Abstract of Queer Theory Essay by Sos Eltis
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- Category: English
- Date Submitted: 11/17/2013 06:03 PM
- Pages: 3
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The line of argument for Dennis Foster’s paper is to proffer a theoretical explanation first quoting from Lacan, Freud, or Zizek. Next he analyzes characters in Dracula to build arguments. He started his analysis by giving a simple idea, which everyone has experienced: people are afraid of things but at the same time are eager to find out the truth lie beneath. Using Freud’s concept of repression of ego vs. id, he interprets this phenomenon as our own desire wrestling with the consciousness. At the end of his paper, he uses the same way which he tries not only to apply the theory to anatomize the text but also to relate to the society. The analysis consists of three parts: the first the oral impulse based on Freud’s the three stages of an infant. The second one is “child verses adult” which is seemingly a Lacanian theory. The last one is the law of father, coming from Lacan and also alluding to Zizek.
“At the heart of Dracula is huger” (p.484). This is the main idea of the first part. He further explicates that Dracula performed the huger for the human blood incessantly as well as Lucy who later on turns into “Bloofer Lady.” Instead of favoring blood, men in Dracula are hungry for eating (i.e. Jonathan) or other activities anything but sexual orgasm. He cites from Freud’s three Essays that oral impulse is the “prototype” of sexual satisfaction. However, Foster explains that with the substitution of oral impulse, one would not be happy as a child being satisfied because “the loss something from childhood” is still inside one’s mind. Lucy is the example of both being a child and a mother who summon children to suck and to be “sucked” by Dracula. Mina is also sucked by Dracula, who becomes a mother to her as she acts like a child. This comparison leads to the second theme: Dracula is the mother to the girls but a child in contrast with Van Helsing who behaves as a mature intelligent adult doing thing fairly and with justice. He goes on to discuss the point about the...
“At the heart of Dracula is huger” (p.484). This is the main idea of the first part. He further explicates that Dracula performed the huger for the human blood incessantly as well as Lucy who later on turns into “Bloofer Lady.” Instead of favoring blood, men in Dracula are hungry for eating (i.e. Jonathan) or other activities anything but sexual orgasm. He cites from Freud’s three Essays that oral impulse is the “prototype” of sexual satisfaction. However, Foster explains that with the substitution of oral impulse, one would not be happy as a child being satisfied because “the loss something from childhood” is still inside one’s mind. Lucy is the example of both being a child and a mother who summon children to suck and to be “sucked” by Dracula. Mina is also sucked by Dracula, who becomes a mother to her as she acts like a child. This comparison leads to the second theme: Dracula is the mother to the girls but a child in contrast with Van Helsing who behaves as a mature intelligent adult doing thing fairly and with justice. He goes on to discuss the point about the...