Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung devoted great part of their careers to the study of dreams, crafting complex systems of interpretation and symbolism. Both Freud and Jung regarded dreams as a window into our unconscious mind; where forgotten memories, repressed desires and unresolved conflicts lie in the darkness. As Carl Jung wrote, dreams are "a product of nature that enables us to know the truth about ourselves". Freud believed dreams are a manifestation of repressed desires and conflicts, associated with sexuality, while Jung rejected most of Freud's focus on sexual undertones, and embraced symbolic and archetypal interpretation of dreams, with concepts like shadow self, animus/anima and mythologems–mythological motifs (common to the universal human experience, the "collective unconscious").
One of the basic elements of Jungian interpretation of dreams is the dreamer owns the dream, as it's a product of the unconscious mind of the individual, and not something external. Jung believed in Compensation Theory: "the vast majority of dreams are compensatory. They always stress the other side in order to maintain the psychic equilibrium"; when the dreamer is repressing or neglecting something in their “waking” life, dreams will act as “compensatory” to balance the psyche and the conscious attitudes and beliefs. "Dreams, I maintain, are compensatory to the conscious situation of the moment".
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"Professor... My dreams grow darker. Does evil come from within us or from beyond?"_7743.jpg)
In Jungian psycology, dreams are valuable tools to work inner conflicts and unacknowledged aspects of the Self, as such Carl Jung believed individuals meet their “Shadow” in their dreams, which are the repressed, rejected, hidden and deemed unacceptable parts of the Self, and reveal what needs healing and integration. At the center of Jungian dream analysis, is "integration of shadow" and the "individuation process": integrating the shadow and other unconscious elements into the conscious personality, to achieve wholeness and self-realization. The "shadow" is not to be destroyed, but redeemed and integrated.
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According to Beth Shane, the novel creates this ambiguity “to perpetuate and to exacerbate contemporary [Victorian] views regarding the radical instability of female nature”. The author concludes “Lucy's encounter with the vampire brings only latent impulses to the surface”, where Bram Stoker explores “this physiological uncertainty to perpetuate the sensational terror that all female sexuality is monstrous, threatening to render the British man a debased specimen of his former glory”. In this way, “Stoker's novels enact the same anxious rhetoric that likewise informs the portrait of female sexuality in nineteenth-century sexology”.
This was the thesis Robert Eggers adapted, as he named 1980's Feminist Literary criticism of the "Dracula" novel as sources for his re-interpretation of this tale, and the "first bite" of Count Orlok in Ellen happened at the prologue, when he, as the folk vampire, infected her with disease: sexual desire, hence establishing vampirism as a metaphor for sexual desire in this story. Here, however, there's also a certain ambiguity, since the masturbation is subtextual, and not explicit, and the Count's literal bite is connected to folk methods of vampirism (suffocation), with the purpose of killing Ellen and get her soul. This further consolidates Ellen is sex, while Count Orlok is death in the narrative (until they become "sex and death" at the end).
Ellen, like Lucy Westenra, has been a somnambulist since infancy, long before she conjured Count Orlok. As Robert Eggers discussed: “in the 19th century, somnambulism wasn’t just sleepwalking. There were medical theories suggesting that people with somnambulism were better receptors for the ‘other realm.’ This concept became a key to unlocking who Ellen could be — a person who doesn’t fit into 19th-century society. Press notes even say she’s as much a victim of 19th-century society as she is of the vampire itself, which is true. She’s isolated, misunderstood, and burdened by a part of herself that others can’t see. It’s called hysteria, it’s called melancholy, and it manifests in different ways."
As mentioned in another post, this was the genesis of what Robert Eggers' Ellen would be: "I mean, in Stoker, like Lucy and Mina just happened to be convenient necks that are in Whitby, and Lucy, like Ellen is a somnambulist.” And he elaborated: “Ellen in the Murnau film is described as a somnambulist, and sleepwalkers in the 19th century, even by a lot of medical doctors, were believed to have sort of insight into another realm, into the shadow side of the world”.
Count Orlok is also a metaphorical figure, as supernatural creatures, in Gothic tales, often are. As Ellen declares, he is "her shame" and "her melancholy", the repressed parts of her psyche, and her shadow self in Anima/Animus, opposite forces, feminine and masculine. As Lily-Rose Depp has explained about Count Orlok and Ellen: "There is a real yearning and connection that goes both ways between the two of them. That was an interesting line to toe because Rob [Eggers] wanted there to be, especially, without giving anything away, a real palpable sensuality in those [late] scenes [...] Because he also represents the darkness within her that she’s trying to come to terms with." And this "darkness" is connected with female sexuality, as Robert Eggers has been open about describing his Count Orlok as a "phallic figure", and fitting with the repressed Victorian setting, but with her psychic gifts, as well. According to Depp, "at the heart of it [the story], for me at least, it’s about a girl who’s just super ashamed of this pull that she has to this other realm and doesn’t even have the tools to talk about it."
