Strange Victorians Timeline
Created by Ashley Nadeau on Thu, 09/22/2022 - 15:00
Part of Group:
The Victorian period was one of great change for Britain. Comprised of the years of Queen Victoria’s reign (1837-1901), it featured the rapid industrialization and urbanization of Britain, and the radical expansion of the British empire. Although these changes improved the quality of life for some Victorians, many more were forced to work under inhumane conditions, live in unsanitary and insalubrious environments, or suffered the violent oppressions of colonial rule. While we may think of the Victorian period as a distant, different era, this class argues that Victorians faced some of the same issues we deal with today, including systemic racism, sexism and gender-based oppression, opioid addiction, ecological disasters, and public health crises, to name but a few.
“Strange Victorians: Mystery, Madness, and the Monstrous” explores how the boundaries around that which we consider strange, other, and abnormal are established, policed, and sometimes breached. Of course, any examination of the strange also invites us to interrogate what we consider “normal,” particularly in a period during which so many cultural norms were established. In general, through its examination of a series of popular, best-selling novels and a selection of supplemental texts, this course examines historical, philosophical, and cultural trends that shaped the era’s literature and were shaped by it. Moreover, it will consider what parallels and through lines we can draw between the Victorian era and the twenty-first century and contemplate the value of continuing to study Victorian authors and texts today.
Timeline
Chronological table
| Date | Event | Created by | Associated Places | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1829 |
Creation Of The Unified Metropolitan Police Force Grant, Charles Jameson. “Reviewing the blue devils, alias the raw lobsters, alias the bludgeon men”. The Political Drama The Unified Metropolitan Police Force was created in 1829 because of the passing of Sir Robert Peel’s Metropolitan Police Act in 1829. The Metropolitan Police Act established Britain’s first police force as the country was previously lacking protection and crime prevention for citizens. Crime intervention before the police report ranged from “constables and night watchmen” (Lyman, 141), to the call on the military to prevent uprisings and riots. The call for the need of a civil force to prevent crime was a result of the increase of rising in crime and disorder revealing a need of order. Sir Robert Peel in advocation for this bill reported that “crime had increased 55% in London and Middlesex between 1821 and 1828” (Lyman, 151). The bill called for a “gradual police system” (Lyman, 151), that would essentially slowly expand police duties from parish to parish until developed authority is established through the cities. There was push back against the bill within government as concerns around cost and public response was vital. This hesitation was withdrawn as the increase in “demand for protection became widespread as business and industrial interests exerted a pressure which transcended party lines, a pressure which Parliament dared not ignore” (Lyman, 152). This was the tipping point that pressed for the passing of the Metropolitan Police Act. Since the inception of the police force there was a stressed significance on “public service, self-control, and the importance of gaining the public’s trust” (Lyman, 153), the later of the three seemed to be the most challenging. They were often referred to as “raw lobsters” as they had worn blue compared to army red as public discourse noted that they were only “hot water away from being a soldier” (Flanders). This was a taunting toward the police force from the public as the military did not act in an appropriate way when dealing with riots and crime before the development of the department. Interestingly, there was no detective aspect to police work during this time until 1842 when “an embarrassingly long 10 days to find a murderer that it became clear they needed to focus on detection too” (Flanders). This development of the detective section of the police department is what greatly impacted literature culture as there was an increase of fictional detectives and crime novels after the fact. The first time this was presented was through Charles Dickens work of Bleak House, which readers learned what detectives were thinking and discover the murder, it wasn’t the crime that seemed to enthrall the readers but rather the solution of detective work (Flanders). Wilkie Collins was another author who seemed to be inspired by the development of the detective department of the newly found police force. Working-class seemed to be “initially ambivalent” towards this writing of fictional detectives, similarly to their same response towards real police (Flanders). Although as time passed, most seemed to come around to the new fictional genre and became a sensationalized part of literature. The development of the Unified Metropolitan Police Force was not just an aspect of government that affected the real lives of the population but also one that greatly impacted the cultural aspect of this period through its influence into literature. Works Cited:
Flanders, Judith. The Creation of The Police and The Rise of Detective Fiction. Published 15 May 2014. Web Access: https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/the-creation-of-the-police-and-the-rise-of-detective-fiction
Grant, Charles Jameson. “Reviewing the blue devils, alias the raw lobsters, alias the bludgeon men”. The Political Drama. 1834-35. Web Access: https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/reviewing-the-blue-devils-alias-the-raw-lobsters-alias-the-bludgeon-men-from-the-political-drama L. Lyman, The Metropolitan Police Act of 1829, 55 J. Crim. L. Criminology & Police Sci. 141 (1964).
|
Jamie Maass | ||
| 1845 to 1849 |
The Great Famine The Great Famine was a time of turmoil in the United Kingdom that led to millions of deaths. Before examining the implications that arose during the Great Hunger (1845-49) for Britain, it is first important to understand that at this time Ireland was part of the United Kingdom. Like England, the Irish population increased exponentially in the first half of the nineteenth century, reaching a population of nearly nine million people by 1845. With this population growth, class divisions became prominent, unfortunately creating more people in the peasant class. Peasants heavily relied on farming potatoes in Ireland as they were not only plentiful but could also be sold as food to provide income to many families in poverty. Because of this, the peasants were expected to grow the largest crop possible, which began with planting the Aran Banner variety of potato. Unfortunately, this variety was the most susceptible to a fungus that had come from North America called Phytophthora Infestans, more commonly known as Blight. Once this disease hit the farms in Ireland, it advanced throughout the land with lethal quickness. Eventually, the entire year’s crop was lost. This was extremely unexpected for the United Kingdom, which made matters worse as there was no backup solution to feed the inhabitants of Ireland. Following the evaporation of the food supply in Ireland, the three kingdoms underwent extreme distress. By January of 1846, the British Parliament, under the direction of prime minister Sir Robert Peel, purchased one hundred thousand pounds worth of foreign corn in attempt to replace the supply of potatoes with corn. However, this did little to help the Irish population. Moreover, the corn was so hard and had such awful quality that the Irish began calling it “Peel’s brimstone.” To provide employment, the government began road and canal building; however, many workers died by the end of the week before receiving their payments. The loss of crops left many peasants without work. Between 1815-1846, the government placed tariffs on corn, wheat, barley, and all other grains which caused the price of these items to rise significantly. In 1846, these tariffs were finally appealed, but this did little to help the lower-class citizens as they had no money. No matter how cheap the food was, no one could afford it. Irish tradition presented the idea that following a bad year for crops, the next year would be abundant and make up for the loss. This seemed to be true by May and June of 1846, with the farms supplying plentiful amounts of potatoes. “Father Mathew, the famous Temperance reformer, travelling from Cork to Dublin on July 27th, saw the ‘plant blooming in all the luxuriance of an abundant harvest.’ Five days later he travelled back to find ‘one wide waste of putrefying vegetation.’ At the edge of their decaying patches the people sat weeping and wringing their hands” (Victorianweb.org, 1). The struggles of the Irish continued, and by this point the despair became worse than ever following the false sense of hope. Moreover, prime minister Peel was replaced by Lord John Russell who passionately believed in laissez-faire, on this matter Professor Brantlinger writes “If in the crisis of the Famine, laissez-faire economics, combined with Malthusian population theory, helped not at all, evangelical providentialism, especially when spiced by anti-Catholicism, also helped not at all” (Brantlinger, 198). Furthermore, Russell believed that the wealth of Ireland should be responsible for Ireland; therefore, Russell did nothing to assist the Irish in their struggles with the famine. Finally, “In January 1847 Russell's administration modified its non-interventionist policy and made money available on loan for relief, and soup kitchens were established. The potato crop did not fail in 1847, but the yield was low. Then, as hundreds of thousands of starving people poured into the towns and cities for relief, epidemics of typhoid fever, cholera, and dysentery broke out, and claimed more lives than starvation itself” (Bloy, 4). Overall, roughly six and a half million people died due to the Great Famine, and many emigrated to other parts of the world. The Irish Potato Famine caused many changes in the United Kingdom, but the most important correlations between the famine and literature are harder to evaluate. Among these, however, may be the division that was created between the English/Scottish and Irish, and the themes of nationalism that began developing in Ireland following the famine. In fact, Irish nationalists believed, in the nineteenth century, that the lack of help from England was a “a deliberate murder or extermination - what we would now call genocide” (Brantlinger, 194). Moreover, poetry was heavily impacted, and some consider 1845-1850 to be its own period of literature known as “Famine Poetry.” However, the lack of literature from this period may speak louder than any piece of literature can. The famine brought great economic, literary, and political change for the United Kingdom, and changed the course of unity in the U.K. forever. Works Cited Bloy, Marjie. “The Irish Famine: 1845-9.” The Irish Famine, 2022, https://victorianweb.org/history/famine.html. Victorianweb.org. The Potato Famine in Ireland, https://victorianweb.org/history/lucanireland.html. Brantlinger, P. (2004). The Famine. JSTOR. Retrieved November 3, 2022, from https://www.jstor.org/
|
Colby Orton | ||
| 1851 |
Mesmeric Mania of 1851 Emerging in the late 18th century, physician Franz Anton Mesmer established a theory in which he referred it to “animal magnetism.” This newly established theory was Mesmer’s way of explaining different illnesses that involved ‘internal magnetic forces’ within the body. Mesmer’s treatment first began by giving his clients high dosages of iron and curing their bodies by holding magnets over them after the iron had flowed enough through their blood. This theory stemmed from Mesmer’s belief that ‘bad health’ resulted from magnetic forces in the body being misaligned and so, by realigning the forces within the body back through magnetic force, his clients walked away ultimately “feeling better” (PsychCentral). Eventually Mesmer stopped using magnets and began using some massaging methods and moving his hands across the body he was working with freely. He noticed that without the magnets, his clients still walked away feeling cured, and thus his belief that he had some sort of power within him filled his mind (PsychCentral). Quickly, Mesmer grew popular with the public in Europe, specifically Paris, but the medical world denounced him and his treatment as merely a nonsense of magic spectacle, talking about how Mesmer’s clients were only healed only because they were willing to be healed. Mesmer later died in 1815, but “Mesmerism,” rightfully named after him, became more popular in European countries and even the Americas, especially in relation to ideas of the supernatural and other mystical ideals that are shown in Victorian literature such as Jane Eyre, The Woman in White and Dracula. By the year 1851, physicians understood even more about the body and the nervous system. In a lecture by John Hughes Bennet in the year of Mesmeric Mania in 1851, he explains about the nervous system behind the eyes, and the “white and gray matter” that attaches itself around the nervous ‘cords’ as they stretched across the body from the brain to the spinal cord. “The spinal cord, both in its cranial and vertebral portions, furnishes the conditions necessary for combined movements; and the nervous power necessary for this [movement] … depend[s] upon the gray matter whilst the white matter of the cord acts as a conductor” (7). With this knowledge, Bennett continues to explain that sensation is “the consciousness of an impression” (8), such as cold feet in water, or an injury to the skin, and thus anyone can be influenced upon when the nervous system is alerted. What baffles Bennett is his own observations of Mesmerism. He takes note in the Preface of his article that there are those “Sensitive ladies who do not object to indulge in the emotions of [mesmerism],” in 1851, but that there are also those, gentlemen and students of Universities who choose to be mesmerized to be “entertainment for the public.” He writes about how he has seen individuals fall into the “peculiar condition” (11) of mesmerize after looking at an object for several minutes straight, only to watch their motion, memory, acts be performed seemingly against their will. Bennett’s bafflement comes from his observation of watching people choose to be put under the influence of someone else through Mesmerism. In the end, Bennett, as well as other doctors, merely saw the Mesmeric Mania of 1851 as mere entertainment for those who were willing to watch/take part in it. The mesmerist didn’t have any special powers at all, but rather the individual chose to “[put] themselves into a nervous condition in which their minds are temporarily influenced by suggestive ideas…[under] the delusion of being governed by a magnetic, or other external influence” (20). Because, as Bennett specifies in the conclusion of his study of the nervous system, “The brain and spinal cord acting together furnish the condition necessary for voluntary motion and sensation” (emphasis added) (9). As a reflection of our reading, Count Fosco is in question of whether or not he is in control as a mesmerist over his wife, Eleanor. In the eyes of her nieces, she has changed dramatically, and acts as a spy for her husbands that gives orders to her y glancing at her, or talking in private. While she very well could be mesmerized by Count Fosco, Bennett would argue that it is because she is voluntarily doing so, in what I would argue as willing to do anything for her husband to so they can gain the family inheritance, that Laura holds, but Eleanor will receive if Laura does not have children. By willingly being under his “influence,” as Bennett describes, Eleanor simply just has to do as she is told and take the role as a spy for her husband so they can achieve what they - both - want in obtaining money from the family after Eleanor was removed from the family will. Works Cited: Bennett, John Hughes, -,University of Glasgow. Library. The Mesmeric Mania of 1851, With a Physiological Explanation of the Phenomena Produced : A Lecture 1851 [Leather Bound]. Generic, 2022. Tartakovsky, Margarita M. “Psychology’s History of Being Mesmerized.” Psych Central, 9 May 2011, psychcentral.com/blog/psychologys-history-of-being-mesmerized#1. |
