Historical Documents:
"Old centuries had, and have, powers of their own which mere modernity cannot kill"
On this page, you will find primary source material from around the time that Dracula was first published. For our purposes, this time frame will include approximately twenty years of the Late Victorian period, 1880-1900). For each document, you will find a brief discussion of the potential relationship between it and the novel as well as citation information so that you might find the document yourself.
Catey Oakley: The
village people that Jonathan Harker encounters before his ascension to Castle
Dracula and their religious and superstitious beliefs remind me of the fear the
Londoners felt for Whitechapel, East London, especially during the Jack the
Ripper murders. East London was already known as “an immoral landscape of light
and darkness, a nether region of illicit sex and crime, both exciting and
dangerous,” and anyone who could afford to stay out of it, did (Walkowitz,
193). Once the Ripper murders started happening, it got even less desirable.
With Castle Dracula, the local people know it’s an evil place and that to go to
visit you need God’s protection, and although there may not be any explicit
immorality mentioned to Harker, needing the protection of God definitely
insinuates something immoral is going on up there. See: Walkowitz, Judith. City of
Dreadful Delight.
Chicago: Chicago U, 1992. Williams, Anne, John William Polidori, Fanu
Joseph Sheridan Le, and Bram Stoker. Three Vampire Tales. Boston: Houghton Mifflin,
2003
Meagan Gagnon: What interested (I apologize for using that word) me was the way that female sexuality was expressed by both the narrator of Dracula, and journalists of the Victorian era as described by Walkowitz. The victims of Jack the Ripper were considered "drunken, viscious, miserable wretches, whom it was almost a charity to relieve of the charity of existence." (200) It was, therefore, it was their so-called unnatural sexuality that made the murders justifiable according to Victorian society. Their sexuality was an example of weakness, and their fate was somewhat humane. The women we meet at the end of chapter three of Dracula are similar in that they, too have a tendency to openly express their sexuality. However, their sexuality, though still monstrous and unnatural, is a source of power. Initially described as "ladies, by their dress and manner," (41 Norton Critical Edition) these women quickly become animals, seductively devouring (attempting to, at least) the man. The roles of Jack the Ripper and the women are reversed in Dracula. In the latter, the women attack the man. They use their sexuality as power, and attempt to physically destroy him with it. This is opposed to the man attacking the woman because of her sexuality. I wonder why female sexuality can be seen as victimizing in one case, powerful in another, and wrong in both?
Tanner Lewis:The coverage of Dracula's not-so-subtle reveal as an entity that radiates an eerie supernatural, is hauntingly striking to the real-life counterpart of Jack the Ripper. In Walkowitz's The City of Dreadful Delight, the author makes it a point that the murderer struck fast. Literally lunging and eviscerating his victims, he attacked like a demon, or worse, a vampire. (Walkowitz, 193).
This attack pattern is mirrored with Dracula's own bestial attack of his house guest, Jonathan Harker. While the Englishman is shaving, he nicks himself with his razor, drawing blood. Dracula, being drawn to the red like a bull to a matador's cape, lunges at his victim with great speed. The speed of which he struck, was very similar to the speed in which Jack the Ripper must have struck.
This scene also brings up the invisibility of Dracula, when looked at in the mirror. Harker, who stares at the shaving mirror, doesn't notice the pale and demonic Dracula lurking behind him. When he does turn his head, it is a sudden and quick reaction of fear. This also brings up an early point that Walkowitz makes with Jack the Ripper, stating that “All five [murders] took place in a densely populated area where local residents kept close watch on each other's movements.” (Walkowitz, 193). In order to avoid detection by the local residents, Jack the Ripper would have had to have been as stealthy and snake-like as Dracula had been to Harker.
This attack pattern is mirrored with Dracula's own bestial attack of his house guest, Jonathan Harker. While the Englishman is shaving, he nicks himself with his razor, drawing blood. Dracula, being drawn to the red like a bull to a matador's cape, lunges at his victim with great speed. The speed of which he struck, was very similar to the speed in which Jack the Ripper must have struck.
This scene also brings up the invisibility of Dracula, when looked at in the mirror. Harker, who stares at the shaving mirror, doesn't notice the pale and demonic Dracula lurking behind him. When he does turn his head, it is a sudden and quick reaction of fear. This also brings up an early point that Walkowitz makes with Jack the Ripper, stating that “All five [murders] took place in a densely populated area where local residents kept close watch on each other's movements.” (Walkowitz, 193). In order to avoid detection by the local residents, Jack the Ripper would have had to have been as stealthy and snake-like as Dracula had been to Harker.
