Emily M. Sonia, “Sex and Salvation in Victorian England”
Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market” share similar themes of sexuality and fallen women in Victorian England. While Dracula proposes that independence and education, two characteristics important to the New Woman movement, would be women’s salvation from sexual desire, “Goblin Market” uses religious themes as a means of salvation. Although the means of salvation are different, they both reflect the changes late Victorian England was undergoing during the fin de siècle. Both texts traditionally condemn sexual desire, but they differ in their approach to salvation. In this essay I want to explore the shared themes of the fallen woman and the contrasting means of salvation for women from sex in these texts.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula provides commentary on the many issues plaguing Victorian society during the fin de siècle. Yet, it is the depiction of sexuality that will particularly stand out to readers. Lucy Westenra, one of the two female leads, is often seen as a representation of the New Woman’s movement because of her sexual liberation in the novel. However, she instead is a prime example of what the New Woman movement rallied against. Interestingly enough, Lucy’s character arc in the novel demonstrates the two types of women in Victorian England’s society: the wife and the prostitute.
When Lucy is first introduced, she is simply characterized by her appearance. Mina, her closest friend, describes her as, “looking sweeter and lovelier than ever,” “Lucy was looking sweetly pretty,” and “She is so sweet” (Stoker 65) all within one journal entry. These descriptions of Lucy condemn her to a very one-dimensional characterization, one in which her beauty is valued above all other aspects of her personality. This intentionally bland characterization helps to develop Lucy as an ideal Victorian wife.
Her character is so agreeable, it demonstrates the submissiveness men looked for in a wife. Lucy even goes as far as to diminish herself worth writing, “Why are men so noble when we women are so little worthy of them?” (Stoker 60). This type of ideology that Lucy possesses is defined by author Jordan Kistler as the “cow woman.” Kistler explains, “The cow woman is man’s ‘domestic cattle’, the housewife who never questions her situation” (249). This “cow woman” definition accurately applies to Lucy. Although she is unwed, she does not question her value in society as a bride to be and mother. By accepting this stereotypical role in society, she has become the novel’s ideal example of a Victorian woman.
However, while pre-vampiric Lucy is meant to represent the ideal Victorian wife, her eventual transformation represents the other kind of Victorian woman—the prostitute. After her transformation, Lucy is consistently described in a much more sexual tone: “Her eyes blazed with unholy light, and the face became wreathed with a voluptuous smile” (Stoker 215). Where once Lucy was described as kind and beautiful, her characterization now takes on a more sexual and thus sinister connotation. Lucy also demonstrates her desires openly, calling to Arthur, “Leave these others and come to me. My arms are hungry for you” (Stoker 302). Lucy’s sexual liberation demonstrates that she now derives pleasure from sex, which contradicts Victorian ideas about sexual desire. While it was acceptable for Lucy to derive pleasure from Arthur’s love, Kistler claims that it is “the pleasure seeking that makes them ‘ugly’ and unclean” (249). It is the act of seeking pleasure that villainizes vampiric Lucy. By condemning Lucy because of her sexual liberation, Stoker is thus condemning any woman who fits within the fallen woman, or prostitute, archetype.
Unlike Lucy, Mina Harker acts as the novel’s accurate depiction of the New Woman’s movement. The New Woman movement strode to empower middle class women. Writers on the movement argue that “the primary goals of the women’s movement were improvements in women’s education and the eradication of prostitution” (Kistler 246). The movement strived to create a more independent and modern type of women, who was not confined to the role assigned to her by high society. Mina is both independent and educated and it is with her help that the men are able to compile the information necessary to defeat Dracula. Even Van Helsing, a brilliant man himself, recognizes Mina’s intelligence, “Oh, but I am grateful to you, you so clever woman . . . there are darknesses in life, and there are lights; you are one of the lights” (Stoker 352).
At this time, Mina is the only woman in the novel that has not fallen victim to Dracula. Kistler argues this is because, “Mina is not vulnerable to Dracula and his vampiric infection until she is prevented from working by Van Helsing’s misguided chivalry” (253). I agree with this line of reasoning. Mina plays an active part in the plot for the majority of the novel. Although Mina has proven herself, the men still decide what is best for Mina. It is also the men’s arrogance that leads Dracula to attack Mina. Had they acknowledged that Mina was her own person and could make her own informed decisions, the likelihood of Dracula attacking her would not have been as high.
