Anna M. Balkus, “The Monstrosity of the Male Gaze”
In the Victorian era, women were expected to maintain sexual purity and submissiveness to be considered respectable. Women who violated these norms became known as “fallen women,” a term used to describe prostitutes, the lower class, or homeless people. However, the late nineteenth century introduced a new feminist ideal where women sought liberation by pushing against these oppressive gender norms. They took on new roles fighting for women’s suffrage, becoming educated, and working outside the home. These women began to exhibit characteristics of independence, intelligence, and a free-spirited nature, giving rise to the “New Woman” movement. But despite the illusion of freedom presented by these new ideals, women remained trapped by the “male gaze,” a concept coined by film critic Laura Mulvey in 1975 to explain patriarchal ideologies and discourses. The male gaze originates from the male, heterosexual perception of society, creating a lens that both objectifies and sexualizes women. In contrast to traditional misogyny and patriarchal boundaries, the male gaze operates in a more subtle manner through literature and other media, requiring a “viewer,” either represented by an author, an audience, or the male characters. Expectations set by the male gaze not only objectify women, but also cause them to internalize that their self-worth is dependent on men’s perceptions of them. Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market” and Bram Stoker’s Dracula explore how the male gaze can lead to the destruction and confinement of women, but also offer a solution to this issue: sisterhood. Bonds between women, whether through actual sisterhood, friendship, or romantic relationships, allow them to escape the male gaze as they are able to form connections and understandings beyond patriarchal boundaries.
The male gaze’s objectification and control of women in both “Goblin Market” and Dracula is shown through the experiences of the female protagonists. Dracula’s Mina exemplifies the New Woman, as she steps outside traditional boundaries by receiving an education and learning shorthand on her own, explaining to her friend Lucy, “When we are married, I shall be able to be useful to Jonathan, and if I can stenograph well enough I can take down what he wants to say in this way and write it out for him on the typewriter…” (Stoker 49). While she is an intelligent, educated character, Mina unknowingly internalizes the male gaze. She defines her self-worth based on her husband, Jonathan’s, perception of her and wants to be “useful” to him, as exhibited by the repetition of references to him, such as “what he wants,” and “for him.” The male gaze strips women of their independence and autonomy, instead defining them as an object to be of service for men.
Contrastingly, in “‘Dracula’: Stoker’s Response to The New Woman,” Carol A. Senf argues that Mina is not a New Woman due to her traditional job, decision to marry, and “desire to nurture and protect children” (46). The debates over Mina’s role in the New Woman movement prove that, even when women catch a glimpse of freedom and autonomy, they remain trapped by the boundaries of the male gaze. As a counter to Senf, Mina can be seen to simultaneously represent the New Woman, but also be limited by how men perceive her, and the expectations they set on her. Lucy experiences a similar internal conflict as Mina, writing, “Why are men so noble when we women are so little worthy of them?” (Stoker 68). Lucy questions and defines her entire self-worth based on a man’s perception of her, internalizing her inferiority. To deny one of the suitors brings her such immense guilt that it causes her to break down into tears. Lucy is confined into a box built by the male gaze; she is trapped by feelings of being undeserving and guilty as she fears drawing her suitors’ anger. She internalizes patriarchal values, feeling that she must marry one man, further trapping her within these boundaries.
The difficulties women face from the male gaze are not limited to Dracula. In her article, “‘Eat me, Drink me, Love me’: The Consumable Female Body in Christina Rossetti’s ‘Goblin Market,’” Mary Wilson Carpenter discusses the objectification and commodification of women by 1860s consumer culture. Throughout the poem, the goblin men whistle and pester Laura in an animal-like manner, reminiscent of modern-day catcalling and sexual harassment. When Laura tells the goblin men that she has no money, they reassure her, “‘You have much gold upon your head’ / … / ‘Buy from us with a golden curl’” (Rossetti 123-125). The men view Laura’s body as a commodity—an expensive object that can be used and traded as money or “gold.” Many scholars, including Carpenter, notice the additional implications of the golden curl as a representation of Laura’s virginity. Either way, the goblins’ male gaze transforms women into objects for sex, money, or desire, all of which are destructive to a woman’s self-worth. Carpenter agrees that the male gaze causes the female body to become “subject to ‘consumption’ as a commodity,” as shown through Laura’s experience with the Goblin men (416). However, she introduces the idea of the “female gaze” as a contrasting idea, one that allows the female body to become “‘consumable’ as a regenerative and self-propagating ‘fruit,’ as Lizzie’s example shows” (Carpenter 416).
