A paroxysm of abnormal excitement: Dracula and the castrating doctors

Mulvey-Roberts, Marie

Abstract

This paper will consider Dracula as a medical novel with particular reference to the ways in which Stoker made use of surgical details. It will focus upon how the treatment of vampirism may be paralleled with various surgical techniques, particularly those relating to female sexuality. The vampirism of Lucy Westenra has been seen in the novel as a representation of female hysteria. Cures for this malady, included various gynaecological interventions, such as hysterectomy and even cliteridectomy, which also professed to cure nymphomania and masturbation. Reference will be made to Isaac Baker Brown, who favoured cliteridectomy as a cure for self-abuse which he pathologised as life-threatening. Drawing on the work of Diane Mason, links will be made between Lucy’s mysterious aetiology and recidivist onanism. It will be argued that the staking of Lucy Westenra in Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a sublimation of this mutilating surgery as a response to fears of the castrating and masculinised woman. The numerous methods by which women are castrated, including psychically and metaphorically will be investigated. The notion of the therapeutic orgasm will be contrasted with the destruction of female sexuality in the novel as a manifestation of woman as the bearer of a sexual wound. Finally, the notion of death by orgasm will be applied to a reading of the text, which will tie in with Baker Brown’s provocative statement: “She was found dead, and with every evidence of having expired during a paroxysm of abnormal excitement”.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: Bram Stoker Birthday Symposium
• Start Date: Nov 8, 2012
• Deposit Date: Apr 30, 2024
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/11931802