The actress would further elucidate on this topic: "As she [Ellen] says in the film, Count Orlok is that thing inside her: this shame. Something bad. Things that weren't acceptable at the time and, in her view, made her unlovable. So in the story, she has to cope, not only with the threat from Count Orlok, but, most importantly, with herself." According to Depp, "Nosferatu himself is the physical manifestation of that darkness and those darker desires that she’s learning to come to terms with." “This demonic, dark fairy tale could be a young woman torn between two men, both representing different parts of what she wants. The desire and disgust serves as a mirror for the shame that we feel, certainly the shame that I’m sure a lot of women felt at the time.”
As Robert Eggers explains: “[Orlok] represents a sort of forbidden desire for Ellen." In a different interview, the director added: "She [Ellen] has this understanding of this other world, and this other way of thinking that she doesn’t have language for, so she’s isolated. But the pull to it is very strong, and so people consider her melancholic and hysterical, and we can see her fighting within herself. I think having it stem from the realities of a woman who’s a victim of 19th-century society is something that makes it hopefully work. I think also maybe because the vampire is physically repulsive [a rotten corpse] adds another layer where you have the eroticism mixed with the repulsion in a very clear way.”
I. Ellen's Torture and "Shame"
While in both 1922 and 1979 adaptations of "Nosferatu", Ellen/Lucy goes to the beach on her own, in Robert Eggers' re-telling she's always accompanied by Anna Harding. As Friedrich Harding will later explain: "For heaven’s sake, you cannot leave unaccompanied", connected to early 19th century social morals. Ellen needs to be chaperoned, and Friedrich Harding is the current responsible for her, while her husband is away (as he'll call himself "her caretaker").
In Werner Herzog version, Lucy is waiting for Jonathan's return, or receiving any news from him, since she's deeply worried and the narrative establishes the couple met and fell in love at the beach, making the thematic connection.
In the book, Lucy and her friend Mina Murray, while on vacation at Whitby, go for walks on the beach, as it's somewhat fashionable: "Between it and the town there is another church, the parish one, round which is a big graveyard, all full of tombstones. This is to my mind the nicest spot in Whitby, for it lies right over the town, and has a full view of the harbour and all up the bay to where the headland called Kettleness stretches out into the sea. It descends so steeply over the harbour that part of the bank has fallen away, and some of the graves have been destroyed. In one place part of the stonework of the graves stretches out over the sandy pathway far below. There are walks, with seats beside them, through the churchyard, and people go and sit there all day long looking at the beautiful view and enjoying the breeze."
Ellen appears consumed by her own thoughts and asks Anna a strange question, while they walk among the graves of the souls lost at sea: "Do you ever feel, at times, as if you were not – as if you were not a person? 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?"
As Robert Eggers explained about his Ellen: "She's an outsider. She has this understanding about the shadow side of life that is very deep, but she doesn't have language for that. She's totally misunderstood and no one can see her". According to the director this is connected with her being "born in the wrong era", "stuck in this period, is a victim of 19th-century society as much as she’s a victim of the vampire. She’s alone, she doesn’t have anyone who she can connect with, she loves her husband, but he doesn’t fully see her. The tragedy of this story is that the person who does see her is a fucking demon." Eggers also described his protagonist's inner conflict: "Lily-Rose Depp, who plays Ellen, describes it as ‘a battle against the darkness that all of these characters are fighting’. But to me, Ellen is fighting the same battle internally. I think she has, you know, almost a war going on inside of her.”
Ellen, as described by Eggers, "always understood and sensed the other, and she's highly tuned into the otherwordly. She's a deep person, but she doesn't have the language to talk about this stuff. As a young woman in this period, she doesn't have any authority. So she's being called melancholic and crazy, and so forth. So as much as Orlok is a demon, there's something he offers. Until she meets Von Franz, no one else is able to even possibly communicate with her". The director’s intention was always for his Ellen to “understanding things on a very deep level, [but] doesn’t have the language to articulate her experiences.”
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This dynamic is explored in the interactions between Ellen and Anna Harding, as the latter does not understand what Ellen is talking about, and dismisses it as a consequence of her "sickness". Ellen, as Robert Eggers explained, does not have the language to understand herself, either, and struggles to articulate her thoughts: "It’s as if there is something at play that is too awe-full or grave to explain."
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While Anna calls it "God", Ellen calls it "destiny" in connection to the sky and sea. This will find parallel in the narrative when Count Orlok tells her "Yet, even now we are fated", and Professor Von Franz taunts Thomas: "In vain! In vain! You run in vain! You cannot out-run her destiny!" The association with Count Orlok is clear: he'll arrive to Wisburg by sea, and he's a Solomonar, a great sorcerer with power over storms and winds (sky); which he'll also use on his journey, as he enchants: "Nature, increase thy thunders, and hasten me upon the wings of thy barbarous winds".