Kristin Clarke-Cole: In Dracula by Bram Stoker and City of Dreadful Delights: Jack the Ripper by Judith R. Walkowitz, there is a race division between whom and what norms are acceptable within the English culture. English culture possesses the nationalist point of view throughout both texts to show it is the most civil way of life. In Jack the Ripper, there is a distance from Englishmen and Jews. Walkowitz presented, “The ‘Jacob the Ripper’ theory led to two local developments: denunciation of Jews at the inquests as ritual murders and widespread intimidation of Jews throughout the East End,” (Walkowitz 203). This inevitably shows the disconnection between the majority and minority through playing the blame game on a specific race. Since the Jews are minority and labeled as the social problem they are diffusing English culture by their Jewish culture. England makes the assumption that Jews need to be blamed for this crime. On the other hand, the protagonist in Dracula, Jonathan Harker is juxtaposing the types of people he sees on his journey through France and Germany to the norm of how an English person looks. He saw, “The strangest figures we saw were the Slovaks, who are more barbarian than the rest, with their big cowboy hats, great baggy dirty-white trousers, white linen shirts, and enormous heavy leather belts, nearly a foot wide, all studded over with brass nails, (Stoker 11). Compared to the Englishman, Slovaks are seen as the minority similar to the Jews because they do not emulate the luxurious and civil qualities of the Englishman.
Brooke Powers: A great deal of time is spent on Count Dracula's appearance in Stoker's Dracula. He is mentioned to have a chin that was "broad and strong" (43) which reminded me of the distinct chin of Irishmen in our first reading of City of Dreadful Delight. Dracula also has "a lofty domed forehead, and hair growing scantily round the temples, but profusely everywhere" (42), which reminded me of the reading from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on the new woman and the frightening element of hair. As mentioned a great deal of time is used in introducing Dracula's look to the reader and in that way our narrator, Jonathan Harker, appears to be differentiating himself between himself and his host. This brings up the idea of otherness that we have been focusing on in class and the fear that it presents; this also provides Harker an opportunity to present himself as civilized and more importantly, an Englishman. There are an awful lot of references to the differences between England and Transylvania. Dracula himself brings this point up a lot and even says in the second chapter, "We are in Transylvania; and Transylvania is not England" (46). This point ties into something brought up in the reading on Jack the Ripper in which people didn't want to associate themselves with the area where the murders were committed in that people always seek to put distance between themselves and people, places, and things that are frightening. See Walkowitz, Judith. City of Dreadful Delight. Chicago: Chicago U, 1992.
ProfGonzalez: I am particularly interested in Judith Walkowitz's discussion of the sensational reporter W.T. Stead and the way that, in covering the Jack the Ripper story, he "compiled and summarized news accounts from the morning papers in his evening publication, offering some characteristic twists of his own." Walkowitz goes on to say that the Ripper Story was "constructed piecemeal over a pattern of several weeks, as observers struggled to discern patterns from a murder sequence that they regarded as unique in the annals of crime." (191) Stead's "compilation" efforts seem to me to be very similar to the compilation of materials used in Stoker's Dracula. Like Stead, the characters in Dracula work to discern a pattern or a meaning to the horrific events precisely by gathering as much information as they can and collecting it in one place. Do you all think that the collections of material like these evidence a type of authority? What are the power dynamics at play in collecting information about a crime or a criminal? I wonder also how these questions might relate to the deviance article on Jekyll and Hyde---what is at stake in categorization and naming deviance? See Walkowitz, Judith. City of Dreadful Delight. Chicago: Chicago U, 1992.
Emily Seymour: The female vampires accosting Jonathan Harker in his sleep made me think of Judith Walkowitz's description of the fears surrounding female sexuality in her chapter titled Jack the Ripper, from City of Dreadful Delight. Walkowitz says, "Although the most popular theories and fantasies about the Ripper contained a coded discussions of the dangers of unrestrained male sexuality, misogynist fears of female sexuality and female autonomy also surfaced speculations about a female Ripper." (218) Jonathan writes of his mixture of fear and intense desire as the voluptuous women creep towards him—feelings that people following the Ripper murders must of have experienced as well. Because the women were all known sex workers, and the three female vampires in Dracula are undeniably sexy, the reader (when the Ripper murders were committed and Dracula published) was both enticed and appalled at the mixture of female sexuality and violence. As Jonathan says, "there was a deliberate voluptuousness which was both thrilling and repulsive..." See Walkowitz, Judith. City of Dreadful Delight. Chicago: Chicago U, 1992.
