Mina Harker's Role In Dracula

In the late nineteenth century, while Victorian England was the facing the threat of the "Outsider," Dracula actualized this battle between good versus evil, angels versus demons. The Victorian values of piety, purity, and propriety were attacked by Count Dracula in Bram Stoker's novel. The evil of the outside manifests in Dracula, while the protectors of Victorian values become the crew of light. When Dracula preys upon Mrs. Mina Harker, he is defiling the valued Victorian morals, and is manifesting the threat of the outsider. According the Van Helsing, Mina Harker is a light in the darkness, thus a symbol of Victorian purity and goodness. However, when Mina is attacked by the outsider Dracula on her marriage bed, she is corrupted by the

Mina's own threat to Victorian morality is transformed and exploited by Dracula. Van Helsing and Dr. John Seward feared her brain, her defining feature as the "New Woman," is corrupted by Dracula malevolent influence. Additionally, unlike the typical Victorian woman would, Mina Harker plays a key role in the hunt of Dracula, and is thus a threat to a different entity, the man. The man, in Victorian society, is the quintessential power whose control extends over women. Just as Dracula's wives are subservient to him, Victorian women, excepting Mina, are shadows of their husbands. But with "the brain of a man," Mina plays an essential role in the pursuit of the vampire and poses a threat to powerful men like Dracula. In the moments of Mina's attack, the outsider, the nefarious threat to Victorian society prevails until expelled by Christianity, the enemy of such a demon. Mina's conflicting roles as both a Victorian wife and as the "New Woman" signify the changing environment, the adversary of the nineteenth century. By preying upon her, Dracula attacks both Victorian morality, including Christianity, and the threat of the rise of women. Dracula illuminates the threats of the outsider facing the Victorian way and thus the consequential battle against its