Analysis of Vampire Scene in Chapter 3 Dracula Essay

Freud suggests that fear is linked in near way to an previous emotional response that has been repressed. In chapter 3 hawker experiences a great amount of fear when he is attacked by the Brides of Dracula, in a dramatic, highly sexual scene. Hawkers submission and confusion as to whether he is experiencing pleasure of pain could, to follow Freuds theory, be linked to a past depot in which he repressed his sexual desires.In the prudent society in which Stoker was writing, the rampant, b befaced eroticism of the Brides would rush been shocking, and in some ways liberating. Stoker writes There was something about them that made me uneasy, some longing and at the same time some deadly fear. I felt in my core group a wicked, burning desire that they would kiss me with those red lips. The Brides are wholly sexual beings, who are manoeuvre solely by their desires, and this need contrasts completely against the typical 19th century men and women- John, Lucy and Mina. This liberation from repression would and did cow and shock society, making vampires seem more like animals, monsters.Freud wrote about the Superego, Ego and Id, the three parts of the world psyche. The Id is natural, animalistic desires, such as sex and hunger and it is the Egos job to ensure that these desires are controlled, in order for a human to live in an ordered society. This links well with the view that repression leads to fear.Freud also wrote about the uncanny which in German translates to unheimlich, which means un- central officely. The idea of uncanny is that within the invention of the homely is the notion of concealment itself, that where we feel safest may not be that safe at all, and that home is a place of secrets. In Chapter three Harker seeks informality in a room where, of old, ladies had sat and call and lived sweet lives whilst their gentle breasts were sad for their menfolk away in the midst of remorseless wars.He seeks safety and comfort in familiarity, however with in the place where he appears to be safest in the castle the Brides of Dracula decide on him. Stoker writes that The room was the same, unchanged in any way since I came into it, however the Brides have appeared and suddenly the atmosphere changes from that of safety and sleep to sexually charged domination.At the climax of the scene, the vampires are scarcely about to bite Hawkers neck, and Hawker completely and utterly submits I could feel the soft, thrill touch of the lips on the super sensitive skin of my throat, and the hard dents of two sharp teeth, just wretched and pausing there. I closed my eyes in languorous ecstasy and waited, waited with beating heart. It is this uninhibited pleasure that Hawker experiences that makes the scene so significant, almost as if his unconscious Id has completely taken over his Superego. The Brides do not think, they act, they are, according to Freud, the complete opposite to how normal human beings think they should behave.