Janine Perry 3.27: Vampiric Media
In City of Dreadful Delight, Wolkowitz describes the sensational frenzy surrounding the Ripper murders and does not hesitate to emphasize the media's role in exacerbating it. She writes, "Media coverage transformed the unsolved murders of five poor women into a national scandal" (201). This scandal exemplifies the vampiric nature of stories pushed by the media--namely that certain media events infect one person to the next. As technology has further intertwined our world, media has also become less geographic and more global. To compare the two medium, a vampire may only stalk the prey in his immediate area, and so might a newspaper. Both vampires and news media are only as successful as their ability to reach others. See Walkowitz, Judith. City of Dreadful Delight. Chicago: Chicago U, 1992.
Melissa McCann:
Through Judith Wolkowitz’s research of Jack the Ripper, several arguments were presented concerning the social status of the Ripper, “With Hutchinson’s evidence, the ‘image of the toff, a man of education, influence, and money was consolidated.” (218) The police, as well as the public, realized not to rule out an individual of the middle-to-upper-class as the culprit for the heinous murders. Such relates to the evil that resides within Dracula and his castle. Despite his grand residence and knowledge learned from his library of books, he is not discounted as being wicked. Not even wealth can distract from someone’s evilness. See Walkowitz, Judith. City of Dreadful Delight. Chicago: Chicago U, 1992.
ProfGonzalez: Melissa and all, 1) how does the association with aristocracy (seen both in the Count and in some of the Jack suspects) perhaps even increase their suspiciousness?
Through Judith Wolkowitz’s research of Jack the Ripper, several arguments were presented concerning the social status of the Ripper, “With Hutchinson’s evidence, the ‘image of the toff, a man of education, influence, and money was consolidated.” (218) The police, as well as the public, realized not to rule out an individual of the middle-to-upper-class as the culprit for the heinous murders. Such relates to the evil that resides within Dracula and his castle. Despite his grand residence and knowledge learned from his library of books, he is not discounted as being wicked. Not even wealth can distract from someone’s evilness. See Walkowitz, Judith. City of Dreadful Delight. Chicago: Chicago U, 1992.
ProfGonzalez: Melissa and all, 1) how does the association with aristocracy (seen both in the Count and in some of the Jack suspects) perhaps even increase their suspiciousness?
William Cohen 3.27: Superstition Far and Wide
At the start of Dracula we see John Harker traipsing through Transylvania to visit his new client, which I’m sure we can all agree is a remarkably sketchy situation. Harker’s exceptionally unassuming attitude aside (Maybe he’s just that desperate to make a sale? One or two townhouses away from “Realtor of the Month”?), he seems to be a rather astute narrator, deeply interested in the foreign environment and culture around him; because the foreign is a novelty. Like much of the elite of Victorian London, Harker draws sharp distinctions between himself as an Englishman, and the locals as others. 19th Century London was divided the same way, physically separating East from West End, and the Haves from the immigrants, indigents, and those of ill-repute.
In Dracula, we are shown that the foreign land is a place of lesser civilization. Early on we are treated to quaint rather than admirable descriptions, and Harker’s comment on the innkeeper’s superstition—“It was all very ridiculous and I did not feel comfortable” (Williams 154)—set non-Britains apart from the stalwart, skeptical English point of view. This mimics the fear and paranoia surrounding the Whitechapel Murders, which were viewed as a strictly East End event, and often blamed on the lower morals and perceived degeneration of the inhabitants of poorer London. The parallels between Budapest and the East End, while not exact, are strong enough, readily establishing an atmosphere of superstition, low-society, and danger—both abroad and at home.
Still… “I must ask the Count about these superstitions” (Williams 155)? I do not care how handsome Mina finds him, or what his quarterly sales look like, the man is a fool.
ProfGonzalez: Will, check out the hospitality entries on the Contemporary Culture page; they may relate to your questions about ill-advised trips to Transylvania. /contemporary-culture.html
In Dracula, we are shown that the foreign land is a place of lesser civilization. Early on we are treated to quaint rather than admirable descriptions, and Harker’s comment on the innkeeper’s superstition—“It was all very ridiculous and I did not feel comfortable” (Williams 154)—set non-Britains apart from the stalwart, skeptical English point of view. This mimics the fear and paranoia surrounding the Whitechapel Murders, which were viewed as a strictly East End event, and often blamed on the lower morals and perceived degeneration of the inhabitants of poorer London. The parallels between Budapest and the East End, while not exact, are strong enough, readily establishing an atmosphere of superstition, low-society, and danger—both abroad and at home.
