Demonic characters in the Gothic novel and afterwards (part 2)Finally, Stoker also introduces the
reader to an unwelcoming,
gloomy land, the land of Dracula. His
hostile dwelling is best described in Harker’s
journal:“The castle is on the very edge of a terrible precipice. A stone
falling from the window would fall a thousand feet without touching anything!
As far as the eye can reach is a sea of green tree tops, with occasionally a
deep rift where there is a chasm. Here and there are silver threads where the
rivers wind in deep gorges through the forests.
But I am not in heart to describe beauty, for when I had seen the view I
explored further; doors, doors, doors everywhere, and all locked and bolted. In
no place save from the windows in the castle walls is there an available exit.
The castle is a veritable prison, and I am a prisoner!” (Dracula,
chapter 2)
Indeed, Dracula’s castle is bloodcurdling and frightening but days
of his true reigns are over and, now, again he lusts for power and conquest. “I
long . . . to be in the midst of the whirl and rush of humanity, to share its
life, its change, its death, and all that makes it what it is. But alas!” (Dracula) Although, by most of the
readers he is perceived as a satanic figure with pointed ears, fangs, and
flaming eyes, there is more to him than meets the eye. Dracula drinks actual
human blood in order to extend his physical - but quite soulless - life.
Unquestionably, he is practically as old as religion itself, but extremely
lonely in the quest of his life. In this sense Dracula is not only a creature
of fathomless evil, but also somewhat sympathetic human creation who simply
wants to regain the power his family once had. Though his heart is filled at
times by vengeance, at times by lustful desires, there are also moments he
shares human feelings such as solitude. Rare as they may seem, all those
moments influence the
Reader’s perception of the character and, despite the
fact Dracula wants to subject the world to his dark intentions, create certain
amount of sympathy towards him in the reader’s heart.
Interestingly, the Count is not the only demonic
character in this novel as some female demonic characters can also be found. As
a stark opposition to the virginity and domesticity admired by the Victorian
society, The Weird Sisters represent
what the Victorian ideal stipulates women should not be voluptuous and sexually
aggressive and thus dangerous for the picture of woman created by
male-dominated society. “I was afraid to raise my eyelids, but looked out and
saw perfectly under the lashes. The girl went on her knees, and bent over me,
simply gloating. There was a deliberate voluptuousness which was both thrilling
and repulsive, and as she arched her neck, she actually licked her lips like an
animal. . . . Lower and lower went her head as the lips went below the range of
my mouth and chin and seemed about to fasten on my throat. . . . I closed my
eyes in a languorous ecstasy and waited—waited with beating heart. “(Dracula, chapter3)
Dangerous but desired, The
Weird Sisters have control over the male characters in the novel (or maybe even
over the male-readers). Those lustful, unquenchable creatures embody both the dream and the nightmare of the Victorian
(and to some extend modern) male imagination in general. For this reason they
will not be condemned by the reader, as they allow him/her to stand against the
rigid social rules and, as Stoker takes the fantasy of the dangerous seductive
woman to its most extreme manifestation, also the reader can allow the
imagination to flourish.
All in all, each and every demonic character, despite being hideous
by nature and repulsive by the look, still bears some features evoking sympathy
in readers’ heart. Whether it is loneliness, a strive for happiness or the embodiment
of mankind’s wildest dreams, all those features appeal to readers to a great
extent, allowing them totake part in the
protagonist’s/ monster’s everyday life. Only the readers have the
insight to the soul and heart of the monster, so consequently, they are the
only ones able to give an objective judgement over the characters inquisition.
This is also why even if, loathed by co-characters in the novel, the demonic
characters are sympathised with or even loved by the readers.