1032 stoker, Bram
“I puts it all away.” There is more than one side to
Long John, and his cunning manipulation of lan-
guage and situations allows him to keep the others
guessing as to his true intentions.
Treasure Island illustrates one of Robert Louis
Stevenson’s central concerns, as also expressed in
other works such as The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll
and Mr. Hyde: the complex and multifaceted nature
of self. It describes a world of shifting identities, in
which no character can be defined conclusively by
a single trait. The elusive nature of identity nec-
essarily impacts other aspects of Treasure Island,
including the place of ethics and the role of personal
responsibility.
Katherine Ashley
STokEr, bram Dracula (1897)
Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a popular late-Victorian
gothic novel known for its portrayal of the famous
Count Dracula, a vampire from Transylvania. Its
popularity has prompted many equally famous, if
not very faithful, film adaptations, including Nos-
feratu (1922), a masterpiece of German expression-
ism; and Dracula (1931), a sensational Hollywood
film starring Bela Lugosi. As is the case with
Mary Shelley’s franKenStein (1818) and Rob-
ert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange CaSe of dr.
JeKyll and mr. hyde (1886), Stoker’s novel is still
widely read and enjoyed today.
A notable feature of Dracula is the indirect way
in which the count is presented. He never tells his
own story. Instead, he is the elusive subject of a
series of letters, diaries, newspaper articles, journals,
and phonographic records. The result is a shifting
point of view in which Dracula is never clearly seen
or completely understood. In this way, the author
heightens the effect of horror.
Dracula’s plot is mainly about the count’s efforts
to prey on Mina Harker and Lucy Westenra, but
Stoker (1847–1912) also focuses on the men who
attempt to save the two heroines. Among them are
Jonathan Harker and Arthur Holmwood, the hus-
bands of Mina and Lucy, respectively. Also involved
are two of Lucy’s former suitors, the American
Quincey Morris and the psychologist Dr. Seward.
The last participant is the famous Dr. Van Hels-
ing, an expert on vampire lore. In his portrayal of
the conflict over Lucy and Mina, Stoker reveals his
thematic concern with gender, sex and sexuality,
and nationalism.
Mitchell R. LewisGender in Dracula
Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a gothic novel charged
with anxieties about gender. In fact, while there is
considerable terror generated by vampires alone,
the horror of the novel stems from characters who
transgress the cultural norms for their gender. Stoker
takes a narrow, conservative view of femininity and
masculinity, creating lurid scenes in which men and
women fail to follow the prescribed gender roles
of Victorian society. The central character, Dracula
himself, appears to represent all that his conserva-
tive author considered deviant in terms of gender.
In other words, Dracula is portrayed as a monster
not only because he is a vampire but also because he
crosses the line in terms of gender, causing others to
do so as well.
To begin with, Dracula transgresses the expec-
tations for his gender in terms of sexuality. While
Dracula is drawn to Mina Harker and Lucy West-
enra, he is also attracted to Jonathan Harker. In
fact, when three young female vampires attempt
to seduce and feed on Harker, Dracula intervenes,
declaring, “This man belongs to me.” Letting out
a “laugh of ribald coquetry,” one girl retorts, “You
yourself never loved; you never love.” In response
Dracula says, “I too can love,” and “I promise you
that when I am done with him you shall kiss him
at your will.” This scene marks Dracula as a gender
transgressor, his desire for Harker raising the issue
of homosexuality.
Dracula also transgresses when he takes a
strangely maternal approach to Mina. Rather than
biting her on the neck, he opens a vein on his chest
with a sharp fingernail and has Mina drink from his
breast, the scene having a “terrible resemblance to a
child forcing a kitten’s nose into a saucer of milk to
compel it to drink.” Here Dracula is again portrayed
as a gender transgressor. As in the previous example,
Dracula is associated with femininity, his feeding of
Mina being a grotesque parody of a mother nursing
a child. Stoker consistently links Dracula’s mon-