Anna Harding, like Emma Corrin revealed, is "Lutheran from a conservative household", and she is portrayed as a religious and God-fearing woman. Yet, she, like most characters from the "Dracula" novel, attest to Lucy Westenra's innocence and purity, and doesn't take her words as "blasphemous" or anything of that sort, but as a consequence of her melancholy, as she calls Ellen a "sweet romantic" and "Leni, your words spring from your honest heart". As Anna tells her husband, Ellen is "blameless of her malady". Anna, according to Corrin, is “torn between her religious belief and this unconditional friendship [with Ellen]”.
This finds reference in the "Dracula" novel when Dr. Jack Stewart says something similiar: "Lucy, you are an honest hearted girl, I know. I should not be here speaking to you as I am now if I did not believe you clean grit, right through to the very depths of your soul.”
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Mina Murray also comments on Lucy's sensitive nature: "Lucy is so sweet and sensitive that she feels influences more acutely than other people do. Just now she was quite upset by a little thing which I did not much heed […] I greatly fear that she is of too super sensitive a nature to go through the world without trouble. She will be dreaming of this tonight, I am sure.”
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Ellen's internal conflict is also visible in this scene, as she weights on her words before Anna's reaction. As Lily-Rose Depp explained about her character: "this is an internal battle for Ellen as much as an external one. She's been struggling her whole life with trying to accept the darkness within and that there is much more to her than just the kind of well-behaved, perfect wife that everybody seems to want to see." And this connects with Ellen as a "victim of 19th century society", a time period when, per Depp's words "there was a lot less room for a woman to have basically any complexities about her, or any sort of mental struggles at all were easily written off or trying to be solved by some ridiculous treatment, like tying her corset even tighter so that her womb wouldn't be traveling around the body.”
As Lily-Rose Depp explained about Ellen’s trances: “We worked with an amazing movement coach who helped me so much. Her name's Maria-Gabrielle Roti. She helped me tremendously to choreograph all of those moments and also make sure that we were reading them in a part of her artwork, because it's the external manifestation of the internal war and pain that she's going through.”
In the "Dracula" novel, Lucy also wonders: “My dear Mina, why are men so noble when we women are so little worthy of them? […] I really felt very badly. Why can't they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want her, and save all this trouble? But this is heresy, and I must not say it.” This faint whisper will explore into a monstrous and ravishing appetite when she’s turned into a vampire. In another letter to Mina, Lucy writes: “I suppose that we women are such cowards that we think a man will save us from fears, and we marry him. [...] Oh, why must a man like that be made unhappy when there are lots of girls about who would worship the very ground he trod on? I know I would if I were free, only I don't want to be free.” And this is the internal conflict Robert Eggers explored on his Ellen/Lucy.
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Cathy is mentally devastated by the constant fighting between Edgar and Heathcliff, and, then by being separated from Heathcliff, and him running off with Isabella. Cathy’s mind and body are consumed by her passionate feelings for Heathcliff, and she’s not able to control herself. When he goes to visit her, behind Edgar’s back, they finally confess their love for each other and Cathy blames him, and accuses him of killing her, comparing her passion for him with murder: "You have killed me—and thriven on it, I think". In her death bed, Cathy, after giving birth, calls out for Heathcliff, saying she won’t ever rest until he’s dead by her side: “Heathcliff, if I dare you now, will you venture? If you do, I'll keep you. I'll not lie there by myself: they may bury me twelve feet deep, and throw the church down over me, but I won't rest till you are with me. I never will.”
Cathy famously declares she’s Heathcliff, as in they share the same soul, the same spirit, soulmates: “he’s [Heathcliff’s] more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same, and [Edgar’s] is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire.” For his part, Heathcliff feels the same, as he declares, after Cathy's death, he cannot live with his soul in the grave: "You said I killed you–haunt me then. The murdered do haunt their murderers. I believe–I know that ghosts have wandered the earth. Be with me always–take any form–drive me mad. Only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! It is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!”
Several Feminist literary critics have interpreted Cathy’s madness in “Wuthering Heights” as a result of her imprisonment. This topic is explored in the book “The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination” by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar. Themes of childhood vs. motherhood, freedom vs. imprisonment, domestic sphere vs. outdoors, society vs. nature are present in Cathy's perceived descent into madness, as Nelly becomes the representative of patriarchal authority to report her behavior.
When Cathy meets the Lintons, she’s “domesticated”, robbed of her independence, nature and individuality, as she seeks to become socially acceptable. She decides to marry Edgar Linton, and struggles to define her identity as a woman in her husband’s household. Her confinement in Thrushcross Grange (society) makes her life unbearable, she wants to return to her Wuthering Heights and to Heathcliff (nature), and this leads to her premature death: "I wish I were a girl again, half savage and hardy, and free... Why am I so changed? I'm sure I should be myself were I once among the heather on those hills."
