Lust: The Moral Sucking Bite On Society

Obsessive, unlawful, greedy, and unnatural sexual desire establish the core of lust, one of the seven deadly sins. Consuming in its very essence, it rots away at anything that was once considered pure or moral. Dashiell Hammett's "Red Harvest" and Bram Stoker's "Dracula" are stories that effectively demonstrate the disastrous and catastrophic effects on society by the unbridled greed, ambition and lust of its inhabitants. Most importantly, both the characters of Dracula and Dinah Brand use sexuality and lust as a launching pad for their blind greed. Their decisions to follow their ravenousness hunger for personal gain, either financially or substantially, throw their respective societies into a nightmarish world where terror and horror rules. The disastrous and sinful mix of ambition, greed and lust is quite apparent through both novels, as is the use of this mix on and by female characters that are supposed to be traditionally pure. These very factors prove to be too much for both Personville and Whitby, disintegrating the core that was once was seen as a functioning society.

Both Hammett and Stoker's characters use lust and sexuality in order to get what they want, effectively demonstrating its destructive effects on those targeted by these 'weapons.' In Red Harvest, Dinah Brand is one of those characters. Described as a "soiled dove", "de luxe hustler" and "a big league gold-digger" (Hammett, 22), she uses her sexuality and the natural lustful animal instincts of men for her own purpose. She charms them, essentially trapping them into falling in love (or lust) with her. In order to keep her happy, the men spend frivolous amounts of money, which is the object and goal of her somewhat self-employment. Yet her lustful actions, fueled by greed, are responsible for the harm and deaths of some of her suitors. These very actions are responsible for the continuous disintegration of Personville, never allowing the town a chance to cleanse itself due to the blind greed that's swept its habitants.

In Stoker's case, Dracula lands in England and begins to work his lustful evil magic on Lucy Westenra for his own greedy ambition. Both women are chaste, pure, innocent of the world's evils, and devoted to their men. But Dracula threatens to turn the two women into their opposites, into women noted for their voluptuousness--a word Stoker turns to again and again--and unapologetically open sexual desire. ""The sweetness was turned to adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous wantonness." (Stoker, 185) Dracula succeeds in transforming Lucy, turning her into a raving vampire vixen. His greed and lustful ambition turns Lucy into a vampire, known as the 'Bloofer Lady.' She then goes on to terrorize the children in Hampstead Heath--the area where Lucy was buried--biting them, giving the children the same neck wound that she had received herself by Dracula. It is noteworthy to notice that the undead version of Lucy is no longer chaste or pure. Instead, she has gained a newfound forwardness with which she demands sexual satisfaction, using it at her disposal in order to continue on her evil path: "Arthur! Oh, my love, I am so glad you have come! Kiss me!"(Stoker, 188)

This is the goal of Dracula. He uses his luring lustful sexuality in order to feel his greedy ambition of dispersing his dark and evil influence over society. He turns Lucy into one of his weapons, using sexuality and bloody lust as tools to aid Dracula's in reaching his goal. At one point, he exclaims this very point by stating: "My revenge has just begun! I spread it over centuries and time is on my side." (Stoker, 267)

So therefore, Dracula's lustful ambition and greed of having his revenge and spreading his 'virus' upon the world took the life of Lucy and turned her into a vampire. Lucy then went on to do the same to the children of the area. Dracula's effect on society is immense and catastrophic, using his sexual lure to throw society into a terrorized mess. This is no different than Dinah Brand's action, though somewhat different in nature due to Dracula's supernatural existence. Yet the lust is still there in both novels and their catastrophic consequences and effects also remain present, no matter the difference in the themes and settings in these two novels.

Stocker and Hammett demonstrate the powerful mix of lust, sex and greed and its devastating effects on society. Yet when examined further, one notices that the corruption of the female genre is the true cause of this catastrophic fall of society. Stocker makes sure to demonstrate this. Late in the novel, Dracula mocks Van Helsing's crew, saying, "Your girls that you all love are mine already; and through them you and others shall yet be mine." (Stoker, 267) Here, the count voices a male fantasy that has existed since Adam and Eve were turned out of Eden: namely, that women's ungovernable desires leave men poised for a costly fall from grace.

This is a point that is also continuously voiced by Hammett in Red Harvest, using Dinah Brand as the prime subject. Her ungovernable desires for money and sex cause the downfall of the men trapped in her web. From Dan Rolff to Donald Willson to Max 'Whisper' Thaler, her sexually charged greed caused, directly or indirectly, the death of these men and the crimes that caused them. She is neither pure nor chaste. Rather she is corrupted. This causes her to be greedy and money hungry, and blind to the consequences of her actions. She causes the fall from grace for the men that fall for her, yet seems oblivious to it, her eyes only seeing financial gain. Dracula is the same way, his eyes only seeing the possibility