Critical appendix to "Lucile"

For those who are interested...

Critical Appendix:

The story preceding this appendix was inspired by, and to some extent modelled upon, Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’. There are several elements to this story that have been echoed and amplified from Dracula, particularly the concerns about the “New Woman”, but also the gothic motif and fractured method of storytelling.

The preceding short story is much less subtle in regards to its depiction of fears about feminism than is Dracula. The “evil creature” Bethany (whose name was inspired by Countess Elizabeth Bathory [Creed, 1993, p.59]), has all the tools that would render a man useless. She has the ability to entice any woman to love her, she is able to impregnate women with her somewhat phallic finger, vasectomise a man, and ultimately destroy the supposedly sacred union that is marriage. She seems determined to create a race of super-females and eliminate the need for men at all; to overthrow patriarchal society.

Bethany is powerful but beautiful, yet also sinister and blood-thirsty. Unlike Dracula, Bethany does not act out of the desire for survival. Whilst the only indication of her age is the many rings she wears (and presumably plundered from numerous couples before Lucile and Ian), her actions are primarily to change the society in which she lives. She has a goal that she is prepared to work for as doggedly as may be necessary, because she is passionate about it – much like early feminists. The fact that her goal is an obscene and unhealthy one is supposed to make light of the irrational fears of the somewhat ignorant (and possibly sexist) men of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries.

The decision to portray Bethany as a lesbian (who only bedded men to emasculate them) was made to really exaggerate the all-powerful female society that could result should she get her way. She is a very sensual and seductive temptress, in the vain of the scores of other lesbian vampires before her. To be able to lure wives from their husbands, to corrupt love, was intended to be a particularly alarming trait; to make her appear a viable threat to society.

Her destruction of the marriage institution was symbolised by her taking of wedding rings, and in the very second scene (which chronologically follows the bedroom scene) after it is presumed that Bethany and Lucile have been intimate, Bethany offers Lucile a ring of her own. Even the slight masculinity shown by Bethany in that scene does not mask the suggestion of gay marriage, something that would be plausible in Bethany’s utopia of females. This suggestion further promoted the preposterous notion that males would not be necessary in the world should Bethany (or the New Woman) get what she wanted.

The final symbolic aspect of Bethany’s behaviour is that she penetrates both men and women. She does this via the navel with her incredibly sharp index finger, which is her signifier of power (as she uses it as a weapon against Ian and his sword throughout the climactic scenes of the story). I chose the navel because it is the source of life for unborn children in the womb. The re-opening of the navel seemed to tie in with the giving of life, or the un-doing of it (depending on the gender of the penetrated). It was also a part of the body that could be penetrated regardless of whether it was a male or female.

In another comparison, Dracula left two snakebite-esque holes in the necks of his victims, whereas Bethany used her finger to intentionally mark Ian with a scar, to remind him of the permanence of his impotency and defeat in a manner of speaking. Further echoing the concerns about the New Woman – that things would never be the same and that they would be considerably worse! Ian’s refusal to lay down his armour was supposed to reflect his refusal to bow to what Bethany represented for him as a male and the society he lived in.

The character of Lucile is the classical innocent, apparently timid woman whose passion and desire is awakened by Bethany. She shares a similar name to Dracula’s Lucy because of that fact. The escape of Ian and Vincent from Bethany’s clutches, was a celebration of the husband’s commitment to his wife. It was Ian’s valiant efforts and Lucile’s natural affection toward her child that allowed them (the first ever couple) to not be completely annihilated by Bethany.

As opposed to Dracula, the preceding story does not result in the vanquishment of the evil creature. It is hinted that Bethany lives on, that Lucile is unable to overcome her, and that consequently, Ian and the offspring of Bethany and Lucile live in danger. It was also hinted that perhaps Bethany killed all of her male offspring because they would work against her ideals, and that Vincent might be society’s best chance of overcoming Bethany and all those like her.

Lucile is a crude concoction derived from Dracula and other vampire tales that pushes the fear of the New Woman to its most extreme edge, which is more likely to be understood as parody rather than a misogynist text in this day and age.