To Gubar and Gilbert, it’s Cathy’s marriage to Edgar that causes her to feel trapped, as she can no longer make sense of the world, sees things entirely from her own perspective, and is, ultimately, confined to her bed with illness. This connection between mental breakdown and imprisonment is common to many Gothic tales and Romantic poems, notably Lord Byron’s “The Prisoner of Chillon” and some of Emily Brontë’s Gondal poems.
We see something similar with Ellen's character in “Nosferatu” (2024); she has a clear connection to nature, as, like she tells Professor Von Franz, enjoyed being within the forest and the fields, and now she wants to go to the beach. Her father forbid her from being outside; and started her “domestication” and imprisonment in the domestic sphere, which will continue in her marriage to Thomas Hutter, as he seeks to buy them a bigger house and a maid because that’s what Ellen deserves. Yet, Ellen does not want any of this, as analysed in the previous posts, all she wants is love and freedom, and those are her greatest aspirations.
II. "My Dreams Grow Darker"
Ellen's "night wanderings" return to her after Count Orlok compells her to "dream of me", as seen in the previous post, which finds reference in the "Dracula" novel, as Lucy's sleepwalking returns as the Count is on his way to Whitby: "Then, too, Lucy, although she is so well, has lately taken to her old habit of walking in her sleep."
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However, in the novel, Count Dracula is not the only character on his way to Whitby: “Arthur Holmwood, only son of Lord Godalming, is coming up here very shortly, as soon as he can leave town, for his father is not very well, and I think dear Lucy is counting the moments till he comes. She wants to take him up in the seat on the churchyard cliff [beach] and show him the beauty of Whitby. I daresay it is the waiting which disturbs her. She will be all right when he arrives […] Lucy is more excitable than ever, but is otherwise well.”
As seen in previous posts, Robert Eggers gave references to Sir Arthur Holmwood to both Count Orlok and Friedrich Harding. And Anna Harding believes Ellen's distress is about Thomas disappearance (her husband), like Mina Murray reveals Lucy is anxious about her beloved Arthur's arrival. As such, Robert Eggers reframed Ellen's wish to go to the beach as connected to her waiting for Count Orlok to arrive, and not for Thomas/Jonathan as in Werner Herzog's adaptation.
As Thomas manages to escape Castle Orlok, Ellen has a vision or premonition of said moment, as he flungs himself into the river: which makes a visual callback to Elisabeta's suicide in Francis Ford Coppola "Bram Stoker's Dracula" (1992) and a reference to Lucy's favorite seat at the beach: “Oh, why did you tell us of this? It is my favorite seat, and I cannot leave it, and now I find I must go on sitting over the grave of a suicide."
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Mina describes Lucy's reaction and how she brings her to the beach for walks, in the hope she won't sleepwalk at night: “Lucy was full of pity […] looked at it in an agonized sort of way […] I think it will be best for her to go to bed tired out physically, so I shall take her for a long walk by the cliffs to Robin Hood's Bay and back. She ought not to have much inclination for sleep-walking then.”
The context around Ellen's premonition seems to indicate how Count Orlok died in the late 16th century: she's at the beach, there's a reference to the "grave of a suicide", Friedrich Harding (Count Orlok's mirror foil character) is in the background and a bird is overheard (which is a reference to 1922 "Nosferatu", where Nosferatu is often referred to as "death bird"). Count Orlok death by drowning would explain his broken voice and “loud and asthmatic" breathing; while he does not need oxygen to survive (only to be able to speak), this can indicate his airways are damaged by more than decomposition, and point to his cause of death.
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As Aaron Taylor-Johnson discussed about his character: "It was a very misogynistic, male-centric way of thinking in that period in time. There's this perversion or sort of erotic thing that's happening in her, in all her sort of contortions when she's possessed. So the men in the room don't know how to look at her. They can't handle this very beautiful woman rolling around the floor; they think it's sinful."
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This is connected to "the threat of female sexuality" theme from the "Dracula" novel, as Charlotte Duke writes on her essay "Sexuality as Disease in Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla": "the physical figure of the sick woman is one of the principal ways in which female sexuality manifests as a contagious affliction in Dracula. Through the portrayal of Lucy Westenra and her degeneration into vampirism, Stoker alludes to discourses surrounding male attitudes towards women’s illness, and how they are shaped by theories about the spread of infection."
Anna Harding is the perfect Victorian woman archetype, and she appears content with her gender role of wife and mother (although her blood plague fever will reveal otherwise). And Friedrich Harding doesn’t want Ellen anywhere near his wife, nor their daughters (fear of contagion), and reluctantly accepts the friendship between them, out of respect for his long-time friend, Thomas. Harding sees Ellen as a bad influence on his wife and children, and as a social embarrassment to Thomas, as he'll chastise Ellen for her behavior.
