, within the parameters of
Durand¶s ascensional symbolism.
The ³strong life´ Renfield seeks so much is what Dracula gets before
going to England. In Transylvania, after noticing Count Dracula¶s strange
habits and meeting the three female vampires, Jonathan Harker tries to kill
Dracula. He enters the Count¶s vault, and there he sees Dracula laying on his
coffin, but ³looking as if youth had been half restoreG´ (ibidem, chapter 4,
p. 67) The white hair and the moustache were gone, replaced with dark-grey
hair and redder cheeks, and ³the mouth was redder than ever, for on the
lips were gouts of fresh blood, which trickled from the corners of the
mouth and ran down over the chin and necN´ (ibidem, chapter 4, p. 67)
The important role of blood in a vampirH¶s existence is reinforced
during Van Helsing¶s explanation, when he is preparing the group to fight
Dracula: ³the vampire live [sic] on, and cannot die by mere passing of the
time, he can flourish when that he can fatten on the blood of the living. Even
more, we have seen amongst us that he can grow even younger´ (ibidem,
chapter 18, p. 286)
ϭϭϰ
The concept of food chain is part of nature, and, as John Seward
mentions in chapter 5, even in Renfield¶s seemingly delusional attitudes
some method can be found. What makes this particular food chain so
peculiar is that the vampire not only obtains its nourishment from blood, but
also youth, reversing a natural process that cannot be reversed by living
people.
Besides the physical power, Dracula displays throughout the novel his
psychic power through actions as unnatural as his capacity of growing
younger. One example is the already mentioned ability of controlling
animals: he soothes the horses as he drives Jonathan to his castle, and he
silences the wolves, to Jonathan¶s amazement: ³This is a terrible thought,
for if so, what does it mean that he could control the wolves, as he did, by
only holding up his hand for silence?´ (ibidem, chapter 3, p. 40) It also
becomes clear that Dracula is able to do the same to the three vampires
in his castle ³With a fierce sweep of his arm, he hurled the woman from
him, and then motioned to the others, as though he were beating them back.
It was the same imperious gesture that I had seen used to the wolveV´ ±
ibidem, chapter 3, p. 53).
Even the weather is subject to DraculD¶s will, which becomes evident
in two passages. The first one comes on the journey to England, when all
the crew members are dead (including the captain), when the ship arrives
safely at the Whitby Harbor, to peoplH¶s great amazement. A description
taken from The Dailygraph provides the reader with a description of the
weather that links the situation directly to supernatural forces whose source
cannot be other but the Count,
The wind roared like thunder, and blew with such force that it was with
ϭϭϱ
difficulty that even strong men kept their feet, or clung with grim clasp to the
iron stanchions. It was found necessary to clear the entire pier from the mass
of onlookers, or else the fatalities of the night would have increased manifold.
To add to the difficulties and dangers of the time, masses of sea-fog came
drifting inland. White, wet clouds, which swept by in ghostly fashion, so
dank and damp and cold that it needed but little effort of imagination to
think that the spirits of those lost at sea were touching their living brethren
with the clammy hands of death, and many a one shuddered at the wreaths of
sea-mist swept by. (ibidem, chapter 7, p. 97)
The second passage in which Dracula displays his godlike ability to
meddle with the weather is on his journey back to Transylvania, when he
manages to cause sudden changes in order to prevent the captain from
signalizing to others about their position and also to interfere in his rivaOV¶
prosecution against him.
³Man!´ (...) ³Eut it made us afeard, for we expect it that we should have to
pay for it wi¶ some rare piece R¶ ill luck, so as to keep up the average. IW¶s no
canny to run frae London to the Black Sea wi¶a wind ahint ye, as though
the Deil himself were blawin¶ on yer sail for his ain purpose. AQ¶ a¶ time
we could no speer a thing. Gin we were nigh a ship, or a port, or a
headland, a fog fell on us and travelled wi¶ us, till when after it had lifted
and we looked out, the deil a thing could we see. We ran by Gibraltar wi¶oot
beiQ¶ able to signal´ (ibidem, chapter 26, p. 413)
The captain¶s words illustrate the situation, just like the newspaper
passage mentioned previously. The mixture of natural (weather) with
supernatural (changes) causes a major impact, and the vocabulary and the
narrators chosen by Stoker enhance that effect: the first one is a journalist,
interested in selling his story and turns it into the most interesting piece of
news, whereas the second is an experimented and superstitious boat captain,
excited to tell an amazing adventure in which he is the protagonist. That
ϭϭϲ
accounts for the use of phrases such as ³ghostly fashion´, ³spirits of those
lost at sHD´, ³Flammy hands of death´, and also for the mention of the devil
in the captain¶s account.
Dracula also employs the energy he gathers along with blood in his
uncanny power of metamorphosing into different shapes. Apart from his
human forms (an elderly man in Transylvania and a younger one in
London), the Count presents himself as a bat (particularly when he
harasses Lucy) and as a dog (when he leaves the ship in his arrival at
England). He also assumes non-animal forms, ³He can come in mist, which
he create [sic] (...). He can come on moonlight rays as elemental dust (...)
He become [sic] so small (...) He can (...) come out from anything or
into anythinJ´ (ibidem, chapter 18, p. 286). Dracula may even have an
immaterial human form (a kind of specter), according to the captain of the
ship that brought him to England, ³I crept behind it, and gave it my knife,
but the knife went through it, empty as the air.´ (ibidem, chapter 7, p. 106)
Shape-shifting is one of the most visual among Dracula¶s powers,
and not having access to blood affects his strength and his supernatural
abilities ± such as shape-shifting. Thus, when Count Dracula affirms that
³blood is too precious a thing´, he actually delivers a multi-ranged
statement, which serves as the very foundation of Stoker¶s novel and allows
a variety of approaches and associations to help define the concepts to the
images of blood ± and here lies the main challenge, since in reality there is
not only one concept, but also a great deal of symbolism and images
regarding blood, and their intertwining leads to the most varied paths of
interpretations, in a prolific cycle.
The cyclic symbolism performs an important role in Dracula: as
ϭϭϳ
mentioned in chapter 2, time is constantly being marked in every diary
or phonograph entry, giving the reader some time reference, hence
³imagination controls the contigent fluidity of time.´ (DURAND, p. 273)
In a certain way, the connection between Count Dracula and Vlad Tepes
(discussed in detail in the next section) accounts for part of the nocturnal
dramatic character of the myth of the vampire presented in the novel: the
idea of a dramatic myth involves the cycle of qualitites and events
(supernatural threats, vampiric domination) ³which unceasingly dominate
[fifteenth century in Romania with Vlad Tepes], disappear [Tepes is killed]
and reappear [Dracula emerges in the nineteenth century]´ (idem, p. 275)
Traces of another dramatic and cyclic characteristic are perceived in
DraculD¶s persona: the trinitarian figuration (p. 278). In more or less obvious
details, the attentive reader notices that number three is a recurrent presence
in Dracula¶s plan of attack: when he imprisons Jonathan in his castle,
Dracula gives him paper and envelopes to write three letters to London
(STOKER, chapter 3, p. 45); the astonishing description of Castle Dracula
includes the fact that ³the castle was built on the corner of a great rock, so
that on three sides it was quite impregnable´ (idem, chapter 3, p. 49);
Dracula¶s nameless vampire companions are three, the same number of
Dracula¶s material and immaterial forms (man, bat and dog; fog, elemental
dust and mist, respectively); and finally, Dracula¶s constant attacks to Lucy
force her to receive blood from four men. In his sexualized analysis of
the blood donation, Van Helsing excludes himself ³one, two, three, all
open their veins for her, besides one old maQ´ ± ib., chapter 12, p. 182), in
which case Lucy would be turned by Dracula into an immoral adulterous
with three husbands.
ϭϭϴ
The myths of polarity of the Nocturnal Order are based on the idea
of a deity that brings together contrastive features. Doubtlessly, Dracula is
such a deity: he deprives human beings from their earthly life, and at the
same time provides them with an eternal existence as undead; from the
social point of view this reading comes full cycle with some of the
discussion presented in chapter 1 about the role of women in Victorian
society: on the one hand, the women bitten by Dracula become his subjects,
like the three female vampires, and even Mina, whose mind Dracula reads;
on the other hand, the vampire sets women free from social restraints as
far as their sexuality is concerned, because they abandon a social scheme
that prevents them from being sexualized and enter a new one in which
sexuality is not only obvious, but also blatant. In agreement with that, the
polar deity is associated to the door, as the ³synthesis of arrivals and
departureV´ ± women leave their biological lives and reach a new
dimension, which is an evil one for the Diurnal Order, but not for the
Nocturnal one.
Androgyny is not manifested in Dracula¶s physical appearance, but it
might be present in his refusal in biting men. As I discuss in the last section
of this chapter, one possible reading for this aspect is an attempt on
Dracula¶s part in reaching male vitals (blood and energy) through Lucy, a
female container. His feeding on women¶s blood (female containers) allows
him to have several female extensions (Lucy, Mina and his ³brides´ . From a
Jungian point of view, the matrix (Dracula) is male, and his shadow (all the
girls together) is female, establishing a psychic androgyny.
Also within the frame of cycles, the agro-lunar drama presented in
Dracula is based on ³seasonal rhythms.´ (DURAND, p. 288) The most
important aspects in Dracula¶s pursuit of blood rely on the effects of the
ϭϭϵ
revolution of the sun: his attacks always take place at night, and his mind
connection with Mina is explained by John Seward as follows: during
sunrise and sunset she is entitled to ³times of peculiar freedom (...) when her
old self can be manifest without any controlling force subduing or
restraining her, or inciting her to acWLRQ´ (STOKER, chapter 25, p. 391). That
indicates that DraculD¶s subsistence scheme depends completely on seasonal
rhythms, limiting his powerful range of actions.
3.2 AGGRAVATING THE
DOMINATION AND LAND
CREW
OF
LIGHT:
NOBILITY,
Another possible range of blood images in Dracula regards the triad
Count Dracula, blood and land. A study of the implications, metaphors and
possible meanings found in this multiple relationship proves prolific; the
procedure consists on an analysis of StokHU¶s previous readings in terms of
literature and history (as presented in section 1.3), and how that research
influenced the authoU¶s creation process, mainly when it came to the
development of Count Dracula as a literary character.
It is perceptible that this inextricable link between reality and fiction
manifests itself through blood imagery and lines associated to Dracula,
substantially in his interaction with the group with whom he rivals
throughout the story. This polarization has Count Dracula on one side and
the Crew of Light on the other: Jonathan Harker, Abraham Van Helsing,
John Seward, Arthur Holmwood and Quincey Morris (plus Mina Harker,
who ends up being fundamental in the chase for Dracula).
The implications of the struggle between Dracula and the Crew are
ϭϮϬ
discussed further ahead, but one aspect deserves some highlighting at this
point: the use of the word ³light´ in the nomenclature proposed by
Christopher Craft. Based on a diurnal dichotomy that associates darkness to
evil and light to goodness, it could be said that Craft calls DraculD¶s
opponents ³Crew of LiJKW´ and brings them closer to the images linked to
the spectacular symbols: the sun, Christ and light itself ± all of them
elements that can be used to fight the vampire. From the Crew¶s perspective
in the novel, the logic in the spectacular symbols makes full sense, and being
associated to light automatically associates them to ascension due to the
isotopy between the two categories. (DURAND, p. 141)
In order to identify the blood imagery related to land, family, peoples
and origins, an identification of Count Dracula¶s background becomes
important, as well as an analysis of the possible associations of these
elements to blood. DraculD¶s is a noble blood, and nobility plays an
important role here, for it implies the idea of dynasty and lineage; it is also a
brave and mixed blood, for the numerous peoples he descends from were
victorious in historical battles and fought for their freedom; and finally, it is
a blood deeply connected with pride, because of its noble and warrior
origins.
