“I’ll be good, I’ll be good...”: Victorian Society and Medicine in “Nosferatu” (2024)

Robert Eggers’ “Nosferatu” has three points of view to present the story, because it’s a non-linear and intricate narrative, filled with unreliable narrators: Victorian POV (Hardings, Dr. Sievers and Thomas Hutter); Supernatural POV (Ellen, Orlok and Herr Knock), and Professor Von Franz moves in-between the two. The story is mostly dominated by the “Victorian point of view” because Robert Eggers’ concept with his films is to transport the audience to the time the film takes place: it’s way of thinking, behaving and believing.

Victorian society is represented by the Hardings (the perfect Victorian family: the Victorian patriarch and the Victorian female role model) and Thomas Hutter. Victorian medicine is characterized by Dr. Wilhelm Sievers, who calls himself a “modern doctor”, in the sense that he embraces the latest Medicine trends of the early 19th century (1838).

Victorian doctors were obsessed with demonizing sexuality (especially female) to the point endlessness pathologies were theorized about it throughtout the century, and it was during this time period the notion of “paraphilias” was created. In the early 19th century, the ideal Victorian woman was a model of virtue, purity and modesty, and being a wife and a mother was a woman's destiny. 

Female sexuality was seen as a plague and a monstrosity in need of containment, which is what we see in “Dracula” by Bram Stoker (one of the main inspirations for “Nosferatu”), where the physical figure of the “sick woman” is one of the principal ways in which female sexuality manifests as a contagious disease, through the portrayal of Lucy Westenra and her degeneration into vampirism.

This influence in Ellen Hutter’s character in the 2024 adaptation of “Nosferatu” is palpable. European medicine in this time period became concerned with hygiene, pathogens and theories about disease origin. Especially in Great Britain, some doctors advocated the theory of “contagionism” (disease was spread from individual to individual), while others, the “miasmatists” defended that environmental issues (polluted water, unhygienic spaces, etc.) were often crucial in disease transmission. In "Nosferatu" (based on "Dracula novel), the “contagionism” theory is, obviously, present in vampirism and "the plague" (Orlok), and Ellen herself (expression of female sexuality).

"How should I have earned such a doting wife?"

Married heterosexual sex was the only socially acceptable sexual expression in the Victorian era, and everything else (masturbation, homosexuality, prostitution, etc.) was considered deviant, and labeled as “sinful” and “evil”. Sex was a marital duty, and often seen as a painful task women had to go through to have children. Women served their husbands, in every way. Regular sex was considered important to men’s health, and husbands could physically and sexually assault their wives without fear of legal repercussions, because the husband owned the wife, according to the law. Women had no property nor money of their own; upon their wedding, all their dowry and inheritance would belong to their husbands. Women were property, themselves. 

In the early 19th century, women’s sexuality was controlled by their husbands (this would start to change towards the end of the century). Marriage was considered one of the pillars of society and social order, and a social contract, above all. "Doting wife" means "excessively submissive" because Ellen's sexuality it's not her own, it belongs to Thomas, and, as such, when she's displaying sexual desire he interprets it as her wanting to please him, and not the other way around. And so, he thinks of her as "doting", eager to satisfy him.

The fear of sexual transmission diseases was also at an all time high during the Victorian era. Which is also connected with vampirism lore; a “disease of the blood”. STD’s were seen as a sign of civilizational failure, and sexuality itself by extension. Decent and proper Christians knew how to control themselves (sexual repression), and sexual impulses were seen as animalistic, uncivilized and demonic. Professor Von Franz tells the audience demons seek out and haunt those who are dominated by “low animal functions”, meaning, sexualized. This encapsulates Victorian views of sexuality. 

The Victorian characters patronize Ellen Hutter, and are dismissive of her. Every thought she has is seen as a consequence of her "sickness", and they keep gaslighting her, her premonitions and concerns are fantasies, it's all in her head, and it's not real. As such, Ellen feels isolated and deeply alone, and misunderstood by those around her. According to Robert Eggers: “[Ellen is a] victim to 19th-century society […] she can see into another realm, and has a certain kind of understanding that she doesn’t have the language for,” Eggers said. “But people are calling her melancholic and hysteric and all of these things.” At the beginning of the story, Ellen lacks the language to understand these powers that she has, and internalizes what Victorian doctors and characters tell her. Her thoughts are "fancies", "foolish" or even "childish" (as she tells Anna Harding).

