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Gender and sexuality in dracula essay
Dracula and sexuality
Women and literature during the victorian era essay
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In 1837 – 1901, the Victorian Era took place under Queen Victoria’s rule. It is a time that is known to consist of “…peace, prosperity, and national self-confidence for the United Kingdom” (Google). Under the Queen’s rule, society took a turn into the Reformation Era. They transition from rationalism to more of romanticism with as it also ties into religion. These elements lead to the writers to write in the way society treats them. In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the elements of society encompassing writers and or authors influences the writing that they produce in ways such as the role of men and women along with the advancements in technology. In every town of city, there will always be issues such as crime and punishment in society. Kristen …show more content…
There is a slight gap that continues to increase as time progresses and creates this gap that is present in this book between genders. Women: “…are weak but good, and men are strong but less good”. (Acocella 20) Men are seen to be superior and women are seen to have their morals in check. In fact, critics believe that Stoker is afraid of the New Woman. In Dracula, Mina is the new woman. Van Helsing states, “She has man's brain--a brain that a man should have were he much gifted--and woman's heart. The good God fashioned her for a purpose, believe me when He made that so good combination” (Stoker 373). Mina, is much more intelligent than any average woman and could be a match for a man. She has enough capability to have the same if not better strength and knowledge as a man. Unfortunately, this could not be a view of Stoker’s, it is merely a reflection of society and the gender differentiation. Differences between the sexes have been going for centuries. Throughout the book Mina is growing into a greater woman. As the author of the book, Stoker would not have written that portion if he did not agree with the equality in the gender …show more content…
Technology is advancing at this time and this fascinates Stoker. Inventions and or advancements consist of blood transfusions, the phonograph, the typewriter, and trains. All of these wonderful inventions that aid the life of the Victorians aid the crew. Stoker shows us how up to date his writing is when having to defeat Dracula. Mina in this situation, she learns shorthand along with the phonograph and the typewriter. As Van Helsing states, “Which should have been difficult for a female to do” (Acocella 20). Doing so, it impresses Van Helsing and the rest of the group. Thus, plays into the New Woman title. However, with the blood transfusions, that are talked about quite frequently throughout the story, they are not quite accurate. One cannot just transfer any type of blood to another. It can kill someone and adds a check as a flaw in Stoker’s writing. Technology was advancing quickly at this time and age. It would make sense if Stoker incorporated it in his writing. Even though it is not entirely
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;
“Dracula, in one aspect, is a novel about the types of Victorian women and the representation of them in Victorian English society” (Humphrey). Through Mina, Lucy and the daughters of Dracula, Stoker symbolizes three different types of woman: the pure, the tempted and the impure. “Although Mina and Lucy possess similar qualities there is striking difference between the two” (Humphrey). Mina is the ideal 19th century Victorian woman; she is chaste, loyal and intelligent. On the other hand, Lucy’s ideal Victorian characteristics began to fade as she transformed from human to vampire and eventually those characteristics disappeared altogether. Lucy no longer embodied the Victorian woman and instead, “the swe...
Stoker uses 5 women in total to portray the Women discourse. The first is Mina Murray, a sensible young woman engaged to the main protagonist of the novel, Johnathon Harker. Mina is a highly educated woman for her time and was very fortunate to have a job as a teacher. Ms Murray, as well as being in the women discourse, is also one half of another very important discourse by Stoker: East meets West, or in other words, Traditional vs. . Mina represents the West and the good side of Women, abiding by the laws of society. The East and the evil is represented by Dracula’s three brides.
In Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, Stoker’s use of inverted gender roles allows readers to grasp the sense of obscureness throughout, eventually leading to the reader’s realization that these characters are rather similar to the “monster” which they call Dracula. Despite being in the Victorian era, Stoker’s use of sexuality in the novel contributes to the reasoning of obscureness going against the Victorian morals and values. Throughout the novel the stereotypical roles of the Victorian man and woman are inverted to draw attention to the similarities between Dracula and the characters. Vague to a majority of readers, Bram Stoker uses Dracula as a negative connotation on society being that the values of the Victorian culture are inverted amongst the sexes of characters, thus pointing out the similarities of the characters and the so called “monster” which they call Dracula.
...ny other novels of the time, Stoker’s Dracula purposely highlights the superiority of men, while simultaneously belittling women. After only a few pages of this novel, the reader should understand just how helpless the females become. No matter what the issue or controversy, they are unable to find any sort of solution, successful or not, without the help of the male characters. Stoker even goes as far as almost teasing Mina, by allowing her to aid in the hunt for Dracula, yet giving her trivial duties. Lucy on the other hand creates the novel’s most blatant case for male superiority. She is forced to constantly depend on four men for her survival. All blood transfusions she received were from men and even that could not save her life. Stoker manages to make a bold statement by pinpointing the inferiority of the two female main characters in the novel.
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.
...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.
When we compare the portrayal of characters in the areas of gender, race, and age, we find striking contrasts. In the 1931 version, men's roles are well-defined: they are the protectors. For example, Jonathan hovers over Mina in many scenes, giving us the impression that Mina is a helpless creature. In Coppola's version, Jonathan is by no means a protector. He barely escapes Dracula's castle; Mina has to go to him--to protect him.
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.
Bram Stoker was writing in the conservative Victorian Era while Coppola was trying to please social norms and fads in the nineties. (Stoker Dracula) (Coppola "Bram Stoker's Dracula") In the course of the novel, Mina Harker is an aspiring ‘New Woman’ in the Victorian Era. She states in a letter to Lucy that she is an assistant schoolmistress and that she has been practicing her short hand and typewriting skills which was very unlike a traditional Victorian woman. Along with the ideology of the ‘New Woman’ she strives to follow in the footsteps of “Lady Journalists” by writing in a journal daily about whatever she sees fit and remembering conversations and writing them down.
...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.
There are a few characters in Dracula that embody society’s views of the time towards the uprising of women for better rights. On the other hand there are also characters that portray the Victorian ideals that men are stronger than women and how it should stay that way. As author Bram Dijkstra mentions in his response essay, “Stokers work demonstrates how thoroughly the war waged by the nineteenth century male culture against the dignity and self -respect of women had been fought”.(Dijkstra , p.460).
Bram Stoker craftily allows women to take charge, though at times he allows them to seem pitiful creatures in need of male protection and care. Through the word "journal" in reference to Mina's writings, Stoker allows her to be equal with her male companions. She is also put on the level by being allowed to travel and be an active part of their discussions and works.
According to Altner, “Romance between Mina Harker and Count Dracula is not a new concept. While vacationing in Whitby, Mina is instantly attracted to a handsome stranger. Mina holds secret, passionate assignations with him, although she feels guilty about her husband Jonathan (72). Stoker argues that “Mina is authority’s scapegoat; she dies to illuminate the necessity of escape. There is nothing pretty about Mina’s death or undeath. Mina doesn’t fade into robust new life: she chokes graphically to a death made more painful by the laudanum Dr. Seward idiotically gives her. There is nothing seductive about the Mina who rises: she is no swollen Hammer sexpot, but a decomposing corpse with broken, bloody teeth. This Mina is contrary to literary