| In this paper I question Dracula's position as a novel that expounds and instigates fin de siecle anxiety regarding gender positions. I propose that rather than a novel which heightens anxiety surrounding gender norms, Stoker's text actually represents a paradigmatic shift in gender identity, especially masculinity. Stoker presents a varying array of young, male characters whose self-concept as masculine figures are transformed through their interactions with the titular Count and his ability to destabilize their previous assumptions of gender roles. The young vampire hunters represent the way in which masculinity (and in kind, femininity) is not a static identity, but a mutable entity. |
