The beetle monster anchored Oriental threat in Egyptian imagery.

Evidence

Richard Marsh’s The Beetle, published at the same time as Dracula, was far more popular than Bram Stoker’s release, which is, of course, now considered a classic of horror. The monster in The Beetle, who was called “the Oriental,” shared several interesting qualities with the vampire. She transmogrifies into other forms—a man and a monster—just as Dracula changes into a bat, dog, or simply vanishes. This monster, at its most frightening, becomes a large scarab beetle. “The Oriental” crosses into Western territory and, like Dracula, goes on a killing rampage in London. A key difference between the two monsters lies in the part of the Orient they represent. While Dracula is a symbol of the Ottoman Turk, the scarab beetle is an Egyptian symbol, tied to the Egyptomania that was then influencing European and American popular culture from architecture and furniture to the installation of copies of the colossi from Abu Simbel at the Crystal Palace, first in Hyde Park and then at Sydenham. — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 565

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s monster/demon/giant taxonomy: ‘the Oriental’ here is a shape-shifting monster carrying the Egyptian portion of the manufactured Orient, paired with Dracula as the Ottoman Turk symbol.
• SEED: Angle: the Egyptian-oriented monster as distinct fear-bearer — the beetle as a symbol licensed by Egyptomania rather than by any actual contact with Egyptian Muslims.