Jaycee Ehlers | ||
| 1 May 1851 to 15 Oct 1851 |
The Great Exhibition of 1851 The Great Exhibition of 1851 Overview The Great Exhibition of 1851 took place in Hyde Park, London with the purpose of showcasing Britain’s conglomerate wealth and industry, both local and foreign. Royally commissioned and headed by Prince Albert, the Exhibition spanned miles, much of which was contained in the Crystal Palace, a magnificent glass construction that housed wonders from around the world––lace, furniture, diamonds, advanced agricultural machinery (Talbot), and much more were all located in one building (The Crystal Palace vii-viii). Much of the Great Exhibition’s presentation was designed to emphasize English colonial power to its many foreign visitors. Among other noteworthy authors, Charlotte Brontë visited and marveled at the Palace; in a letter to her father, she described the Exhibition, explaining, “Its grandeur does not consist in one thing but in the unique assemblage of all things… It seems as if magic only could have gathered this mass of wealth from all the ends of the Earth” (qtd. in Smith 190). Media promptly responded to the Exhibition, and ranged from the humorous to the reprehensible. Comics depicting fights between women wanting to remain in the Palace and policemen shutting it down (“The Battle of the Crystal Palace”) or America’s less-than-impressive showings were widely circulated (“The Great Exhibition”), but offensive portrayals of Turkish, Chinese, and Indian visitors with their own exhibits (“Wot is to Be”), and lengthy, racist satirical poetry detailing the displeasure of the Chinese emperor upon arriving at the Exhibition (Sutherland 2-32) also gained popularity. Following the Exhibition’s close in October of that same year, its profits were used to build other exhibitions and educational institutions (“History Plaque”). Reflection The Great Exhibition was heralded by a poem by William Thackeray, “May-Day Ode,” published in The Times on April 30, 1851, the day before the Exhibition opened (Smith 189). Like Charlotte Brontë, Thackeray described the Exhibition as magical: “As though ‘twere by a wizard’s rod/ A blazing arch of lucid glass/ Leaps like a fountain from the grass” (lines 5-7); however, the poem ends by rejoicing in God’s “peaceful sunlight” (line 151), combining both the religious and mystical in its representation of the Palace. The poem stands to show that along with architectural, industrial, and colonial feats, Britain also wished to display its literary prowess. The Exhibition further affected the literary world for its role in The Woman in White, where Walter Hartright describes that because the Exhibition had drawn such large foreign audiences, “Men were among us by hundreds whom the ceaseless distrustfulness of their governments had followed privately, by means of appointed agents, to our shores” (Collins 507); the Exhibition, in short, allowed a cover for Count Fosco’s evil presence in England. Collins’ usage of the Exhibition as a means toward unwanted infiltration adds another perspective to the event, painting it less as a wondrous spectacle and more as a dangerous opportunity, as if England had risked something by keeping its enemies too close. Rather than viewing the Crystal Palace with awe, The Woman in White admonishes its ostentation; perhaps England should have been more careful about who and what it let inside. Works Cited “The Battle of the Crystal Palace.” Wikimedia Commons, 18 Aug. 2015, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Battle_of_the_Crystal_Palace.... Accessed 1 Oct. 2022. Brontë Charlotte. Selected Letters of Charlotte brontë. Edited by Margaret M. Smith, Oxford University Press, 2010. Collins, Wilkie. The Woman in White (Bantam Classic). Bantam Bell, 2008. Currier, Nathaniel. “The Great Exhibition of 1851 American Department.” Commons.wikimedia.org, 16 Nov. 2018, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_great_exhibition_of_1851_Ame.... Accessed 28 Sept. 2022. Dickinson Brothers. “Crystal Palace from the Northeast from Dickinson's Comprehensive Pictures of the Great Exhibition of 1851.” Wikimedia Commons, 13 Mar. 2016, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Crystal_Palace_from_the_northeas.... Accessed 26 Sept. 2022. Edwards, H. Sutherland. An Authentic Account of the Chinese Commission: Which Was Sent to Report on the Great Exhibition: Wherein the Opinion of China Is Shown as Not Corresponding at All with Our Own. Printed at 15 and 16, Gough Square, by H. Vizetelly, and Sold by Him There ..., 1851. Sala, George Augustus. “The Great Exhibition ‘Wot Is to Be’, Probable Results of The Industry of All Nations in The Year '51, Showing What Is to Be Exhibited, Who Is To Exhibit, in Short How Its All Going to Be Done.” Jstor, https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.18631280?searchText=creator%3A%22.... Accessed 13 Oct. 2022. Shadowssettle. “History Plaque for the Great Exhibition, Wells Way.” Wikimedia Commons, 11 Apr. 2020, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:History_Plaque_for_the_Great_Exh.... Accessed 29 Sept. 2022. Talbot, Wiliam Henry Fox. “Great Exhibition, Agricutlural Implements, HF Talbot, 1851.” Wikimedia Commons, 3 Aug. 2013, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Great_Exhibition,_Agricutlural_I.... Accessed Oct. 2022. Thackeray, William Makepeace. “May-Day Ode.” Ballads, by William Makepeace Thackeray, Ticknor and Company, London, Bradbury, 1862, pp. 62–68. Unknown Author. The Crystal Palace, and Its Contents: Being an Illustrated Cyclopaedia of the Great Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations, 1851: Embellished with Upwards of Five Hundred Engravings, with a Copious Analytical Index. W.M. Clark, 1851. |
Norah Milner | ||
| 1857 |
Muscular Christianity & "Tom Brown's School Days" "Muscular Christianity" is a term first used by T.C. Sanders whose work focuses on the intersection of Christianity and masculinity (namely manliness). Donald E. Hall summarizes Sanders's use of the term by defining muscular Christianity as "an association between physical strength, religious certainty, and the ability to control the world around oneself" (7). While the term “muscular Christianity” is more popular, the phrase “Christian manliness” was also popular during the Victorian era. The two phrases differ as many people thought the term “manliness” had a stronger association with physical and moral strength; however, “masculinity” ultimately became more popularized (Hall 9). Hall explains the Victorian men as profoundly insecure and afraid of the changing world. More specifically, muscular Christianity came as a reaction to the scientific, technological, and industrial advancements (8-9). In an effort to gain control, Victorian Christian men sought to achieve ultimate self control through toning the physicality of their bodies. The idea of muscular Christianity was encouraged most significantly in Thomas Hughes’s Tom Brown’s School Days, a novel published in 1857 and about a young boy, Tom, who goes to Rugby School. Andrew Richard Meyer explains the tenets of muscular Christianity expressed in Tom Brown’s School Days as “1) a man’s body is given to him (by god); 2) to be trained; 3) and brought into subjection; 4) and then used for the protection of the weak; 5) for the advancement of all righteous causes; 6) and for the subduing of the earth which God has given to the children of men” (12). These six pillars of muscular Christianity point to the desire for control Victorian men experience as a result of the changes and advancements of the continually modernized world. Tenets five and six especially highlight the desire for control as they express desire beyond self-control. By encouraging the body to be used to advance Christian causes and subdue the earth, muscular Christianity extends beyond the individual life of those who practice it because it encourages and inspires the muscular Christian to control their surroundings. This control not only comforts the Christian who is afraid of change, but also reassures them of their righteousness in doing so. The image included in this post is an illustration from the French edition of Tom Brown’s School Days. It depicts the strength and violence associated with and encouraged by muscular Christianity. Muscular Christianity can be found in Jane Eyre through the character Mr. Brocklehurst. Lowood teaches its students Christian ideals, but the connection to muscular Christianity resides in Mr. Brocklehurst’s violence. Mr. Brocklehurst’s hypocrisy also mirrors muscular Christianity as the focus and goal of this type of Christianity does not line up with the kindness and love encouraged in Christian doctrine. Like Mr. Brocklehurst, the muscular Christian seeks to control those around him (and I specifically choose the pronoun “him” because muscular Christianity was partially inspired to be a push back against women’s liberation) in violent ways which reassure his physical strength and dominance (Hall 48). Thus, muscular Christianity was less about spreading the word of God and more about using the word of God to validate the drastic measures taken to obtain power and control. This validation is found, as mentioned above, because the control is used to further God’s work through “the advancement of all righteous causes” (Meyer 12). Ultimately, muscular Christianity gave Victorian men, insecure because the world was changing faster than they could, the reassurance that they are in control of something and that that control is given to them by God to do God’s will. Meyer, Andrew. “Contemporary American sport, muscular Christianity, Lance Armstrong, and religious experience.” 2006. Hall, Donald E. Muscular Christianity: Embodying the Victorian Age. Cambridge University Press, 2006. |
Miranda Noble | ||
| 24 Nov 1859 |
Social Darwinism On November 24, 1859, Charles Darwin published his controversial book “On the Origin of Species.” This book detailed his scientific discoveries on the theory of evolution. It postulates that creatures evolve over generations through the process of natural selection. Darwin wrote the book in a generalized form which attracted a widespread audience. His ideas invited scientific, religious, and philosophical discussion. One major claim from the work is that species come from a common descent, including humans. The idea of humans as creatures subject to evolution combined with the idea of natural selection led to what came to be called social Darwinism which was an idea developed by Herbert Spencer to extend the ideas of Darwin into the economic and ethical spheres. Spencer wrote, "Society advances where its fittest members are allowed to assert their fitness with the least hindrance" (qtd. in Ali). What he is arguing for is a laissez faire economic system which is a “policy of minimum governmental interference in the economic affairs of individuals and society” (Encyclopedia Britannica). Spencer coined the term survival of the fittest, which he derived from the idea of natural selection. Basically that the strong survive and the weak die. He extended this idea over society and argued that “the population of unfit people would slowly decline and would be died out because of their failure to compete” (Ali). These ideas were used to describe people as developmentally better or worse dependent upon classification of race, nationality, sex, class, etc. It supported ideas like eugenics and imperialism, which weren’t widely criticized until after the atrocities of two world wars in which they were taken to their extreme. The effects of these ideas can be seen throughout the Victorian Era which is reflected in the literature, such as in the case of “The Woman in White” when Count Fosco is describing the way which he views how the world works, “When the criminal is a brutal, ignorant fool, the police in nine cases out of ten win. When the criminal is a resolute, educated, highly-intelligent man, the police in nine cases out of ten lose” (Collins ch. 3). Count Fosco is using intelligence as a way of justifying crime. If you are clever enough to get away with the crime then you are somehow above the law. The morality observed here is that the strong conqueror over the weak which is reflective of how survival of the fittest functions within society through the lens of social Darwinism. The association with social Darwinism can also be seen in the character of Laura Fairlie, and specifically her comparison with Anne Catherick. In basically every instance the two characters are mirrors of each other except for one thing; their social standing. While Laura is seen as desirable and attractive, Anne is thrown into an asylum. Therefore, it must be concluded that the reason for Laura’s desirability is because of her status and nothing else. The men’s possession of her throughout the novel is reflective of possession of economic status, and they are in competition with each other over that economic status. Works Cited Ali, Sramad. “VIEW: Social Darwinism and American Laissez-Faire Capitalism.” Daily Times (Lahore, Pakistan), 9 Oct. 2013. EBSCOhost, discovery.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=deee4e3f-c013-3bb0-bd87-31a5886ca484. “Laissez-faire.” https://www.britannica.com/, 22 Sept. 2022, www.britannica.com/topic/laissez-faire. Collins, Wilkie. The Woman in White. Project Gutenburg, 1996, www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/583. |
Chase Martin | ||
| 24 Nov 1859 |
On The Origins of Species Cartoon Depicting Charles Darwin as an Ape The echo of Charles Darwin’s impact on the world is one we still feel today. On November 24th, 1859, Darwin published On the Origin of Species, his documentation of the budding scientific theory of evolution and life’s wide diversity. On the Origin of Species paved the way for scientific breakthroughs and changed Victorians’ views on religion, science, and society. While the theory of evolution is often attributed singularly to Darwin, these new ideas were not necessarily new in his own lifetime. One of the earliest proponents of evolution was the French naturalist, Jean Baptiste de Lamarck, who “argued that modern animals, including humans, had descended from other species” (Gramlich). Darwin’s own grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, was also a natural philosopher and early proponent of the possibility of transmutation. More importantly, in 1844, Scottish author Robert Chambers (anonymously) published, Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation, which explored transmutation and the (now understood pseudoscience) phrenology. Immediately, Vestiges became a best-seller and extremely controversial. While the novel’s scientific claims do not hold much water today, Darwin himself attributed the novel’s success to preparing English society to accept his own evolutionary theory decades later. Darwin’s own theories on transmutation and evolution began taking root on a voyage across the globe on a ship called the Beagle. During this voyage, Darwin observed and documented many species and anomalies from rodents in South