Still… “I must ask the Count about these superstitions” (Williams 155)? I do not care how handsome Mina finds him, or what his quarterly sales look like, the man is a fool.
ProfGonzalez: Will, check out the hospitality entries on the Contemporary Culture page; they may relate to your questions about ill-advised trips to Transylvania. /contemporary-culture.html
Anna Huger -3/27
Walkowitz talks about the fear that was held towards Whitechapel, the birthplace of the Ripper murders. People were ostracizing the area because of its identification with everything corrupt and evil. Yet there was still a pull towards its mysterious and sinful streets, which she calls “a magnet not only for a ‘vast floating population—the waifs and strays of our throughfares’—but also for young West End bloods and for scores of respectable ‘slummers’ who visited and even settled in area” (195-96). Many people from surrounding areas would wander to the city despite the warnings just because of their curiosity about what was going on. This is kind of fear ridden curiosity is shown in Dracula when Jonathan Harker head towards Dracula’s castle when he is confronted by landlord’s wife, who states,
“…‘It is the eve of St. George's Day. Do you not know that to-night, when the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things in the world will have full sway? Do you know where you are going, and what you are going to?’ She was in such evident distress that I tried to comfort her, but without effect. Finally, she went down on her knees and implored me not to go; at least to wait a day or two before starting. It was all very ridiculous but I did not feel comfortable. However, there was business to be done, and I could allow nothing to interfere with it.” (Bram 154)
Although the idea of going now made him uncomfortable it still did not deter him from his business and his curiosities. He, like other “West End bloods”, seem to be attracted to that danger and it caused him to take what the old woman says lightly .
Walkowitz talks about the fear that was held towards Whitechapel, the birthplace of the Ripper murders. People were ostracizing the area because of its identification with everything corrupt and evil. Yet there was still a pull towards its mysterious and sinful streets, which she calls “a magnet not only for a ‘vast floating population—the waifs and strays of our throughfares’—but also for young West End bloods and for scores of respectable ‘slummers’ who visited and even settled in area” (195-96). Many people from surrounding areas would wander to the city despite the warnings just because of their curiosity about what was going on. This is kind of fear ridden curiosity is shown in Dracula when Jonathan Harker head towards Dracula’s castle when he is confronted by landlord’s wife, who states,
“…‘It is the eve of St. George's Day. Do you not know that to-night, when the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things in the world will have full sway? Do you know where you are going, and what you are going to?’ She was in such evident distress that I tried to comfort her, but without effect. Finally, she went down on her knees and implored me not to go; at least to wait a day or two before starting. It was all very ridiculous but I did not feel comfortable. However, there was business to be done, and I could allow nothing to interfere with it.” (Bram 154)
Although the idea of going now made him uncomfortable it still did not deter him from his business and his curiosities. He, like other “West End bloods”, seem to be attracted to that danger and it caused him to take what the old woman says lightly .
Ariel Udel - 3/27
Walkowitz' account of the 'Jack the Ripper' saga references several theories about the identity and nature of the murderer. Walkowitz notes that "suspicion shifted from the East End to the West End, as representations of the Ripper oscillated from an externalized version of the Other to a variation of the multiple, divided Self" (Walkowitz 206). There was a suggestion that the murderer might not be identifiable as a product of the inferior social pool of the East End, but may instead be a man of affluence and gentlemanly origin. This suggestion might be more terrifying than the original suspicion of a lower-class villain because it speaks to the idea of Self becoming something Other, something externally civilized being internally criminal and barbaric. In Dracula, Harker's attention is focused on the material signs of nobility and high culture--namely the Count's furnishings and place-settings. These things, for Harker, are the site of both class and familiarity. He draws comfort from the proof of Dracula's nobility and the familiarity of symbols associated with the upper class; wine, cigars, fine draperies, etc. The comfort of the symbols of aristocracy are undermined by the absence of servants, which clues Harker in on the Count's dubious claims of status. Dracula himself confesses to a talent for faking identity when he admits that his proficiency in English was not naturally gained, but accumulated through study (Williams 167). The realization of this facade induces much anxiety in Harker because it demonstrates that the sources upon which he makes his judgments--namely, the symbols of class status and heritage--are unreliable in judging character.
