Dracula : the anatomy of fear

Abstract

This thesis looks into the concept of otherness as it is presented in Bram Stoker s gothic fantasy, Dracula (1897). Otherness is that which deviates from the know and the acceptable, which is called the self . My thesis is inspired by Rosemary Jacson s Fantasy: The Literature of Subversion (1981), which presents an interesting approach to gothic fantasy. I have also provided a survey of the origin of vampires, as Dracula is both a culmination and destroyer of a tradition. Vampirism represents otherness attacking the self . The novel is practically a catalogue of Western fears and desires, and all the major sources of otherness are explored as they seem to blend into one another. Some critics have found evidence of homophobia and anti-Semitism, whereas others have focused on the New Woman and gender perspectives. A general fear of death and degeneracy is also analysed. As a contrast to Dracula, John Polidori s The Vampyre (1819) presents us with the first literary vampire, but being the first of its kind, it hardly represents otherness on the same level as Dracula. Through this analysis of otherness , I have shown that in the history of vampire-literature, Dracula represents an already evil character at its most grotesque, allowing the readers to project a variety of fears and desires.