Introduction
Bram Stoker’s Dracula, first published in 1897, is rightfully considered, along with Frankenstein and The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde, to be one of the triumvirate of classic Victorian horror fiction. Partly set in London, Dracula has spawned dozens of film and television interpretations, as well as providing the inspiration for an entire genre of vampire fiction. While it has never been out of print and continues to appear on bookshop shelves to this day, it wasn’t a huge best seller when it was first published.
Its often overlooked rival, The Beetle, also published in 1897, actually outsold Dracula six times over, and received a far more positive critical response at the time.
Richard Marsh: From Scandal to Success
The author of this lost classic was Richard Marsh, who was born Richard Bernard Heldmann in North London on 12 October 1857. His parents both had connections to the lace manufacturing industry.
His earliest fiction appeared in Alfred Harmsworth’s Union Jack magazine, which later became famed for its detective stories featuring the fictional character, Sexton Blake. Heldmann, as he was then known, rose to the position of the magazine’s deputy editor. However, his career was brought to an abrupt end when, in 1884, he was found guilty of fraudulently issuing forged cheques and sentenced to eighteen months hard labour.
On release from prison he began writing under the pseudonym Richard Marsh, and again enjoyed success, publishing his fiction in periodicals and magazines.
The Beetle’s Early Popularity
The Beetle was serialised in another Harmsworth publication, Answers, under the title The Peril of Paul Lessingham: The Story of a Haunted Man. Weekly instalments appeared from 13 March to 19 June 1897. It was so popular that it was then released as a novel later that same year, under the much shorter and more ominous title The Beetle – A Mystery. It quickly sold out during its first print run.
The Beetle vs Dracula: Shared Themes
There are similarities between Marsh’s novel and Bram Stoker’s rival. Both pander to the irrational Victorian fear of the foreigner. Dracula hails from the Carpathian Mountains, The Beetle from Egypt.
Both characters are of supernatural origin. Dracula, at the time of the novel, is around four hundred years old. The Beetle is a much older entity, perhaps thousands of years old.
Both can exert power over their victims through hypnosis, and both possess a strange ability to transform. Dracula becomes a bat or a dog, whereas the Beetle—either a human who can transform into a bug or a bug who can transform into a human—can also change sex.
Both arrive on British shores with malicious intent: Dracula to spread vampirism, and the Beetle to take revenge on a Member of Parliament for the death of the High Priestess of the Egyptian cult of Isis.
Narrative Style and Characters
Both novels are written from the perspective of multiple characters. Dracula is told in epistolary style through letters, diaries, and journals. Marsh’s tale, meanwhile, is relayed from the perspectives of four characters and their encounters with the Beetle:
- Robert Holt, an impoverished former clerk
- Sidney Atherton, an aspiring inventor
- Marjorie Lindon, a determined young socialite
- Augustus Champnell, a private detective (who would reappear in later works by Marsh).
At the centre of their accounts is Paul Lessingham, a rising MP, who had his own fateful encounter with the Beetle years earlier in Egypt.
London as a Gothic Setting
The novel makes full use of the geography of Victorian London, taking us from a strange villa near the Hammersmith workhouse to Paul Lessingham’s townhouse in Lowndes Square, Knightsbridge.
As the story progresses, Westminster Bridge and the House of Commons are woven into the narrative, before a thrilling chase hurtles from Waterloo station in south London to Limehouse in the East End, and King’s Cross in north west London, where a train departure results in a climactic wreck near Luton.
Influence on Stoker
Stoker himself acknowledged The Beetle’s popularity, citing it as a direct influence on his 1903 novel The Jewel of the Seven Stars, which explores similar territory in Egyptian mythology.
Stage and Screen Adaptations
Not only did The Beetle outsell Dracula, Marsh also pipped Stoker to the post by twelve years with a big screen adaptation. The Beetle (1919), produced by Barker Films and directed by Alexander Butler, starred Leal Douglas as the Beetle’s seductive high priestess.
The novel and film script also inspired a stage play which toured the provinces and debuted in October 1928 at the Strand Theatre (now the Novello) in Aldwych. Written by Irish playwright JB Fagan, it starred Catherine Lacey, who later appeared with Boris Karloff in The Sorcerers (1967).
By 1928, however, The Beetle was overshadowed by another stage adaptation. Hamilton Deane, once Bram Stoker’s assistant, brought Dracula to the stage with the blessing of Stoker’s widow. Its success in the West End led to a Broadway production starring Bela Lugosi, which in turn secured him the role in Universal’s 1931 Dracula.
The die was cast. Dracula became the global icon of horror, further boosted by Universal’s simultaneous Spanish-language version.
📚Have a read: A Hidden Icon: Ivor Novello
The Beetle’s Decline and Later Revivals
While The Beetle could have joined Universal’s pantheon of monsters, it never received the Hollywood treatment. The reels of the 1919 silent film are now considered lost or destroyed.
Yet the story endured: a BBC Radio 4 adaptation in 1997 was so popular it was repeated in 2014 and 2021. After years out of print, the novel is now once again available.
The Scarab Beetle and Egyptian Symbolism
The scarab beetle was a significant symbol in Egyptian mythology, associated with Khepri and Isis. Scarab motifs can be seen in London today—on the base of Cleopatra’s Needle on the Embankment and on the onyx sphinxes to either side. The British Museum’s Egyptian collection also displays many beetle artefacts.
📚Have a read: British Museum: The False Door of Ptahshepses
🎧Listen Now: Episode 25: The British Museum.
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