DRACULA: Role Confusion

One of the many staple elements of the Gothic Novel diet is the uncanny issue of distorting the boundaries of roles. In Dracula there are a few sentiments that leave this distinct taste. The three characters that mix up their roles are Jonathan, Mina and Dracula.

From the start, Jonathan has come across as a rather feminine male character. He takes a lot of time to explain his feelings and to talk things through with his diary, which is generally perceived as a feminine activity. He does not spare many thoughts no matter how irrelevent they may seem. Thus his feminine quality of writing out all of his observations and feelings serves as an effective narrator but also reveals his character as one that is more feminine. Jonathan also finds comfort in the prison/castle by staying in a room in which he assumes was occupied by women at one time. Jonathan explains that he would rather disobey the Count in order to sleep in a room where, "old ladies had sat and sung and lived sweet lives whilst their gentle breasts were sad for their menfolk away in the midst of remorseless wars" (Pg. 41). Jonathan would probably have preferred any place of another connotation than a jail, but it is strange that he should find comfort in a woman's room than to continue searching for a manlier resting place. His decision to stay in this room expresses his desire to be like those women and detach themselves from the horrible situation they were really in. Jonathan's excess of feminine qualities blurs the line of defining him as a man and gives off the uncanny feeling of gender crossing.

Ironically, Mina, Jonathan's bride to be, comes across as more masculine when compared to her expected role. This is especially apparent when she is writing to her childhood friend, Lucy. In stark contrast, Mina neglects to use any italicizing, which is foot noted to, "announce that... she is a traditional Victorian Lady" (Pg. 56). Mina also holds a job, where Lucy is free to be pampered and adored. Lucy is the embodiment of the the woman's expected roles at the time and Mina seems to be everything that Lucy is not. In comparison to Lucy, Mina is very masculine.

Dracula also experiences some role reversal. As one of the few occupants of his castle, Dracula must tend to the work that servants would normally take on. The foot notes attempt to explain to us modern folk that, "Dracula [as] his own servant... may have looked evilly unmasculine, and thus inhuman, to some Victorians" (Pg. 32). This may seem noble and self sufficient of Dracula, but it wasn't taken that way when it was written. The point is that being a servant and a master are polar opposites and are uncanny to exist together in one person.

The characters of Jonathan, Mina, and Dracula distort the boundaries of their character roles. They take their given appearances and flip them upside down to be seen as something they are not. To be accepted as one title but to exibit behavior that is socially unexpected is to whip up a recipe for a very uncanny novel.