Walkowitz' account of the 'Jack the Ripper' saga references several theories about the identity and nature of the murderer. Walkowitz notes that "suspicion shifted from the East End to the West End, as representations of the Ripper oscillated from an externalized version of the Other to a variation of the multiple, divided Self" (Walkowitz 206). There was a suggestion that the murderer might not be identifiable as a product of the inferior social pool of the East End, but may instead be a man of affluence and gentlemanly origin. This suggestion might be more terrifying than the original suspicion of a lower-class villain because it speaks to the idea of Self becoming something Other, something externally civilized being internally criminal and barbaric. In Dracula, Harker's attention is focused on the material signs of nobility and high culture--namely the Count's furnishings and place-settings. These things, for Harker, are the site of both class and familiarity. He draws comfort from the proof of Dracula's nobility and the familiarity of symbols associated with the upper class; wine, cigars, fine draperies, etc. The comfort of the symbols of aristocracy are undermined by the absence of servants, which clues Harker in on the Count's dubious claims of status. Dracula himself confesses to a talent for faking identity when he admits that his proficiency in English was not naturally gained, but accumulated through study (Williams 167). The realization of this facade induces much anxiety in Harker because it demonstrates that the sources upon which he makes his judgments--namely, the symbols of class status and heritage--are unreliable in judging character.
Simone Hartwell Ishikawa- 3/27 Vampires in the East
I am interested in the distinction both Walkowitz and Stoker, through Harker, make about the East. In Walkowitz East London is spoken of as another land one to be explored by members of the wealthier classes of the West End. Walkowitz explains, “the moral and intellectual change is so great, that it seems as if we were in a new land, and among another race” (19). Harker in Dracula is also quick to mention the differences between London and Buda-Pesth and how from merely getting off the train he had “The impression… that we were leaving the West and entering the East” (Stoker 1). Harker like the flauner of London wanted to “ see all [he] could of the ways of the country” (Stoker 4). Harker’s remark about the East parallel’s Walkowitz for the both allude to a quality of life that diminishes the farther east of the empire one travels. Even though East London is at the heart of the empire it is separated from the empire through, “obscure density, indigence, sinister foreign aliens, and potential crime” (Walkowitz 20). Dracula represents both the East End’s sinister foreign alien and potential crime once he arrives in London and infects Lucy with his Vampirism.
Another trend that distinguishes East from West in both books is religion. Within London, Christianity dominated the West and Judaism the East. Although Christianity is the dominant religion in Dracula Harker notes that the people are superstitious and many refuses to talk about his mysterious host. His refusal to wait for the eve of Saint George’s Day to pass before traveling and his hesitance to take the cross is similar to East Enders inability to “exorcise the grim specter [Jack the Ripper] by which they are haunted” (Walkowitz 197). Yet in both narratives “People allowed their imaginations to run riot. There was talk of black magic and vampires”(Walkowitz 197). In London the people believed they were trapped in “horrifying” fiction a la Poe and Stevenson while Harker believes himself to be in “a sort of awful nightmare” (Stoker 20). What both sets of Westerners seem incapable of coming to terms with is the knowledge that evil and degradation are not confined to the east and can come home and roost in the heart of the empire, infecting it from within.
I am interested in the distinction both Walkowitz and Stoker, through Harker, make about the East. In Walkowitz East London is spoken of as another land one to be explored by members of the wealthier classes of the West End. Walkowitz explains, “the moral and intellectual change is so great, that it seems as if we were in a new land, and among another race” (19). Harker in Dracula is also quick to mention the differences between London and Buda-Pesth and how from merely getting off the train he had “The impression… that we were leaving the West and entering the East” (Stoker 1). Harker like the flauner of London wanted to “ see all [he] could of the ways of the country” (Stoker 4). Harker’s remark about the East parallel’s Walkowitz for the both allude to a quality of life that diminishes the farther east of the empire one travels. Even though East London is at the heart of the empire it is separated from the empire through, “obscure density, indigence, sinister foreign aliens, and potential crime” (Walkowitz 20). Dracula represents both the East End’s sinister foreign alien and potential crime once he arrives in London and infects Lucy with his Vampirism.