Lily-Rose Depp describes Ellen as a woman experiencing "a real loneliness as well as a nascent sexuality […] We’re talking about a time period where there was a lot less room for women and girls to be much of anything except for exactly what people wanted them to be. So, I think you feel that in Ellen, and you feel like the birth of all these new feelings, and she doesn’t really have anybody to talk to about it, or anybody to understand her … I think it’s a real source of shame for her, and one that she’s trying to come to terms with [...] she longs to be understood.”

"Never speak these things aloud. Never. It is a trifle. A foolish dream, just as your past fancies."

When Thomas leaves for Transylvania, and Ellen knows something is not right (because she knows he went to Orlok). Her concerns are, once again, dismissed by Anna and Friedrich Harding. Anna, in particular, sees Ellen as "blameless for her malady" and a "sweet Romantic", and thinks of her as having a "disease" she's not able to control. Soon, it will be revealed by Professor Von Franz, this "disease" is, in fact, her mediumship and her supernatural powers. 

• “Melancholy” was a fairly common medical diagnosis in the late 18th and 19th centuries. In this time period, “melancholia” wasn’t connected with depression or depressive episodes as we know it today. In the 19th century, the diagnose “melancholia” was used to describe “abnormal beliefs”, such as hallucinations and delusions. Which is what Dr. Sievers tells Professor Von Franz after his examination of Ellen: “I have myself seen women of nervous constitutions invent any manor of delusion.” And why every Victorian character dismisses everything Ellen says as “fancies” or “foolish dreams” (delusions, things of her imagination, not real);
• During the Victorian era, “hysteria” was an umbrella diagnosis, which was used to label almost every single female "medical disorder” of the mind; and it could go from faintness, nervousness, insomnia, muscle spasms, irritability, loss of appetite to a “tendency to cause trouble”. Hysteria was a mental disorder and was exclusive to women, and was believed to be caused by a “wandering womb” (connection to female sexuality). 

Once Ellen's begins communicating with Orlok again, we, the audience, witness Victorian medicine treatment for "hysteria" and "melancholy", which involves forcing her to sleep with a corset, tie her to the bed, and drug her with opiates. Anna Harding believes Ellen's "epilepsies" are caused by Thomas' disappareance, because women's life revolved around their husbands, and women were thought to have no mind nor "inner lives" of their own. Ellen asserts she's "not mad", she's not a "lunatic", but no one believes her because of her "sickness".

"I am disposed to recommend that she sleep in her corset. It encourages the correct posture, calms the womb, and revives circulation. And if her stirring escalates, you can always tie her to the bed. I'll increase the eter."

Ellen is perceived as ”blameless for her malady” by the Victorian characters because Victorian women were expected to be innocent, ignorant and naïve about the world. And so, we see Ellen infantilizing herself before others so she can fit in, often finding excuses to dismiss her gifts because she knows the Victorian characters cannot understand her. 

Ellen is shown to have a natural curiosity and will to learn about the mysteries of life, outside of organized religion: "What I wish to say is that you are not truly present nor alive, as if you were at the whim of another... like a doll, and someone or some thing had the power to breathe life into you, to move you. Look at the sky! Look at the sea! Does it never call to you? Urge you? Something is close at hand- " Anna says it's God and His power, but Ellen calls it "destiny". And Anna dismisses her words, as a consequence of her "melancholy", again. 

"That is His power. A gentle breeze from Heaven."

Women, on average, weren't allowed to have an education, specially not without their fathers or their husbands approval. They weren't suppose to have nor aspire to seek knowledge outside of the domestic, because being a wife and a mother were their destiny. So when Ellen is connecting her destiny to nature, itself, this is setting her apart from Victorian society. A woman's entire life revolved around men: obeying their fathers, preparing for marriage, seeking an husband, and, as wife, living entirely for her husband and children.

Anna Harding, herself, is the perfect Victorian woman role model, and, at the surface, she appears content with her gender role. However, she is uncomfortable when Friedrich tries to kiss her in public, and probably not only out of "decency concerns", because this foreshadows what he'll do to her at the beginning of the third act. Women served their husbands, after all. 

"For heaven’s sake, you cannot leave unaccompanied!"

Friedrich Harding, himself, is not so convinced of Ellen’s "innocence and naivety", and he resents her because of what she represents; not only “otherness”, or “sickness”, but mostly female sexuality. He’s allowed to be sexual and display sexuality publically because he’s a man; Ellen cannot because she’s a woman. Friedrich is not convinced because he recognizes his own nature in Ellen (“rutting goat”; “always hungry”): “her dashing young husband is leaving her bedside cold” as he jokes with Thomas before his departure. And he tells Ellen, himself: “I am most sensitive to your ardent nature”.

