The New Woman is a term which describes the rise of feminist power and status within the Victorian Era. The new woman opposes all acts of the traditional woman and is a female who fights for equality and status, and her own happiness. The traditional woman is someone who is controlled by her husband and children and keeps the living style well kept within the home, but has no other power or responsibilities outside of the home. In the novel “Dracula”, by Bram Stoker, Stoker’s view and support of the new women is not clearly presented because of the mix traits he has within his main female characters. Stoker presented his character Mina with traits that represent the new woman, but on the other hand he also included a character Lucy which is all for and represents the traditional woman.
Similar to Stoker, in the poem “The Goblin Market” by Christina Rossetti, the support of the new woman seems to be present but seems to be contradicted with the events that occur throughout the rest of the poem. On one hand the character Laura seems to represent the new women where she goes and fends for the forbidden fruit, on the other hand she seems to have been punished. Then again the author introduces the traits of the new woman with her sister Lizzie which fends and fought off the goblins in order to rescue her sister. Ultimately, in these two text it is not determined if the authors are in support or unsupportive of the new women because of the mixture of events and traits that occurs within these literature
Even though women such as Lucy demonstrate stereotypical female weakness, characters such as Mina defy the conventional submissive female, as an independent woman, a role uncommon of novels in this era. In addition, Mina, in comparison to men, possesses substantially stronger emotional fortitude and controls her emotions, while the men who are supposed to be strong expose emotional weakness and frailty. Ultimately, however, no matter Mina’s intelligence or strengths, the men continually suppress Mina’s vast amount of wisdom in order to maintain their perceived dominance. Nonetheless, Stoker’s messages throughout the novel regarding women silently protest the sexist expectations of the overly limiting Victorian era. Should today’s modern feminists take Stoker’s peaceful approach and protest subtly hoping for long-term change? Or should feminists act with violent protests in hope for prompt change? Gender equality will not happen overnight, however, instead of rushing minuscule modifications with violent protest, society must patiently wait for productive and peaceful change, in order to prevent an even larger
Mina clearly demonstrates her awareness and knowledge of the New Woman movement; whereby she exhibits her familiarity of the debate by referring to the term “New Woman” twice in her journal entries. Grant Allen’s “purity school” New Woman consisted of female characters that expressed particular interest in social problems while still maintaining their propriety. This sense of knowledge is exhibited when Mina attempts to reassure the oversensitive Lucy as they stopped for a “severe tea” (Stoker 141): “I believe we should have shocked the ‘New Woman’ with our appetites. Men are more tolerant, bless them!” (Stoker 141). The New Woman was a common subject of controversy in journalism and fiction (Senf 34). Mina’s preliminary reference merely characterized her as a well-informed young woman of the 1890s. Mina remains neutral and simply suggests her familiarization with the New Woman’s assertion on greater freedom and physical activity. Bicycle riding, badminton playing and bloomer wearing women may have shocked certain conservative people of the 1890s, but they were not enough to worry Stoker’s heroine (Senf 34). Nor was it a shock to her that the New Woman was often characterized as a professional woman who was capable of financially supporting herself. After all, Mina easily fell under this category of the New Woman; her career was not an archetypal Victorian housewife. She was often “overwhelmed with work […] [because] the life of an assistant schoolmistress [was] sometimes trying” (Stoker 83). Mina is able to support herself and by using her note-taking talents she is also able to support her husband too, outside of her domestic role. This notion was revolutionary at the time. Gail Cunningham notes that while independence and in...
Birge, Barbara. "Bram Stoker's DRACULA: The Quest for Female Potency in Transgressive Relationships." Psychological Perspectives. 1994. 22-36.
Mina is also vastly unlike the contemporary female Gothic tropes due to her financial independence. Although Mina could be described as the ideal Victorian lady, Stoker also managed to include qualities associated with the much feared and controversial New Woman in her. She and Lucy mock the independence of the New Woman and joke that the New Woman will try to introduce the inversion of gender roles that contemporary society feared;
In order to discuss the decline in masculinity (or manhood) and moral values, synonym of religious values in both books, it becomes necessary to define what Late-Victorian society considered them to be. In Dracula, masculinity is defined almost exclusively by contrasting it with femininity. The men in the book are praised when they show the opposite qualities that women are described as possessing. While women are shown as obedient and complacent, men are stern and in command of themselves and situations. Men are expected to protect women while women expect and cherish the protection of men. While men are expected to face the unpleasant facts of life, the darkness and the evil, with integrity and courage, women are to be sheltered from danger to avoid the breakdown of their fragile characters. When the group headed by Van Helsing starts their mission of vanishing the Count and all the dangers he brings for England, the men unanimously decide to hide all the unpleasant facts f...