Another trend that distinguishes East from West in both books is religion. Within London, Christianity dominated the West and Judaism the East. Although Christianity is the dominant religion in Dracula Harker notes that the people are superstitious and many refuses to talk about his mysterious host. His refusal to wait for the eve of Saint George’s Day to pass before traveling and his hesitance to take the cross is similar to East Enders inability to “exorcise the grim specter [Jack the Ripper] by which they are haunted” (Walkowitz 197). Yet in both narratives “People allowed their imaginations to run riot. There was talk of black magic and vampires”(Walkowitz 197). In London the people believed they were trapped in “horrifying” fiction a la Poe and Stevenson while Harker believes himself to be in “a sort of awful nightmare” (Stoker 20). What both sets of Westerners seem incapable of coming to terms with is the knowledge that evil and degradation are not confined to the east and can come home and roost in the heart of the empire, infecting it from within.
Roula Giokas- 3/27
Walowitz presents a connection between the poorer class of the Jack the Ripper era as well as the murderer himself. “The poor expressed their engagement with the Ripper murders by rioting.” (214, Walowitz) Similarly, Dracula speaks of something similarly related to the idea of class struggling. “Ah, sir, you dwellers in the city cannot enter into the feelings of the hunter.” (164, Williams) The predator has an interesting connection with the prey as defined in both Dracula and Jack the Ripper. Neither can comprehend the others actions fully. Confusion and fear lead the poor of the Ripper era to riot. However, in Dracula, the two are speaking of animals- specifically wolves that are known as a hunting species, but there is the undertone of villainy in there as well. The hunter that is described is someone who resembles Jack the Ripper, someone with intense feelings toward capturing the prey.
See Walkowitz, Judith. City of Dreadful Delight. Chicago: Chicago U, 1992. Williams, Anne, John William Polidori, Fanu Joseph Sheridan Le, and Bram Stoker. Three Vampire Tales. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003
Walowitz presents a connection between the poorer class of the Jack the Ripper era as well as the murderer himself. “The poor expressed their engagement with the Ripper murders by rioting.” (214, Walowitz) Similarly, Dracula speaks of something similarly related to the idea of class struggling. “Ah, sir, you dwellers in the city cannot enter into the feelings of the hunter.” (164, Williams) The predator has an interesting connection with the prey as defined in both Dracula and Jack the Ripper. Neither can comprehend the others actions fully. Confusion and fear lead the poor of the Ripper era to riot. However, in Dracula, the two are speaking of animals- specifically wolves that are known as a hunting species, but there is the undertone of villainy in there as well. The hunter that is described is someone who resembles Jack the Ripper, someone with intense feelings toward capturing the prey.
See Walkowitz, Judith. City of Dreadful Delight. Chicago: Chicago U, 1992. Williams, Anne, John William Polidori, Fanu Joseph Sheridan Le, and Bram Stoker. Three Vampire Tales. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003
K.B. During this time in English society, a nationwide hysteria overtook them through the crimes of the mysterious Jack the Ripper. Through both the creation of new literature and the uproar of this crime, it was extremely difficult to separate the reality from fantastic, the possible from the impossible. The Jack the Ripper heinous crimes spurred the creation of empathy for the poor by the wealthy, who viewed them as trying to survival, and pledged to be the hero who can fix their situation. This ideology that the rich was now beginning to embrace was to bring attention to the social and political disorder. As this new way of thinking began to spread throughout the upper class, in brought about the exploration of homosexuality, as efforts were made to categorize behavior that was apparently destructive to society. Homosexuality was linked with sadistic behavior. Thee heightened awareness of homosexuality only brought a heightened sense of fear to the middle and once again the wealthy. It furthered the separation of the lower and wealthy class, because up until this point the poor was viewed as the prostitutes and criminals but now they were seen as more monstrous and inhumane as before because of their "deviant" sexuality.
ProfGonzalez: Kim and All, was it only the poor who were linked with possibly deviant sexuality? Or was the fear that the middle and upper classes were failing "prey" to these desires as well?
ProfGonzalez: Kim and All, was it only the poor who were linked with possibly deviant sexuality? Or was the fear that the middle and upper classes were failing "prey" to these desires as well?