And he doesn’t want her anywhere near his wife, nor their children (fear of contagion), and reluctantly accepts the friendship between them, out of respect for his long-time friend, Thomas. In the Harding household, we also see the strict gender separation; the women and children in one room, and the men in another, drinking and smoking. It’s the domestic sphere vs. public/social life. In this scene, we also see the men stepping away while they discuss sexual matters, which are not for women's ears. Even pregnancy is not to be discussed in the presence of women.

"Speak none of this to Ellen, or my Anna, but we have another [baby] on the way."

Friedrich Harding sees Ellen as a bad influence on his wife and children, and as a social embarrassment to Thomas, as he chastises Ellen for her behavior: “Find the dignity to display the respect for your caretaker” and “And for your husband’s sake, I pray you might learn how to conduct yourself with more deference.” 

He also instructed Anna to keep Ellen away from their children, and wasn’t pleased with his wife disobedience, however he’s too passionate about her to be angry about it (“I cannot resist you, my love”). Virtue and decency were the Victorian ideals, and a woman’s reputation was said to be her greatest treasure. And since husbands owned their wives, the wife’s behavior would reflect on the husband. 

"I thought it was agreed you were to keep the girls from her. You mustn’t be swept up in her fairy ways."

Friedrich Harding also considers Ellen a burden on their household, which Anna herself agrees, but she loves her, and, as such, endures it:"Think you there is no burden upon myself? I love her. She is blameless of her malady."

These choice of words aren’t random, because this is Victorian female role model in a nutshell. Victorian Christian women endured everything out of “love”, considered the opposite of “passion”, which the sacrament of marriage was meant to repress and contain, alongside erotism and “animalistic impulses” (sexual desire), especially when women are concerned. In the Victorian era, “love” was considered tempered devotion confined to the household. Because “lust isn’t love” is a staple of the Victorian definition of “love”, and so, love was meant to be chaste, modest and restrained. And initiated by the men (who could be as lustful as they wished to be, as we see with Friedrich Harding character).

This will culminate with Friedrich blaming Ellen for Anna's sickness and demand Thomas and Ellen to return to their own home. Friedrich represents the “Victorian patriarch”, while Anna is the “Victorian woman role model”, a devoted wife and mother, God-fearing and respectable. Ellen tries to tell Friedrich: "Please, these are no troubled nerves – it is as Professor Franz described... a demon!" Ellen spend the night with his wife, and now she's sick; he blames Ellen "contagion". He represents Victorian society ostracizing Ellen, all over again, because she is a "sick woman", the embodiment of female sexuality manifesting as a contagious disease.

"I don’t know myself... I... Ellen, tell me, what is this insufferable darkness?"

The Hardings are the couple Ellen and Thomas wish to emulate, because that’s what Victorian society expects of them. Thomas wishes and aspires to become like Friedrich; a successful man, with a good and wealthy house, and a devoted and comfortably settled wife, who elevates his social respectability.

Thomas dismisses Ellen’s concerns as “fancies” and “things of the past”, sweeping them under the rug to make them go away, and pretending they don’t exist. He fears her “past melancholies” might return, symbolizing his failure as a husband and a man, before Victorian society. Which is what Robert Eggers tells us, in one interview: "Ellen’s husband loves her, but he can’t understand these ‘hysteric’ and ‘melancholic’ feelings she’s experiencing, and he’s dismissive of her."

Marriage was the institution where Victorian men fully accomplished their male responsibility and privilege: to form a household, provide safety and comfort, and exercise authority over dependents (wife and children) where the trademark of a successful man. This was also connected to their social and professional success, making them respectful in the eyes of other men. A man who couldn’t govern his wife was also seen as unfit, socially, professionally and morally. 

"I envy you. You’ve truly taken your father’s place now... it’s incredible."

And this is Thomas ambition: he wishes to climb the social ladder, being “no longer a pauper” who needs to ask his wealthy friend, Friedrich, for money, drowning himself in debt. As he tells Ellen, he aspires to buy them “a fine house” of their own (implying the one they live in, is probably rented), with “a maidservant”. Ellen says she’s doesn’t need any of that, all she needs is his love: and, indeed, she married “down”, because Ellen comes from a wealthy family, and we see the contrast between her family house in the prologue (a manor), and the apartment she shares with Thomas (with old and damaged wallpaper, and implies to be rented). 

