Dracula And The Picture Of Dorian Gray

The theme of gothic in 'Dracula' and 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' is created through the use of linguistic devices, settings and characters. The concept of the 'Gothic' theme within novels was extremely popular during the fin de siècle; a time in which society was in decline and Victorian social norms were being broken and explored, leading to the exploration of religion and science, advances in technology, changes in class and gender roles and also the focus into the concept of the supernatural. Another theme found in both novels is the theme of social class, characters and settings could be representative of the social division during the 19th century. These ideas will be explored and expanded in more detail throughout this essay.

Setting is seen as a key component in reflecting the themes of gothic and social class. In Dracula we see Harkers trip to the Count's castle being described as "Dark" and "Grey", this sets the theme of Gothic right from the beginning and starts to build up the tension and this idea of fearing the unknown , right from the very beginning. The location of Dracula's castle in a deserted place implies that he is almost seen as an outcast from society and lives a lonely life. This may create sympathy for Dracula although he is the antagonist in the novel. On the other hand another interpretation could be that the "Castle" is representative of wealth and power, reflecting the aristocracy and how they were from an isolated (like the castle) community and did not mix with other social classes.

This idea of social class being reflected through materialistic objects such as houses is also seen in The Picture of Dorian Gray. Lord Kelso; Dorian's grandfather leaves the manor to decay, however Dorian tries to bring the manor back to life. This similarly like the "Castle" in Dracula represents the aristocracy. Lord Kelso leaving the manor to decay could be a reflection of Victorian upper class falling into decline during the fin de siècle where social norms were being broken, this left the aristocracy (in this case Dorian) in outrage and so they tried to restore society and keep the social norms in place as this change in social norms would mean the loss of power to the upper class. This is portrayed in how Dorian tries to bring the manor back to life and hold it together. The fact that both Oscar Wilde and Bram Stoker use materialistic objects to represent the aristocracy could suggest that they are mocking the aristocracy for relying on wealth and materialistic objects to be a symbol of their power. This applies more to Wilde than Stoker as he was part of the Aestheticism movement which followed the concept of "art for art's sake" suggesting that things should be admired for their nature and beauty rather than their value and use. And so he mocks the aristocracy for relying on materialistic objects for their value and purpose rather than their beauty.

Gothic themes are explored in both texts through the use of underlying indirect mentions of the psyche. A major aspect of the gothic theme is its link to science and the mind. As it was during the Victorian period that Freud and other psychologists paid close attention to the psyche and from this Freud's theory of Psychoanalysis was created. In Dracula we see the Count warn Jonathan Harker to not enter the other rooms, "The doors are locked, where of course you will not wish to go." The locked rooms could represent Dracula's mind and the fact that the rooms are "locked" could be linked to Freud's idea of repression and how these locked rooms are representative of repressed thoughts in Dracula's mind. This use of 'forbidden rooms' is also found in The Picture of Dorian Gray in which we see this constant mention of the "Attic" in Dorian's house , towards the end of the novel. This similarly could reflect Dorian's repressed thoughts. Towards the end of both novels we see Dorian and Dracula act in very vicious or immoral ways, this could be seen as a result of repressed behaviour being let out, as Freud suggests that repression leads to an individual acting out repressed behaviour from having to have a tight hold over their actions and thoughts for so long.