Dracula: Is He Bisexual? By: Imran Blackall

          In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the antagonist, Dracula, portrayed a demon that stole the blood of the innocent by biting necks to maintain his immortality. Though he sought out females such as Lucy and Wilhelmina, evidence showed his acceptance of males such as Jonathan, Arthur, Quincey, and Dr. Seward. For example, when Jonathan Harker encountered the three female vampires in Count Dracula’s castle, Dracula emerged, ridiculed the women for their actions, and said, “How dare you touch him…This man belongs to me!” (40). That comment in which Dracula claimed ownership of Jonathan could be interpreted in multiple ways. Personally, I believe it was a hint towards Dracula’s open sexuality towards men. By stating that Jonathan was “his”, it showed Dracula’s affection and acceptance towards the male gender. Later, the female vampires accused Dracula of never loving in which Dracula responded: “I too can love…when I am done with him you shall kiss him at your will” (40) This implies further affection towards men specifically towards Jonathan. When Dracula stated that the female vampires can have Jonathan after he has fulfilled his needs with Jonathan, it implied that Dracula planned on sucking his blood. This blood-sucking was a sexual innuendo of the male-to-male sexual interaction. Further evidence showed Dracula’s bisexuality with the incident with Lucy. After showing a severe white complexion with symptoms of weakness and lethargy, Lucy underwent numerous blood transfusions from the blood of several men to regain her strength. One specific example was when Dr. Van Helsing spoke with Dr. Seward: “We must begin again. There is no young Arthur here now. I have to call on you yourself this time, friend John” (140). This indicated that Lucy had a previous blood transfusion from Arthur, her fiancé. Because another transfusion was performed on Lucy using Dr. Seward’s blood, it can be deduced that Dracula sucked the blood from Lucy previously; additional transfusions later occurred even with Dr. Van Helsing’s blood. These numerous transfusions implied that Dracula was fond with both Lucy’s blood and the blood of men. Continuously seeping the men’s blood from Lucy was a form of acceptance of his sexuality towards men. If Dracula was homophobic, he would have immediately stopped sucking the blood from Lucy after her first transfusion with Arthur’s blood. On the contrary, he continued his escapade until Lucy passed. Another clue towards Dracula’s bisexuality was during the men’s encounter with Dracula at his home in Carfax. The men waited for Dracula to return to his home and attacked him. The plan failed, and before escaping Dracula stated, “Your girls that you all love are mine already. And through them you and others shall yet be mine” (325). Dracula claimed ownership of both females and males; it was a form of dominance towards them. At this point Lucy died, and Mina has drunk his blood to show his ownership of her. He further comments that the men will be his property through the females. Because Dracula has sucked the men’s blood through Lucy, he already dominated over the men showing his tolerance to the male gender. Overall, I think Dracula was a bisexual monster who fed on both genders to show his openness in his sexuality.

Reference

Stoker, B. (2012). Dracula. New York, NY: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.