Research Abstract on The Portrayal of Female Sexuality in Dracula and its Implication for the Modern Vampire Genre
For my research paper, I will be examining the light in which sexuality, specifically female sexuality, is painted in Bram Stoker’s Dracula and the implications it has for the modern vampire genre. The presentation of powerful sexual women is rare for its time, and it proves to be a threat to the male characters, who cannot handle the promiscuity and power of a seductive woman. After all, Bram Stoker’s own hesitancy at writing a sexual woman is evident in his novel, as his sexual characters are promiscuous at the expense of being vampires. To convey this critical idea, I will be scrutinizing the various scenes in the novel in which female vampires, such as the three vampire sisters and Lucy Westernra, and their behaviour are depicted as well as the attitude they receive from other characters in the novel. By doing this, I will be able to analyze the rhetoric and diction employed by Stoker to set the tone for sexuality in Dracula as well as his own attitude towards female sexuality. On this note, a historical context will be needed in order to fully understand why promiscuous characters are depicted in certain ways and the backlash they receive. I plan to delve into the attitude towards sex and sexuality in the Victorian era to not only gain a deeper understanding of the social norms that characters in Dracula adhere to but also to set the tone for the later half of the paper, in which I will be exploring the current day film and media of the vampire genre. In doing so, I will relate the modern genre of vampirism to its precedent, Dracula, and examine the impact sexuality in Dracula had on the now sensual vampires of the modern vampire genre. In this sense, I will be doing both a historical and comparative study to expand on the sexual tones of Dracula. Ultimately, I will analyze female sexuality in Dracula, the attitude it receives, and the implications it had for future vampire novels and productions.