A Vampire’s Touch Exploring Sexual Nature in Dracula

Jonathan and Sexuality Jonathan Harker, Mina Murray’s fiancà ©, represents a typical human dealing with sexual desires. He knows for certain that he wants to marry and spend the rest of his life with Mina but still struggles with natural, sexual urges. The reader clearly detects Jonathan’s struggle when he encounters the three vampire ladies in Dracula’s castle. As he lies there, Jonathan feels â€Å"an agony of delightful anticipation,† and also describes one of the ladies as having â€Å"a deliberate voluptuousness which was both thrilling and repulsive† (38-39). Here Jonathan uses contrasting words to describe his encounter with the vampires. In his mind, he knows this is wrong, but his body is telling him otherwise: â€Å"[T]he skin of my throat began†¦show more content†¦It seems that Dracula is only sucking Lucy’s blood, so if the reader interprets sucking blood as having sex, then they can identify Dracula as having sex with Lucy multiple times. The reader cannot forget that Lucy had multiple blood transfusions from her three suitors and Van Helsing. Now, if we take another look, considering each man’s blood in Lucy, then the reader can interpret Dracula sucking the blood of the men through Lucy as him having sexual relations with each of Lucy’s donors. The second, and possibly the most obvious instance, is when Dracula imprisons Jonathan in his castle. McCrea supports this view by stating, â€Å"For queer theorists †¦ this is the episode that furnishes the most glaring moments of homoeroticism† (266). In the climax of Jonathan’s mystical sexual experience with the vampire ladies, Dracula bursts in the room exclaiming, â€Å"‘How dare you touch him †¦ How dare you cast eyes on him when I had forbidden it? †¦ This man belongs to me! Beware how you meddle with him, or you’ll have to deal with me.’† Then one of the vampire ladies replie s, â€Å"‘You yourself never loved; you never love’† (39-40). Here the reader witnesses Dracula’s extreme possession of Jonathan, saying that Jonathan â€Å"belongs† to him (39). Yu also interprets this scene as â€Å"Dracula †¦ [being] a pervert hungry not only for blood but for sexual gratification† (162). The vampire woman’s response that Dracula â€Å"never loved† also shows that the she knows his homosexuality will