Queerness itself was treated as monstrous in the Gothic era
Evidence
Like Dracula, Vathek is polysexual. He likes women, men, and young, nubile children. Vathek’s homosexuality was likely influenced by Beckford’s own relationships, which included a lengthy affair with a young male aristocrat. It is significant that monstrosity is a central part of this text because, although the act of anal penetration between Vathek and the Indian is not specified, it is intimated. During this period, “the term ‘monstrous’ was used as a constructive synonym for the bodies and desires of queer men.” When Vathek kisses the Indian, lip on lip, it is presented as a queer and grotesque act: “In the transports of his joy, Vathek leaped upon the neck of the frightful Indian, and kissed his horrid mouth and his hollow cheeks, as though they had been the coral lips and the lilies and roses of his most beautiful wives.” This kiss is the Gothic equivalent of sodomy. — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 509
Categorization
Category: Causal Relationships
- DEFINE: Establishes that ‘monstrous’ was a period synonym for queer bodies and desires, so Muslim monstrosity is partly encoded queerness.
- QUESTION: How much does Beckford’s own homosexuality, not ethnographic knowledge, drive the caricature of the Muslim as sexual monster?
Related
- Monstrosity functions as code for queer bodies and desires in the Gothic imagination (similarity 0.93)
- Gothic horror portrayed Muslim figures as damned sexual monsters (similarity 0.82)
- Gothic Muslim monsters are sexualized figures carrying displaced Western anxieties (similarity 0.81)
- Gothic Muslim monsters are imagined as uncontrollably sexual and perverse. (similarity 0.80)
- Muslim monsters are repositories of Western desires as much as fears (similarity 0.78)
Broader Connections
- The Church’s moral language structured who counted as monstrous others
#corroborates(0.55) — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 90 - Victorian vampires represented sexually predatory immigrants threatening racial purity.
#expands(0.35) — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 523