Dracula - context PDF

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Context around 'Dracula'....

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Dracula – context: Nationalist paranoia: - 1897 – height of British Empire’s expansion (post-colonial theory) - Steady rise of immigration created anxiety and paranoia of foreign invasion (Dracula symbolises this and represents the unknown) - Queen Victoria was old and her son was a notorious playboy so it was uncertain if the monarchy was in safe hands - The invasion of Dracula into London is a metaphor for the immigration of Jews into Britain during the late 19th century - Famous libel at the time – Jews drank the blood of Christian children in their religious ceremonies Sexuality: - 1895 – Oscar Wilde prosecuted for homosexuality – reason for Stoker’s suspicion and anxiety towards sexuality? - Luckhurst’s description of a vampire’s kiss: “The vampire kiss excites sexuality so mobile, so insistent, that it threatens to overwhelm the distinctions of gender” Women: - The emergence of the ‘New Woman’ - Stoker brings forward the fears of men in regard to female sexuality in Dracula which include what he describes as feminaphobia – the male fear of being feminine New technology: - The technological advances of the time undermined the social understanding of conventional life (fear of uncertainty) - Eg. Trains / blood transfusion...