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Crime and Punishment

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CRIME AND PUNISHMENT PART I CHAPTER I On an exceptionally hot evening early in July a young man came out of the garret in which he lodged in S. Place and walked slowly, as though in hesitation, towards K. bridge. He had successfully avoided meeting his landlady on the staircase. His garret was under the roof of a high, five-storied house and was more like a cupboard than a room. The landlady who provided him with garret, dinners, and attendance, lived on the floor below, and every time he went out he was obliged to pass her kitchen, the door of which invariably stood open. And each time he passed, the young man had a sick, frightened feeling, which made him scowl and feel ashamed. He was hopelessly in debt to his landlady, and was afraid of meeting her. This was not because he was cowardly and abject, quite the contrary; but for some time past he had been in an overstrained irritable condition, verging on hypochondria. He had become so completely absorbed in himself, and isolated from his fellows that he dreaded meeting, not only his landlady, but anyone at all. He was crushed by poverty, but the anxieties of his position had of late ceased to weigh upon him. He had given up attending to matters of practical importance; he had lost all desire to do so. Nothing that any landlady could do had a real terror for him. But to be stopped on the stairs, to be forced to listen to her trivial, irrelevant gossip, to pestering demands for payment, threats and complaints, and to rack his brains for excuses, to prevaricate, to lie--no, rather than that, he would creep down the stairs like a cat and slip out unseen. This evening, however, on coming out into the street, he became acutely aware of his fears. "I want to attempt a thing _like that_ and am frightened by these trifles," he thought, with an odd smile. "Hm... yes, all is in a man's hands and he lets it all slip from cowardice, that's an axiom. It would be interesting to know what it is men are most afraid of. Taking a new step, uttering a new word is what they fear most.... But I am talking too much. It's because I chatter that


A lover's bite

The introduction to the Wordsworth Classics edition of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula claims that the title monster is a highly seductive creature. According to David Rogers, the editor, he has both male and female characteristics. In Count Dracula's 'protruding' and 'penetrating' fangs he sees phallus symbols while his mouth is 'luscious' and 'feminine' (Rogers 1993). But Dracula is neither human nor beast, neither dead nor alive. Is it even possible to define him as a sexual being?

Still from Nosferatu
Rogers explains that some people consider the first chapter to be a reflection of Stoker's strong friendship with the actor Sir Henry Irving, for whom Stoker possibly had homosexual feelings. From that point of view, Dracula is a dominant male making 'advances' to Harker during their stay at the castle. It is true that the Count makes a courteous impression by carrying Harker's luggage, having supper ready in a nice 'well-lit' room with a log fire, and by his general politeness. Harker is put at ease by the Count's warming welcome after a long, dark, and frightening journey. He remarks that Dracula has a 'charming smile', but overall he is more repelled by the figure that's in front of him than that he is attracted to it.

For example, when they first shake hands Harker shivers because the touch of Dracula's skin feels "cold as ice - more like the hand of dead man than a living man." After Harker finishes eating it happens again: "As the Count leaned over me and his hands touched me, I could not repress a shudder." Dracula's breath even makes Harker feel sick. Maybe Rogers reads a sexual advance in the Count putting his hand on Harker, but it could also be seen as a simple gesture of politeness. Better yet, it is neither. It is the vampire's barely controlled urge to drink Harker's blood. Instead of love and good manners, what a vampire really wants is blood: there is no sense in projecting human characteristics like sexuality or emotions onto Dracula, because he is not human.

The second time Dracula makes an 'advance' is when Harker is shaving in the morning and the Count suddenly puts a hand on his shoulder. Most people would probably feel uncomfortable by this move, but to interpret it erotically charged seems far-fetched. The Count is a blood sucking monster: inhuman, not living, not dead. Should there be any doubt as to his intentions? A good guess is that romance is the last thing on his mind. These scenes show how Dracula tries to act human, and how he only partly succeeds in doing so.

Phallus symbol
About Dracula's physical appearance, Harker describes the mouth a couple of times. First when the carriage, with Dracula himself as the driver, comes to pick him up to go to the castle. He notices a 'hard-looking mouth, with very red lips and sharp-looking teeth' The second time is after supper: "The mouth, so far as I could see it under the heavy moustache, was fixed and rather cruel-looking, with peculiarly sharp white teeth; these protruded over the lips, whose remarkable ruddiness showed astonishing vitality in a man of his years." Of course the red lips seem a little feminine but the text also mentions that they are 'hard-looking' and show how vital they make the old Count look. Overall, the mouth is 'cruel-looking', which doesn't strike one as being very erotic. As to the phallus symbol of the teeth: it's easy to see a penis in any elongated object, or a vagina in any cavity. Consequently, the fangs and the little holes they prick are no evidence of any erotic undertone in the story.

Erotic hunting
Fangs by Angie22Arts

CC-by Angie22Arts

It is harder to work around the resemblance to a lover's kiss that the vampire's bite has. But even that can be explained. More often than not vampires use seduction to lure their victims. The three young female vampires in Dracula's castle, when Harker wanders into them, literally use the euphemism 'kisses' when they mean 'bites'. Harker himself has a "burning desire that they would kiss me with those red lips." He seems to be under some kind of erotic hypnosis brought on by them. Later in the story, after Lucy has died and becomes a vampire, the protagonists enter the tomb where Lucy is buried and they find her body gone. Soon she returns, bloody mouthed, with a young child in her arms and looking devilish, hissing like a cat. One of the men is Arthur, who was Lucy's fiancée before she died. The vampire that Lucy has become instantly makes use of the love they shared in life and opens her arms to him, saying sweet things. Arthur goes into a trance and gives in to her advances, only to be saved by Professor Van Helsing with a crucifix. Just before Lucy dies she is already using her deceptive vampire powers on Arthur. When she asks him for a kiss, imagine a sly intonation: "Arthur! Oh, my love, I am so glad you have come! Kiss me!" Obviously she is planning to grab his throat, which is then also prevented by Van Helsing.

The point is that seduction is merely a 'hunting' technique to vampires. When the monsters in the scenes just described seem to long for a kiss, a touch, or even love, all they really want is blood. Vampires, with their supernatural powers, can be as seductive as they please: it is a very good way to get humans into a passive mode and willing to accept their deadly embrace. None of that running around screaming, chasing, waking up the neighbourhood to which 'normal' killers would have to resort.

Male victims
Still from Nosferatu
Now it is reasonable to think that a vampire would generally attack members of the opposite sex, otherwise seduction might not work as often as it should. Unfortunately for the point of this paper, Dracula also has many male victims. First is the mental patient Renfield, second is Harker himself, third are all the sailors on the Demeter, a ship that Dracula boards to go to England. The first two persons may just have been victimized for practical reasons: Dracula wants to move to London and he spends a lot of time preparing. Renfield could serve as a spy to the Count as they have a long-distance mental connection. Harker, as a solicitor, helps Dracula purchasing his new houses in London and managing the paperwork. But then wouldn't he be more valuable to the Count if left untouched?

There is no real answer to this question. Why Dracula does as he does is a mystery. It is also unclear why Dracula wants to move to England in the first place. Again, it should be remembered that he is not human. His motives could be very different from anything that seems logical to human reasoning. In any case, it is clear that Dracula and other vampires have an overwhelming power of attraction to both men and women. Maybe in some cases they choose to use the method of seduction or hypnosis, while in other cases they might use brute force, of which they have a lot too. Romance though, is out of the question for these demonic beings.

By Mark Zaremba, Madrid, May 6, 2008.

Bibliography:

Stoker, B., 1897. Dracula, Wordsworth Editions Limited, "Introduction", D. Rogers, Kent.