Essay about In Technologies of Monstrosity - 1430 Words

Dracula: The Metaphor for Late Victorian-Crisis Jarae Comstock Reinhardt University This paper was prepared for IDS 306 for Dr. Little Dracula: The Metaphor for Late Victorian-Crisis Bram Stokers, Dracula, from the late-Victorian era, is one of the best stories of vampire folklore. Dracula was tall, dark, handsome, and mysterious with immense sexual character. His snow white teeth which outlined his rosy red lips made us fantasize of him and ultimately become obsessed. The overwhelming fascination of Stoker’s novel has created individuals to overlook the true metaphoric mechanism behind the story. â€Å"Technologies of Monstrosity: Bram Stoker’s â€Å"Dracula†Ã¢â‚¬ , Judith Halberstam points out the metaphor in which Dracula was created.†¦show more content†¦They believed that Jews lived off the labor of European Working class bodies. According to Halberstam, Jews were to blame for the spread of syphilis (Halberstam, 1993, p.341). This resembles the symbolization of Dracula and his â€Å"bloodlust,† when an individual is bitten they become the parasite that Dracula embodies. The transfusion of blood represents Draculaâ€℠¢s semen in the body. Semen is a sexual fluid that transfers diseases as well as creation of new life. This relates to the idea of degeneracy in race and heredity criminality. From Mary Douglass’s remarks in Purity and Danger, Spencer states, â€Å"that if a person has no place in the social system and is therefore a marginal being, all precaution against danger must come from others. He cannot help his abnormal situation† (Spencer, 1992, p.214). Europeans manipulated anti-Semitic ideals to extinguish the threat of the foreigner in order to keep societal order; this provides mechanism for Spencer’s Urban Gothic. Hypothetically, Dracula was created as a preservation of European boundaries. The Urban Gothic plagues Dracula because he is a foreigner, a sexual threat, a monster of evil, the scapegoat. Dracula is the transcendence to a new era in a society that perpetuates doubts in cultural anxieties of self-identity. Dracula was seen as both of monster and man, feminine and powerful, parasitical and wealthy; he is repulsiveShow MoreRelatedMary Shellys Frankenstein and Ridley Scotts Blade Runner935 Words   |  4 Pagessignificance which continue to resonate throughout time. Despite being composed at different times, both Frankenstein and Blade Runner present examples of the fine line between humanity and monstrosity which makes us question what it means to be human. In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley has shown humanity and monstrosity in a juxtaposed way through characterisation of Victor Frankenstein and the Monster. Victor’s creation says to him â€Å"Listen to me, Frankenstein. You accuse me of murder; and yet you wouldRead MoreWarning Of The Dangers Of Science Or Suggestion That The Human1309 Words   |  6 Pagescompletely new things. 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