The archetypal image of the vampire always includes some kind of
nobility, frequently expressed in the nobility titles vampires hold: Lord
Ruthven, Countess Carmilla Karnstein, Lady Geraldine, Count Dracula (in
literature) and Countess Elizabeth Bathory and Prince Vlad Tepes (real life
vampires). The Diurnal Order of the Imaginary perceives some hints of this
nobility in the ascensional symbols in Dracula. When Jonathan Harker
describes his journey in the carriage to Castle Dracula, he describes that
³we kept on ascending, with occasional periods of descending, but in the
ϭϮϭ
main always ascending´(STOKER, chapter 1, p. 24) This indicates that the
Castle is on the top of a mountain, in agreement with the notion of the
frequentation of high places proposed in the ascensional symbols. Altitude
and ascension play an important role here, because they inspire gigantization
and divinization (DURAND, p. 132) and invite to a position of monarchic
contemplation, as proposed by Bachelard (in DURAND, p. 132).
Invested with this monarchic aura, Dracula is entitled to what Durand
calls a tripartite sovereign power: priestly and magical in the first instance
(which is proven through Dracula¶s relationship with Renfield as a deity and
a preacher at the same time), then judicial (having a noble background and
as the leader of a new race of vampires, he would certainly create the laws
to which all other vampires would be submitted), and finally military (also
evidenced, through the acknowledged influence of Vlad Tepes ± as chapter 1
shows, a man of high military rank ± in the composition of the character).
Many aspects underneath the action in Dracula bring the reader
closer to the Count¶s noble roots and his warrior background. One of these
features is the mix of races and origins of the Transylvanians. The early
diary entries by Jonathan Harker provide an idea of the peoples that once
invaded and/or inhabited the area,
In the population of Transylvania there are four distinct nationalities: Saxons
in the South, and mixed with them the Wallachs, who are descendants of the
Dacians; Magyars in the West, and Szekelys in the East and North. I am
going among the latter, who claim to be descended from Attila and the
Huns. This may be so, for when the Magyars conquered the country in
the eleventh century they found the Huns settled in it. (STOKER, chapter
1, p. 10)
As Harker meets the Count and engages in a conversation, the lattHU¶s
ϭϮϮ
noble status becomes clear, ³Here I am a noble. I am a Boyar.´ (idem,
chapter 2, p. 31). The Count repeats the significant number of races in
Transylvania, reminding the reader of Jonathan¶s first description of the
place and increasing all the amazement of such a ³meOWLQJSRW´ concentrated
in only one being,
We Szekelys have a right to be proud, for in our veins flows the blood of
many brave races who fought as the lion fights, for lordship. Here, in the
whirlpool of European races, the Ugric tribe bore down from Iceland the
fighting spirit which Thor and Wodin gave them, which their Berserkers
displayed to such fell intent on the seaboards of Europe, aye, and of Asia
and Africa too, till the peoples thought that the werewolves themselves
had come. Here, too, when they came, they found the Huns (...) Fools,
fools! What devil or what witch was ever so great as Attila, whose blood
is in these veins? (...) when the Magyar, the Lombard, the Avar, the Bulgar,
or the Turk poured his thousands on our frontiers, we drove them back.
(ibidem, chapter 3, p. 41)
The quotation above is in reality very representative of many of the
aspects pointed out previously. When the Count uses the expression ³the
whirlpool of European races´, he directly talks about different bloods
mixing, and forming one kind ± the Szekelys, whose ultimate representative
is Count Dracula himself. Nobility also appears as a main focus in the battle,
because the Szekelys fight ³Ior lordship´. Dracula also alludes to war icons
and bravery imagery as he mentions the lion, Thor and Wodin, the Huns and
Attila. As important as these icons is the magnitude of the Szekelys¶
conquests, for they comprise three continents, and the peoples defeated by
them were as numerous as the ones that formed them.
The excerpt includes two occurrences of the word blood: the first is
closely connected with the core idea of this perspective for an analysis,
ϭϮϯ
namely, blood in its most metaphorical signification, almost as a synonym to
family and roots; the second one involves the literal meaning of the term, but
at the same time ± and due to its connection with Attila ± it works as a
symbol of courage and historical tradition. As it can be seen, in the passage
blood assumes several meanings ± profound and symbolic ones ± that are
echoed in different moments of the novel, essentially through Count
Dracula¶s battle against the Crew of Light.
The tone Count Dracula uses is harsh, threatening and warlike. One
possibility for such a tone is the influence of Vlad Tepes as DraculD¶s ³reallife ancestor´(PUNTER, p. 28). Besides being a commander, Tepes was an
efficient and cruel warrior, known for humiliating the ones he defeated. Not
coincidentally, he became known as ³Vlad the ImpaleU´. This trait is also
perceived in Count Dracula through the bond he creates with the women he
attacks, and the way he uses them as tools to humiliate the Crew of Light,
Then he [Dracula] spoke to me [John Seward] mockingly, µAnd so you, like
the others, would play your brains against mine. You would help these men
to hunt me and frustrate me in my design! You know now, and they know in
part already, and will know in full before long, what it is to cross my path.
They should have kept their energies for use closer to home. Whilst they
played their wits against me, against me who commanded nations, and
intrigued for them, and fought for them, hundreds of years before they were
born, I was countermining them. And you, their best beloved one, are now
to me, flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood, kin of my kin, my bountiful
wine-press for a while, and shall be later on my companion and my helper.
(Stoker, chapter 21, p. 343)
Through the blood subjugation Dracula makes Lucy and Mina
undergo he reaches his rivals in the deepest and most humiliating ways: he
displays the women as trophies and holds their bodies as mementoes of his
ϭϮϰ
victories (Lucy as an undead and Mina as a channel to the men¶s
thinking). Concomitantly, the Crew is aware of DraculD¶s momentary
superiority, for his contamination makes them sacrifice and desecrate Lucy
and it causes Mina a lot of pain and humiliation towards her husband, the
other men, and even towards God, for she bears on her forehead a mark of
her sin after Van Helsing touches her with a host: ³Unclean! Unclean!
Even the Almighty shuns my polluted flesh! I must bear this mark of
shame upon my forehead until the Judgment Day´ (idem, chapter 22, p.
353)
The last section of this chapter discusses the connections of
Dracula and the ones he transforms into vampires, but one observation
related to that and the mystical structures of the Nocturnal Order is worth
making at this point: the idea of preservation, which is fundamental in the
principle of doubling and perseveration (as presented on page 80). One of the
main characteristics of the pursuit of preservation is the expressive
inconstancy (DURAND, p. 261), which is simply a difficulty to determine
with accuracy and perceive the forms. In that sense, Dracula represents very
well the isotopy of blurred and shadowy forms that contribute to his
preservation: firstly, he changes shapes ± a fact that alone makes it more
difficult to track him down; besides, in all of his shapes there is either a
strong presence of black (the bat, the dog and the man in black suit) or an
immaterial form, such as fog, mist and dust). In addition to this, his actions
take place at night, making it harder to identify and chase him. Dracula¶s
ability of changing forms and his military and strategic expertise are part of
his effort to defend his land and perpetuate his lineage.
If Dracula shares nobility with his fellow literary vampires, he also
ϭϮϱ
has his peculiarities. Dracula is physically strong and full of energy,
regardless of his apparent age. In the beginning of the novel, when he
seems older, Jonathan displays his amazement due to the complete
absence of servants in Castle Dracula, and he becomes even more surprised
as he realizes that the Count himself carries the luggage and serves the
meals. In London, when the Count looks younger, he runs away from the
Crew of Light efficiently until he reaches Transylvania. On the other
hand, all the previously cited vampiric characters claim to be suffering of
some kind of disease or weakness, preventing them from performing
physical tasks (for example, in ColeridgH¶s poem, Lady Geraldine faints in
front of a castle and in Le Fanu¶s story Carmilla complains about headaches
and weakness).
Dracula¶s outstanding stamina is a consequence of his historical origin
in Vlad Tepes. Whenever Dracula means to add emphasis to his heated
speeches he mentions his glorious past as a warrior. Van Helsing does the
same as he gives to the rest of the Crew of Light a lecture on the vampire
and how to kill him,
He must, indeed, have been that Voivode Dracula who won his name
against the Turk over the great river on the very frontier of the Turkeyland.
It if be so, then he was no common man, for in that time, and for centuries
after, he was spoken of as the cleverest and the most cunning, as well as the
bravest of the sons of the ³land beyond the forest´ That mighty brain and
that iron resolution went with him to his grave, and are even now arrayed
against us. (ibidem, chapter 18, pp. 287-288)
The use of the term contamination in this analysis matches its
recurrence in the novel. Apart from the idea of spreading some kind of
³disease´ via blood, there is also the implication related to the warlike
ϭϮϲ
aspect of the Count. As he bites his victims, he starts putting together a kind
of army, a group of followers that turn out to be physically and
psychologically similar to their matrix. In a diurnal reading, these followers
should also gather more soldiers for their army, until complete domination is
configured. In theory, the idea is excellent. Dracula himself is a being who
survived many centuries: ³...Dracula¶s growth is not bound by a single
lifetime, but instead covers potentially limitless generations (...) He is in
effect his own species, or his own race, displaying in his person the progress
of ages.´ (ARATA, p. 135)
Dracula¶s resistance and bravery are intimately connected to History
in diverse levels: the battles he took part of, the opponents he managed
to kill and his rejoicing at humiliating and humbling the adversary.
These factors are all linked by one crucial bond: DraculD¶s country. The
importance of land is manifested in the novel both in concrete and
metaphorical terms.
Firstly, Dracula¶s luggage in his journey to London consists mainly of
fifty boxes of Transylvanian sand ± grains removed from DraculD¶s native
soil. After he purchases four properties in London, he manages to spread
this
sand
all
over
his
new
houses,
because the
contact
with
Transylvanian dust energizes him. It turns out to be a way of bringing
DraculD¶s ³Holy LaQG´ closer to him, working as a reminder of his previous
successes and his dominion over the place of origin of the grains he steps
on. In fact, this situation works out as a profanation of Christian religions,
which have in Jerusalem and Bethlehem their own Holy Lands (the
desecration of Christian elements in the novel is discussed with detail in the
next section). Within the diæretic symbolism the sand Dracula brings from
Transylvania stand for fortification, performing the roles of protection and
ϭϮϳ
intimacy. As he brings Transylvanian soil with him to England, Dracula
turns into the real Vlad Tepes as the proud defender of his kingdom, as the
boyar. The Nocturnal Order of the Image sees here one of its mystical
structures functioning ± the one of adhesiveness and viscosity, whose focus
is to bring together elements, especially if they are logically separated. When
Dracula goes to London carrying Transylvanian sand with him, he
establishes a two-fold illogical connection: vampires and humans and, at the
same time, his medieval Transylvania with the scientific Victorian England.