Like the male gaze, the “female gaze” also functions through viewing, but instead through the eyes of a female spectator—or in this case, the female characters. Through this lens, women are autonomous. They have agency, feelings, and intelligence. Expanding on this idea of the female gaze, the two texts suggest that the only way for women to escape the effects of the male gaze is to form the connections with other women which might allow them to reclaim their sexuality and regain a sense of autonomy through shared mutual understanding. Both Mina and Lucy from Dracula and Laura and Lizzie from “Goblin Market” exhibit similar ways of protecting each other from the male gaze. In her article “The Mediation of the Feminine: Bisexuality, Homoerotic Desire, and Self-Expression in Bram Stoker’s Dracula,” Marjorie Howes brings up the strong friendship between Mina and Lucy, stating that they “regularly confide in one another in their letters and enjoy the self-expression this affords them” (111). In fact, their letters to each other seem to be the only time they are able to express themselves fully, as Mina talks about Jonathan and Lucy talks about her struggles regarding multiple marriage proposals. For instance, when writing to Mina about Dr. Seward’s proposal, Lucy expresses, “I couldn’t help feeling a sort of exultation that he was number Two in one day” (Stoker 54). Lucy is only able to express her happiness and excitement in her letters to Mina, showing how women can only feel completely free when discussing their desires with other women. In another letter, Mina writes, “I am longing to be with you, and by the sea, where we can talk together freely and build our castles in the air” (Stoker 63). Even beyond the self-expression suggested by Howes, the metaphor of “building castles in the air” illustrates the overarching hopes and dreams Mina and Lucy share together and implies that they have built a safe space within their relationship. Through these interactions, Stoker conveys that the commonalties women share in the female experience allow them to create bonds and gain a sense of freedom beyond the perceptions and expectations of men.
Similar to Mina and Lucy, Laura and Lizzie from “Goblin Market” build a “sisterhood” that ultimately saves them from the goblin men. Carpenter helps contextualize their bond in her article; before writing “Goblin Market,” Rossetti attended churches associated with Anglican Sisterhoods, working to aid and empower “fallen women.” Rossetti’s work at St. Mary’s and the Oxford Movement’s “women’s mission to women” inspired Carpenter’s main argument. She suggests that this “sisterhood” works to reject the male gaze, and in contrast, allows the female gaze to take its place. Laura and Lizzie’s bond “represses hierarchical differences” and frees them from conventional ideological discourses. Much like Mina and Lucy, Laura and Lizzie see their relationship as a safe space. When describing Laura and Lizzie asleep together, Rossetti writes, “Lumbering owls forbore to fly, / Not a bat flapp’d to and fro / Round their rest: / Cheek to cheek and breast to breast / Lock’d together in one nest” (Rossetti 194-98). While together, they are safe from the harm of the goblin men. The rhyme scheme causes the audience to read the last three lines rhythmically, and the pattern becomes easy and natural, corresponding with the naturalness of their bond. Through the poetic verse, Rossetti conveys the inherent nature of women to form bonds with one another as a means of protection from the male gaze. Both Laura and Lizzie share the experience of being coaxed by the goblin men, of being commodified and objectified, but they are able to find security within each other.
Furthermore, the male gaze raises questions about female desire. When women seek to fulfill their desires or explore their sexualities, they must follow the expectations imposed on them by the male gaze. However, the New Woman movement allowed women to engage in sexual experimentation. This new position of dominance caused men to represent New Women as “vampires,” as exhibited in Dracula. For example, the sexualization of the vampire women shows how embracing new sexual freedoms became perceived by men as evil and dangerous. In his experience, Jonathan writes, “she actually licked her lips like an animal” (Stoker 34). Through this simile, he portrays the women as animalistic and savage due to their sexually dominant roles. When women reject the male gaze’s expectations for sexual submissiveness, they are dehumanized and viewed in a negative light. Similarly, when Lucy becomes a vampire, she turns seductive, rejecting the suitors’ expectations for her to be sweet and innocent. The ability of Arthur and Van Helsing to destroy vampire Lucy implies the controlling nature of the male gaze, and how it can lead to the destruction of women. Senf argues that this destruction succeeds in “reestablishing male supremacy,” stating that, “Only when the traditional order has been restored does Van Helsing permit the kiss which both Arthur and Lucy had desired during her life” (Senf 45). Men only accept and love women when they follow and meet their expectations and perceptions of them. Lucy’s promiscuity as a vampire does not appeal to the male characters’ gaze, which leads to her downfall. While women began to catch a glimpse of freedom from patriarchal boundaries in the Victorian era through New Woman ideals, their sexualities continued to be limited by the male gaze.