America to fossils in Africa. He also read Sir Charles Lyell’s “The Principles of Geology” and discovered “the earth’s vast age and how it changed over time” (Gramlich). With this in mind, he became most fascinated by the species of finches on the Galapagos islands and they became the primary focus of his book, On the Origin of Species. There were fourteen different species of Finch on the Galapagos islands and Darwin described how their bills were adapted for the different diets presented on the island. Darwin noted these differences and proposed that all species must have undergone similar transmutations across generations to better survive their individual environments. What distinguished Darwin’s evolutionary theory from those that preceded him, though, was the fact that he rejected the teleological view of evolution in favor of what he called “natural selection”. Before, scientists attributed any transmutation that occurred in a species was in pursuit of perfection in what was deemed the “Great Chain of Being”. Many also believed that human beings sat separately from other species, according to the Bible’s Genesis. However, Darwin rejected this view and saw no final or perfect destination for evolution. He viewed life as a constant struggle to survive and whoever could reproduce successfully was deemed the “fittest”. This was controversial, because many believed that Darwin’s theory of human evolution was “blasphemous and morally degrading because it contradicted the biblical narrative” (Jonsson 62). Darwin’s theory of evolution shook Victorian society like an earthquake, his work’s influence far outreaching the span of the scientific and religious communities alone. Immediately following the publication of On the Origin of Species, Darwin’s theories began influencing society and art as well. For example, in 1966, Elizabeth Gaskell designed her character, Roger Hamley, after Darwin in her last (and unfinished) novel, Daughters and Wives, while Thomas Hardy’s novels, Tes of the d’Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure, were set in Darwinian-inspired worlds where the characters had to survive changing social environments. Even today, Darwin’s theory on evolution and natural selection continues to influence society as we examine and question our own prevailing ideas on religion, god, society, and science. Works Cited Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution and the Intellectual Ferment of the Mid- and Late Victorian Periods, https://www.victorianweb.org/science/darwin/diniejko.html. Darwin and Evolution, https://victorianweb.org/science/darwin/darwin5.html. Erasmus Darwin, https://www.victorianweb.org/science/edarwin.html. Gramlich, Charles A. “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin.” Salem Press Encyclopedia of Literature, June 2019. Jean Baptiste De Lamarck on Evolution, https://www.victorianweb.org/science/lamarck/2.html. Jonsson, Emelie. “T. H. Huxley, Arthur Conan Doyle, and the Impact of Evolution on the Human Self-Narrative.” Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture, vol. 2, no. 1, 2018, p. 59. Robert Chambers (1802-71), https://www.victorianweb.org/science/chambers.html. |
Chelsea Smith | ||
| 9 Aug 1870 |
Married Women's Property Act of 1870 The Married Women's Property Act of 1870 introduced great changes in the law of England. What this did was allow married women to hold property and liabilities independently without their husbands. It is important to note that this was only relevant to women married after 1870. The existence of a woman was essentially suspended when not with a man. This act made it possible for a woman to exist and have more power over herself. Among some scholars, there are conflicting opinions as to whether this act benefitted women, or left them exactly where they were before. This event occurred after the Matrimonial Causes Act, when citizens became able to divorce, although men only had to prove adultery, and women had to prove adultery, violence, and a lot of other factors to be granted the divorce. Current Views: Married Women's Property Act of 1870 Some of the most current views on this act are conflicting yet interesting to readers. Susan Moller Okin, an 18th-century studies scholar, argued that the family type in the earlier 18th century was founded entirely on economic considerations. It was said that these relationships were not formed out of love, commitment, intimacy, etc. It is argued that when women became more independent with their money it was a step toward equality which increased the prevalence of a nuclear family. Where husband and wife were more in love rather than there for economic gain (Okin 121). A conflicting view on this issue was raised by Lawrence Stone. Stone argued that these changes weakened the husband's patriarchal powers within the family. He also argued that after the married women property act, there was growing egalitarianism within the marriages of these people. Okin argues in many ways how that could not be true. Okin disagrees with these findings first because of the timing. Stone had mentioned the "wife's separate estate" equity law and attempted to argue that, that was the first step to an egalitarian marriage, so it would be safe to argue that the married women's property act was not a result of this and was put into place because of the way that women were not allowed to control their wealth and property. Economic Impact of the Married Women's Property Act In a journal article called, "A Measure of Legal Independence": The 1870 Married Women's Property Act and the Portfolio Allocations of British Wives" by Mary Beth Combs, we are shown the economic impacts of the women's property act in England. Combs posits, "They find that whereas married women increased their property holdings after the law was passed, single and widowed women benefitted most from the legislative change" (1030). It was also found that more change in the wealth of a female occurred as a result of the legislation (Combs 1030). Saying this, it is noteworthy that this law produced a suboptimal outcome because it constrained different forms in which women could own and control their own wealth. In other words, was it really a step in the right direction if there are limitations on how a woman controls her wealth? Course Themes and Women's Property Act In this course so far we have read Jane Eyre and we are reading The Woman in White. Jane Eyre was such an influential book in this time because it took place in the 19th century when women began to take a more dominant role within literature. Jane was a very powerful and dominant figure who spoke against people and stood for the truth which was very influential at this time in the 19th century because women had not been able to do that. Jane is constantly restricting herself, but it is in those moments that she shows the most passion. Jane Eyre was first published in 1847, so we know that the women's property act has not been placed yet. Which can lead us to draw an even stronger conclusion about the power of Jane and her ability to be her own woman, even when the odds are highly stacked against women in this period of time. I think that it is important to remember Jane Eyre, and how she refuses to marry St. John. She even says in the novel that he is killing her. In this time period. Marrying a man was just as if you were dying. Giving up your life, and personal liabilities to them leaves you with nothing. Which is as good as being dead. I believe that Charolette Bronte was making a point that if Jane married St. John, her life would essentially be over. References Combs, Mary Beth. “‘A Measure of Legal Independence’: The 1870 Married Women’s Property Act and the Portfolio Allocations of British Wives.” The Journal of Economic History, vol. 65, no. 4, 2005, pp. 1028–57. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3874913. Accessed 6 Oct. 2022.