Secondly, the influence of Vlad Tepes¶s history on Dracula cannot
go unnoticed. At this point of the analysis, the fact that Stoker changed the
original site of Castle Dracula from Styria to Transylvania becomes more
meaningful. The place is powerful and representative of many values
Dracula stands for throughout the novel, validating his strong bond with
land. In the first instance, Vlad Tepes is the noble, the master of a feudal
system who represents the patriarchal figure. As section 1.3 points out,
Vlad¶s father¶s access to the throne of Wallachia is closely connected to
Christianism, and the promise of its defense ± in that sense and under a
diurnal perspective, his family (lineage) can be framed as representative of
God and goodness. The inversion of the orders of the image when analyzing
Vlad Tepes is due to his six-year stay in Turkey, where he became
acquainted with war techniques and applied them very effectively when he
became the ruler of Wallachia. From that point on, he becomes a symbol
valorized negatively in a diurnal interpretation, an entity that brings death
and destruction. In opposition to the negative symbol stand other symbols
that represent the victory over fate and death (DURAND, p. 119) ±
respectively, Dracula and the Crew of Light.
Three aspects regarding the historical origin of Count Dracula are
ϭϮϴ
discussed here, namely: a) the interracial combination that formed the people
in Transylvania ± Dracula, as a survivor of many wars and other factors
affecting life in his homeland, summarizes the process and the struggle of
his people, in a way; b) his war techniques are put into practice once
more: before going to England, Dracula studies all about life in London,
English customs and even the traLQV¶ timetables; when he arrives in
London, he buys four houses in strategic points of the city and manages to
spread the energizing Transylvanian dust in them, to make sure he will
have refuge in the future; and c) his thirst for blood, which is extremely
concrete on the surface, but might be a metaphor of his old need (as a
warrior) to obtain, in one way or another, the enemy¶s blood. This need
remains either way ± thinking of Dracula as a vampire or as a modern
literary representation of Vlad Tepes ± in spite of one possible difference
pointed out by Franco Moretti in his article Dracula and Capitalism:
³Dracula (unlike Vlad the Impaler, the historical Dracula, and all other
vampires before him) does not like spilling blood: he neeGV EORRG´
(MORETTI, p. 45)
Moretti¶s capitalist view of the vampire agrees in some terms with
Marx¶s metaphor of the vampire as the epitome of capitalism (as presented
in chapter 1), and also with the viscosity pointed out by Durand in the
Nocturnal Order of the imaginary. The concept of viscosity lies on bringing
elements together, and Dracula is a novel that focuses on ³episodes of
connecWLRQ´Eased on the pursuit of blood: the Count connects to the ones he
attacks in the search for nourishment; when he does not attack, he either
prosecutes (still searching for blood) or is being prosecuted (by humans
who want to prevent the vampire from feeding from their blood). Many
trips are described in the several journal entries and newspaper cuts, and it
ϭϮϵ
is in those trips that the cyclic movement of prosecution in Dracula takes
place: the novel starts with Harker going to Transylvania, where he meets
Dracula; the latter travels to London, where he has the chance of being
among humans; and the end of the novel depicts the exact inversion of this
process: Dracula runs away back to Transylvania, and the humans with
whom he had been involved chase him. Ultimately, these logically
opposed elements (men and vampire) are brought together by the search for
and consequent defense of blood.
Another structure of the Nocturnal Order present in the issue of
movement in Dracula is the concrete sensorial vivacity of the mystic
fantasy. The different perspectives of the several narrators provide the reader
with the kinaesthetic feeling of participating of the race towards the vampire.
In addition to this, images containing colors enhance the sensorial impact
the novel causes: red for the so desired and protected blood, black on the
background of the story (the night and the vampire), and even white, in two
diverse ways: in the uncanny whiteness of the vampireV¶ teeth, and in
contrast to the redness of blood in two scenes: Lucy being purified in the
cemetery ± in which the virginal whiteness of her death robe contrasts with
the red blood that trickles from her mouth ± and in Mina¶s blood baptism, in
which her white nightgown contrasts with Dracula¶s blood and hers as well.
The connection between Count Dracula and Vlad Tepes pervades
the story, but it only happens because its structure allows it. The Count is
only concretely present in the course of events in two parts of the
narration: by the end, when he is prosecuted and eventually killed, and in
the beginning, through HarkHU¶s description in his journal entries. The
striking first journal entries by Jonathan Harker entice the reader by
creating an aura of uniqueness and exoticism around the Count.
ϭϯϬ
The first chapters, apart from presenting the Count, also describe
the castle and reproduce their conversations. One of the reasons for the
impact they cause on the reader is the impact the atmosphere causes on
Harker, because of the castlH¶s decaying grandeur, the absence of servants
and, obviously, the Count¶s uncanny personality. Jonathan is puzzled by the
link Dracula makes of remote times with the end of the nineteenth century
because the means for this link is the Count himself,
I have had a long talk with the Count. I asked him a few questions on
Transylvania history, and he warmed up to the subject wonderfully. In his
speaking of things and people, and especially of battles, he spoke as if he
had been present at them all. This he afterwards explained by saying that to
a Boyar the pride of his house and name is his own pride, that their glory is
his glory, that their fate is his fate. Whenever he spoke of his house he
always said ³wH´ and spoke almost in the plural, like a king speaking.
(Stoker, chapter 3, p. 40)
This connection between past and present comes full cycle with the
association of blood and race as Dracula asks, ³Is it a wonder that we were a
conquering race, that we were proud?´(idem, chapter 3, p. 41) What is
the affiliation Dracula displays with his question? A link with the
victorious Szekelys, who killed many and stood still through the harshest
times in order to defend their dignity and hegemony over other peoples?
Or is it, already, in the first pages on the novel, a hint that Harker missed a
reference to DraculD¶s real nature of ³soldier gatherer´ as a vampire?
In spite of being partially inspired upon historical facts, some critics
have found inaccuracies within the novel, especially concerning the
geographical site of Castle Dracula and the shift from Styria to
Transylvania and the ³nationaO´ and nobility implications behind the change.
ϭϯϭ
According to Leatherdale (1986), the problem lies on the fact that Stoker
decided to make Dracula a Count. Not only had Vlad Tepes been a Prince,
but also the title µCRXQW¶ did not exist in the Romanian social hierarchy of
the time (considering that Vlad TepeV¶ principality, Wallachia, is properly
Romanian). The title would be proper had Stoker kept Austria as the
location of Castle Dracula, but the Hungarian influence of Elizabeth
Bathory, the Bloody Countess,
influenced this most frequently unnoticed
historical lack of coherence.
Bathory drank blood because she believed it had rejuvenating
properties, and in fact Stoker borrows that feature as Dracula grows younger
by feeding on blood. Another aspect that corroborates the existence of
Elizabeth Bathory¶s essence in Dracula is the fact that Sheridan Le Fanu
most certainly read about the Hungarian countess, since the coincidences
between Carmilla and Bathory are more relevant and obvious (gender,
nationality, nobility title and preference for virgin maidens, to mention a
few). Although coincidences between Dracula and Elizabeth Bathory really
exist, the historical influence that is frequently acknowledged as the main
one in StokHU¶s work is undoubtedly Vlad Tepes¶s.
The significant amount of historical evidence in Dracula shows
Bram StokHU¶s concern for some level of accuracy, but the truth seems to
be that all the research ± by chance or on purpose ± and the great number
of sources (not only in literature) came in his way towards the creation of
a more cohesive piece of writing in terms of geography and history. It is
also important to point out that StokHU¶s earliest notes for Dracula date
from 1890 (idem, p. 67), and the ultimate version was published only in
1897 ± the time gap between the first notes and the final product probably
confused him even more. But in spite of his efforts, Stoker was not a
ϭϯϮ
historian, and all the mixed influences on his masterpiece work more as
meaningful contributions rather than obstacles to the reader. And while the
novel is not entirely coherent history-wise, it certainly provides the reader
with a strong recurrent theme and its related range of images; more than that,
the mixed influences are cohesive exactly because they have blood as their
main motif.
And even though the discussion in this section relies heavily on the
vampire, the baby who is born by the end of the novel is also representative
in terms of blood in a reference to family: not only does Little Quincey
represent the continuation (or, as the Nocturnal Order calls it,
³perseveration´) of the human species, but he also shares with Dracula the
status of the twice-born son mentioned in the myths of polarity: he is born
for the first time even before being conceived, since the human race was
saved in a battle against a supernatural force. What is more, people closely
connected to him (especially his parents) were involved in this fight; he is
born for the second time when he actually comes into the world as a human
baby, in a collective effort of two women (Lucy, who is sacrificed, and
Mina, who fights and delivers him), and five men whose names he carries,
establishing another feature of the myth of the twice-born son, the doubling
of names. (DURAND, p. 294)
3.3 ³FLESH OF MY FLESH, BLOOD OF MY BLOOD´: BLOOD
BONDS
A third possibility for an analysis of blood imagery in Dracula is of
blood as a means of bonding, but not through natural kinship.27 The
The word µnaturDO¶ is being used here in its biological sense, that is, procreation through crossing.
27
ϭϯϯ
vampire feeds from its victim¶s blood and energy, therefore a special and
intimate connection between vampire and prey is established ± hence the
frequent interpretations and associations of the vampire with sexual desires,
which serve as a major basis in the formation of the myth of the vampire and
the general notion of the character.
The aura of sexuality pervading the character of the vampire is
founded on the erotic tone found in certain passages of Dracula, mostly
when an attack is happening or is about to happen. Even before Stoker¶s
novel, other pieces of literature involving vampires or vampiric characters
already highlight that trait, being three the clearest cases besides Dracula.
In John William Polidori¶s The Vampyre (1816), for example, Lord
Ruthven is irresistible to women, who always want to be next to him in
social gatherings ± in spite of his dreadful appearance (description on page
55); Bram Stoker¶s fellow countryman Sheridan Le Fanu published in 1871 a
book of short stories called In a Glass Darkly, including Carmilla, a story
that also helped set the patterns for the vampire (especially the female
one) as we know it currently, and along with The Vampyre, it served as a
great source of inspiration for Stoker during the creation process in
Dracula. (see WOLF (editor), 1993 and MELTON, 2003) In Carmilla, the
main characters are female, and the same sensuality found in Dracula
appears in Le Fanu¶s short story, including suggested lesbianism in
scenes such as the following, found in a passage where Laura and Carmilla
reveal to one another they had had the same dream about each other years
before,
... and looking up, while I was still upon my knees, I saw you²most
assuredly you²as I see you now; a beautiful young lady, with golden hair
and large blue eyes, and lips² your lips²you as you are here. Your looks
ϭϯϰ
won me; I climbed on the bed and put my arms about you, and I think we
both fell asleep. I was aroused by a scream; you were sitting up screaming. I
was frightened, and slipped down upon the ground, and, it seemed to me, lost
consciousness for a moment; and when I came to myself, I was again in my
nursery at home. Your face I have never forgotten since. I could not be
misled by mere resemblance. You are the lady whom I saw then. (Le
Fanu)28
Finally, a third example of the relation vampire/sensuality comes from
Samuel Taylor Coleridge¶s poem Christabel, published in two parts (the
first one in 1798 and the second one two years later). It tells the story of a
young girl who goes out for a walk in the woods in the middle of the night.
There she finds Lady Geraldine bathing in a lake. The same sexual
atmosphere in Carmilla is found in Coleridge¶s verses, and even though
Lady Geraldine is not clearly depicted as a vampire, she has vampiric
features: she pretends to faint in front of Christabel¶s fathHU¶s castle (one of
the peculiarities about the vampire is the fact that it does not enter a place
without being taken and/or invited); apart from the isolation in the woods,
the nudity under the moonlight and the sexiness involving her bath, Lady
Geraldine offers Christabel a bottle of red wine when they are in the castle.
The two of them end up lying on the ground, and the biting and the blood are
replaced with intimate moments and red wine. The following passage
expresses the climax of their meeting,
Yet Geraldine nor speaks nor stirs ; / Ah ! what a stricken look was hers !
