Subconscious Representation: Queer Interpretations Of The Classic Vampire Novels Dracula And Carmilla
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2025-06-15
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en
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This thesis explores plausible queer interpretations of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” and Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s “Carmilla,” two influential classics in the development of the vampire as a literary trope. In this reading a focus is put on the labels and identities that are less common in queer studies: bisexuality, polyamory and the queer platonic relationship. The characters are analysed in terms of their gender expression and sexuality. After careful analysis of the primary characters a comparison is made between the queer interpretations of the humans and vampires; the humans are more repressed and ashamed of their behaviours, when they are aware of them, while the vampires are often proud. This is a representation of the sociohistorical context the novels were written in, where queer identities were non-normative and if not openly prosecuted, at least susceptible to great shame.
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