Mina acts as her own savior, rather than reliant on some outside force. Mina being able to save herself through hard work is an ideal representation of the New Woman movement. It also saves her from becoming an ideal Victorian wife, like Lucy. Kistler also claims that Mina’s representation of the New Woman and being saved by the characteristics the movement pushed for, ultimately “presents Mina Harker as the antidote to these unhealthy gender relations” (256), which is not entirely true. Although Stoker portrays the New Woman’s movement in a welcoming light, Mina is still confined at the end of the novel to domesticity. Not that there is anything wrong with being a mother, but her character pushes the limitations of what a Victorian woman is and for her to become a mother, which is the only responsibility society has deemed women capable of, abandons everything Mina stands for in the novel. Mina does take on a caretaker type role in the novel; however, it is not her defining role. She cares for those around her not out of obligation but as a testament of her love for others. Mina cares for Lucy because she truly cares and platonically loves her. Mina takes care of Jonathan after his return from Romania because she loves her fiancé. However, although Mina is the caretaker of others, her other characteristics do not simply disappear. Mina takes on this caretaker role for those she loves but it does not overshadow her prior characterization as the smart and independent woman she is. Making her a mother at the end of the story implies that, although Mina is brilliant and independent, she, like all Victorian women, is condemned solely to the role of motherhood and that is why it is so out of character for Mina. Dracula in its entirety is much more upfront about Stoker’s views on sexuality and desire than many pieces of literature.
In contrast, “Goblin Market” is an allegory for female sexual desire and salvation. Rossetti uses strong imagery and symbolism as a way to develop the poem’s deeper meaning. The narrative poem revolves around two sisters, curious Laura and cautious Lizzie. This sole focus on two female characters is similar to that of Dracula. Also, similar to Dracula, one of the women, Laura, represents the fallen woman, while the other, Lizzie, represents the novel’s form of salvation. In the poem, goblin men come to town selling fruits, claiming their goods are “sweet to the tongue and sound to the eye” (Rossetti 30). This description of the fruit implies that pleasure is associated with the fruit. Pleasure is so closely related to sexual desire that it further establishes that the fruit is symbolic of sexual desire. Laura’s desire for the fruit and thus the pleasure derived from the fruit, shows Laura succumbing to temptation.
Laura is condemned to her fate as a fallen woman when she takes the fruit from the goblin men. With has no money to offer the men for their goods, she “clipp’d a precious golden lock, / she dropp’d a tear more rare than pearl” (Rossetti, lines 126–127). Laura’s hair acts as more than just currency. Rather, Laura’s “golden” hair symbolizes her purity and innocence. By buying the fruit with her hair, she is symbolically giving away her innocence to the goblin men. Then, through the act of eating the fruit, she is no longer pure, thus making her equal to a fallen woman. Both Dracula and “Goblin Market” use women’s beauty as a marker of their purity and innocence. Lucy’s beauty in Dracula is constantly commented on prior to her transformation into the fallen women. Once transformed, she is stripped of her beauty and becomes an unhuman creature. Similarly, in “Goblin Market” Laura’s golden hair represents her innocence. After Laura pays for the fruit with her hair it starts to go grey and Laura withers away.
Laura, as the embodiment of the fallen woman, starts to wither away, similar to the social death many fallen women faced. Lizzie, the ever-doting sister, worries for Laura’s life and makes an important decision. Lizzie decides to seek out the goblin men to find an antidote for her sister. Lizzie ultimately makes both a symbolic and physical sacrifice. When Lizzie attempts to pay the goblins for the fruit with coin, they attack her, “maul’d and mock’d her, /Lizzie utter’d not a word; / would not open lip from lip” (Rossetti, lines 430–431). Lizzie’s offer to pay for her goods is what is important here. While Laura was willing to pay with her golden hair, or her innocence, Lizzie keeps her innocence intact. Though the goblin men physically attack her, assaulting her with their goblin “juices,” Lizzie is able to instead use them as an antidote to save her sister.