/ Deep from within she seems half-way / To lift some weight with sick
assay, / And eyes the maid and seeks delay ; / Then suddenly as one defied /
Collects herself in scorn and pride, / And lay down by the Maiden's side !²
28
Available on the Internet at < http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10007/10007-8.txt > . Access on
October 5, 2013.
ϭϯϱ
(Coleridge) 29
Christabel and Geraldine stay together, and in the next morning, the
lattHU¶s body is younger and stronger, indicating that the natural process is
reversed in a very similar way to DraculD¶s.
Once the aspect of sexuality has been mentioned and exemplified with
alternative works, it becomes easier to perceive that in Dracula, whose
examples and situations are clearer both regarding vampirism and
sensuality. One of the greatest contradictions in terms of the dichotomy
involving Count Dracula and sexuality relies on the fact that there is
something markedly sexual involving his relation with the women he
attacks.
The absence of genital penetration is replaced with the penetration of
DraculD¶s canine teeth in Lucy¶s and Mina¶s body; the contact with genital
organs does not exist, but instead there is the contact of DraculD¶s mouth
with Lucy¶s and MinD¶s necks. During the blood baptism (this episode will
be dealt with in detail further ahead), MinD¶s mouth touches DraculD¶s
chest. There is no sperm or other sexual fluids, but there is red, hot, flowing
blood.
Psychoanalitical readings of Dracula have the focus on the sexual
aspects of the biting as one of their main basis. Phyllis A. Roth, in her
essay Suddenly Sexual Women in Bram Stoker¶s Dracula, cites C. F.
Bentley¶s The Monster in the Bedroom: Sexual Symbolism in Bram Stoker¶s
Dracula in order to justify the incestuous character of the vampirization.
Under that perspective, the victim becomes a lover and a child at the same
29
Available on the Internet at < http://etext.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridge/poems/Christabel.html>.
Access on November 25, 2003.
ϭϯϲ
time, for a new genealogy ± a kind of twisted kinship ± is created having the
vampire as the primordial basis. The blood bond created between Mina and
Dracula is the best example of such a viewpoint. The scene in which Dracula
and Mina feed on each othHU¶s blood is extremely sensuous, and it
becomes more intense due to the fact that Jonathan, MinD¶s husband, is
right next to the two of them as the action takes place:
On the bed beside the window lay Jonathan Harker, his face flushed and
breathing heavily as though in a stupor. Kneeling on the near edge of the
bed facing outwards was the white-clad figure of his wife. By her side
stood a tall, thin man, clad in black. His face was turned from us, but the
instant we saw we all recognized the Count, in every way, even to the
scar on his forehead. With his left hand he held both Mrs. Harker¶s hands,
keeping them away with her arms at full tension. His right hand gripped
her by the back of the neck, forcing her face down on his bosom. Her white
nightdress was smeared with blood, and a thin stream trickled down the
man¶s bare chest which was shown by his torn-open dress. (Stoker,
chapter 21, p. 336)
From that moment on, Mina shares with Count Dracula a special
connection. The image of blood circulating from one to the other represents
the completion of a sensuous (not sexual) act from which the bond is double:
it is established not only a kind of copulation, but one whose offspring is
Mina herself. Dracula himself points out this duality: ³And you [Mina], their
best beloved one, are now to me, flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood, kin
of my kin, my bountiful wine-press for a while, and shall be later on my
companion and my helper´
Mina undergoes what Van Helsing calls a blood baptism ±not only
Dracula feeds from her, but he feeds her from himself. Due to that, Mina is
not supposed to be an ordinary victim, merely a ³bountiful wine-press´. As it
ϭϯϳ
can be seen in the previous quotation, Dracula has special plans for Mina.
The blood baptism allows Dracula to be mentally connected to Mina (as if
he could read her mind), providing him with information regarding the
men¶s next steps. Conversely, Mina also acquires this ability, and Van
Helsing¶s hypnosis sessions enable Mina to read DraculD¶s mind and
discover, for example, that he is on his way back to Transylvania by boat.
That is how the group formed by the Harkers, Van Helsing, John Seward,
Arthur Holmwood and Quincey Morris manages to track Dracula down and
eventually kill him. Thus, Dracula establishes a blood link with Mina in
order to help him in the future, but it turns out to be the very reason for his
downfall.
The involvement of Dracula and Mina can be interpreted in many
different levels, and a good place to start is by analyzing how the Orders of
the imagination deal with it. It is established that for the Diurnal Order
Dracula is a symbol of evil, a virus that contaminates whoever is within
reach. In that sense, the contaminated ones can be considered victims, and
Mina is one of them. After the vampire attack, she becomes corrupted, sinful
and, what is worse, sexualized.
Within the Victorian frame of appropriate behaviors, the woman
who has contact with the vampire loses her status as an idealized mother
figure, and delicate female ± which leads directly to the corruption of the
feminine typical of the Diurnal Order. Due to the repression instilled in the
Victorian collective unconscious, the clear manifestation of a sexual desire
by a woman is inappropriate, it does not suit her social duties and rights.
What is more, Mina becomes really close to Dracula through the blood
baptism on the very bed she shares with her husband ± hence the idea of
adultery. Furthermore, she becomes DraculD¶s vampiric offspring and the
ϭϯϴ
sexiness involved in the scene, in association to Dracula¶s statement
previously mentioned, indicates that Mina assumes ± whether she wants it
or not, whether the social standards of the time condone it or not ± the role
of the vampiUH¶s wife and sexual partner ± hence the idea of incest.
As she connects to the vampire, Mina betrays her God, her social
circle, her husband and friends. She bears a mark on her forehead out of
this involvement, and suffers with remorse and doubt. From the archetype
of Great Mother she embodies in the plot after Lucy¶s death ± the one
who consoles, cooperates and inspires men ± she is on the verge of
becoming a femme fatale, a vamp, a lamia. After her sins are purged
through DraculD¶s elimination (in another subversion of a Christian ritual,
the myth of the savior who sheds his blood in order to save mankind), the
marks disappear: the physical changes she undergoes are reversed, and so is
the scar on her forehead. With the changes gone, the old order is established
again, and she goes back to her station of a submissive and demure Victorian
woman ± conveniently enhanced by her motherhood in the final paragraphs.
The Nocturnal Order, on the other hand, presents a world in which
dichotomies and moral equations do not exist. What does exist is the human
being, filled with natural impulses such as the sexuality. Since the events in
Dracula take place in a highly repressive society, it does not come as a
surprise that both males and females in this universe are deprived of the
expression of some of their forms of natural expression. The Nocturnal
Order does not see Dracula as a monster, but as a force of nature or abstract
entity, he extracts from Mina the substance that is necessary to his
subsistence, and in exchange he provides her with the tools for her to
establish herself as a sexual being.
It is worth highlighting that under this perspective Dracula is
ϭϯϵ
significantly more attractive and efficient than the five other male
characters in the Crew of Light, as if all the attributes a woman wishes to
find in a man were, at the same time, distributed among the mortals and
gathered in the vampire: Van Helsing possesses knowledge and wisdom;
John Seward, intelligence and an eagerness to learn; Arthur is noble, and
Quincey is vigorous. Interestingly enough, Jonathan, MinD¶s husband, does
not seem to hold any remarkable feature like the others ± on the contrary,
he becomes weak, sick and gray-haired after his encounter with the Count,
as if the vampire had absorbed all the good qualities he was able to share
with Mina before.
Another possible subversion of a Catholic precept in the story of
Dracula is the idea of being in contact with your god in order find
strength to survive: the doctrine of consubstantiation determines that
after the Eucharist is consecrated, the body and blood of Christ coexist
with the wafer and wine, and as the blood and flesh of Christ are being
consumed people incorporate good values and feel closer to God.
Conversely, the men in Dracula seem to be in sheer need of a higher being
and acquire energy to proceed with their prosecution. Not only does
Dracula reunite all the characteristics they look for, but he establishes a sort
of mystical contact with the men via the female they cherish so much.
In that sense, the analysis of the character of Mina Harker after the
blood baptism supports the multiplicity of points of view in the imagery
related to blood bonds as follows: a) through the idea of Dracula as a father
and a lover at the same time; b) because of the fact that Mina and Dracula are
mentally linked; and c) because the blood bond with Dracula and the
consequent
mind connection makes Mina useful in the chase after the
vampire ± as a matter of fact, Mina becomes crucial, for the men would
ϭϰϬ
never be able to find Dracula without her mind-reading capacity.
From the Victorian (and diurnal, in this case) point of view, Mina does
nothing but her obligation as she helps eliminate the vampire. But a
Nocturnal reading inverts the values presented in the Diurnal Order, since, as
Durand points out, sin becomes pleasant, the fall is euphemised into descent,
being the notions of comfort, intimacy and softness implied in that
euphemisation.
Following the vampire unconditionally represents to Mina her death
as a human being, whereas ignoring the vampire equals ignoring her erotic
nature and her Jungian shadow. Her only way out of this situation is to
become DraculD¶s companion, even at a distance, and use the psychic
powers Dracula granted her to chase him. She leads the rest of the
Crew of Light towards the vampire so that all of them together have the
chance of eliminating the monster, which will therefore, and through his
defeat, assume his positive aspect in the process of rehabilitation of the hero
± not with one man as the hero, but the five gathered, each one adding heroic
features to the Crew of Light.
The reinforcement of the heroic status of the male characters fills them
with energy, whose greatest symbol is the birth of Little Quincey. From the
diurnal perspective, Mina copulates with Jonathan and the two conceive a
child; from the nocturnal point of view, she copulates with all of them,
because they all contributed towards the construction of the bridge to the
new generation.
The connection shared between the Count and Mina is not the same as
the one he shares with Lucy Westenra. Mina does not fully undergo the
vampirization process, and she manages to survive; Lucy, on the other hand,
becomes a vampire, allowing a wider range of analysis of blood bonds in
ϭϰϭ
Dracula. In spite of their true friendship, Mina and Lucy are depicted as
being completely different in some aspects: Mina is more mature and has a
fiancé, she is not rich, and apparently she does not focus on shallow matters.
Lucy, on the other hand, celebrates the three marriage proposals she receives
on the same day (ibidem, chapter 5, pp. 72-77), cries whenever she
exchanges letters with Lucy, and seems to be more easy-going and less
serious than Mina. These differences are important within this analysis, for
they might explain the differences in their vampirization processes.
For a better understanding of the differences and similarities between
the Lucy vampire and the Mina vampire, the issue of blood bonds regarding
Lucy can be approached from three perspectives: when she is alive, when
she is a vampire, and when she is purified.
Up to a certain extent, the processes are similar when Lucy is alive.
Dracula recurrently feeds on both girls, and changes take place in terms of
health and appearance. In Lucy¶s case these aspects are more intense because
she was the first victim: she walks in her sleep, but Mina minimizes (or
according to the Nocturnal Order, ³Huphemizes´) that by remembering that
Lucy¶s father used to do the same (ibidem, chapter 6, p. 91), and that it
could be some kind of hereditary disease. In chapter 7 the nocturnal
existence starts to tell on Lucy, who does not understand why she feels so
weak, and in the next chapter Mina finds Lucy sitting on the street with a
creature with ³a white face and red, gleaming eyeV´ (ibidem, chapter 8, p.
