A Corpus-Based Study of Olfactory Representation in Victorian Fiction

Mahrukh Naheed; Ayaz Ul Haq; Arif Amanat

doi:10.35484/ahss.2026(7-I)17

Authors

Mahrukh Naheed BS Scholar, Department of English language &literature, University of Central Punjab (UCP) Pakistan
Dr. Ayaz Ul Haq Visiting Faculty Member, University of Central Punjab, Rawalpindi Campus, Punjab, Pakistan
Arif Amanat Assistant Professor, Department of English Language & Literature, University of Central Punjab, Rawalpindi Campus, Punjab, Pakistan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35484/ahss.2026(7-I)17

Keywords:

Olfaction, Victorian Fiction, Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker Corpus Linguistics, Collocation Analysis

Abstract

This paper explores the ideological construction of moral and physical decay using olfactory imagery in The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) by Oscar Wilde and in Dracula (1897) by Bram Stoker. Using a mixed-method model, the study uses the AntConc (Version 4.3.1) to perform a collocation analysis of the specific olfactory node words to determine statistically significant lexical groups. Through the juxtaposition of botanical excess that Aestheticism is linked with and the decay of the body that is associated with the Gothic, the paper will maintain that smell is a moral and biological diagnostic tool used to reveal the anxieties hidden behind the facades of Victorian respectability.