And now we have the context of Ellen's possession scene with Thomas: as she puts his entire Victorian male identity into question.She accuses him of not writing, which means she’s accusing him of not loving her, because letters were a part of Victorian love ideals. Then, Ellen weaponizes Thomas’ ambition against him: “You never listen. Well where is it? Your money? Your promotion? Your house? Where is that which is so precious to you? Have you paid back kind Harding your debt? Have you repaid him with this plague that infects his wife? For what? For what? For these... things?!” What she’s truly accusing him, here, is of being a failure, as a husband, and as a man in Victorian society. And she does this because she wants Thomas to see he's not fitted for Victorian society, either, and how they are "meant for each other".

"Ellen's shame" is connected to her sexuality and sexual desires (Orlok) which, according to Victorian views, she should not have. Not only because her sexuality is not her own (it belongs and is controlled by her husband: sex as a marital duty for male pleasure alone), but she shouldn't have any sexual desire or wants at all ("I'm unclean"); as sex, at the beginning of the century, was often seen as a painful task women had to go through to serve her husbands and have children. But, more than that, it's also connected with her not being satisfied with her gender role: she can't be anything else other than a wife, trapped inside of the domestic sphere. She has expressed a desire for knowledge and connected with Professor Von Franz, the occult scholar, over her supernatural gifts, since he's the only human character who has shown validation for them, and empowered her with what they are and what they mean (wisdom).

In this scene, Ellen is desperately trying to get Thomas to understand her and her supernatural gifts, especially her mediumship, her  true self, her nature. But he can't, and he doesn't. And when Ellen begins her trance, communicating with the spiritual world (not with Orlok in specific, because the narrative established it's sexual energy that conjures him, and he's not in this scene), he gets absolutely terrified. Ellen tries to rip her corset (the symbol of her Victorian oppression) open, symbolizing her desire to free herself from her medicalization and Victorian society expectations of her. Ellen wants to able to be herself in a society which will never accept her, and will always restrain her (literally and metaphorically). But Thomas is unable to handle the situation, and he does what Victorian society tells him to: call the doctors to deal with Ellen. But when she kneels before him in full submission and promises to be "good", a good Victorian wife to him, and he's relieved because that's the wife he wants; a obedient and proper wife, who behaves with decency, and isn't a social embarrassment to him.

“Find the dignity to display the respect for your caretaker”.

He then commands her to stop it, because he "loves her". Then Ellen repeats everything Victorian society tells her about her own nature: she'll become a demon without her husband to own and control her sexuality, and she's unclean because she has sexual desires and wants of her own. And Thomas promises Ellen is safe with him, because he’s a good Victorian husband who can protect and govern his wife. She can trust him to rescue her from this demon who's making her sick. He'll step up to his role, destroy and save his wife, because his entire male Victorian identity depends on it. Before he was driven by ambition, now he wants revenge on Orlok, as he vows to destroy him, not only because of what he thinks he did to Ellen, but he believes it's his own fault. Thomas thinks he was the one who unleashed Orlok into the world (nevermind what Ellen just told him).

Before, Thomas dismissed Ellen's premonitions as a consequence of her "sickness", and now he thinks she's "sick" because of Orlok. And once he's destroyed everything will be alright again, because she'll be a good Victorian wife to him, then. Thomas doesn't recognize Ellen's supernatural powers. She revealed to be the one who unleashed Orlok ("I brought this evil upon us"), has shown him the darkest parts of herself (mediumship), as well as her desperation in breaking free from her medicalization, and his reaction was to call the doctor to deal with her. And Ellen begins to see it's impossible for Thomas to truly understand her. And he won't ever accept her true self, either. He will always call Victorian doctors to contain her. And if he, somehow, manages to destroy Orlok, he can very well have her sent to an asylum in the future, like her father did. Because her power is not her own, in Thomas' eyes. He will always medicalize her, like the rest of Victorian society. And this "Victorian love" and Ellen's medicalization are deeply connected.

This is also the “second night”, and the Victorian patriarch Friedrich Harding is powerless to protect his wife and children from Orlok. Just as Ellen vows and fails to embody the “Victorian wife role model”, we see Orlok killing this archetype in the narrative: Anna, and also the children, which are deeply connected with women’s identity in the Victorian era (marriage and motherhood as a woman's destiny). Ellen gave him access into the Harding houselhold, and, now, he’ll destroy the archetype Ellen doesn’t want to be. He also feeds on Friedrich; the Victorian patriarch Ellen doesn’t want to be married to, but Thomas aspires to be. 