Okin, Susan Moller. “Patriarchy and Married Women’s Property in England: Questions on Some Current Views.” Eighteenth-Century Studies, vol. 17, no. 2, 1983, pp. 121–38. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2738280. Accessed 6 Oct. 2022. |
Kennedy Warnick | ||
| Mar 1882 to May 1897 |
Understanding Tuberculosis 1880-1897 Bascillus Tuberculosis Culture; Koch's Method The later part of the Victorian era brought significant change in the way that the Victorians understood tuberculosis and how it spread. Tuberculosis was deadly, yet many lived for years with the disease impacting their everyday life. It was popular in literature due to the slow nature of the disease; characters could waste away with it while still being a part of the narrative. Susan Sontag described the mythology of the disease, saying that “…there is generally some passionate feeling which provokes, which expresses itself, in a bout of TB” (22). In March 1882, Robert Koch announced that his discovery of the bacteria that causes tuberculosis. This discovery began to change the way that the Victorians thought about the disease and how it functioned in society. Prior to this, the popularly held belief was that tuberculosis was hereditary and was transmitted from parent to child. This belief was used to uphold eugenic propaganda of the time (Tankard 23). In 1883, an article from The British Medical Journal acknowledged the potential for tuberculosis to spread between people, but described the communicability as the exception to the rule of heritability (984). Though they did not currently hold the belief that tuberculosis was being spread amongst populations, the inclusion of the idea that it could be communicable was a start. That same year, a newspaper featured a letter to the editor that said there was not yet proof of tuberculosis being contagious (Bell 7). In one edition of The Liverpool Mercury, the communicability of the disease was questioned, as a writer argued that it is bad logic and bad science to assume that the disease is communicable because the majority of deaths resulted in cases where the heritability was traceable (3). At this point, there were still major divisions about the transmissibility of the disease but perspectives were beginning to shift. An 1888 description on the congress of hygiene stated that “The evidence lately obtained, a definite microbe always co-exists with it, tends to support a belief long held by many persons, that the malady is capable of being communicated from the diseased to the healthy” (The Times 9). This shift indicates the popularity of the concept of the communicability of the disease. Two years later, in 1890, Koch announced that he had found a cure for tuberculosis. His tuberculin was said to be able to treat those infected, however, neither Koch nor other researchers fully understood tuberculin and how it worked. Though his supposed cure did not actually work, it brought a new attitude toward the research of tuberculosis. In 1897, while discussing the progress made in medicine during the Victorian era, tuberculosis was listed as one of the illnesses that was being worked toward as researchers looked for was to provide immunity against it. Though tuberculosis is the focus of this research, a deeper understanding of the ways in which Victorian understanding of illness could change is useful in contextualizing some of the illness we see in the literature from the time. In Jane Eyre, Helen’s death from tuberculosis rather than typhus makes her death separate and more significant than the deaths of the other students. Her suffering is romanticized and her death is a more spiritual one due to her pious nature that is seen as she shows patience and faith. Though in The Woman in White, Marian does not have tuberculosis, it is still worth examining the way that the doctors treat her and the way the people view her illness, and what it means for Marian’s character once she is well again. Additionally, the advancements in science and medicine that can be seen by a study of the research on tuberculosis can show how early understandings of the disease led to much of the literature that features it. The bacterial origins were not clear and the notion of heritability combined with the romanticized suffering of the consumptive made for a disease that was used as a storytelling device for characters whose suffering could be read as a lesson of some sort.
Works Cited Anderson, Garrett. “An Address On The Progress Of Medicine In The Victorian Era.” The British Medical Journal, vol. 1, no. 1900, May 1897, pp. 1338–39. EBSCOhost, discovery.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=f597ba2f-b3eb-31d4-b472-28d5cc3c5128. Bell, Ernest. Letter. The Guardian [London, England]. 21 Feb. 1883, p. 7. "Dr. Koch On Tuberculosis." The Times [London, England], 15 Nov. 1890, p. 15-16. Gradmann, C. “Robert Koch and the Pressures of Scientific Research: Tuberculosis and Tuberculin.” Medical History, vol. 45, no. 1, Jan. 2001, pp. 1–32. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1017/s0025727300000028. “‘Is Consumption Hereditary?” The Liverpool Mercury. 11 May, 1886, p. 3. “Latest Intelligence.” The Times [London, England], 10 Aug. 1889, p. 9. Sontag, Susan. Illness as Metaphor; and, AIDS and Its Metaphors. Picador, 2001. Tankard, Alex. “The Victorian Consumptive in Disability Studies.” Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies, vol. 5, no. 1, Jan. 2011, p. 17. EBSCOhost, discovery.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=a9703e9d-f6bc-30a7-ba24-b810aefbea52. “The Communicability Of Phthisis.” The British Medical Journal, vol. 2, no. 1194, Nov. 1883, pp. 983–84. EBSCOhost, discovery.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=b85bcb6d-b134-31aa-bafb-d1a0f8ce8dff.
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Alanna Camargo | ||
| 1883 |
Burton's Kama Sutra The title page of Burton's The Kama Sutra The Kama Sutra was first translated into English by Foster Fitzgerald Arbuthnot and explorer Richard Francis Burton in 1883. Under the guise of a sham literary society—The Kama Shastra Society of London and Benares—the two were able to ‘privately’ distribute the work of Indian erotica while also avoiding penalty from the Obscene Publications Act of 1857 (Grant 509). For modern readers, the introduction of The Kama Sutra into Victorian society was a double-edged sword. While the work of Arbuthnot and Burton was extremely radical and progressive for its time, many parts of their translation also reflect the backwardness of Victorian gender/sexuality ideals and seeing the ‘Orient’ as an anthropologic other. The translation was presented with many authoritative commentaries from Arbuthnot and Burton to establish the need to study the ‘science’ of sex. The ‘Introduction,’ ‘Preface,’ and ‘Concluding Remarks’ by the translators present sterile for the prospective reader. Arbuthnot and Burton being in the upper echelon of Victorian society meant that The Kama Sutra’s readers would have been primarily wealthy men (510). What springs from this select audience is the fetishization of Indian harems. An advertised extract of the English translation presents a titillating description of Indian homes with private chambers filled with women. Although The Kama Sutra occasionally does use the word ‘harem,’ it would not have been around during the original authorship—much of the fascination with harems correlates to it being a space in which European men could not enter (511-512). In this way, harems operate voyeuristically rather than realistically in Arbuthnot and Burton’s translation. Another way in which Arbuthnot and Burton grafted Western sexuality onto Eastern was using the Hindu terms for vagina and penis, yoni, and lingam—which do not appear in the text. Instead, Vatsyayana—the original author of The Kama Sutra—wrote in gender-neutral terms (jaghana) when referring to genitals (Doniger 35). This further anthropologized sex as something that occurs outside of Britain and distanced the reader from the ‘science.’ Other instances of Arbuthnot and Burton changing meaning through translation are taking away a woman’s right to reprove her husband for infidelity or adding exclusively male-gendered pronouns when talking about pleasure (33-35). One can see English gentlemen’s anthropological fascination with eastern erotica in the character of Mr. Rochester. Upon returning from wedding shopping with Jane, Mr. Rochester remarks that he would not trade Jane for all the “Grand Turk's whole seraglio, gazelle-eyes, houri forms.” Here one sees Mr. Rochester’s voyeuristic excitement about the living space of women in Aisa. The word seraglio denotes a private apartment or living space for women in the middle east and was a term heavily associated with harems (“Seraglio”). He also uses the word ‘houri’—which refers to an attractive Muslim woman with lustful desires (“Houri”). Even though Mr. Rochester is utilizing words that deal specifically with Arab culture, the larger connotation is that someone of his rank and power would have seen Asia as an erotic other. What comes across from this reference is not that Mr. Rochester is learned in Asian treatises on marriage and gender equality but takes part in the deliberate fetishization of ‘oriental’ sexuality.
