In times of cultural insecurity, when there are fears of regression and degeneration, the desire for strict border controls around the definition of gender, as well as race, class and nationality, becomes particularly intense. If the different races could be kept in their places, if the various classes could be kept in their respective neighborhoods of the city, and if men and women could be fixed in their separate spheres, many hope that the apocalypse could be averted and preserved. a comforting sense of identity and permanence in the face of the relentless specter of millennial change. (Showalter 4) Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayIn the first chapter of her book Sexual Anarachy: Gender and Culture at the Fin de Siècle, Elaine Showalter outlines the social circumstances in the Western world as the year 1900 approaches. She claims that the fin-de-siècle mentality, the so-called “endism,” it has exacerbated race and class battles, leading to a fierce reaction from supporters of the status quo. Fearing that the impending end of the century meant the last step in a gradual process of decivilization that blurred the lines between social castes, these people clamored for a "return" to a more ordered society. Gender roles had to be firmly established, classes and races separated hierarchically. Although often thought to be a simple horror novel, Bram Stoker's Dracula, written during this period, can be read as a depiction of this struggle between the "heroic" forces of order and the evil entities hoping to subvert it. To use Noel Carroll's term, Dracula is a "fusion monster," a creature that "transgresses categorical distinctions" (Carroll 43). Literally, it inspires fear in everyone because it is a combination of life and death, but, more profoundly for the novel's Victorian audience, because it blurs the lines between the sexes and between East and West. To oppose him, Stoker offers five men - Jonathan Harker, Quincey Morris, Arthur Holmwood, John Seward, and Abraham Van Helsing - who all adhere to the chivalric ideal of masculinity, and one woman - Mina Harker - who embodies the purity of masculinity. Victorian woman. These six protagonists' quest to destroy Dracula obviously works on a literal level; they fear for their lives and those of others. More importantly, however, their pursuit and eradication of the vampire represents a move away from the "social fusion" embodied by Dracula, towards a well-ordered society. As the twentieth century approached, Patrick Brantlinger states in his Rule of Darkness, the English became increasingly concerned about the state of their society, no longer viewing the triumphs of imperialism as absolute successes. He writes, "after the mid-Victorians the English found it increasingly difficult to think of themselves as inevitably progressive; instead they began to worry about the degeneration of their institutions, their culture, their racial 'stock'" (Brantlinger 230). The most powerful nation of the nineteenth century, England saw itself as a reflection of the collapse of the great empires of the past, such as the Roman and Greek ones. Previously, the country's imperialist attitude and activity had “functioned as a partial substitute for…diminishing confidence in Britain's future” (Brantlinger 228), but when society appeared to continue its disintegration, imperialist pride it quickly turned into fear of the internal effect of foreign powers. , minor influences. Brantlinger suggests that this trepidation manifested itself in the literature of the time: The Three Major Themesof imperial Gothic they are individual regression or individuality; an invasion of civilization by the forces of barbarism or demonism; and the diminishing opportunities for adventure and heroism in the modern world. (Brantlinger 230)Indeed, Dracula can be read as a tale of the second kind, where the commercial imperialism of Jonathan Harker's company provides an opening for the entry of the Count and the eventual destruction of British society. In his description of Harker's journey to Transylvania, Stoker foreshadows the racial conflict to come between the Eastern Dracula and the Western protagonists. First, through the writings of Harker – Stoker's representative of the Western meets the East – he contrasts the rampant superstition of the East with the scientific disposition of the West: "Every superstition known in the world is collected in iron of Carpathian horse" (Stocker 2). Similarly, when a town offers Harker a crucifix upon learning of his intention to visit Dracula's castle, he reacts with skepticism: "As an English churchman, I have been taught to regard these things to some extent as idolatrous" (Stoker 5). Coming from the scientifically advanced British society, he looks at Eastern superstitions with condescension. Stoker's descriptions of the eastern countryside also evoke the supernatural. He points out, through Harker, “great masses of greyness, which…produced a peculiarly strange and solemn effect” and “ghost-like clouds which among the Carpathians seem to meander incessantly through the valleys” (Stoker 8). As the coach passes through a pass through the mountain range, Harker observes, “It seemed as if the mountain range had separated two atmospheres, and that we had now entered the thunderous one” (Stoker 9). Clearly, his current environment is a far cry from his civilized and orderly homeland. Indeed, when his train leaves the station late, Harker ethnocentrically observes, "It seems to me that the further east you go, the more unpunctual the trains are" (Stoker 2). Quite explicitly, Stoker demonstrates through Harker an extreme sense of Western superiority; Harker plays the role of a sort of trade missionary, traveling east to bring the advanced trading practices of the English to less civilized areas. Reflecting the British fear of "the invasion of civilization by the forces of barbarism", as proposed by Brantlinger, the protagonists see Dracula as attempting