113) beside her. Afterwards, Mina discovers that the skin on Lucy¶s throat is
pierced, but once more she tries to find a reasonable explanation for that,
following the scientific logic typical from her Victorian environment: ³I was
sorry to notice that my clumsiness with the safety-pin hurt her. Indeed, it
might have been serious, for the skin of her throat was pierced. (...), and on
ϭϰϮ
the band of her nightdress was a drop of EORRG´ (ibidem, chapter 8, p. 115)
The wounds on Lucy¶s throat become bigger, and she becomes sicker
and sicker due to constant blood losses. That is important for the plot, for
John Seward, who had been in charge of Lucy¶s health, feels that he cannot
handle the situation due to its gravity and peculiarity, therefore he calls
Professor Abraham Van Helsing, his friend and former professor, to help.
Van Helsing is the one who highlights the crucial role of blood in Lucy¶s
case, and he is the one in charge of the blood transfusions ± and here lies
one of the greatest differences between Lucy¶s case and MinD¶s ± the
emphasis put on blood transfusions and the implications behind them.
As it was said before, the differences pointed out between the girOV¶
behavior might account for the diverse outcomes in their situations. Lucy¶s
patent sweetness and femininity can be reasons for her being Dracula¶s first
choice, and also for her being other men¶s choice. Within the group that
chases Dracula one finds the three men who had proposed to Lucy:
Quincey P. Morris, the Texan who ³began pouring out a perfect torrent of
love-making, laying his very heart and soul at my feeW´(ibidem, chapter 5, p.
76), John Seward, who ³told me how dear I was to him, though he had
known me so little, and what his life would be with me to help and cheer
KLP´ (ibidem, chapter 5, p. 73), and Lucy¶s chosen one, Arthur Holmwood
(or Lord Godalming), about whom Lucy says: ³it seemed only a moment
from his coming into the room till both his arms were round me, and he was
kissing mH´. (ib., chapter 5, p. 77)
In spite of being accepted or rejected, the three men continue loving
Lucy,
which
explains their
hearty
interest
in
avenging
Lucy¶s
vampirization and death. But they give proof of their feelings while she
is sick by giving her their blood ± four times in total in less than a
ϭϰϯ
fortnight. This is StokHU¶s description for Lucy before the first transfusion
(which took place on September 7):
She was ghastly, chalkily pale. The red seemed to have gone even from her
lips and gums, and the bones of her face stood out prominently. Her
breathing was painful to see or hear. Van Helsing¶s face grew set as marble,
and his eyebrows converged till they almost touched over his nose. Lucy lay
motionless, and did not seem to have strenght to speak so for a while we
were all silent. (ibidem, chapter 10, p. 147)
The first one to give her blood is her fiancé, Arthur. His blood seems
to be better because of his love for Lucy ³... you will be happy that you
have done all for her you love´ ± ibidem, chapter 10, p. 149). Here the
blood bond differs from the one Dracula establishes with his victims because
in the former the blood is given voluntarily and in order to save the loved
onH¶s life. Arthur reinforces that by saying, ³Tell me, and I shall do it. My
life is herV¶ and I would give the last drop of blood in my body for her´
(ibidem, p. 148) and ³If you only knew how gladly I would die for her you
would understaQG´ (ibidem, p. 149)
However, Lucy¶s need to receive blood is immense, and ³that what
weakened Arthur only partially restored her.´ (ibidem, p. 150) Up to that
point, no one had figured out exactly what had been happening. Seward
tries to examine Lucy in order to understand why the huge amount of blood
given by Arthur does not suffice to restore Lucy. He finds the two wounds
on her throat, but does not manage to explain the situation, since the sheets
are still clean and he cannot find a rational, logical explanation ±displaying
the same tendency perceived in Mina when she tries to explain Lucy¶s
sleepwalking and the tiny holes on her friend¶s neck skin.
ϭϰϰ
On Lucy¶s diary entry on September 9, she says: ³Somehow Arthur
feels very, very close to me. I seem to feel his presence warm about me´
(ibidem, p. 154), reinforcing the idea that she can sense a strong link
created through blood, and that such bond probably involves love, or
other feelings and even senses, as the use of the word ³warP´ indicates.
This is fundamental, for Lucy receives more than one transfusion from
more than one donor. On September 10 Dracula attacks Lucy once more,
provoking a second transfusion. This time, John Seward is the one who
gives her blood, and the same idea expressed in Lucy¶s journal about Arthur
will be expressed by John towards Lucy as follows: ³It was with a feeling of
personal pride that I could see a faint tinge of color steal back into the pallid
cheeks and lips. No man knows, till he experiences it, what it is to feel his
own lifeblood drawn away into the veins of the woman he loveV´ (ibidem, p.
156). John actually becomes angry when Van Helsing asks him to stop,
because Arthur had donated much more than himself, to what Van Helsing
replies, ³He is her lover, her fiancé´ (ibidem, p. 156)
Van Helsing finally concludes that Lucy is suffering recurrent attacks
from a vampire, and tries to protect her by placing garlic around the
windows and on the threshold of her bedroom¶s door. However, the odor of
garlic makes Lucy¶s mother get rid of all the protection arranged by Van
Helsing, allowing Dracula to enter the room and attack Lucy once more.
On September 13 a new transfusion is needed, and since Arthur is not
available and John is still recovering from his own donation, Van Helsing
volunteers and becomes the third man to donate his blood to Lucy Westenra.
Finally, on September 18 the last transfusion takes place, and Quincey
is designated to donate blood. The fact that only men should go through
ϭϰϱ
the ordeal and sacrifice of giving up their vital fluids is clear, and it
becomes even clearer considering Van Helsing¶s words, ³A brave man¶s
blood is the best thing on this earth when a woman is in trouble. You¶Ue a
man and no mistake. Well, the devil may work against us for all hH¶s worth,
but God sends us men when we want theP´ (ibidem, chapter 12, p. 180) An
analysis of this sentence under the perspective of the Diurnal Order of the
image shows how the forces of evil and good are clearly separated in the
novel (and in the Diurnal Order as well) in the shape of dichotomies.
As the discourse of the characters indicates, the relationship between
donor and receiver plays a relevant role in the novel. The dialogues show
that Lucy¶s safety and health depend on the sacrifices the four men make
just for her sake and due to their love; all of them contribute with bravery,
being three young men who give her plenty of blood but are satisfied to do
so because of the love they feel, besides the fact that it brings them together
with the woman they love; and even Van Helsing, who is older and
theoretically less resistant in physical terms, opens his veins for the sake of
this girl ³Iull of life and cheerfulness.´ (ibidem, chapter 8, p. 121)
If the act of biting performed by the vampire can be considered
equivalent to the sexual intercourse in a way, the same happens with the
blood donation. An act of love, aiming at the protection and welfare of a
creature capable of causing in these men nothing but apparently pure
feelings. And yet, they feel that the donation brings them closer to Lucy,
since this proximity would not take place in any other way to John and
Quincey, or even to Arthur until after the wedding.
Van Helsing¶s references to blood are clearly pervaded by a sexual
tone. That is easily perceived if we create a scheme with Lucy in its center,
and two connections to her: on the one hand, the four males who donate
ϭϰϲ
blood to her (three of them had been her suitors), and on the other hand,
Dracula, who clearly favors female necks rather than male ones. Indeed, it
is difficult to read the vampire in a way other than that of the father
figure of huge potency ± a male figure invested of amazing physical and
psychological power ± or, as Roth puts ironically ³the Big Daddy´ (p. 33).
At the same time, we tend to face the donors as the archetypal heroes who
do anything to save their beloved maiden. Nonetheless, if the sexual
connotation of the biting lies mainly on the blood sucking, Dracula ends
up sucking other men¶s blood, with Lucy being simply a ³FontainHU´, as
Durand calls it (p. 247).
Another aspect that deserves some attention is the role of Jonathan
Harker throughout the novel: the epistolary structure of Dracula, which
comprises several different narrators and media devices, opens and closes
with HarkHU¶s voice (according to Phyllis A. Roth (pp. 35-36), this helps
the reader identify with Harker and believe in his words). However, Harker
is displaced in this blood exchange festival: he is the only male who does
not donate blood to Lucy, and when his wife is attacked by Dracula he
feels too weak and incapable to do so; as Harker does not donate blood to
Lucy, he is not blood-connected in any way to Dracula; and in the opening
chapters of the novel in Transylvania, when Dracula actually has the chance
of biting Harker, he does not take it.
The question is: what makes HarkHU¶s blood be the only one refused
by Dracula? It cannot be denied that meeting Dracula right in the beginning
of the novel causes a harsh impact on Harker, and brings apparent physical
aging and weakness. The fact is that HarkHU¶s surviving the vampire in
Transylvania is practically a leak in StokHU¶s plot: it is so amazing that
there is an explanation for that, and Mina simply receives a letter from Sister
ϭϰϳ
Agatha saying that her fiancé is in a small hospital. Conveniently, Harker has
lost part of his memory, and the facts he remembers (including his
unbelievable salvation) he does not share with Mina or anyone else.
There is one reason for Jonathan¶s survival, though: he is needed at
the end of the novel. His is the strike and the weapon that eliminate Dracula,
composing some imagery that fits perfectly with the diæretic symbolism of
the Diurnal Order: the hero, the weapon, displays of potency, the allusion to
male sexuality. It all appears related to MinD¶s husband, and only in the final
scene. Besides, he is the only one in StokHU¶s repertoire of characters to
perform the role of the biological father of the newborn child by the end of
the novel: Seward, Quincey and Arthur could not because of their
involvement with Lucy (whose death is also necessary for the purposes
of the plot, as I shall discuss); Van Helsing is the sexless father figure
and also much older than Mina; finally there is Dracula, but he is a
vampire (he does not have sexual intercourse as humans do, therefore he
does not procreate as humans do), and from the diurnal viewpoint, his
influence is cursed. By elimination, Jonathan is the perfect choice from the
moral, psychological and even religious perspectives, explaining his
improbable survival.
Dracula forces Lucy to need more and more blood, and the consequent
donation is a way of tainting Lucy¶s relationship with them. Giving Lucy
blood could be ArthuU¶s only chance of sharing something exclusively his
and Lucy¶s, but that does not happen. Without knowing that other men had to
give her blood, he says at Lucy¶s funeral that he feels that Lucy actually
became his bride only because of the blood bond created with the donation.
In a conversation with John, Van Helsing problematizes the situation in an
ironic yet true way: ³If so that, then what about the others? Ho, ho! Then this
ϭϰϴ
so sweet maid is a polyandrist, and me, with my poor wife dead to me, but
alive by Church¶s law, though no wits, all gone, even I, who am faithful
husband to this now-no-wife, am bigamist´. (ibidem, chapter 13, p. 212)
The relations involving blood and religion are ageless and universal.
In Dracula, however, as the novel is inscribed within the Christian precepts
of the nineteenth-century Victorianism, the discussion is developed in
terms of the interpretation of the Bible held within that cultural context.
Quotations from the Bible indicate the clear subversion of Christian rituals
through the main character. During the Holy Supper, Jesus Christ asks his
disciples to drink the wine in His memory and says that that is His blood.
The crucified Christ sheds His blood so that humans can obtain the remission
of all sins. The same subversion that takes place with many Christian
images (including blood) also happens when the recurrent blood donation is
considered.
Under this perspective, receiving blood from so many men
makes Lucy impure and, therefore, unworthy of Arthur, for she does not
have a single donor (a partner or even a husband, metaphorically). And
this implies sin, as the acceptance of blood from different men makes her
promiscuous, to a certain extent. In order to respect the sacred character of
blood and its symbolism, some Christian religions do not allow blood
transfusions. This is the case with Jehovah¶s Witnesses, who do not condone
transfusion based on this passage from the Bible: ³It seemed good to the
Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following
requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood,
from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do
well to avoid these things´ (Acts, 15: 28-29)
The previous passage serves as an example of the importance of the
ϭϰϵ
concept of blood for Christianity, and it serves as a biblical basis that proves
the desecration of the symbol in Dracula and the impact it has.