Works Cited Doniger, Wendy. “The ‘Kamasutra’: It Isn’t All about Sex.” The Kenyon Review, vol. 25, no. 1, 2003, pp. 18–37. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4338414. Accessed 4 Oct. 2022. Grant, Ben. “Translating/’The’ ‘Kama Sutra.’” Third World Quarterly, vol. 26, no. 3, 2005, pp. 509–16. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3993841. Accessed 4 Oct. 2022. "Houri" OED Online, Oxford University Press, September 2022, www.oed.com/view/Entry/88879. Accessed 4 October 2022. "Seraglio" OED Online, Oxford University Press, September 2022, www.oed.com/view/Entry/176331. Accessed 4 October 2022. |
Tristan Gaebler | ||
| 31 Aug 1888 to 9 Nov 1888 |
Jack the Ripper The Illustrated Police News September 8, 1888 ** Content Warning: Descriptions of violence / gore ** Jack the Ripper is infamous to this day for the brutal serial murders of women in the East End of London. From April 1888 to February 1891, eleven women were killed in the Whitechapel area of London. Of these eleven women in the Whitechapel murders file, five are known as the canonical victims of Jack the Ripper. Their names were (in order of death): Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly. These five murders took place in the Whitechapel district in London, then known for its high crime rates and impoverished inhabitants. It was frequented with violence and was popular housing for criminals and prostitutes (Jones, Ryder). The Ripper murders held similarities in the victims’ profiles and the ways in which they were killed. Each victim was impoverished, had work in prostitution, and lived in the Whitechapel area. The killer also attacked the women similarly: their necks and abdomens were mutilated, and they were usually disemboweled. Organs were often found missing or displaced from the body. Some newspapers refused to publish the detailed descriptions of the mutilated bodies because of how intense the scenes were. The murders quickly became an international phenomenon. Newspapers also questioned the police’s competence and the safety of the Whitechapel district. Although the murderer was never identified, the police force in that time had the disadvantage of not using detective skills found in modern society, and they had an undermanned force (Jones, Ryder). One central theme in the texts we’ve been reading has been how people of low classes are neglected and ignored by those in power. Novelist Arthur Morrison described Whitechapel district as a place “whose trade is robbery, and whose recreation is murder . . . [where] fathers, mothers, and children watch each other starve” (qtd. in Ginn). James Grant described the slum conditions of East End “as if the wretched creatures were living in the very centre of Africa” (qtd. in Dyos). Based on these descriptions of the locale from people living in the late 1800s, the East End of London was certainly filled with people of the lowest classes in society; it was filled with people who were suffering from hunger, crime, unemployment, and an apathetic government. The destitute situation in Whitechapel and the surrounding areas did not enter the larger public mind until the Ripper murders began—when the cases were publicized around the country and world. As mentioned previously, each of the Ripper victims had work in prostitution, engaging in criminal activity in order to support themselves. Megha Anwer notes, “The bulk of the Ripper photographs resemble criminal mug shots. . . . The effect can imply that crime is somehow resting immanently within the physiological contours of the victim herself, as if there were something in her appearance that led to her victimization. The prostitute thus becomes less the crime’s victim and more its provocation.” This observation indicates that the victims were being framed as though the attacks on them were to be expected because of their employment and history. Considering both the public opinion of prostitution and of the slums of Whitechapel, one safe assumption about the time is that people cared more about the public appearance of having a slum rather than the people living within them. Although there were certainly individuals concerned about people’s lives, the government may have not taken any action to prevent further events like this from happening if the murders were not reported so widely. I find it unlikely that the government was unaware of significant criminal activity within the capital city of the country. This idea also connects to another theme in the books we’ve been reading: the power of the rich to do as they please.
Bibliography: Anwer, Megha. “Murder in Black and White: Victorian Crime Scenes and the Ripper Photographs.” Victorian Studies, vol. 56, no. 3, Apr. 2014, pp. 433–41. EBSCOhost, doi-org.ezproxy.uvu.edu/10.2979/victorianstudies.56.3.433. Dyos, H. J. “The Slums of Victorian London.” Victorian Studies, vol. 11, no. 1, Sept. 1967, pp. 5–40. Ginn, Geoff. “Answering the ‘Bitter Cry’: Urban Description and Social Reform in the Late-Victorian East End.” London Journal, vol. 31, no. 2, Nov. 2006, pp. 179–200. EBSCOhost, doi.org/10.1179/174963206X113160. Jones, Richard. Jack the Ripper 1888, 5 May 2006, www.jack-the-ripper.org/. Accessed 08 Oct. 2022. Ryder, Stephen P. and Johnno. Casebook: Jack the Ripper. 1996, www.casebook.org/index.html. Accessed 08 Oct. 2022. |
Jessica Craig | ||
| Feb 1895 to May 1895 |
Oscar Wilde's Trial(s) Oscar Wilde was involved in two significant trials during his lifetime. The first was initiated by himself: a libel trial against the Marquess of Queensbury, who sent him a public calling card that labeled him a “posing somdomite [sic]”. The Marquess was the father of Wilde’s lover, Lord Alfred Douglas. While this initial trial was not directly charging Wilde of indecency, it was related to the rumors that circulated surrounding his sexuality. Notably, he was questioned on his writing in The Picture of Dorian Gray, which had already been criticized in multiple sources “for its presumed intimations of homosexual criminality” (Bristow 43). Wilde was known for his wit in conversation as well as on the stand, and a failed attempt at a quick response likely aided in the result that the Marquess was deemed not guilty of libel, due to the court ruling that his accusations of sodomy were accurate (Bristow 44). The legal fees from this trial left Wilde bankrupt. After the accusations of sodomy were ruled to be accurate, Wilde was arrested; though not on charges of sodomy itself. He was instead charged with “gross indecency,” which was classified as a misdemeanor rather than a felony. The maximum sentence for a misdemeanor was two years. While the phrase of “gross indecency” itself had historically been somewhat vague, it was amended in the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885, making the charge “specifically about sex between men” (Elfenbein). Additionally, the misdemeanor charge required no proof of penetration, while a felony charge did. He was imprisoned for three weeks before he stood trial, being tried together with Alfred Taylor, a “well-known procurer of young men” (Elfenbein). Some of the witnesses questioned during the trial could only testify that Wilde had provided gifts to various young men or been seen coming and going from various hotels. Others were men that testified they had had intimate relations with Wilde. There were also “items