‘No book since Mrs Shelley’s Frankenstein or indeed any other at all have come near yours in originality, or terror - Poe is nowhere…In its terrible excitement it should make a widespread reputation and money for you.’
Much in the second Gothic writer Mary Shelley’s life was remarkable. She was the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin and was the mistress and, later the wife of the poet Percy Shelley. She read widely in five languages including Latin and Greek. She became pregnant at the age of 16 when she eloped with the poet Percy Shelley to the continent and for the next five years was almost constantly in the same state. Tragically however, she lost most of her babies after they were born whilst still an unlawful mother as she was still not married. It was at the age of 18 then in the midst of her chaotic teenage years when she began writing ‘Frankenstein’. In Switzerland, the summer she began ‘Frankenstein’, she sat by while Shelley, Byron and Polidori discussed the new sciences of mesmerism, electricity, and galvanism, which promised to unlock the riddle of life. These ideas spawned a terrible dream in which the idea for ‘Frankenstein’ was born. Along with this a sinister course of events ran their course during the time of writing, Fanny Imlay who was Mary’s half sister and Harriet Shelley, Percy Shelley’s legitimate wife committed suicide, along with this Mary lost another child. Death and birth were thus as hideously intermixed in the life of Mary Shelley as in Frankenstein’s “workshop of filthy creation.” In her introduction to Frankenstein written in 1831 she said that she intended Frankenstein to be the kind of ghost story that would ‘curdle the blood, and quicken the beatings of the heart.’
Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley are perhaps the two most respected gothic authors for their novels ‘Dracula’ in 1897 and ‘Frankenstein’ in 1818, since then their stories and many of the characters have been exploited by popular culture and media interpretation but many of the themes still remain obvious. However, an integral part of both novels is their erotic content.
Stoker wrote skilfully, he packed his novel with erotic undercurrents without ever even mentioning sex. In line with this argument was James Twitchell when he wrote:
‘The myth is loaded with sexual excitement: yet there is no mention of sexuality. It is sex without genitalia, without confusion , sex without responsibility, sex without guilt, sex without love-better yet, sex without mention.’
In ‘Dracula’ there are three main scenes steeped in sexual imagery with many more less obvious references, the first and perhaps the most notable scene is with Jonathan Harker in Transylvania. Despite being told by the Count not to explore Castle Dracula, Harker’s wish to seek out the unknown is overpowering. He recalls the event in his diary entry questioning if it was a dream, but with clarity states: ‘but I fear for all that followed was startlingly real’ In describing the scene in which Harker finds himself, Stoker uses powerful, perhaps even pornographic language to describe the three female vampires who overpower Harker with lust:
‘All three had brilliant white teeth that shone like pearls against the ruby of their voluptuous lips.’
Harker seems helpless to the approaching female vampires, he fears them yet he desires them sexually and rather worryingly for him they conclude: ‘He is young and strong; there are kisses for us all.’ Harker’s reaction is one of ‘delightful anticipation’, he fears the women yet desires them, he is left defenceless in the face of these women and all thoughts of the pure love he shares with Mina are quickly forgotten. It is interesting that throughout the novel there is no mention of sex with Mina, perhaps in line with the general consensus in the 19th century. Sex in the 19th century was considered for procreation, not for indulgence or pleasure. Stoker takes this view to the extreme, no sex with the wife but an orgy with three sexual predators.
Harker displays fear towards the female vampires, however, as the true identity of these women is unknown to Harker, where does his fear stem from? Along with the various cultural concerns during the nineteenth century, Stoker portrays one which is very controversial; throughout the nineteenth century the role of the woman was to be maternal in a patriarchal dominated society. Therefore we can only assume that the fear displayed by Harker is a fear of eroticism, especially eroticism displayed by women! This current of male sexual terror runs throughout ‘Dracula’ and is at times far from passive. The Count’s violent bloodsucking and Renfield’s greedy consumption of insects and small animals can easily be read as substitutes for sexual gratification. In expressing these concerns of the period Cullingford writes:
‘The product of male apprehension that women subordinated for so long would in the course of their liberation exact a terrible revenge upon their oppressors’.
Stoker when writing the characters of Mina and Lucy certainly tried to incorporate signs of the emancipation occurring at the time of writing of ‘Dracula’. Mina is portrayed as a very strong and intelligent woman, with a ‘man’s brain’ in a woman’s body. Lucy on the other hand portrays a very different form of woman, she exudes confidence and sexuality. Historically, the satisfaction of bodily desires has always been a tricky problem for Christian society, this lead to the view which had existed right up until the mid 20th century in Christian society that sexual impulses were evil and an act of disobedience to God. She shows clearly the effects of sexual repression stressing: ‘Why can’t they let a girl marry three men.’ Perhaps Lucy would have liked to pursue casual relationships with each man before deciding on which to marry, but is constrained by the view of society. However, when Lucy becomes a vampire all constraints previously imposed upon her are removed and she transforms into a sexually liberated creature, a vampire.
This behaviour contrasts greatly with the female characters written by Mary Shelley in ‘Frankenstein’ 79 years earlier. Elizabeth, the chief female character, plays little more than the role of the dutiful and loving sister/fiancée, a role very similar to that of Mina but with a lot less responsibility. Elizabeth radiates beauty and intelligence in her portrayal, crucially however, she has very little importance socially, she typifies a stereotypical nineteenth century woman. Elizabeth along with her mother and Justine all work for the benefit of others, through charitable work but rely upon male domination for their survival. This is another clear sign of the sexual repression shown by society at Mary Shelleys time of writing.