to reverse the arrow of influence. A prisoner in Dracula's castle, Harker makes his way into the Count's bedroom, where he discovers a bloated, ruddy, freshly eaten Dracula. Harker reacts with horror: This was the being I was helping to move to London, where, perhaps, in centuries to come he might, among his teeming millions, satiate his bloodlust and create a new and ever-widening circle of half-men. -demons that lash out against the defenseless. Just the thought drove me crazy. A terrible desire came to me to rid the world of such a monster. (Stoker 50) This idea of ​​Dracula spreading the vampire “disease” in bustling London reflects fin de siècle “fears…of racial mixing, miscegenation, and intermarriage” (Showalter 5). The supernatural essence of the Count reflects the inferior and "uncivilized" superstition of his homeland; the fact that he can propagate this unnatural state of being throughout the Western civilized world gives Harker the impetus to react against him of the purity - the order - of the British homeland, as well as of the British blood, seems to be the main motivating factor in the protagonists' quest to destroy DraculaHoly Communion in forty-nine of the fifty coffins that Dracula brought from Transylvania, thus making them uninhabitable for him, the heroes drive him out of England. It is worth noting, in fact, that the coffins had been filled with oriental earth; by infusing them with wafers, the heroes effectively remove their oriental and demonic quality, essentially "anglicizing" them, leaving Dracula without an oriental refuge in the midst of the West. Lacking his "army" of vital coffins, Dracula must retreat from England, the invasion attempt is foiled. One might think, however, that the correct course of action for a group of heroes would be to pursue Dracula, so that his evil can be completely removed from the world. After the infected Mina declares under hypnosis that Dracula is returning to the East, however, she asks, "Why must we search for him further, when he is gone?" (Stoker 302). Professor Van Helsing replies that only through the destruction of Dracula can Mina's soul and body be purified from the vampire "virus". Thus, while the protagonists pursue the vampire to destroy him, they completely ignore his crimes in the East, worrying only about his attempt to perpetrate them in the West, against Western women and civilians. Dracula's threat, then, is not that he is fundamentally evil (though he and what he represents are both considered evil by order-seeking protagonists), but only that his evil has begun to invade the tranquility of the West. The heroes only seek a well-ordered society in their country and, after having driven it back to the East, they succeed; their next task is to pursue him to restore an order similar to Western gender roles as exemplified by Mina. We have seen that Dracula's presence in London represents the invasion and subsequent degeneration of the West by less civilized countries; similarly, the blurred demarcations between genders in Dracula's sphere of influence demonstrate another fin de siècle British fear, that of the deterioration of traditional gender roles. In his article, Showalter quotes Stoker as writing, “The ideal man is entirely or almost entirely masculine, and the ideal woman is entirely or almost entirely feminine” (Showalter 8). Clearly, she had a conservative view of gender roles, in contrast to the “New Woman” of the time, who “was determined to oppose restrictions and injustices in the political, educational, economic and sexual fields in order to achieve equality ”. with men" (Beckson 129). This paranoia manifests itself in the text of Dracula. In Dracula's castle, each gender is suffused with the traditional characteristics of the other. Harker, through whose eyes we see this part of the tale, becomes the typical figure of the damsel in distress of folk tales, writing, “This castle is a real prison, and I am a prisoner!” (Stoker 25). and Harker preys on her, reversing the usual pattern of the aggressive male and the resistant female. Even when he escapes the castle, the psychological wounds suffered by his experiences leave him sickly and bedridden, having fallen into the traditional, stereotypical role of the weak-bodied woman. .Mina writes, “All resolve is gone from her dear eyes, and that quiet dignity which I told you was in her face is gone” (100). masculinity returns, reaffirming the influence of Dracula as the cause of this subversion of traditional gender roles. The Count himself, with his almost homosexual desire for Harker's blood, represents one of the most feared degenerative agents of the endde siècle. Showalter writes, “The thriving homosexual subculture that had begun to develop in England in the 1870s and 1880s was identified and outlawed” (Showalter 14). In an era where definitions of the respective genders were constantly changing, the addition of a new category – men who desired men – could only exacerbate the already existing paranoia that traditional gender roles would not last long in the world. Dracula's homoerotic impulses are demonstrated by Stoker in his almost orgasmic desire for his prisoner's blood. When Harker cuts himself shaving, the Count's "eyes burn[d] with a sort of demonic fury" (Stoker 24). This word – “demonic” – reflects the Victorian definition of homosexuality as sinful and impure. Subsequently, Dracula reacts with jealousy to the three women's sexual advances on Harker. He says, “How dare any of you touch him?”