In Dracula, Bram Stoker explores the fantastic image of a sexually dominant woman within a patriarchal society. The battle between good and evil within the novel very much hinges upon feminine sexuality: Lucy and Nina are embodiments of the Victorian virtues, which Dracula threatens to corrupt,
Similar to almost every piece of literature ever created, Dracula by Bram Stoker has been interpreted many different ways, being torn at from every angle possible. Just as one might find interest in interpreting novels differently, he or she might also find interest in the plot, prose, or theme, all of which ultimately lead to the novels overall tone. Throughout the novel, it becomes blatant that the novel contains an underlying theme of female incompetence and inferiority. Through a true feminist’s eyes, this analysis can clearly be understood by highlighting the actions of Mina and Lucy, the obvious inferior females in the book. Through Stoker’s complete and utter manipulation of Mina and Lucy, he practically forces the reader to analyze the co-existence of dominant males and inferior females in society and to simultaneously accept the fact that the actual text of Dracula is reinforcing the typical female stereotypes that have developed throughout the ages.
Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, is a highly controversial work of fiction that is still being read for the first time today. Dracula touches many different categories including; sci-fi horror to 1800’s English romance literature. This is the main reason why the novel Dracula can be analyzed in many different ways using many different literary theories. The theory which stuck out most to me while reading this novel was the Feminist Theory. The Feminist Theory cannot be used to analyze Dracula as a whole novel, but it can be used in order to analyze the different female characters throughout the book. Therefore, Bram Stoker’s Dracula can be analyzed through the feminist theory by focusing on the characters Mina Harker, Lucy Westenra, and the three brides of Dracula.
In reading Bram Stoker's Dracula, I find the treatment of the two main female characters-- Lucy Westenra and Mina Harker-- especially intriguing. These two women are two opposite archetypes created by a society of threatened men trying to protect themselves.
In DRACULA, the general content is about the fighting between Dracula and humans, since Dracula tries to transform all the female characters into vampires. The language of the book is not very sexual, but the word “Voluptuousness” did shows up a lot in the book. The female characters, Mina, Lucy and the three sisters, they have different personalities, different attitude to love, and different virginity. When Dracula tried to transform them into vampires, they experience different processes and have different endings.
...sitive depiction of their sexual relationship. For Mina, however, renunciation of Dracula's evil must include the renunciation of her own physical needs and desires. The roles played by social mores and conceptions of gender and sexuality are, in the end, more than incidental. Indeed, the difference between Victorian England and 1990s America causes the subtle -- but significant -- valuation of the connections between good and evil and women and sexuality in two in many ways similar texts.
A so-called New Woman started to emerge and with her the idea that women could become independent and inhibit a space outside the home (Buzwell). This emergence of the New Women heralded a new age for ambitious women. As Lynn Abrams in an article for the BBC states: "The aim of first-wave feminists was to gain better education and employment opportunities for middle-class women, better working conditions and wages for working-class women, and eventually the vote - so that women might have some influence over their fate" (9). This New Woman can also be seen in Mina who works as a schoolteacher (Stoker 55), typewrites (Stoker 55), uses a stenograph (Stoker 55) and assists the men in their work (Stoker 208). However, the operative word here is assist. Although Mina exhibits many traits a New Women would have, she is still confined by Victorian norms. She is the men's assistant and more often than not excluded and not included in their vampire hunt. Mina symbolises an interim state between the Victorian angel and the feminist New Woman – not completely independent but not entirely domestic
As the saying goes, “Women can do everything Men can do.” In the Gothic Novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, there is a constant theme of sexuality, from both male and females in society. In the Victorian era, the roles of male and females have caused a lot of tension. After reading Dracula, some would argue the roles men and women hold in society. As mentioned in Dr. Seward’s Dairy from Val Halsing., “Ah, that wonderful Madam Mina! She has man’s brain—a brain that a man should have were he much gifted—and a woman’s heart. The good God fashioned her for a purpose, believe me, when He made that so good combination” (Stoker and Hindle, 2003 250). A women’s mind is not the always the first thing on a males mind. Some would overlook what a woman really has to offer.
In Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market,” the main foci are on feminism and the oppression of women by men. The first part of Rossetti’s message is given through her thoughts on feminism, which is surely a major theme in this poem. For instance, the two main characters, Laura and Lizzie, reside free of any positive male interaction. Considering Rossetti’s background as part of Victorian society, the conclusion can be made that Rossetti longed for a place where she could be free of masculine overbearance. Even so, she understood the impossibility of any such personally ideal world. The poem illustrates this realization by including the Goblin men, who seem to haunt the female characters. The Goblin men’s low-pitched cries follow the girls. Laura and Lizzie constantly hear the goblins in the forest: “…Morning and evening / Maids heard the goblins cry…” (Rossetti, 1713.) Even while the characters were alone or in the exclusive presence of women, the presence of the Goblin men exist...
...battle to life. In the novel, on the other hand, Stoker makes sure that his female character triumphs (by surviving) and that she returns home to “become a dutiful wife and caring mother”. This is where we could argue that “Stoker is much ahead of his times in portraying a ‘New Woman surpassing even the best male ‘professionals’ in terms of intellectual labor, a ‘gallant’ woman wit a remarkable ‘man-brain’ who helps save the empire, even though her power abruptly dimishes toward the end of the novel, and she is finally summoned home to become a traditional mother figure” (Kwan-Wai Yu 158). Although Stoker was very accurate in the new scientific and technological advances that he incorporated into Dracula, he was also very accurate in portraying a strong willful woman who is able to complete a job that was unwittingly given to her in the most extraordinarily manner.