小说《德克拉》试论吸血鬼文化(3)
The new vampire is fantastically seductive and is almost omnipotent in his knowledge and power over humans.
However, he is a tragic hero who's eternal damnation and demise can be hastened by sunlight, and wooden stakes through the heart. He is also vulnerable to the beauty and innocence of attractive mortal women, who he must pursue, corrupt and discard.
Although impressively handsome and lonely, he can no longer experience the love and true companionship of a mortal woman and is surrounded by shallow creatures he has already corrupted and who once corrupted, can no longer be desired or loved.
The new literary vampire is incredibly popular, as the attractive, evil protagonist of the new Victorian Gothic novel. He becomes an enduring symbol of the anti hero.
Some writers have suggested that the Dracula novel represents the underlying sexual repression of Victorian society and the desire for male domination and the subjugation of women.
Clearly the dark lover representing dangerous and forbidden sex would have been a popular character in a society where open sexual expression was forbidden to women. Vampires embodied both forbidden sexuality and escape from death but their wretched form of existence was punishment for their transgression.
1.2 The Influences of Dracula
Abraham Bram Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912) was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula. During his lifetime, he was better known as personal assistant of actor Henry Irving and business manager of the Lyceum Theatre in London, which Irving owned.(Punter, 1980:109)
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