Gender Roles In Bram Stoker's Dracula

“Of all the evils for which man has made himself responsible, none is so degrading, so shocking, or so brutal as his abuse of the better half of humanity; the female sex,” Mahatma Gandhi. In the novel Dracula by Bram Stocker there is an abundance of evidence that suggests that the female characters are treated differently than their male counterparts. This is significant because women are constantly being taken advantage of and are constantly being looked over and conventionalized to less than they are capable of. In this essay, there will be an investigation into the gender roles of men and women and how it affects the overall outcome of the female character. It will apply the research of the female character Mina and her journey throughout

The first scene demonstrates the raw male power over women in this period. In this scene, Mina is sent to bed because she is “too precious to [the men] to have such risk. [They] are men and are able to bear” (281) Mina is being pushed aside because of she is thought of as fragile, nevertheless she breaks through her mold as a woman and wants to help take action against Dracula even after hearing that she is unable to handle the severity of the

Mina knew that they were making the wrong decision, “but their minds were made up, and, though it was a bitter pill for [her] to swallow, [she] could say nothing” (281). Mina knew that it was not a favourable idea to be shut out and be left alone, still she did not want to speak up against the men. Even though she had just aided the men in collaborating with them showing she has the knowledge, Mina is pushed back into the stereotypical role of a woman being too weak and not being able to handle the truth, the men saying that “it is too great of a stain for a woman to bear” (293). Despite Mina being a woman she is certainly strong and able to take care of herself and he true potential is being hidden.

As a result of Mina not knowing any better than she has been taught, she eventually convinces herself that what the men are saying must be right because “they all agreed that it was best [for her] not be drawn into [the] awful work” (296). Ultimately these actions contradict the whole purpose of excluding Mina is allowing Dracula effortless access to Mina. While mina has been left alone, Dracula take advantage of Mina making her impure. As men belittle women they throw away the chance for self expression, and silence the voice of women, ultimately making the wrong