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Harding 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”). He also considers Ellen a burden on his household, which Anna herself agrees, but she loves her, and, as such, endures it.
This will culminate with Friedrich blaming Ellen for Anna's sickness and demand the Hutters to return to their own house. Ellen tries to tell Friedrich about Count Orlok, but he's not having it because 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” and the embodiment of female sexuality manifesting as a contagious disease.
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Nevertheless, Friedrich Harding is Count Orlok's narrative mirror foil, and, as such, he's correct about Ellen, because he, like the Count (and Professor Von Franz) sees and recognizes her true nature. He knows it was Ellen who brought this "evil" upon his household and family; she's the one who gives Count Orlok entrance into the Harding household, and she's the reason the Count infects the Hardings. And like the Count, Harding also knows Ellen is not "possessed" and her "hysterical spells" are all on her (“her whims”).
But while the Count represents heathen times and the occult, Harding is “Victorian lenses” (19th century society and Christianity). Both characters also incorporate different facets of Sir Arthur Holmwood and his relationship with Lucy Westenra. Harding embodies Arthur's repulse and hatred towards vampire Lucy and "the foul Thing that we had so dreaded and grown to hate".
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This finds reference in the "Dracula" novel: “Lucy seems to have become as much in love with the spot as I am, and it is hard to get her away from it when it is time to come home for lunch or tea or dinner. This afternoon she made a funny remark. We were coming home for dinner, and had come to the top of the steps up from the West Pier and stopped to look at the view, as we generally do. The setting sun, low down in the sky, was just dropping behind Kettleness. The red light was thrown over on the East Cliff and the old abbey [of Whitby], and seemed to bathe everything in a beautiful rosy glow. We were silent for a while, and suddenly Lucy murmured as if to herself . . . “His […] eyes again! They are just the same." It was such an odd expression, coming apropos of nothing, that it quite startled me. I slewed round a little, so as to see Lucy well without seeming to stare at her, and saw that she was in a half dreamy state, with an odd look on her face that I could not quite make out […] she appeared to be looking over at our own seat”.
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In this scene, Lucy sees Count Dracula, as he has already bitten her for the first time, but Mina is not aware of this, and calls for her: "I called Lucy's attention to the peculiar effect, and she became herself with a start, but she looked sad all the same. It may have been that she was thinking of that terrible night up there. We never refer to it, so I said nothing, and we went home to dinner.”
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Ellen has one of her trances at the end of this scene, after Friedrich and Anna Harding were discussing her pregnancy and he leans in for a kiss. She chastises her husband for daring to kiss her in a public space, and his answer is how he cannot resist her, others be damned.
As "female hysteria" is concerned this passionate exchange between Anna and Friedrich triggered Ellen's sexual repression, however, that's not the true meaning behind her shamanic ecstatic trances, as she's a seeress who puts herself into a trance state to communicate with the spiritual world, with Count Orlok. Robert Eggers reframed Lucy's somnambulism from the "Dracula" novel into something ancient and connected to Pre-Christian times.
As Lily-Rose Depp has said, Ellen is “not only being plagued by this demon… She’s also calling out to him”. Which is something the actress addressed, again: “she’s kind of calling the shots the entire time. And he [Orlok], you know, there’s a power play there. He’s trying to overtake her in this way, and, you know, destroy the lives of those around her. But, she calls out to him.” Talking about Ellen’s agency, Lily-Rose Depp shared: “The character, I found so incredibly empowering. I feel like there's so much strength to her, she has so much agency, also, in the story, without giving anything away. She kind of calls the shots in a very cool way, and I found her incredibly empowering and inspiring. I loved playing her.”
As a visual indication of this parallel: in this scene, Anna Harding's coat is of the same fabric as Count Orlok's mente coat, and both Ellen and Friedrich (who initiate the contact) touch their hats.
From then on, Ellen will enter a trance state every night, which finds reference in the "Dracula" novel: "Lucy walks more than ever, and each night I am awakened by her moving about the room. Fortunately, the weather is so hot that she cannot get cold. But still, the anxiety and the perpetually being awakened is beginning to tell on me, and I am getting nervous and wakeful myself. Thank God, Lucy's health keeps up.”
In this story, Ellen's corset is connected with her medicalization by 19th century society, and considered a vital part of her medical treatment. As Lily-Rose Depp discussed, in connection to Ellen being diagnosed as “hysteric”: “there was a lot less room for a woman to have basically any complexities about her, or any sort of mental struggles at all were easily written off or trying to be solved by some ridiculous treatment, like tying her corset even tighter so that her womb wouldn't be traveling around the body.”
Ellen is a "figure of the sick woman", and the medicalization of her body by 19th century society is a key element to her character, as choreographer Marie-Gabrielle Rotie, has explained: "The messages that come across [in the film] are about female desire, female eroticism, and medicalization of the female body [...] There are still things that women don't talk about with each other or admit to. In different cultures, it's completely taboo, or your body does not belong to you to a certain extent. It belongs to your husband or to the patriarchies,” she says. “For Ellen to find her way through all of that and then to reach her own conclusion was an interesting journey to take with her.”
