The Vampire as a Figure of “Objet a”/ Object-Cause of Desire: Divided Subject and Desire in Bram Stoker’s Dracula
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This article aims to interpret Dracula as a figure of Lacanian “objet a”/ “object-cause of desire,” examining the characteristics of the objet a embodied and manifested in Dracula. A subject, according to Jacques Lacan, emerges when it enters the symbolic order which demands the subject to forgo something. The objet a as “something lost” by the “symbolic castration,” therefore, becomes the object and cause of desire. The desire for the objet a, however, is accompanied with pain because the symbolic forbids it. The objet a, therefore, brings about “painful pleasure,” Lacanian “jouissance.” Likewise, characters in Dracula have conflicting attitudes to Dracula for whom they simultaneously feel attraction and repulsion, because Dracula the vampire is an “embodiment of jouissance.” The objet a as “something lost” is “absent” in the symbolic order, but it is also “present” as the “embodiment of the void in the symbolic order” which cannot inscribe the objet a. The location of Carfax, Dracula’s residence in London, is an index to the void in the symbolic order, and Dracula who inhabits Carfax is the embodiment of its void. The objet a ultimately reveals the dividedness of the subject who should undergo symbolic castration that splits him. The acknowledgement of the objet a, therefore, leads to the understanding of the “subject’s very being” which “ex-sists” beyond the symbolic order. The vampire hunters who aim to exterminate Dracula, however, reveal their limited vision by refusing to acknowledge the significance of Dracula/ the objet a as the channel to the “subject’s very being.” Furthermore, they can never carry out their self-imposed mission, because Dracula, as the objet a, is an “undead” which never dies, just as “desire never dies.”
Abstract
This article aims to interpret Dracula as a figure of Lacanian “objet a”/ “object-cause of desire,” examining the characteristics of the objet a embodied and manifested in Dracula. A subject, according to Jacques Lacan, emerges when it enters the symbolic order which demands the subject to forgo something. The objet a as “something lost” by the “symbolic castration,” therefore, becomes the object and cause of desire. The desire for the objet a, however, is accompanied with pain because the symbolic forbids it. The objet a, therefore, brings about “painful pleasure,” Lacanian “jouissance.” Likewise, characters in Dracula have conflicting attitudes to Dracula for whom they simultaneously feel attraction and repulsion, because Dracula the vampire is an “embodiment of jouissance.” The objet a as “something lost” is “absent” in the symbolic order, but it is also “present” as the “embodiment of the void in the symbolic order” which cannot inscribe the objet a. The location of Carfax, Dracula’s residence in London, is an index to the void in the symbolic order, and Dracula who inhabits Carfax is the embodiment of its void. The objet a ultimately reveals the dividedness of the subject who should undergo symbolic castration that splits him. The acknowledgement of the objet a, therefore, leads to the understanding of the “subject’s very being” which “ex-sists” beyond the symbolic order. The vampire hunters who aim to exterminate Dracula, however, reveal their limited vision by refusing to acknowledge the significance of Dracula/ the objet a as the channel to the “subject’s very being.” Furthermore, they can never carry out their self-imposed mission, because Dracula, as the objet a, is an “undead” which never dies, just as “desire never dies.”
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