Sexuality In Bran Stoker's Dracula

An extremely strong sense of sexuality serves as the driving force behind Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula. This theme is not a directly stated theme in the novel, but it can easily be implied by the reader. Before I read the novel, I never thought of it being so “sexy”, but as reflect on my reading now, Dracula was definitely one of the “sexiest” novels ever written. Before reading Dracula I thought I had a pretty good picture of how a vampire really appeared physically: a man, older aged, pale skin, black hair, fangs, and dressed in all black. I honestly thought that the vampire’s act of “blood sucking” was just that, but looking back on my reading of the novel, I realize that it was a very sexual act indeed. The sexuality of the text nearly jumped off the page and hit me right in the face, so to speak.

There are several examples of somewhat graphic sexuality present throughout the course of Dracula. The vampire’s sexual nature comes out initially during Jonathan Harker’s encounter with the three female vampires residing in Dracula’s castle. Harker confronted them as extremely appealing objects but who held an element of danger. Harker noted, “I felt in my heart a wick

In my opinion as a reader, the most sexually explicit scene in the entire novel occurred when the men finally realized that Dracula’s real interest was in Mina Harker. The men found Dracula, on Mina’s bed, forcing her to drink his blood from a gaping wound in his chest. Dracula became very angry when the act was interrupted by the three men. Once Dracula was driven away and Mina came to her senses, she realized that she had been violated. She declared herself unclean and vowed that she would “kiss” her husband no more.

Sexuality in this novel can also be perceived during the three blood transfusions that Lucy receives when she is ill. Arthur, who was never able to consummate his love for Lucy, suggested that in the sharing of blood he had, in the eyes of God, married her. The older and wiser Van Helsing rejected this idea, given the sexual connotation for himself and the others that had also given her blood. But by this time, the sexual interest of Dracula in women was firmly established and led directly to the most sexual scenes of the book.

In conclusion, I do see this as a very sexual piece of literature, but the sexuality is crucial to giving the novel its characterizing aura. Every novel has one or more of these characterizing concepts hidden beneath the black and white on the page. Each reader may interpret the novel differently and this aspect may not be evident to each individual. Sexuality is vital to understanding Stoker’s Dracula, although it may take some digging on the individual reader’s part to uncover this theme. The sexuality of this novel is shocking b

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