In contrast to Dracula’s female protagonists, Laura and Lizzie experience a different fate, shown through their ability to reclaim their sexuality and desires. The consumption of the goblin fruit transforms Laura into a fallen woman, causing her to become ill and placing her on the verge of death. Historically, “male clerics appear to have feared that the sisters would be contaminated by the attractions of the ‘fallen women’ and their way of life” (Carpenter 423). By exploring their sexual desires, women became viewed as physically and morally corrupt or polluted. Men simultaneously objectify women yet become disgusted by female sexuality. When Lizzie returns from the market, having also been forced to eat the goblin fruit, she cries to Laura: “Hug me, kiss me, suck my juices” (Rossetti 468). Lizzie offers Laura the same juice that made her sick, but when it comes from Lizzie, it unexpectedly has healing powers. Laura begins to transform back to her original self, and her hair is described to be “like a caged thing freed, / Or like a flying flag when armies run” (Rossetti 505-506). The similes illustrate Laura’s freedom after Lizzie’s healing. To be trapped in a cage or forced to serve in an army implies how she felt stuck following her “war-like” experiences with the goblin men and stuck in the confines of the male gaze. Considering her “golden curls” as a symbol of her virginity, the restoration of her hair implies her reclamation of her sexuality. While virgin “purity” itself cannot be replaced, Laura’s experience with Lizzie without the goblin men restores her ability to explore her desires. On the other hand, virginity functions as a social construct, created by the same patriarchal values that produce the male gaze. From the female perspective, it can be argued that Laura’s purity was never destroyed because the concept itself was never real to begin with. The male gaze has been shown to have damaging effects on women, but the female gaze can work against this to help to heal women. Laura and Lizzy are able to reclaim their sexuality by engaging in these desires with one another, represented by their consumption of the fruit.
The fates of the female protagonists contrast each other; While Laura and Lizzie’s strong relationship allows them to escape the male gaze, Lucy faces her death as a vampire, as a fallen woman. For Lucy, her friendship with Mina is only a temporary solution. Nonetheless, these two pieces of literature show that powerful bonds between women allow them to feel a sense of safety and understanding and can ultimately work towards dismantling the patriarchy. Since the publications of Dracula and “Goblin Market,” the women’s rights movement has come a long way. While depictions of women in the media have changed drastically, the male gaze remains clearly noticeable in many films and TV shows. For the pleasure of the heterosexual male viewer, women continue to be depicted as objects of sexual desire to be controlled and owned by men. It is important that regular consumers look at media through a critical lens to understand the sexism that still exists today. Moving away from the male gaze is just one necessary step forward in establishing women’s rights and equality.
Works Cited
Carpenter, Mary Wilson. “‘Eat me, Drink me, Love me’: The Consumable Female Body in Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market.” Victorian Poetry, vol. 29, no. 4, 1991, pp. 415-434, https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/40003006.pdf.
Howes, Marjorie. “The Mediation of the Feminine: Bisexuality, Homoerotic Desire, and Self -Expression in Bram Stoker’s Dracula.” Texas Studies in Literature and Language, vol. 30, 1988, pp. 104-119, https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/40754849.pdf.
Rossetti, Christina. “Goblin Market.” Victorian Poetry in Context: Texts and Contexts, https://doi.org/10.5040/9781472544155.ch-006.
Senf, Carol A. “‘Dracula’: Stoker’s Response to The New Woman.” Victorian Studies, vol. 26, no. 1, 1982, pp. 33-49, https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/3827492.pdf.
Stoker, Bram. Dracula. Wordsworth Editions, 1993.
This essay was written for Professor Gelmi in the Spring 2023 semester.