Costume designer Linda Muir, also talked about how the corset is a representation of Ellen’s repression and control by 19th century society: “one example of costume design serving the plot, as you mentioned, is Ellen's corset. I came across a particular style called a fan-laced corset during my research, which l've also referred to as a "self-tying corset"— though it doesn't actually tie itself! This type of corset can be tightened from the front, allowing the wearer to adjust it independently. For Robert, this design was ideal. When Ellen is in the throes of her supernatural connection with Orlok, the men around her - Sievers and Harding -try to impose control by tightening her corset. Because of the fan-laced design, we can see her anguish and convulsions, as well as the men's oppressive actions, without needing to obscure her face or body by laying her prone.”
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Marie-Gabrielle Rotie explained how Ellen is trying to escape her corset: “I was really interested in the medicalization of [Ellen's] body. That's why both Rob [Eggers] and I leaned into looking at notions of hysteria and the documentation of hysteria in the 19th century, which tallied extremely well with the period in which [the film] is set. I was thinking about how that body is literally corsetted in. It's repressed, it's controlled, it's laced up, it's buttoned up— and how Lily might work against that and try to find her way out of it in some form.”
Robert Eggers discussed of his decision to make Ellen the protagonist: "I thought it was more interesting to see a woman with this deep understanding of the dark side of humanity and a connection to another realm who is not able to have these characteristics cultivated — a woman who is shut down and told she’s mad and hysterical, turning into someone with with agency in a world where she can’t have it, and she’s constantly fighting against being told no. She says, “I have to find him,” but she’s not allowed to even just leave the men’s sight, and she’s literally tied down to the bed."
On his adaptation of "Nosferatu", Robert Eggers explored what Charlotte Luke essays on her “Sexuality as Disease in Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla”: "this parallel of vampirism with sexual desire, and the men’s lack of understanding, influences their ‘contagionist’ decision to contain her [Lucy Westenra] in isolation for the duration of her illness. Dr. Van Helsing instructs his psychiatrist counterpart Dr. John Seward that Lucy should not leave her bedroom nor be left alone without a male warden during her illness, instructing Seward that Lucy is his ‘charge’, and to stay with her ‘all the night, and you must not let your sight pass from her’. Lucy is contained in her bedroom, and therefore within the male characters’ sphere of influence. The doctors have ultimate authority over her wellbeing, and their solution to her transgressions demonstrates their lack of comprehension of, and unease about, the disease of female sexual agency."
As such, Ellen's existence in the Hardings household is quarantined, as if she's suffering from some contagious disease which can endanger others; she's confined to their guestroom, tied to the bed, drugged with Ether, and her corset tightened beyond what would be deemed comfortable for the time period, and as a medical treatment to prevent her womb from wandering her body. The room itself has been stripped of decor, as if a hospital room.
Ellen's shamanic ecstatic trances also have another layer of significance. “Ecstasy”, in religious language is not connected to sex, as explained by historian Mircea Eliade, in “Zalmoxis, the Vanishing God”, is “considered a temporary death, for the soul was believed to leave the body”, allowing the priest or priestess to access and communicate with the spiritual world.” As such, Ellen’s trances also represent her desire to break free from her medicalized body and yearning for death (Count Orlok), as her soul temporarily leaves her earthly existence. As Robert Eggers also explained: "The physical performance is where you see that internal war. You see her literally at a breaking point".
Ellen’s corset consumes her until she tries to break free from it during the “I Know Him” scene, when she says to Thomas: “Can’t you see?! It doesn’t matter! We should never have married! We are already dead!” and she rips open her dress, a dress Thomas bought for her, and she exposes her corset, the visual representation of her medicalization by 19th century society. A corset Thomas also purchased for her, because women had no money nor property of their own in this time period. As Nicholas Hoult explained, this scene is the beginning of the end of Ellen and Thomas’ marriage, and the climax of them as a couple: “it's obviously the culmination of their whole relationship and journey. A lot is revealed, and it's also tragic and emotional.”
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As costume designer Linda Muir explains, Ellen’s costumes also represent how she’s liberating herself from this society, and provide a justification on why Ellen ends the film naked: “her true nature [takes over] in the end. She liberates herself by ripping herself open, ripping her striped dress open. She liberates herself by wearing the same garment over and over and over again when she's staying at Harding's home. So she's liberated herself in that she doesn't feel the need to dress up completely each and every day. And then she liberates herself completely in the end.”
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Both Robert Eggers and Willem Dafoe have been vocal about making a distinction between Professor Von Franz and his book counterpart Professor Von Helsing: "he sort of functions as the Van Helsing character. But I think he’s much more than that. He’s an occultist. He’s someone that’s involved in alchemy and mystical things". The actor revealed he didn't feel the need to pay tribute to past performances of the Van Helsing character because "this isn’t really quite a remake, it’s personal". Dafoe described Professor Von Franz as "a man that studies. He’s a man that deals with the occult, deals with the unseen world".