When Lucy becomes a vampire, the un-holiness exists because the
creature she becomes is unnatural. The transformation she undergoes starts
a few moments after her supposed death. Exhausted and worn out by the
constant transfusions and vampiric attacks, Lucy dies by the end of chapter
12 after being kissed on the forehead by Arthur. Seward cannot help noticing
that ³some change had come over her body. Death had given back part of
her beauty, for her brow and cheeks had recovered some of their flowing
lines. Even the lips had lost their deadly pallor. It was as if the blood, (...),
had gone to make the harshness of death as little rude as might be´
(STOKER, chapter 12, p. 195). The woman in charge of make-up and
other arrangements says she makes a very beautiful corpse, and Stoker
takes the chance to break the callousness of the situation as the woman says,
³It¶s not too much to say that she will do credit to our establishment!´
(idem, chapter 13, p. 197)
The reader obviously knows Lucy is about to become a vampire,
but StokHU¶s use of words and narrative resources is very subtle when he
approaches the transformation process; all the remarks go around Lucy¶s
strikingly good appearance as a corpse, indicating that something strange is
taking place. Everyone is stern and grave, and all of a sudden the undertaker
delivers a funny remark ± still talking about Lucy¶s beauty in death. John,
in one of his diary entries, bolsters the peculiarity of the corpse and closes
his comment with a sentence that already indicates that the next level in the
girl¶s existence is about to begin,
ϭϱϬ
There was a wilderness of beautiful white flowers, and death was made as
little repulsive as might be. The end of the winding sheet was laid over the
face. When the Professor bent over and turned it gently back, we both
started at the beauty before us. The tall wax candles showing a sufficient
light to note it well. All Lucy¶s loveliness had come back to her in death,
and the hours that had passed, instead of leaving traces of µdecay¶s effacing
fingers¶, had but restored the beauty of life, till positively I could not
believe my eyes that I was looking at a corpse. (ibidem, chapter 13, p.
198).
It is important to note that the reverse process that takes place with
Dracula had already started in Lucy. As John points out, one expects
³decay´ from a corpse, rather than an amazing and increasing beauty.
Dracula grows younger as he feeds on blood, and Lucy becomes more
beautiful, enhancing the profanity of the reversal and going further against
the laws of nature. The transformation seems so weird that John, in an
attempt to provide a rational explanation to the fact (a Victorian tendency
discussed in section 1.1, page 24 ), states that it ³often happened that after
death faces become softened and even resolved into their youthful beauty,
that this was especially so when death had been preceded by any acute or
prolonged suffering´ (ibidem, chapter 13, p. 203)
The change does not seem frightening at first, for despite all the
strangeness everyone sees it as a way for Lucy to return to her regular
angelic state. In the beginning of the novel, she is depicted as a girl who
likes to ³build castles in the air´ (ibidem, chapter 5, p. 70), who truly
believes that ³a woman ought to tell her husband everythinJ´ (p. 73),
whose cheeks are of ³a lovely rose-pink´ (ibidem, chapter 6, p. 92) and
whose spirits are gay and full of life (ibidem, chapter 8, p. 121). To sum it
up, a typically Victorian, noble and respectable young lady, without any
serious concerns.
ϭϱϭ
The next stage in Lucy¶s vampirization process is the physical
transformation, the most obvious evidence of her ³FontaminaWLRQ´ towards
God. The descriptions play once more an important role in the definition
of the new Lucy, and they reveal two diverse aspects: firstly, the influence
of StokHU¶s previous readings in the composition of his characters, for
many elements of the vampire Lucy turns into are traced back to Le Fanu¶s
Carmilla and, to a lesser degree, to Coleridge¶s Lady Geraldine. And
secondly, the establishment of Dracula as a milestone in the Gothic
genre. StokHU¶s use of words and construction of atmospheres evoking an
army of archetypal images repeat and even improve the standards set by
other Gothic stories, mainly the ones already mentioned and Edgar Allan
PoH¶s.
However, the standout factor in the descriptions is the idea of having
John Seward as the narrator of this section of the narrative. His deep love
for the girl makes his words more heart-felt and intense, enhancing the
descriptive impact on the reader and providing macabre details. And most
importantly, the image of blood and its red tones in contrast with Lucy¶s
whiteness, both the metaphorical one, which the reader has learned to
associate with her character, and the whiteness of her outfit, ³The sweetness
was turned to adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous
wantonness (...), the lips were crimson with fresh blood, and that the
stream had trickled over her chin and stained the purity of her lawn death
robe.´ (ibidem, chapter 16, p. 253)
Still focusing on the desecration of Lucy¶s Christian life, the following
paragraph taken from Dr. John Seward¶s diary portrays her as this wicked,
anti-Victorian entity, extremely animalized and sensual,
ϭϱϮ
When Lucy, I call the thing that was before us Lucy because it bore her
shape, saw us she drew back with an angry snarl, such as a cat gives
when taken unawares, then her eyes ranged over us. Lucy¶s eyes in form
and color, but Lucy¶s eyes unclean and full of hell fire, instead of the pure,
gentle orbs we knew. At that moment the remnant of my love passed into
hate and loathing. Had she then to be killed, I could have done it with
savage delight. As she looked, her eyes blazed with unholy light, and the
face became wreathed with a voluptuous smile. Oh, God, how it made me
shudder to see it! With a careless motion, she flung to the ground,
callous as a devil, the child that up to now she had clutched strenuously
to her breast, growling over it as a dog growls over a bone. The child
gave a sharp cry, and lay there moaning. There was a cold-bloodedness in
the act which wrung a groan from Arthur. When she advanced to him with
outstretched arms and a wanton smile he fell back and hid his face in his
hands. ³6he still advanced, however, and with a langurous, voluptuous
grace, said, µCome to me, Arthur. Leave these others and come to me. My
arms are hungry for you. Come, and we can rest together. Come, my
husband, come!¶ (ibidem, p. 253)
The quotation above explores the archetype of the Terrible Mother
cited by Durand (p. 102). In the passage, Lucy subverts the archetypal
image of the mother carrying her child, as she throws the child to the
ground and makes animal noises ± also according to Durand one of the main
features of the archetype of the Terrible Mother is the animalization in her
image. The mother archetype is presented by Jung in his article Positive
Aspects of the Mother-Complex, ³...the well-known image of the mother
which has been glorified in all ages and all tongues (...) one of the most
moving and unforgettable memories of our lives (...) the love that means
homecoming, shelter´ (JUNG, 1969, p. 28) Another example is the scene
in which Dracula gives his three female companions a baby, so that they can
feed on it. (STOKER, chapter 3, p. 53)
Considering the English society of the end of the nineteenth century,
ϭϱϯ
and what was socially expected from a girl in Lucy¶s regular position, it
can be said that vampirization caused Lucy to invert one more law of
nature: the one about the implicit passivity of the females. Not only does she
become more beautiful, but also scandalously sensual, to the point of her
being entitled to make the first move towards Arthur. All Lucy symbolized
before Dracula crossed her way is gone, the Lucy vampire is completely
opposite to the living Lucy. And at the bottom of this damned transformation
lies the new need Lucy has for blood.
The last stage in Lucy¶s process is the purification of her body, and
the only way to save her from a doomed existence during the afterlife is to
subvert once again some Christian law ± namely, the desecration of a corpse.
Lucy¶s heart must be pierced with a wooden stake, and afterwards she must
be beheaded and have garlic stuck into her mouth. The Bible condemns the
profanation of a corpse in the Old Testament by pointing out that the only
way of reaching God is the uninterrupted process that starts with physical
death and ends with the beginning of the spirit¶s new existence (³Dnd the
dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who
gave LW´ ± Ecclesiastes: 12,7). In the New Testament the idea is even
clearer, for it is associated to the physical death of Jesus: ³But when they
came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his
legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced JeVXV¶ side with a spear, bringing
a sudden flow of blood and water´ (John: 19, 32-34).
To sum up, both orders of the image attribute different affective values
to the main female vampires: Lucy represents the diurnal chewing, pervaded
with the lack of morals, corruption and blatant sexuality, whereas Mina
stands for the nocturnal swallowing and its euphemistic qualities, in
particular ³the property of keeping what is swallowed miraculously and
ϭϱϰ
indefinitely intact.´(DURAND, p. 209)
From a diæretic perspective of the symbol, however, the Crew of
Light¶s initiative of eliminating Dracula is justified because of their noble
motivation. The vampire forces the purification via desecration, removing
the possibility of morally blaming the purifiers for their action.
Furthermore, some techniques of purification are naturally to be found in
rites of cutting (see section 2.2). Another action of the Crew of Light that is
considered inappropriate under the lights of the Diurnal Order ± the
desecration of bodies ± is rehabilitated by the Nocturnal Order. Lucy and the
three female vampires reacquire their features after the process is over (they
are re-humanized), and are finally entitled to their eternal rests. The
Nocturnal Order appreciates the burial as the site where a sort of return takes
place: in a sense, to onH¶s primary origin, in accord to the words from the
Bible: ³until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust
you are and to dust you will returQ´ (Genesis: 3, 19); in another sense, the
positive valorization of the burial site is connected to the mothHU¶s womb
and also to the Great Mother archetype (according to section 2.3), since the
nocturnal reading assumes that being dead equals resting forever and
being protected ± hence the valorization of the conservation of the corpse
so dear to the symbols of intimacy in the Nocturnal Order.
The presence of devilish forces becomes clear during the purification
ceremony as Van Helsing reads a missal, as in a sort of exorcism. The
recurrence of blood imagery is manifested in this moment also, and once
more in contrast with white images: ³The thing in the coffin writhed, and a
hideous, blood-curdling screech came from the opened red lips. (...) The
sharp white teeth champed together till the lips were cut, and the mouth was
ϭϱϱ
smeared with a crimson foaP´ (ibidem, chapter 16, pp. 258-259). Lucy¶s
purification starts with the contaminated blood being expelled from her body,
and after the process is over she reacquires ³her face of unequalled
sweetness and purity.´ (ibidem, p. 259)
Therefore, Dracula leads Lucy to a situation that fully symbolizes how
his villainy is manifested regarding the Christian point of view: she is
unholy while she is alive because blood transfusion is not recommended;
the unholiness remains during her vampiric state for all the subversion
and sinful existence as a lustful vampire and child murderer; and finally,
she is purified yet the method of purification is not morally and religiously
accepted from a Christian viewpoint. In many ways, Lucy¶s involvment
with Dracula became her fall, and she had to die (see section 2.2 about the
catamorphic symbols of the Diurnal Order of the Image).
What calls the attention in Dracula is the fact that both main female
characters went through the same risk, faced the same demon, and had
completely different endings. This can be explained from the social
perspective and based on the archetype of the shadow as well. Whereas Lucy
represents the archetype of the upper-class Victorian woman, Mina stands for
a new social phenomenon ± she has brains, works hard and fights alongside
with men. She represents, to a lesser degree, the ideals of the New Woman
movement ± but she remains traditional and Victorian enough to be spared
and become the bearer of life by the end of the story. In spite of her courage
and fundamental contribution towards the elimination of the vampire, she
reassumes her position of fragile female and mother, the one to be
defended, and for whose sake all those men fought ± to sum up, she
embodies Jung¶s archetype of the Great Mother presented in the section
ϭϱϲ
devoted to the Nocturnal Order of the image (section 2.3).
