Date of Award

2015

Degree Name

English

College

College of Liberal Arts

Type of Degree

M.A.

Document Type

Thesis

First Advisor

Jill M. Treftz

Second Advisor

Robert Ellison

Third Advisor

Walter Squire

Abstract

My thesis consists of historical facts and literary analysis and is made up of three chapters. In the first chapter, I look at two varying elements of psychosexualism, the emotional and the physical, and discuss how each can be applied to Jane Eyre and Dracula. The chapter also contains an explanation for the term psychosexualism and provides a brief history of: the Victorian notion of hysteria and spermatorrhea, the twentieth-century classifications of love and sex addiction, as well as the twenty-first-century to Histrionic Personality Disorder and Sexual Sadism Disorder. The second chapter provides an analysis of Jane Eyre, specifically looking at Edward Fairfax Rochester. This chapter also focuses on the evolution of Rochester’s disorder as seen throughout the centuries. The third chapter is an analysis of Dracula, specifically looking at how spermatorrhea, sex addiction, and sexual sadism disorder affect the characters of Johnathan Harker, Renfield and Dracula. The evolution of the physical element of psychosexualism between the three characters listed above makes up the connection to the previous chapters.

Subject(s)

Brontë, Charlotte, 1816-1855. Jane Eyre -- Criticism and interpretation.

Brontë, Charlotte, 1816-1855 -- Criticism and interpretation.

Stoker, Bram, 1847-1912 -- Criticism and interpretation.

Stoker, Bram, 1847-1912. Dracula -- Criticism and interpretation.

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