Eggers explained his creation of the character: "In the Murnau film, the Van Helsing character is called Bulwer and he doesn’t really do much of anything. And Bulwer sounds bad in English, so I gave a different name – Von Franz. Most of the other names were very closely related to the names in Stoker. So I did the same. And also Marie Louise von Franz is a prominent Jungian I like. Basically, Bulwer is described as being a follower of Paracelsus, who is a Swiss occultist, physician. Then I thought, Swiss? He’s a proto-Jungian. Interesting. There is a lot to play with. And I also felt that, like Van Helsing in the novel is both stuffy and wholesome, and so I wanted him to be neither stuffy nor wholesome." Speaking of the Professor's occult beliefs, Robert Eggers said: "[Dafoe’s] Von Franz has early-to-mid 19th century learned occult knowledge,” Eggers explains, “and I was thinking about Albin Grau, who was a practicing occultist.”
Friedrich Harding and Dr. Sievers go to the Professor's attic flat to ask for his help with Ellen's case, as the physician promised "he is the sole person who might be able to diagnose her". The space is hoarded with books, broken chairs, items that speak of his occult pursuits, and stray cats. Von Franz is shown to be more focused on his studies than on social etiquette of welcoming his guests.
Willem Dafoe defines his character as "an outsider, and he's sort of rejected with the exception of his former student", "not necessarily embraced by society at that point"; as such Von Franz represents "voice of the outsider" who gives "a different point of view" of the other characters. As the actor elaborates: "they ask for him to come to help sort things out, but they’re really suspicious of him, and when he makes his case, they’re not buying it".
Eventually, the Professor agrees to examine Ellen, and when he arrives at the Hardings household, he opposes Dr. Sievers' medical treatment of Ellen, right away, which is a subversion of the "Dracula" novel where Van Helsing gives Lucy an opiate after the blood transfusion, and, here, it's Victorian medicine that's the cause for Von Franz's concern (and not Dracula's vampirism).
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"When we were shown in, Mrs. Westenra met us. She was alarmed, but not nearly so much as I expected to find her. [...] Van Helsing and I were shown up to Lucy's room. If I was shocked when I saw her yesterday, I was horrified when I saw her today. She was ghastly, chalkily pale. The red seemed to have gone even from her lips and gums, and the bones of her face stood out prominently. Her breathing was painful to see or hear. Van Helsing's face grew set as marble, and his eyebrows converged till they almost touched over his nose. Lucy lay motionless, and did not seem to have strength to speak, so for a while we were all silent."
Willem Dafoe explains his character's movements have a deliberate physicality, a "watchful stillness", to suggest the Professor's deep connection to the otherworldly: "He’s a man who’s studied darkness his whole life,” Dafoe explains. “So he’s always aware of it, even when it’s not directly in front of him", describing the character as "a man who understands monsters. And to do that, you have to recognize the monster in yourself". And the actor elaborates: "he is someone that studies the unseen, studies things that are beyond – beyond this world and before this world. So he's a thinker, and he's curious, and he's in contact with those things".
The Kabbalistic Tree of Life (Ten Sephirot), with the Tree of Death (Qliphoth) on the left; while each Sephirah on the Tree of Life represent aspects of the Divine (wisdom, compassion, justice, etc.), its shadow side on the Qliphoth symbolizes the realms of chaos, darkness and unholiness.
In the Kabbalah, the Tree of Life and the Tree of Death are not separate, but conjoined. Each Sephirot on the Tree of Life, has a shadow correspondent in the Qliphoth, and the Kabbalistic purpose is not to destroy the Tree of Death, but redeem and reintegrate it to achieve wholeness, in a process similar to Carl Jung's integration of shadow.
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Willem Dafoe explains the relationship between the Professor and Ellen: among the "living" characters "he’s the only character that really sees what the Ellen character is going through", "rather than judging her because he understands the importance or the existence of the darkness". According to the actor, Von Franz shares a recognition with Ellen because they are "both outsiders. I come to her and there’s a recognition, there’s a complicity. He sees her, and there’s also an acknowledgment of the darkness". True to the Jungian inspiration for his character, the Professor, says Dafoe, "posits the idea that you have to recognize the dark side to appreciate the light. The light doesn’t exist without the dark. And he is a person that is studied at exploring the unseen and studied at wondering what is beyond this life that we have".
The Professor sees himself in Ellen, and can relate to her struggle as a victim of 19th century society: "when he arrives to help with this problem, he’s kind of rejected, but he finds some sort of complicity and understanding in what he sees in Ellen’s character, and that was a very important part of von Franz". As the actor explains: "there’s something beautiful about characters that have the outsider perspective because they see in a way that the others don’t see. They can often see the repression and the struggle of other people", yet, he doesn't have all the answers, either; "He struggles to reconcile the seen with the unseen, because he’s not getting a lot of support from people around him. Some of the irony, some of the humor comes out of that".