As Durand points out in his remarks about the Diurnal Order of the
Image, ³Ds the Christian tradition suggests, if evil came into the world
through the female sex, it is because woman has power over evil and can
crush the serpeQW´ (section 2.2). Therefore, from the Christian point of
view MinD¶s and Lucy¶s outcomes make sense: Lucy perishes as a symbol of
the female who brought evil into the world, whereas Mina survives and
symbolizes the female who has the power to extinguish it.
On the other hand, MinD¶s purification is more symbolic from the
point of view of Jung¶s analytical psychology or Freud¶s psychoanalytical
double, because it assures the vampirH¶s perpetuation. Obviously, Mina
could not die at the end ± otherwise there would not be the moral (required
from the story both as a Victorian work of literature and as a myth).
However, Mina ends up being one of the greatest mementoes of the situation
those men went through: she is the trophy Dracula coveted, and that they
managed to rescue; she is the most responsible for storing and filing the facts
through her contact with diaries, letters, journals, newspapers and
phonograph recordings. She is the only female among all the men ± which
in itself grants her a unique position as the Crew of Light¶s ³lucky charm´;
and finally, she has a child at the end ± a boy who carries the names of all
the men involved in the story: ³His bundle of names links all our little
band of men together30´(STOKER, final note, p. 449)
On the other hand, MinD¶s survival guarantees Dracula¶s existence, in
a way. She literally becomes DraculD¶s double (in Freud¶s words) or shadow
30
In The Uncanny, Freud exemplifies the double through the ³recurrence of the same thing ± the
repetition of the same features or character-traits or vicissitudes, of the same crimes, or even the
same names ... (Part II)
ϭϱϳ
(according to Jung) as she has for some time the
power
of
reading
Dracula¶s mind: ³this relation [of the double] is accentuated by mental
processes leaping from one of these characters to another ± by what we
should call telepathy´(FREUD, part II). An observation by Durand enhances
the connection between the two even more: in the discussion about the
Nocturnal Order of the Image, he says: ³I use the arms of the adversary
himself. Hence I sympathize with all, or a part, of the behavior of the
adversary´ (p. 197).
That corroborates the idea of the dialectics of the binder bound,
exemplified by Durand through proverbial paradoxes, such as ³set a thief to
catch a thiHI´, and the suggestive ³the biteUELW´(idem, p. 197). In the plot,
Count Dracula is the one who perforates bodies throughout the story only to
be perforated himself by the end. Conversely, the transmutation of values is
also explicit in the vampiUH¶s elimination process: the Crew of Light could
never reach Dracula had not Mina used her newly acquired psychic powers
± which were, in reality, Dracula¶s powers, since they were granted to Mina
by the Count himself. It becomes a perfect example of the transmutation of
values Durand expresses in the Nocturnal Order of the image: ³I bind the
binder, I kill death, I use the arms of the adversary´ (DURAND, p. 197)
This two-fold relation of the double/shadow between Mina and
Dracula can be expanded into Dracula as the Crew of Light¶s shadow. As
Jung points out, ³the shadow personifies everything that the subject refuses
to acknowledge about himself and yet is always thrusting itself upon him
directly or indirectly ± for instance, inferior traits of character and other
incompatible tendencieV´ (JUNG, 1969, pp. 284-285).
It is easy to identify the men as completely opposite from Dracula as
ϭϱϴ
far as values are concerned. But Dracula is the one who actually has intimate
contact with Mina ± frustrating Jonathan Harker ± and Lucy ± frustrating
John Seward, Quincey Morris and Lord Godalming. (concomitantly, Van
Helsing is presented as a kind of sexless father figure).
Also, Dracula embodies the freedom of coming and going places, of
moving without asking for permission, and even of changing forms. These
are forbidden rights to the mortal men of Victorian society depicted in
Dracula, which provides further basis for Count Dracula as being the
representation of the archetype of the shadow. Ultimately, these mortal
men represent humanity ± thus, the relation of Dracula as the shadow of the
Crew of Light is expanded into the vampire (Dracula, in the novel) as a
representation of the man¶s shadow (the Crew¶s, in the novel).
Therefore, the vampire cannot be fully extinguished, because it is a
projection of feelings and tendencies man tries to suffocate. But for the
plot¶s sake, it is simply a matter of ³Hliminating evil´. Stoker came up with
the only possible solution to kill the vampire ± Dracula himself provided
his foes with the tools they needed. He is the one who indirectly gives Mina
the power of reading his mind, and it is only through this power that they
manage to reach him back in Transylvania.
And the scene with DraculD¶s death is frustrating and not-convincing,
to say the least, to the reader who goes through twenty-seven chapters of
such an enticing story. Quite ironically, the narrator of the scene is
Dracula¶s closest shadow/double, Mina. It is the visual victory (properly
documented and witnessed by many) of the social self against the self the has
to be suppressed.
But, on the instant, came the sweep and flash of Jonathan¶s great knife. I
ϭϱϵ
shrieked as I saw it shear through the throat. Whilst at the same moment
Mr. Morris¶s bowie knife plunged into the heart.
It was like a miracle, but before our very eyes, and almost in the drawing of
a breath, the whole body crumbled into dust and passed from our sight.
(Stoker, chapter 27, p. 447)
Dracula¶s death (or vanquishing, since his is not an orthodox
existence) is frustrating and unfeasible from the literary point of view, but it
performs several important functions: for the Victorian audience (and all the
audiences ever since), it represents the victory of moral over temptation; for
Jung¶s analitical psychology, it is the suffocation of the shadow ± a shadow
that reveals more about us than we wanted it to; at the same time it is
the necessary destiny of the vampire as an archetype in our collective
unconscious: it has to be eliminated, because unconsciously and for all
audiences the vampire represents an evil part of us we do not want to have
exposed.
And the Orders of the image provide their insights on the outcome of
the novel as well: the Diurnal Order celebrates the disappearance of Dracula
as the elimination of the dark side of all dichotomies: lights beats darkness,
ascension beats fall, angels beat the night flying creature, the femme fatale is
extinguished, and man comes to terms with the faces of time and his destiny.
Conversely, the Nocturnal Order states that DraculD¶s physical elimination
is simply the necessary ending of one more stage of the dramataic myth of
the vampire. When Harker and Morris penetrate their diæretic weapons into
the vampiUH¶s body, they do not make him disappear forever simply because
the dramatic myth relies on the return of the ³twice-born´ son of the
moon; in addition to this, the vampire comes back because it is the door to
another dimension where there are no monsters or victims, where sin is
inviting because morals are not so strict, and the feminine is positively
ϭϲϬ
valorized, allowing sexuality and motherhood to coexist.
ϭϲϭ
4 CONCLUSION
Even though the ultimate and most important objectives of this thesis were the
answers to questions, I open my final remarks by pointing out my effort to maintain a
certain symmetry in the body of my writing. As the table of contents shows, there are
three chapters, each of them with three subdivisions. Before the chapters the table of
contents presents three items, and after them, three more.
I pursued the presence of these little threefold structures not only for the sake of
beauty and symmetry, but also because one strong impact I felt in my last reading
before writing this thesis was the subliminal presence of number 3 throughout the
novel, especially as a kind of ³IHWLVK´ in Dracula¶s actions, as I point out in section
3.1 about trinitarian figurations.
Coincidentally ± or maybe unconsciously ± I posed myself three main questions
in the introduction whose answers I will present in the following paragraphs, and the
first one is related to the existence or not of the myth of the vampire and the myth of
Dracula. That is the most important of the three questions for me, because it brings
together my original childhood motivations and my research as an academic of the
field of literature.
And the answer I found comes as no surprise. Yes, there is indeed a myth of the
vampire. But this ³yes´GRes not only mean an affirmation or confirmation ± it
represents an explanation. The path taken throughout the research and writing of this
ERRN HQOLJKWHQHG DVSHFWV UHODWHG WR WKH IRUPDWLRQ RI LPDJH RI 6WRNHU¶V vampire, and
how he explores such image in Dracula.
We have always heard of and seen the word myth. The term seems to be always
related to something important, relevant in one way or another. At first, I could not
understand why I came across the expressions ³myth of Dracula´ or ³vampire mytK´
so many times. The impression I had at first was that all those critics were ³loafers´,
like myself. ³Well´, I used to think, ³they like the novel as much as I do, therefore
ϭϲϮ
their views must be as biased as minH´. What blurred my understanding in the past
was my lack of a more concrete definition of ³myth´. Therefore, I looked for such
a definition, which led me to another issue: the amount of definitions I found. As
pointed out previously, many terms that appear in this work are defined in different
ways according to the field of expertise and taste of the ones who define them, and
³myth´ is certainly one of these terms.
Therefore, I gathered all the definitions that I found, and tried to make
something out of them. The variety of concepts, speeches and tones scared me at first,
and I thought I would never reach a concrete conclusion towards a definition of the
myth. But then I noticed that all the explanations for the word, no matter how different
they were from one another, brought a new light to the story told in Bram StokHU¶s
novel ± I could always see Dracula in the different words that defined myth.
The first ones I found were Jung¶s: myths are ³psychic phenomena that reveal
the nature RI WKHVRXO´ (1969, p. 6), or manifestations of the archetypes (idem, p. 5).
Different vampire stories are based on fears, feelings and values of the times in which
they were created. For example, one cannot deny that Dracula reflects the nature of the
collective Victorian psyche; at the same time, the ³modernizaWLRQ´ WKat makes the
vampire dance in nightclubs, smoke cigarettes and go onboard a spaceship can also
be explained here: different times, different feelings ± therefore, there are
different details added to the traditional archetype used in the construction of the myth.
Durand, on the other hand, defines myths as narratives ³reflecting styles of
history and dramatic structure´(p. 342). The most important aspect of these mythical
stories is the symbolic meaning of the terms involved ± and once again, Dracula is all
over the place. As chapters 2 and 3 evidence, the dramatic structure of StokHU¶s story
is expressed in the multiple ups and downs both the vampire and the Crew of Light go
through. Durand does not neglect the importance of historical aspects as well, as he
mentions ³styles of history´; and when he mentions the symbolic meaning of the
terms involved, he hints at the answers to the question concerning the importance of
ϭϲϯ
blood in the story.
One of the most interesting and uncanny moments of my research was reading
Durand¶s description of a series of Haitian stories called Domangage. He uses that
series to analyze the semantics of the drama present in it, and uses it as an example of a
mythical dramatic series par excellence (pp. 353-6). The uncanny, as Freud points out
in his text, comes from the unexpected ± and I was indeed very surprised by the
amount of coincidences between the series Durand elected as typical of a myth and the
one found in Dracula. The next paragraphs will summarize Durand¶s description of the
Domangage series and point out the many similarities with Dracula.
The main hero (Jonathan Harker) has for a companion a disguised monster
(Dracula) and sets off on a journey with him (in the novel, the two of them meet while
Harker is on tour).Despite the monstHU¶s attacks and pursuit, the hero is brought back
to his country of origin (Harker going back to London married to Mina), whereas the
monster is vanquished or disappears (Dracula is last seen in chapter 4 only to return in
the final third, approximately).
There is a savior (in HarkHU¶s case, Mina) who is allied with Good (the Crew of
Light) against a monstrous teriomorphic Evil (the vampire)31, and this savior ends up
being more the protagonist of the story than the hero himself. This is confirmed in
Dracula, for Jonathan¶s few actions end up covered by his clear weakness and
participation in the Crew of Light, whereas Mina has a leading role in the story and
shows unique courage.