This is the beginning of the end for Ellen and Thomas’ marriage, and we see this separation during Anna and the children's funeral, visually. As the two ostracized characters by Victorian society (Ellen and Professor Von Franz) stay together, and the characters representing Victorian society (Harding, Thomas and Dr. Sievers) are set apart from them.

And is Friedrich Harding, the Victorian patriarch, that scolds them both, and reminds them, again, they have no place in Victorian society: 

“Take that blackguard from this place! Your diseased mind has brought all of this outrage– Your very presence does me wrong!” 

“Your” can be used as singular, and as plural; and it’s not the first time Friedrich has blamed both Professor Von Franz and Ellen for Anna’s sickness, and now for her death, because they both mentioned a "demon" attacked Anna. When he kicked Von Franz and Dr. Sievers out of his house, he said: "Jesus Christ in heaven! This isn’t a Satanic magician, or any other humiliating fantasy. It’s no wonder you’re a laughing stock. Out! Frau Hutter is mad and should have been locked up long ago [...] I’m not going to let your vain-madness kill my wife."

And Thomas intervenes, to convince Harding that Nosferatu exists, as he says: “Please, it is my fault! Forgive me my dear, sweet friend!” Which, again, tells the audience he didn’t listen to Ellen when she told him it was her who summoned Orlok (“I brought this evil upon us”). He doesn't believe in her supernatural powers nor that she has any agency. It's all on Orlok and on himself, and once the count is destroyed it all be over, then..

While the Victory society archetypes come together to destroy Orlok, Professor Von Franz validates Ellen power and gives her back her agency. He also confirms what Orlok has told her twice already ("You are not for the living. You are for human kind."): "In heathen times you might have been a great priestess of Isis." She doesn't belong to Victorian society, where she will always be demonized and ostracized because of her nature/power. Ellen could have been a great priestess in Pagan times. But the modern world has no place for beings like her, him, or Orlok. Yet, she's their redemption, and salvation.("Their", "us" and "ours" as in Von Franz and Orlok). 

As Friedrich Harding dies, so does Ellen and Thomas’ marriage, as she accepts Orlok covenant and re-pledges herself to him, vowing to be one with him ever-eternally. Ellen’s “Victorian illusion” is shattered, and she no longer deceives herself. And the last image Robert Eggers leaves us from the Victorian patriarch and the Victorian female role model is Friedrich dead on top of his wife’s corpse, both riddled with "blood plague", after he sexually assault her (which mirrors Ellen and Orlok's scene, where the corpse can actually consent to the act). But while Ellen and Orlok are discovered in the sunlight, Friedrich and Anna are in the dark. 

"I cannot bear anymore."

And this is the true horror of women’s oppression in Victory society. Women were property of their husbands, with no agency whatesover, her bodies and sexuality owned by their husbands, fully dominated by them (even in death), who could physically and sexually assault them with no fear of repercussions, and infected them with "blood plagues" (especially syphilis) quite often. God-fearing, Christian values, morality, decency and concern with social reputation all fall apart in this scene, as Victorian society hypocrisy is brought to light by Professor Von Franz, the occult scholar.

But Thomas Hutter will desperately try to hold on to his “Victorian husband role” and to vengeance until the bitter end, because everything it's the demon's fault, and his own fault, as well, because Ellen is his property, and when Orlok is destroyed Ellen "sickness" will go away. And when he finds Ellen and Orlok, he projects these ideals onto them: Ellen was the victim of a terrible sacrifice to save them all. Not even in death, Ellen has agency over herself in Thomas’ eyes, like Anna didn’t in Friedrich’s. Because that's the Victorian way, and that's why Ellen chooses Orlok, and in doing so, she's reclaiming ownership over her own power (death) and sexuality (sex).

"Ellen..."

In the end, Thomas symbolizes the failed Victorian husband, who couldn't control nor take ownership over his wife. He didn't become like Friedrich Harding, his ambition and aspiration. Ellen reclaimed her sexuality (sex) and her power (death) for herself, as she is reborn as the great Pagan priestess she was always meant to be, as Orlok, the Pagan enchanter of Zalmoxis, gifts her with the secrets of life and death, and immortality.