Laura receives that antidote in a very physical and intimate way, “she clung about her sister, / Kiss’d and kiss’d and kiss’d her” (Rossetti, lines 485-486). This repetition of kiss’d emphasizes the erotic nature of the scene. It also may remind readers of how Laura initially received the fruit: “She suck’d and suck’d and suck’d the more / Fruits which that unknown orchard bore” (Rossetti, lines 134–135). A similar pattern of repetition would provide emphasis to both scenes. These lines also generate this idea that the fruit, which symbolizes sin, can also be a means of salvation; the only difference is intention. Laura’s intention was based on her sexual desire while Lizzie’s intention was to save her sister. Marylu Hill explains that this almost-erotic scene between sisters, “offers a notion of redemptive union which resists and transcends traditional gender roles in the same way Eucharistic theology demands we conceive of union with Christ” (468). The Eucharist is meant to represent the body of Christ. Thus, the consumption of the Eucharist symbolizes becoming one with Christ, resulting in salvation from sin. The consumption of the fruit off of Lizzie’s skin is similar to the consumption of the Eucharist, and Lizzie’s sacrifice would thus parallel Jesus’ sacrifice in the Bible.
Lizzie’s sacrifice for her sister, Hill argues, is an example of how “Women redeem women, much as in Christian iconography, Mary, the mother of Jesus, redeems the fallen Eve” (466). The poem has many religious undertones, so this idea is all the more believable. Where Laura gives into temptation and the sin of sex, it is only through Lizzie’s sacrifice can she be saved. In “Goblin Market,” Laura receives salvation because of her sister. Without Lizzie, Laura would have succumbed to the death of a fallen woman. The text instills this idea of sisterhood when coupled with religion as a means of salvation. While Dracula demonstrates self-salvation for Mina, the ideal embodiment of the New Woman movement does not help Lucy receive salvation. Rather, Lucy meets a brutal end while Mina is able to save herself. This could have been to further condemn Lucy as the failed Victorian wife. Nonetheless this difference between the texts demonstrates different views on female relationships.
Dracula’s portrayal of female relationships is quite different from that of “Goblin Market.” It could be argued that Dracula attempts to pit its female characters against one another as a way to demonstrate the importance of the New Woman movement. Mina, who plays an active investigative role in the novel, does not once help to discover Lucy’s aliment. It is only after her death that Mina becomes involved in the struggle to find Dracula. This “pitting of women against each other” could help push the narrative that fallen women like Lucy are to be condemned while women who fit the New Woman model are to be admired. This dynamic in Dracula strongly contrasts with the female relationships in “Goblin Market” which are based on sisterhood. Laura would never have been saved were it not for Lizzie. Neither character undermines the other and this allows both characters to grow and learn. In “Goblin Market” there is no condemnation of the fallen women as in Dracula. It is the differences between female relationships that allow the reader to understand the different means of salvation.
Dracula and “Goblin Market” are legendary pieces of literature that both skillfully and accurately encapsulated society’s views on female desire and salvation at the time. Both texts demonstrate the societal damnation of female desire while still offering up means of salvation. “Goblin Market” is revolutionary in the fact that it argues that giving into temptation is sinful yet is still redeemable. As Hill notes, “Laura is never punished for the fact of her desire—she suffers only for choosing the wrong food to eat” (469). In Dracula, on the other hand, Lucy, the fallen woman, dies, as that is the only way she will not pose a threat to Victorian society, as she both physically and symbolically threatens the values they hold dear. Lucy’s sexual liberation and her targeting of children represents the physical threat Lucy poses to Victorian society. While Lucy’s transformation symbolizes a danger to Victorian ideals, ideals Lucy once held dear, her transformation is a testament that any woman can be corrupted. Dracula represents a more traditional portrayal of the fallen woman that agrees with society. The similarities of the two texts exemplify societal views during the fin de siècle through their exploration of changing views on religion and female empowerment. Their differences amplify the individual ideas held by the two authors. Understanding the themes of these two texts allows for audiences to fully comprehend the push for a modern Victorian England and what held back English society.
Works Cited
Christina Georgina Rossetti. Goblin Market. 1862. Garland, 1976.
Hill, Marylu. ““Eat Me, Drink Me, Love Me”: Eucharist and the Erotic Body in Christina
Rossetti’s Goblin Market.” Victorian Poetry, vol. 43, no. 4, 2005, pp. 455–72,
https://doi.org/10.1353/vp.2006.0003.
Kistler, Jordan. “Rethinking the New Woman in Dracula.” Gothic Studies, vol. 20, no. 1–2, Nov.
2018, pp. 244–56, https://doi.org/10.7227/gs.0047.
Stoker, Bram. Dracula. 1897. Oxford University Press, 1897.
This essay was written for Professor Gelmi in the Spring 2023 semester.