One recurring motif within the genre of Gothic literature is the depiction of maternal figures as sources of otherness, with narratives often centering around the horrors of motherhood and the female body. However, in my exploration of a few pieces of popular Gothic literature, I seek to shift the focus towards an underexplored aspect linking horror and parenting: paternal failure.

“Lanny’s Dad”

In the chapter of Max Porter’s Lanny titled “Lanny’s Dad”, we are introduced to how the father, Robert, lacks empathy for his son.​

Lanny’s father is displeased at the idea of having to “manage and regulate Lanny and his gifts” – he responds to the realisation that he must help to raise his own son with “oh fuck, it’s us.” (Porter, M., 2019, p.15) His use of the words “manage and regulate” also help reinforce the idea that the father sees nurturing a child as a chore or a job, for which he lacks recognition or reward; raising a son is not rewarding enough to him on its own.​

This is further evidenced by his almost jealous response to the reward Lanny receives from his school: “I want a sticker.” (Porter, M., 2019, p.15)​

Robert’s perspective mirrors the historical gender role of the father: he would rather work and leave raising the child to the Lanny’s mother. We also see the role of the father represented this way in other texts…​

Frankenstein as a father

Victor Frankenstein’s abandonment of the Monster – his “offspring” – is the direct cause of its murderous rampage: “the novel suggests that he is right to blame himself for abandoning his offspring and concealing his knowledge of Justine’s innocence.”​

“Rousseau faulted women for abdicating their maternal duties and failing to care for their children, but Shelley places blame first and foremost at the feet of fathers.”

(GANZ, M.J., 2022. “A Kind of Insanity in My Spirits”: Frankenstein, Childhood, and Criminal Intent. Eighteenth – Century Studies, 56(1), pp.8-9)

Dracula as a father

When Dracula ‘feeds’ Mrs. Harker his own blood from a wound in his chest, it mirrors the way in which a mother would breastfeed:

“[by] forcing the adult woman to ‘nurse’ […] the victim becomes his ‘child’”

Williams, A. (1991) “‘Dracula’: sins of the fathers. (Late Nineteenth-Century Contextual and Psychological Configurations),” Texas studies in literature and language, 33(4), pp. 445-.

In this same article, Williams suggests that Dracula is more like a ‘mother’ than a ‘father,’ and therefore represents the ‘danger’ of femininity and maternity.

Dracula’s liminal crossing of the boundaries of gender norms also adds to his ‘otherness.’ As opposed to how Lanny and Frankenstein illustrate how the failure of the father to look after a child causes anguish, Dracula seems to reinforce rather than attempt to break down this gender barrier, portraying motherhood as something, ‘other,’ and something to be feared.