Rebecca Suarez:
Both Walkowitz’s Jack the Ripper article and Dracula deal with the fear of the racial other. Walkowiitz explains that Whitechapel became a dreaded place for the “respectable citizens if Whitechapel” in England because of the “Anglo-Irish laboring poor and the immigrant Jewish community” (195). The article even states that because the police were trying to find the Whitechapel murderer, they tried to target men who looked suspicious, but instead reflected their own prejudices and “an epidemic of anti-Semitism existed in the East End” (203). Dracula revealed the English concern of the racial other. When Harker sets out to meet his new client
Dracula, he is placed in a foreign place that he is not familiar with. However, he views everyone else as the foreign people because he cannot completely understand them. The citizens are also very suspicious which is yet another foreign concept he becomes involuntarily enveloped in. In fact, this extreme superstition frightens Harker. The anxiety of the racial other is especially seen through Harker’s experiences in Dracula’s castle. Dracula is the representation of the racial other because he literally looks different from him and is considerably more fluent in German than everyone else. When Harker cannot see Dracula in his reflection, it can be read as the fact that he cannot relate or connect because of the foreignness of the racial other, creating that anonymity and unclassified difference that makes something monstrous.
Both Walkowitz’s Jack the Ripper article and Dracula deal with the fear of the racial other. Walkowiitz explains that Whitechapel became a dreaded place for the “respectable citizens if Whitechapel” in England because of the “Anglo-Irish laboring poor and the immigrant Jewish community” (195). The article even states that because the police were trying to find the Whitechapel murderer, they tried to target men who looked suspicious, but instead reflected their own prejudices and “an epidemic of anti-Semitism existed in the East End” (203). Dracula revealed the English concern of the racial other. When Harker sets out to meet his new client
Dracula, he is placed in a foreign place that he is not familiar with. However, he views everyone else as the foreign people because he cannot completely understand them. The citizens are also very suspicious which is yet another foreign concept he becomes involuntarily enveloped in. In fact, this extreme superstition frightens Harker. The anxiety of the racial other is especially seen through Harker’s experiences in Dracula’s castle. Dracula is the representation of the racial other because he literally looks different from him and is considerably more fluent in German than everyone else. When Harker cannot see Dracula in his reflection, it can be read as the fact that he cannot relate or connect because of the foreignness of the racial other, creating that anonymity and unclassified difference that makes something monstrous.
Abby Cone:
Walkowitz and Stoker both cite ethnicity in a way I found similar. The divisions of the "population of Transylvania" dividing neatly into "four distinct nationalities" reminded me of the way that London is divided into the West End, the East End, and Whitechapel (Stoker, 16). Though the four nationalities of Transylvania are not explicitly stated as better or worse than each other in social standing, there is definitely some knowledge of the social standing of Transylvania in respect to England. Dracula is obsessed with England and dismisses his connection with Transylvania and being English was enough to get Jonathan an explanation when he asked for it while the native Transylvanians and their actions are described as "very ridiculous" and superstitious (59). The different social classes based on ethnic groups in Dracula mirrors that of Victorian London as described by Walkowitz. The West End had the white English men, and Whitechapel on the opposite end had the poor foreigners. The stratification between those two groups and the negative portrayal by the West End press of the poorer sections of London emphasizes, like the English writer of Dracula, the difference and superiority of the white English over foreigners.
Walkowitz and Stoker both cite ethnicity in a way I found similar. The divisions of the "population of Transylvania" dividing neatly into "four distinct nationalities" reminded me of the way that London is divided into the West End, the East End, and Whitechapel (Stoker, 16). Though the four nationalities of Transylvania are not explicitly stated as better or worse than each other in social standing, there is definitely some knowledge of the social standing of Transylvania in respect to England. Dracula is obsessed with England and dismisses his connection with Transylvania and being English was enough to get Jonathan an explanation when he asked for it while the native Transylvanians and their actions are described as "very ridiculous" and superstitious (59). The different social classes based on ethnic groups in Dracula mirrors that of Victorian London as described by Walkowitz. The West End had the white English men, and Whitechapel on the opposite end had the poor foreigners. The stratification between those two groups and the negative portrayal by the West End press of the poorer sections of London emphasizes, like the English writer of Dracula, the difference and superiority of the white English over foreigners.
[Sarah Balun]
The doom of Dracula's deserted mansion makes sense to modern day moviegoers. It is a common horror movie concept that evil lurks where there is no one to find it. And though the area around Dracula's castle is surrounded by wandering peasants, the poor do not seem to have much of a power over Count Dracula anyway. The readers understand from this situation that the narrator is isolated and therefore doomed. Jack the Ripper murders, however, occur in the highly populated area of Whitechapel. Both areas seem destitute, though Jack the Ripper's territory,"an immoral landscape of light and darkness, a nether region of illicit sex and crime, both exciting and dangerous" (Walkowitz 193), is constantly moving and dense with people. Crimes constantly occur while it is unclear whether passerbys are ignoring them or simply not seeing them due to the stealth and deceit of the criminals. The sense of not being safe anywhere, even surrounded by people, lends to the idea of vampires - creatures who can lurk in the shadows and lure their victims in by acting with a pretense of humanity and hiding the brutality within. In an area where crime is always happening, a person's next acquaintance could potentially be his killer.