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Lily-Rose Depp has also discussed her character's connection to the Professor: "Ellen [is] as a woman experiencing “a real loneliness as well as a nascent sexuality.” While, as she says, this is “something that I think is everybody experiences kind of around that time, be it a girl, or a boy, or whoever, I think there’s not as much room for girls, especially at the time. 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, and that’s what I think is so beautiful about her relationship with Von Franz, Willem’s character, because he sees her in this way and understands her, I think, in a way that she longs to be understood.”
When she meets the Professor, Ellen feels heard and seen for the first time, as he listens to what she has to say without judgement, which gives the viewer a picture of what she has endured in this society her whole life. She shares her backstory with the Professor, and reveals to have “call out”, seeking company (“I was so very lonely, you see…”) and talks about a presence (shadow of Count Orlok), nightmares and “epilepsies” during her teenage years; as discussed in the prologue, masturbation was considered a form of epilepsy during this time period, and connected to Hysteria (Ellen’s diagnose). As Orlok enchants: “Soon, I will no longer be a shadow to you.”
Ellen says Thomas' love made her normal, but Von Franz is not convinced as he notices "Yet these visions and night wanderings have returned to you?". Like Willem Dafoe explained, Von Franz sees her repression. Ellen replies "he left on a fool's errand. I fear for him so", but next asks if evil comes from within or beyond because her dreams "grow darker".
Ellen and the Professor's relationship is evocative of Lucy Westenra remarks about Van Helsing in the "Dracula" novel: "I quite love that dear Dr. Van Helsing.", and a subversion of Werner Herzog adaptation of "Nosferatu" (1979), where Van Helsing dismisses Lucy Harker's concerns and beliefs about the supernatural because he's depicted as a "man of science".
That very night, the Professor conducts an examination of Ellen during her trance state, confirming to the viewer what the Victorian characters call "hysterical spells" is, in fact, her communicating with the spiritual world. A more detailed analysis of this topic can be found in another post. He conjures both angels and demons to compell Ellen to speak who is coming to her, using his Abraxas stone ring ("Yield before this ancient talisman!"); considered magical talismans or charms since the Middle-ages, connected to the Seven Olympic Spirits (Aratron (Saturn); Bethor (Jupiter); Phaleg (Mars); Och (Sun); Hagith (Venus); Ophiel (Mercury) and Phul (Moon); and to Gnosticism (personal spiritual knowledge above organized religion), who considered Abraxas as “the God above all Gods”.
Professor Von Franz and Count Orlok using their signet rings for magic workProfessor Von Franz conjures the protection of the angles Chamuel ("One who seeks God", angel of peaceful relationships, and considered one of the seven Archangels (who have the honor of living in God's direct presence in Heaven) by Jewish Kabbalah and some Christians), Haniel ("Joy of God", is the Archangel of joy who's known for taking Enoch to Heaven), and Zadkiel ("Righteousness of God", is the angel of God's mercy), and the demons Eligos (a "Great Duke of Hell", ruling 60 legions of demons. He reveals hidden things and knows the future of wars), Orabas (a "Great Prince of Hell", with 20 legions of demons under his control. He answers questions and gives one power and control over others), and Asmoday (the "King of Demons", in the legends of Solomon and the constructing of Solomon's Temple).
This conjuring is connected to Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa “De occulta philosophia” (1533), which provides instructions for invocation and communication with angelic and demonic forces, through sigils, amulets, magical alphabets, sound, perfumes, etc. The concept behind this conjuring is infusing the lower angelics orders with the light they receive from God. The demons, however, come from the "Ars Goetia" from the anonymous 17th-century grimoire "Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis" ("The Lesser Key of Solomon"), which will explain why the Professor is so interested in the "Solomonari codex of secrets" and his knowledge of Solomonic magic. And, more importantly, he'll recognize the man cursed as Nosferatu as a fellow occultist.
* * *
- Dissecting "Nosferatu" (2024) [Part 1]: Prologue
- Dissecting "Nosferatu" (2024) [Part 2]: Ellen’s Dreams and Thomas’ Aspirations
- Dissecting "Nosferatu" (2024) [Part 3]: Thomas Lost in Nosferatu Shadow (1/3)
- Dissecting "Nosferatu" (2024) [Part 3]: Thomas Lost in Nosferatu Shadow (2/3)
- Dissecting "Nosferatu" (2024) [Part 5]: A Connection Between These Cases
- Dissecting "Nosferatu" (2024) [Part 6]: Thomas Lost in Nosferatu Shadow (3/3)
- Dissecting "Nosferatu" (2024) [Part 7]: The Ending
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