The savior has some allies that serve as a means of locomotion (Arthur,
whose fortune enables them to travel within England and to the other side of the
world), or as a messenger or valued counselor (Van Helsing). There is also an innocent
victim (Lucy Westenra) that is torn apart (vampirized and subsequently desecrated by
31
One of the teriomorphic representations suggested by Durand in this dramatic structure is the one of the
vampire (ghoul).
ϭϲϰ
her friends), and later is stuck together (Lucy¶s purification and the reestablishment of
her angelic features).
The scenario of the myth in the Domangage series is ³the legendary
scenario of the ambivalent journey, which includes a departure, generally, a descent,
and a triumphant return, represented as an escape.´ (idem, p. 355) Here the
coincidences between Durand¶s proposed series and Dracula become even more
evident, for the departure consists of Harker¶s travel to medieval Transylvania, from
which he managed to escape until being found and taken to the hospital where Mina
found him.
Finally, the monster reveals its dreadful character (Dracula imprisons Harker
in the castle), and teratological aspects are revealed (Dracula¶s general appearance
causes sickness in Harker, particularly the teeth). In addition, there might be the
discovery of a secret chamber where the monstHU¶s early victims are imprisoned
(HarkeU¶s visit to the three sisterV¶ cell). Therefore, not only does Durand define myth
but he also confirms that Dracula contains many of the structures of the typical
myth.
The story is very important in the conceptualization of the myth, because it must
tell a story, since the term originally meant µspeecK¶ or µworG¶ (COUPE, p. 9). In
connection to that I quote once again Don Cupitt¶s definition of myth (as on page 54,
in chapter 2). Cupitt¶s words reinforce what Durand and Jung say, but he uses a word I
would like to focus on: he says that a myth is ³typically a traditional sacred story of
anonymous authorship and archetypal or universal significance which is recounted in
a certain community and is often linked with a rituaO´ (CUPITT, p. 29). If I learned
anything about myths in general that I could apply to the myth of the vampire, that is
the notion of ³UHFounting´. The vampire is an archetype, an abstract content of the
collective unconscious whose strength and impact on humanity is huge. The vampire
symbolizes many feelings, and there are several images associated to it. The way for
the vampire, its symbols and images to survive, is through stories that are told and
ϭϲϱ
retold, and, as this recounting takes place, the cyclic structures of the myth are
sustained.
My search for the myth of the vampire or the myth of Dracula started when I
noticed that some scholars have used the word myth to refer to Bram StokHU¶s novel.
For instance, David Punter says that ³the use of the term µmyWK¶ to describe a work of
written literature is open to abuse, but if thHUH¶s any modern work which fits the term
adequately, it is Dracula, if on the grounds of reception alone´ (PUNTER, p. 22). In
other words, Punter uses Dracula¶s continuous popularity to justify the existence of
the myth. Additionally, Phyllis A. Roth states that such a myth does not survive only
because of the skillful marketing structure around it, but because it expresses
something that large numbers of readers feel to be true about their own lives (ROTH,
p. 30). Stephen D. Arata comments of how Stoker changed the materials of the
vampire myth (ARATA, p. 124), whereas David Glover calls Dracula a ³UHDFtionary
myWK´ (p. 201), because it goes back in the past, to Vlad TepeV¶ times.
A glimpse at the entry vampire in Jean ChevaliHU¶s Dictionary
of
Symbols helps understanding the manifold levels of symbolic meaning of the figure of
the vampire and its myth, as well as reinforces the idea of the human origin of the
vampire as an archetype and, consequently, as material for the creation of a myth.
The vampire symbolizes the lust for life, which bursts into fresh every time one
thinks that it has been sated and which, unless mastered, leaves one exhausted in a vain
attempt to give it satisfaction. In concrete terms, this conusming passion is transferred
to µthe other person¶, although it is simply a self-destructive phenomenon.
The individual tortures himself and gnaws his own vitals and, since he fails to
acknowledge that he is responsible for his own setbacks, he imagines that it is all µthe
other person¶s¶ fault. On the other hand, when in full command of his faculties and
acknowledging his responsibilities he accepts his own mortality, the vampire vanishes.
Vampires exist until problems of adapting to oneself and to one¶s social environment
have been solved. Until then one is, psychologically, gnawed and eaten away and one
becomes a torment to oneself and to others. The vampire symbolizes the turning of
psychic forces against oneself. (Chevalier, p. 1060)
ϭϲϲ
ChevaliHU¶s definition of vampire is fundamental in this understanding because
it highlights the fact that the vampire comes from us, human beings. In addition to this,
the image of the vampire symbolizes something, and as Jung explains, we are the
ones who attribute meaning to symbols as we succumb to eternal images through our
life experiences and points of view; these images ³are meant to attract, to convince,
to fascinate, and to overpower´ (JUNG, 1969, p. 7), and once again, the bond between
the vampire and us is reinforced. Chevalier also deals with the otherness surrounding
the symbols of the vampire ± or rather, the vampire as one we can blame and use as
a escape in a way or another, a being different from us, average mortals.
This is important in answering the second question, which is related to the
Victorian aspects in Dracula. The way the myth of the vampire is told by Bram
Stoker describes many psychological features of its receiving society, all of them
expressed by secondary dichotomies based on a fundamental one ± vampire and
human.
The details and perspectives vary within this fundamental dichotomy according
to the aspect of Victorian life searched for in Dracula: as far as society is concerned
we could replace ³vampire´ ZLWK ³HxotiF´, ³outsider´ or ³IoreigneU´, whereas
³humaQ´ could be replaced by ³standard´, ³local´ RU ³national´; if we consider the
timeline and History, the vampire represents all that is medieval and oriental, while
humans stand for contemporary and (white) western.
Still within social issues, there are important aspects to highlight when it comes
to gender roles: the male vampire is associated to domination and nobility, whereas the
male human represents struggle and collective work; the female vampire is the epitome
of wantonness and blatant sexuality, while the female human embodies protection,
humility and passivity;
From the orthodox Christian point of view, the vampire is nothing but a
personification of the devil, whereas humans are God¶s offspring, constantly risking to
ϭϲϳ
fall into temptation through vampirization. The male vampire causes adultery (as in the
sensual scene where Mina surrenders to Dracula in the bedroom she shares with
Jonathan), while man uses the cross as his main weapon against the beast; conversely,
the female vampire has the attitude of a ³VFDUOHWZRPDQ´ (she makes the first move,
she opens her arms and aims at hugging the man, hooker-like), whereas the mortal
woman is the devoted wife and maternal presence searched for in times of need.
One last analysis of the dichotomy vampire and human lies in the general state
of affairs in Victorian times: the vampire is the unknown, the symbol of the possibility
of a nasty and monstrous future (from the Christian perspective, of course). On the
other hand, the human helplessness towards the vampire in the novel is symptomatic of
the issues faced by the Victorians by the end of the nineteenth century: social
rearrangements, the loss of the position of single international superpower by the
British, and the desperate need to rationalize and explain facts logically ± which leads
us right back to Darwin¶s theory of evolution, which questioned a whole set of beliefs
deeply rooted in the Victorian mind.
The third question proposed in the introduction is about the roles of blood in the
plot of Dracula. As I wrote this book, I noticed that Dracula is only one way of
passing on the myth of the vampire (that is, one version of the myth); therefore, the
answers I found for the novel also apply for the roles of blood in the myth of the
vampire.
First of all, I must acknowledge the crucial presence of Gilbert Durand¶s The
Anthropological Structures of the Imaginary in the writing of this work. His analysis
of the mechanics of the working of the imaginary, and the division of such mechanics
into two Orders ± the Diurnal and the Nocturnal ones ± was essential to my full
understanding of the function of images and the multiple possibilities Dracula
provided me with. As a matter of fact, I believe that my surprise with the
agreement between Durand¶s study and my previous thinking is due to the fact that the
Diurnal Order points out all the obvious Manichaean dichotomies that pervade the
ϭϲϴ
novel I had already perceived, but the Nocturnal Order shows a different side, enabling
an alternative reading I had already started before reading Durand.
It is very easy to perform a diurnal reading of Dracula by associating the
vampire to the Antichrist or something of the sort, and even when I did that with
Durand¶s theory of the Orders of the imaginary I discovered other levels of analyses;
on the other hand, an euphemising reading of the novel under the nocturnal perspective
satisfies one huge question I have always had about vampires: is it bad to be bitten by
the vampire? Is it such a terrible process to become a vampire?
The division of the image into these two orders enriched a great deal my
readings of blood imagery in the novel, and provided me with different points of view
and approaches. Through the orders, I realized that the importance of blood lies in its
imagetic and symbolic power in the myth of the vampire. It is a peculiar case of a
substance that can be easily represented and associated to a color; a substance of
which we are all containers, as Durand says. We all have blood in our veins, therefore
it acquires an entire new significance for any mortal. The very fact that blood runs in
our veins makes each one of us a potential prey for the vampire, and Dracula shows us
the consequences of the encounter between man and vampire.
Undoubtedly, having blood as its thread makes the myth of the vampire closer to
us, and the vampire, a stronger archetype in our collective unconscious, which
therefore explains this continuous re-telling of the story of the vampire. The will of
telling, reading or watching a vampire story lies exactly on the presence of blood, and
the multiple possibilities blood provides the audience with.
Firstly, the vampire is very sexy, and audiences have always liked sex in the
stories they consume. Ironically, the vampire does not have sexual intercourse ± so can
we consider it sexy? This is one of the roles of blood in the myth of the vampire:
to replace sperm, the same way biting replaces kisses and genital penetration, and the
same way saliva replaces other genital fluids.
The second main role of blood in Dracula is to be subverted. This is due to
ϭϲϵ
the sacred character of blood, heavily reinforced by several religions, particularly in
Catholicism. As Durand points out, the myth has a very strong ritualistic feature, and
Bram Stoker showed he was aware of that as he included in his novel some Catholic
rituals and subverted them. The best example is the ritual of consubstantiation, through
which the Holy Wafer and the wine become Christ¶s flesh and blood. When Mina
undergoes the blood baptism, she feeds from Dracula and is converted. That is also
seen in DraculD¶s relationship with Renfield, in which the vampire assumes the
role of a Messiah, and even in the fact that religious tokens are used as weapons
against the vampire.
And the third main symbol of blood I proposed in my thesis is the one of land,
origin and nobility, represented by Dracula¶s noble and real ancestry through Vlad
Dracul and Vlad Tepes. This idea contributes towards the exoticism of the vampire
when compared to the members of the Crew of Light, and sets the tone in the first
four chapters ± probably the most important part of the novel, when the Count is
presented to the reader.
Men have been dealing with their vampires for a long time, which explains the
existence of vampiric figures in virtually all civilizations. The main issue when
approaching the vampire is that most of us want to kill it. As our shadow, it is the
projection of personal and unconscious contents that we desperately try to deny. But
the very fact that the vampire is our shadow means that it comes from us ± therefore, it
cannot be killed, or erased.
There are different ways of coming to terms with onH¶s personal vampire, and
³FRQVXPLQJ´Yampires is probably the best way to do so. It seems many people have
understood that, for the myth of the vampire survives steadily, once vampire stories are
told and retold, and the appearance of new media devices facilitates the process. We
can consume vampires by watching a movie, buying products, reading books or, like I
did, studying and writing about them. As long as people do not reach an ultimate
conclusion regarding this inner struggle, the consumption is guaranteed and the
ϭϳϬ
consequent continuation of the myth as well. And since this is a struggle that seems
endless, the vampiUH¶s place (particularly DraculD¶s) in our imaginary, in our dreams
and in literature is assuaged, granting Dracula an undisputable place in the literary
canon and its status as an object of study full of possibilities.
ϭϳϭ
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