The New Woman in Fanu’s Carmilla, Stoker’s Dracula, and Buffy the Vampi

The New Woman in Fanu’s Carmilla, Stoker’s Dracula, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer The correlation between the vampire, a figure that is usually regarded as the subject of social ostracism, and the New Woman, the advent of which was feared by the majority of the British Victorian patriarchy, was a prominent aspect of much mid-to-late Victorian era literature. Supplementary evidence to support the compelling Victorian era literary connection between the vampire and the New Woman can be extrapolated from the unique gender role standards that defined that socially complex era. As Catherine Siemann suggests in her essay, â€Å"Darkness Falls on the Endless Summer: Buffy as Gidget for the Fin de Siecle,† the Victorian New Woman’s â€Å"personal autonomy, economic independence and sexual self-determination led [her] to be seen as a threat, undermining the social order† (Wilcox and Lavery 124). In transforming New Woman-like literary characters into vampires, their punishment or destruction could be interpreted as a culturally acceptable way to metaphorically control the New Woman, thereby keeping the existing patriarchal domin ation unblemished and intact. Thus, literature offered the Victorian patriarchy a psychological defense against this perceived cultural â€Å"threat;† unsurprisingly, male authors were the ones responsible for a good portion of these texts. While New Woman-like vampires are featured in many Victorian works, including Charles Baudelaire’s â€Å"The Vampire† (1857) and Julian Osgood Field’s â€Å"A Kiss of Judas† (1894), perhaps none capture, in metaphoric form, the anxiety about, and the alleged viciousness toward, the New Woman better than Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s novella Carmilla (1872) and Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897). T... ...hers, Inc., 2002. 120-129. Stoker, Bram. Dracula. 1897. New York: Dover Publications Inc., 2000. Vint, Sheryl. â€Å" ‘Killing Us Softly’?: A Feminist Search for the ‘Real’ Buffy.† Slayage: The On-Line International Journal of Buffy Studies 5. 10 pp. Web 21 Apr. 2015. http://www.slayage.tv/essays/slayage5/vint.htm>. â€Å"What’s My Line?, Part 2.† Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Created by Joss Whedon. Perf. Sarah Michelle Gellar & Alyson Hannigan. WB. New York: 24 Nov. 1997. Wilcox, Rhonda V. and David Lavery, ed. Fighting the Forces: What’s At Stake in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2002. Wisker, Gina. â€Å"Vampires and School Girls: High School Jinks on the Hellmouth.† Slayage: The On-Line International Journal of Buffy Studies 2. 12 pp. Web 21 Apr. 2015. http://www.slayage.tv/essays/slayage2/wisker.htm>. The New Woman in Fanu’s Carmilla, Stoker’s Dracula, and Buffy the Vampi The New Woman in Fanu’s Carmilla, Stoker’s Dracula, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer The correlation between the vampire, a figure that is usually regarded as the subject of social ostracism, and the New Woman, the advent of which was feared by the majority of the British Victorian patriarchy, was a prominent aspect of much mid-to-late Victorian era literature. Supplementary evidence to support the compelling Victorian era literary connection between the vampire and the New Woman can be extrapolated from the unique gender role standards that defined that socially complex era. As Catherine Siemann suggests in her essay, â€Å"Darkness Falls on the Endless Summer: Buffy as Gidget for the Fin de Siecle,† the Victorian New Woman’s â€Å"personal autonomy, economic independence and sexual self-determination led [her] to be seen as a threat, undermining the social order† (Wilcox and Lavery 124). In transforming New Woman-like literary characters into vampires, their punishment or destruction could be interpreted as a culturally acceptable way to metaphorically control the New Woman, thereby keeping the existing patriarchal domin ation unblemished and intact. Thus, literature offered the Victorian patriarchy a psychological defense against this perceived cultural â€Å"threat;† unsurprisingly, male authors were the ones responsible for a good portion of these texts. While New Woman-like vampires are featured in many Victorian works, including Charles Baudelaire’s â€Å"The Vampire† (1857) and Julian Osgood Field’s â€Å"A Kiss of Judas† (1894), perhaps none capture, in metaphoric form, the anxiety about, and the alleged viciousness toward, the New Woman better than Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s novella Carmilla (1872) and Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897). T... ...hers, Inc., 2002. 120-129. Stoker, Bram. Dracula. 1897. New York: Dover Publications Inc., 2000. Vint, Sheryl. â€Å" ‘Killing Us Softly’?: A Feminist Search for the ‘Real’ Buffy.† Slayage: The On-Line International Journal of Buffy Studies 5. 10 pp. Web 21 Apr. 2015. http://www.slayage.tv/essays/slayage5/vint.htm>. â€Å"What’s My Line?, Part 2.† Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Created by Joss Whedon. Perf. Sarah Michelle Gellar & Alyson Hannigan. WB. New York: 24 Nov. 1997. Wilcox, Rhonda V. and David Lavery, ed. Fighting the Forces: What’s At Stake in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2002. Wisker, Gina. â€Å"Vampires and School Girls: High School Jinks on the Hellmouth.† Slayage: The On-Line International Journal of Buffy Studies 2. 12 pp. Web 21 Apr. 2015. http://www.slayage.tv/essays/slayage2/wisker.htm>.