The doom of Dracula's deserted mansion makes sense to modern day moviegoers. It is a common horror movie concept that evil lurks where there is no one to find it. And though the area around Dracula's castle is surrounded by wandering peasants, the poor do not seem to have much of a power over Count Dracula anyway. The readers understand from this situation that the narrator is isolated and therefore doomed. Jack the Ripper murders, however, occur in the highly populated area of Whitechapel. Both areas seem destitute, though Jack the Ripper's territory,"an immoral landscape of light and darkness, a nether region of illicit sex and crime, both exciting and dangerous" (Walkowitz 193), is constantly moving and dense with people. Crimes constantly occur while it is unclear whether passerbys are ignoring them or simply not seeing them due to the stealth and deceit of the criminals. The sense of not being safe anywhere, even surrounded by people, lends to the idea of vampires - creatures who can lurk in the shadows and lure their victims in by acting with a pretense of humanity and hiding the brutality within. In an area where crime is always happening, a person's next acquaintance could potentially be his killer.
(Leah Smith) One of the most striking aspects of the first chapters of Dracula is the heavy emphasis that Stoker places on the marginal nature of the setting. Stoker takes great pains to construct, through the eyes of Harker, the patent and traditional “Herr Englishman,” (2) the extreme foreignness of the Carpathian region as a reflection of everything that England is not: the trains are not on time; there are no maps connecting the region to the greater empire; there is rampant superstition; the language(s) is foreign. Harker comments again and again on the foreign nature of the food he eats here, and his descriptions of the people focus on their dress and other visual signs that they are not like the people at home. He addresses the general sense of his experience in saying, “The impression I had was that we were leaving the West and entering the East” (1). Thus the East becomes the site of Otherness.
This conscious creation of Otherness separating Harker from his new surroundings is reflective of the separation that occurs within London itself between the West and East ends at the time of the Jack the Ripper murders. The Jack the Ripper chapter of City of Dreadful Delights by Walkowitz specifically references the area of Whitechapel (where the murders take place) as the, “portal to the filth and squalor of the East” (195), which echoes the sense of geographical distinction the Harker perceives in Dracula. Like the Otherness of the locals in Dracula, the “East-Enders” (197) of London represent racial and class otherness and inhabit a sphere in which strange and terrible things, like the gruesome murders of Jack the Ripper, can occur. But, despite their terribleness, the murders (and the horror of Dracula in Transylvania) seem at home in these settings – not acceptable, but not unexpected considering that these regions are so removed from the civility of the normal English cultural space. However, the division of space still breeds fear, the fear of the contamination. In London this fear is manifest in the fact that Whitechapel is so physically near to more respectable neighborhoods, and in Dracula it is represented in Dracula’s plans to buy property and live in London. Despite the construction of marginal spaces as the site of horror, there is always the threat of the marginal returning to the center.
This conscious creation of Otherness separating Harker from his new surroundings is reflective of the separation that occurs within London itself between the West and East ends at the time of the Jack the Ripper murders. The Jack the Ripper chapter of City of Dreadful Delights by Walkowitz specifically references the area of Whitechapel (where the murders take place) as the, “portal to the filth and squalor of the East” (195), which echoes the sense of geographical distinction the Harker perceives in Dracula. Like the Otherness of the locals in Dracula, the “East-Enders” (197) of London represent racial and class otherness and inhabit a sphere in which strange and terrible things, like the gruesome murders of Jack the Ripper, can occur. But, despite their terribleness, the murders (and the horror of Dracula in Transylvania) seem at home in these settings – not acceptable, but not unexpected considering that these regions are so removed from the civility of the normal English cultural space. However, the division of space still breeds fear, the fear of the contamination. In London this fear is manifest in the fact that Whitechapel is so physically near to more respectable neighborhoods, and in Dracula it is represented in Dracula’s plans to buy property and live in London. Despite the construction of marginal spaces as the site of horror, there is always the threat of the marginal returning to the center.