In page 225, Arthur claims that “he felt, since (the blood transfusion), as if ‘they too had been really married and that she was his wife in the sight of God”. This shows that Arthur, in Freudian terms, is already ‘married’ during the transfusion, along with the other men. If the idea of transfusing as a divine practice of marriage, the fact that, the other three men had also transferred blood to her would mean that they too have married her. This fulfils Lucy’s desire of “letting a girl marry three men… as many want her”, as it has been said in page 81.
Voyeurism and rape, in which is regarded as an immoral act is also shown in Dracula in which the act of staking Lucy’s heart is according Roth (199) is “relatively explicit and full of sexuality”. When the stake is driven into her heart, she lapses into an orgasmic-like state, as it is quoted in page 277, “The Thing in the coffin writhed; and a hideous blood-curdling screech came from the opened red lips.” Females being sexually open are regarded as immoral during the Victorian era. There are several examples showing Lucy being sexually open, as such in page 80, “You think me as a horrid flirt though I can’t help feeling a sort of exaltation that” two men were interested in marrying her in a single day. In page 208, the quote, “Arthur! Oh my love, I am so glad that you have come! Kiss me!” and in page 272, the quote, “My arms are hungry for you. Come, and we can rest together. Come my husband, come!” shows Lucy’s active sexual passion. The three female vampires in page 53-54 also portray their sexual desires openly as it quoted, “He is young and strong; there are kisses for us all” and “There was a deliberate voluptuousness which was both chilling and repulsive, and as she arched her neck she actually lick her lips like as animal.” This shows that the Gothic subverts the institutional infrastructure of the Victorian society as a largely patriarchal society, which frowns upon the very idea of sexual openness, let alone from women.
There is also incestuous relationship portrayed in Dracula through the scene where Mina was being forced to feed on Dracula’s blood from his bosom, as it is shown in page 363, “with his left hand he held both Mrs Harker’s hands, keeping them away with her arms at full tension; his right hand grip her by the back of the neck, forcing her face down his bosom.” This can argued perhaps that given the notion that Dracula is somehow ‘creating’ Mina by turning her into a vampire, is it not ironic that Dracula feeds Mina off his breasts much like a mother would her child. Thus if Dracula is the ‘mother’ and Mina the ‘daughter’ thus, it is incestuous, which is again another taboo. Yet the fact that Mina was not a willing party in this erotic act, it could be deemed as a form of rape whereby Mina is the victim.
JEOedipus complex could also be seen in Dracula as everyone in the novel seeks to kill Dracula. Mina takes on a mother figure, being the dominant among the men, as in page 295, it quoted, “we women have something of the mother in us that makes us rise above smaller matters when the mother-spirit is invoked… I felt this big, sorrowing men’s head resting on me, as though it were that of a baby that someday may lie on my bosom and I stroked his hair as though he were my own child.” This makes the band of men her children. At the same time, she is married to Jonathan Harker who is amongst the men and on top of that, she is seen to have a sexual relationship with the Count, making him the father figure.
Gothic narratives deals with the irrational in the form of supernatural and the personality of Dracula itself. Dracula is being portray as a supernatural character as he has no fixed identity. He, as a vampire, straddles the boundaries between life and death. As an “undead”, he is both absent and present. He can transform himself into creatures of the night, like wolf (177), bat (185) and dog (108, 331). From this, we can see that the Gothic subverts the boundaries between man and beast is blurred (binary opposition). He enjoys an exaggerated gymnastic animal repertoire as he can “climb face-foremost down a castle wall, gripping the vertical surface with toes and fingers” (49). We can see that he is immune to the natural laws of mortality as he transgresses what a normal human being can do.
Dracula itself is animalistic. Van Helsing describes him to be a “man-eater”, a “tiger” (412) and then claims that he will “adopt him”. This puts Van Helsing as a tyrannous keeper, while Dracula is the caged and helpless animal. Dracula is also described as a child-like distinctive. Van Helsing refers him as having a “child-brain” (439)
To conclude, although the Gothic is fascinated with objects and practices that are negative, immoral and irrational, it challenges the patriarchal and moral norms of the Victorian society and scientific reasoning. It also warns the readers about the adverse effect of repression by various institutes prevalent in society and unleashes repressed desires and feelings to unveil human nature. As the Gothic satires the inaccuracies and inadequacies of societal methods of representation, it suggests the need for impetuous change and reforms.