of passionate correspondence” (Bristow 45) he had sent to Douglas, one of which was a poem that ended with the line, “the love that dare not speak its name” (Elfenbein). Ultimately, Wilde was convicted of the charge of gross indecency and sentenced to two years of hard labor in May 1895. He died in France in 1900. Wilde’s trial was not the Victorian world’s first exposure to homosexuality. There were several scandals that involved sex between men in the late Victorian period, as well as “networks of places for men to hook up, from theaters and clubs to the train stations, parks, and museums” (Elfenbein) in London. There was already an established history of disapproval (to put it lightly) towards sex between men, and Wilde’s trial was so publicized because he was a popular author already known the to public. Queerness has, in Western society, almost always been considered strange and immoral. It is quite literally in the name, and it is only relatively recently we have begun to reclaim the word. In regards to the texts in this class, I believe you can relate this to Count Fosco. While The Woman in White was written before Wilde’s trials, it still has aspects of the Victorian attitude towards gay men within it. Fosco is associated with femininity; specifically his elaborate clothes, love for animals, and fondness for pastry. While a large part of his strangeness in the novel comes from his foreign status, his femininity cannot be overlooked. Works Cited: Elfenbein, Andrew. “On the Trials of Oscar Wilde: Myths and Realities.” BRANCH: Britain, Representation and Nineteenth-Century History. Ed. Dino Franco Felluga. Extension of Romanticism and Victorianism on the Net. Web. Bristow, Joseph. “The Blackmailer and the Sodomite: Oscar Wilde on Trial.” FEMINIST THEORY, vol. 17, no. 1, Apr. 2016, pp. 41–62. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1177/1464700115620860. |
Ren Walker | ||
| 26 May 1897 |
"Dracula" and the History of the Vampire in Victorian Lit In 1897, Bram Stoker published what is now one of the foremost works of literature on the subject of vampires, Dracula. The popularity of this novel and the ways in which establishes the characteristics of a vampire to the point that almost any modern work of fiction (be it literary, film, or other) taking on the subject is forced to either assume the canon established by Stoker or else explicitly address and explain any variations. However, while Dracula is commonly regarded as the prototypical vampire story, it is notable that it wasn’t published until very late in the Victorian Era, an era seemingly obsessed with the vampiric figure.
Throughout the Victorian Era, references to vampires can be found scattered all throughout British literature. For instance, Edmond Dante, the protagonist of Alexander Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo (1844) was regarded in-text as resembling the Eastern European image of the vampire more than half a century before Stoker publish Dracula. Aside from mere references, the romantic vampire genre had already been established at the beginning of the century with a notable number of text belonging to the genre well established long before Stoker ever began writing his masterpiece.
In 1819 John William Polidori wrote what is widely regarded as truly the first romantic vampire story in which he combines and defines many elements of vampirism into a singular image and thereby gave birth to a whole new genre of fantasy fiction: The Vampyre. This short story tells of a young man named Aubrey who befriends a mysterious stranger named Lord Ruthven. They travel together to Rome where they are separated but are reunited sometime later in Greece where Aubrey has met and fallen in love with Ianthe, an innkeeper’s daughter. Unfortunately, shortly after Ruthven’s arrival, Ianthe is murdered and found with her throat slashed and torn. While the town murmurs rumors of vampires, Lord Ruthven consoles the grieving Aubrey and together they continue their travels. Along the way, they are attacked, and Lord Ruthven is gravely injured. He insists that Aubrey vow not to speak a word of him or his death for a year and a day, which Aubrey does. Aubrey swears; Ruthven dies. Sometime later, but before the lapse of that year, a man named Earl of Marsden enters the scene and seduces Aubrey’s sister. Aubrey, recognizing the earl as Lord Ruthven, longs desperately to dissuade his sister yet is bound by an oath. However, when he learns of her engagement to the earl he resolves and writes to her telling her all. Unfortunately, Aubrey dies, and his letter is delayed. His sister is found dead, drained of blood, on her wedding night with her husband nowhere to be found. This first of this kind of story establishes the vampire not only as a blood-sucking monster with apparent immortality and seemingly mystic abilities, but also as an inherently sexual being.
This theme of the vampire as a seducer of women is expanded in 1972 by Sheridan Le Fanu. In Fanu’s novella, Carmilla, the antagonist is a vampiress- a female vampire who preys upon Laura, a young Austrian girl. Though not explicit, this narrative contains themes of homosexuality and the homoerotic in terms of lesbianism. Additionally, this story includes additional characteristics of a vampire - including it being a creature of the night, describing its bite as two small pin-like pricks, and its ability to shapeshift and breach locked doors – as well as depicting methods in which to fight and ultimately kill the creature.
Eventually Dracula is published. This story seems to provide a culminative definition of what it is to be a vampire. Stoker provides a history/origin for the beast (it being of foreign origin, pagan or otherwise separate from Christianity), identifies its particular strengths and weaknesses, how it infects versus how it simply kills, how it itself can be killed, and ultimately maneuvers each of these pieces within the scope of Christianity, defining it as a soul-less being trapped eternally in this temporal realm unable to progress toward salvation. In this context, its powers are derived of evil, and its weaknesses lie in that which is holy, and to kill it is a mercy, freeing the soul to pass on.
Although Dracula is merely a progenitor and not primogenitor of the romantic vampire genre, it is nonetheless significant that it arrives so late in the Victorian Era. Throughout this period, Eastern European immigration was a notable concern to the British populous, assimilating into society bloodlines and religious beliefs that had hitherto been commonly viewed and impure and dangerous. In an ironic attempt to create a fantastical analogy for these xenophobic Western values and the alleged dangers of combining that which was “civilized” and “correct” with that which was “foreign,” “ungodly,” Stoker adopts this now popular figure derived from Eastern European folklores to present this story.
Works Cited
Carol A. Senf. The Vampire in Nineteenth Century English Literature. Popular Press, 1988. EBSCOhost, discovery.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=4e73f270-08f9-3766-b46c-7fdec0909089.
Polidori, John William. The Vampyre: A Tale. The Floating Press, 2009. EBSCOhost, discovery.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=63e1b5b6-e469-3966-913d-48bdac3c813b.
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Carson Butt |