. This man belongs to me!. . .I promise you that when I'm done with him, you'll kiss him whenever you want" (Stoker 37). The merging of the vampires' sexual drive and blood appetite in these two scenes shows yet another way in which Dracula perverts himself. he natural and virtuous order of human society not only are there homoerotic undertones in these highly sexual scenes, but also an aspect of sadism that cannot be reconciled with Victorian sensibilities. On the other hand, the protagonists, when not under the influence of Dracula, fit perfectly into traditional male roles is made evident by the sense of chivalry and honor, as well as the definition of manhood, supported by the five men After Lucy, Arthur Holmwood's betrothed, is infected. from the vampire disease, she loses her natural life only to become an undead creature, preying on the children of London. Professor Van Helsing knows that, to save her, the men must drive a stake through the heart of her corpse, and chooses Holmwood to. do it. then on the basis of his extraordinary virility, which she had noted earlier in the novel: "When [Van Helsing] noticed his robust proportions and recognized the strong virility that seemed to emanate from him, his eyes shone." convince Holmwood to carry out the macabre deed against his beloved, Van Helsing declares: "You are a man, and it is a man we want...you are better than we, old or young, who toil much in the world of thought" (Stoker 117-8). To be sure, for this act, which requires physical strength, a physically resistant man is needed, but the way Van Helsing designates the physically resistant man as "the best", more like a real man, the It says a lot about Stoker's fin de siècle ideal of masculinity. Later, Quincey Morris echoes this definition of manhood, in contrast to the Victorian feminine ideal: Mrs. Mina..You are too precious to us to take such a risk..We are men and capable of bearing it, but you must be the our star and our hope, and we will act much freer than you are in danger, as we are. (Stoker 232-3) This corresponds to the typical male-female dynamic, where men face the dangers of the outside world, encouraged in doing so by the knowledge of their safe, pristine and virtuous women. At home. At least before being infected by Dracula, Mina voluntarily adapts to the role of the meek and innocent woman. Early in the novel, in a letter to her friend Lucy Westenra, she writes, “When we are married I can be of use to Jonathan, and if I can take shorthand well enough I can write down what he wants to say” ( Stocker 52). Here he proposes a male-female relationship similar to the one Quincey Morris does later in the novel; all investigations of the external world must be undertaken by man, and thewoman must support him in these endeavors as best she can, without being too intrusive. In her diary, later in the novel, Mina specifically refers to the ideal of the "New Woman" that was just beginning to flourish at the turn of the century, but she breaks away from it to show her affection for the demarcated gender roles of the past. we believe we should have shocked the “New Woman” with our appetites. Men are more tolerant, bless them!. . .One day some of the "New Women" writers will pioneer the idea that men and women should be allowed to see each other asleep before proposing or accepting. But I suppose the New Woman will not condescend to accept in the future; she will make the proposal herself. And she'll do a great job of it too! (Stoker 86-7)Mina describes the new concept of femininity with a playful tone and, although she does not condemn it, seems to consider it imaginary, as if it were a make-believe game for truly feminine women to play rather than a new social order in the making . Lucy's story demonstrates Dracula's nuanced influence on these traditional Western gender roles, as well as the eventual repulsion of those law enforcement influence. At the beginning of the novel, Lucy fits into the social mold of woman: attractive to many men thanks to her sweetness and physical beauty, but devoted to only one, Holmwood, considered by Van Helsing to be the most masculine. Showalter quotes Stoker: “The most masculine man draws the most feminine woman, and vice versa” (Showalter 8). Applying this pattern to his novel, then, we see Stoker's suggestion that, at the outset, Lucy is the more (traditionally) feminine woman. After infection at the hands of Dracula, however, Lucy's femininity quickly fades as she acquires the voracious appetite of the vampire, matching the sexual appetite of the male. She attempts to seduce Holmwood: "Oh my love, I'm so glad you came! Kiss me!" (Stoker 154), but Van Helsing prevents him from fulfilling his wish; at this point the virtuous Lucia returns for the last time, thanking the professor: "My true friend, and his! Oh, guard him and give me peace!" (Stoker 155). Here the traditionally feminine side of Lucy recognizes the growing sexuality and vampirism within her, as well as the danger she poses to her fiancé and the social order she represents. Just then, she dies, and the undead vampire within her takes control of her body and her virtuous nature. To restore traditional gender roles in this individual case, the protagonists are forced to drive a stake into the heart of Lucy's corpse, thus defeating her. sexual, vampiric component and leaving only the original and innocent one. To do this, Holmwood will have to once again resist his attempts at seduction. She begs, "Come to me, Arthur. Leave these others and come to me. My arms hunger for you. Come, and we may rest together. Come, my husband, come!" (Stoker 204-5). Once again, the fiancé is ecstatic and only avoids giving in to temptation thanks to Van Helsing's interference. When they finally succeed in expelling the vampire virus from Lucy's corpse, she once again becomes the figure of pure femininity: there, in the coffin no longer lay the loathsome Thing we had so feared and come to hate that the work of its destruction was been cancelled. given as a privilege to those who had more right to it, but Lucia as we had seen her in her life, with her face of unparalleled sweetness and purity. (Stoker 208)Literally, by destroying the vampire's influence on Lucy, our heroes have brought her back to respect traditional ideals of gender and sexuality. In this way, Lucy Westenra's particular case serves as a microcosm for a larger theme in the novel; the protagonists will now try to, 1988.