When Dr Van Helsing is shown into Lucy after one of Dracula’s attacks, his first motion is to perform a blood transfusion operation, an act in itself not unsimilar to sex, with the exchange of bodily fluids. As such, Arthur takes the transfusion of blood to almost be the consummation of their relationship, and Dr Seward recalls his experience of giving blood to Lucy in his diary:
‘No man knows till he experiences it, what it is to feel his own life-blood drawn away into the veins of the woman he loves.’
A feeling comparable to orgasm? Stoker uses this simple operation as one of the more milder erotic references in his novel so as to prepare us for the much stronger references to follow.
Following the death of Lucy Westenra, we hear of the exploits of the ‘Bloofer Lady’ through articles in the Westminster Gazette, a lady who lures children away whom then return with two small holes in their neck. This immediately implies the work of a vampire, and thus Lucys transformation is quite easily deduced. It is Dr Van Helsing who first reaches this conclusion amongst the party. Then on reaching Lucy’s tomb, the matter is concluded by the absence of Lucy’s body, after waiting a few minutes they come across Lucy in her changed state. Lucy is seen with a child to her breast, this paedophilic behaviour astounds the men:
‘Lucy Westenra, but yet how changed. The sweetness was turned to adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous wantonness.’
Lucy’s release from the sexual oppression enforced on her by the era in which she lived in is now removed, this view is reinforced when Lucy proposes sex with her fiancé:
‘Come 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!’
The men are so taken aback that they unwillingly allow Lucy to escape. They return the next day to release Lucy from vampirism with their tools, a stake, hammer and various operating knives. While Lucy is in her coffin, the act of driving the stake through her heart is given to her lover Arthur. The scene reaches its erotic climax as her fiancé prepares to lay her to rest:
‘The thing in the coffin writhed; and a hideous, blood-curdling screech came from her opened red lips. The body shook and quivered and twisted in wild contortions.’
Stoker’s choice of language here provides obvious sexual connotations using words such as ‘writhed’ and ‘quivered’ he gives the impression that Lucy is in fact experiencing an orgasm. This view is reinforced by the images on display, the phallic shaped stake, Arthur’s intensity, Lucy’s screams and the blood emitted by Lucy akin to the breaking of the virginal hymen. This is a far darker form of eroticism which would surpass not only the Victorian perception of taboo but even modern day views.
In ‘Frankenstein’ the erotic references are much less and infrequent. The incestuous nature of the relationship between Elizabeth and Victor is never fully consummated. The strongest sexual reference observed in ‘Frankenstein’ would be the necrophilic and incestuous nature of Victor’s dream. In his dream he sees Elizabeth in ‘the bloom of health’ change into his dead mother in his arms:
‘but as I imprinted the first kiss on her lips, they became livid with the hue of death; her features appeared to change, and I thought that I held the corpse of my dead mother in my arms;’
Another sexual reference in Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ would be the paedophilic nature of the monster within the forest. Endlessly he pursues and observes the young girl. Whether these are feelings of eroticism or the same fascination in which he viewed the exiled family is unclear.
On the other hand, the monster, whilst realising a feasible relationship with Justine to be impossible, this could be the spark which sets off the want for a partner inside him. The monsters reasoning for a partner is never fully explored, does he require a female partner for companionship or sexual gratification or as Frankenstein feared, for the purpose of procreation whereby: ‘a race of devils would be propagated upon the earth.’
The final scene in ‘Dracula’ which is clearly erotic at the root occurs between Mina and the Count. The scene shows the Count forcing Mina to drink from a slit in his chest. This is an unambiguous portrayal of oral sex, a hugely controversial act in itself. Contemporary readers would have recognised oral sex as a method of protection for a bride to be’s purity, upholding religious teaching. However, it was also seen as a perverted and unnatural act. The question which poses deeper consideration in this scene regards Mina, was she indeed being forced by Dracula or was she enjoying the act?
The sex scenes in Dracula are indeed striking: Jonathan Harker’s breathless seduction by three mysterious vampire women; the frantic transfusing of various men’s blood into Lucy’s ailing body, as well as the later ‘phallic’ staking of Lucy which produces her orgasmic writhing; and stranger still the scene which has Mina kneeling on the bed before Dracula and swallowing the blood which pours from an open wound in his chest. Elements of the novel undoubtedly pervaded into Stoker’s mind and in particular the sexual scenes. In a rather contradictory fashion to this Hindle claims with quite some validity that ‘Sex was the monster Stoker feared most’. This view is based mainly upon Stokers rather hypocritical literature criticising sex throughout the different forms of media. Some people have also questioned Stoker’s sexuality based on his professional relationship with Henry Irving whereby he was continually thwarted but still returned for further punishment from Irving. Another link to this argument was his link with Oscar Wilde, a self-professed homosexual, whereby Stoker married the same woman Wilde had been pursuing.
Shelley’s novel whilst being by far the more liberal in terms of its erotic content was the novel which was rewritten. Mary Shelley re-wrote the novel to reduce the already mild erotic references. In her rewrite she changed the role of Elizabeth to a more sisterly role and the incestuous nature of Victor and Elizabeth’s relationship was removed. This re-write shows the erotic sensibility which existed during Mary Shelley’s life, the already mild novel was seen to be too erotic for the audience and the re-write was the result.
However, the question of whether Gothic literature is erotic at the root still remains. There is certainly a wealth of imagery in ‘Dracula’ but less so in ‘Frankenstein’ to confirm this view. The eroticism at the root of both novels is subtle never straying towards pornographic levels. This is an accurate reflection on society’s view towards sex during the lives of Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker. To conclude therefore I would agree with the view that at the root of gothic literature there is an erotic element.