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Dracula literary analysis
Portrayal of women in literature
Women and literature during the victorian era essay
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During the Victorian era women were viewed as a parallel of the prevalent discrepancies between the UK’s power and wealth, then versus now now. The 1800’s were characterized with the stereotype of abundant and inconspicuous taboo sexualities. The mere thought of any sexual desire would cause an uproar. The attire reflected the general consensus of how people were viewed. Desire and modesty were forces that passed over to modern times. Victorian woman only had two options at the time: they could either be a virgin, an image of purity, or she is a wife and mother, following their husband’s every wish without inquiry. If they choose the latter, she is marked as a whore. Over time women have began to fight for their right vote and have …show more content…
He collocates Mina and Lucy throughout Dracula in order compare and contrast the two drastically different categories of women that existed in the Victorian era: innocent and submissive women versus the dangerous and rebellious ones who want to break free from the sexist stereotypes. Although they both have opposite views of how woman should live, both girls acknowledge the belief that men are more dominant and diligent than women: "My dear Mina, why are men so noble when we women are so little worthy of them?" (Stoker …show more content…
A woman who uses her accomplished skills to procure for her husband, Jonathan Harker. Stoker uses the way Mina speaks to show her interminable dedication to her husband: "I have been working very hard lately, because I want to keep up with Jonathan's studies, and I have been practicing shorthand very assiduously" (Stoker 86). In addition to her full time job, she takes the time to learn shorthand to "be useful to Jonathan" (Stoker 86). Opposite of Mina, Lucy falls with the other kind of Victorian women. She is not viewed as emotionally attached to only one man. She is described as a voluptuous woman. The different men all propose to her. Lucy is very conflicted and asked Mina, "Why can't they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want her, and save all this trouble?" (Stoker 96). Although she would love to do that if she could, she knows that what she said was heresy after saying it. It shows that although she is seen as bad and immoral in the Victorian culture, it does not stop her from crossing the boundaries set up by
Upon hearing the term, “The Victorian Woman,” it is likely that one’s mind conjures up an image of a good and virtuous woman whose life revolved around the domestic sphere of the home and family, and who demonstrated a complete devotion to impeccable etiquette as well as to a strong moral system. It is certainly true that during Victorian England the ideal female was invested in her role as a wife and a mother, and demonstrated moral stability and asexuality with an influence that acted as her family’s shield to the intrusions of industrial life. Yet despite the prevalence of such upstanding women in society, needless to say not all women lived up to such a high level of moral aptitude. Thus, we must beg the question, what became of the women who fell far short from such a standard? What became of the women who fell from this pedestal of the ideal Victorian woman, and by way of drunkenness, criminality, or misconduct became the negation of this Victorian ideal of femininity?
Lucy Westerna is introduced as a beautiful, flirtatious, young woman. Lucy is wealthy and takes pleasure in a carefree life. She enjoys spending her days taking walks and admiring art in the local galleries. Lucy is uninterested in books or education. However, she is very interested in becoming a bride, and with her enticing splendor has captured the hearts of several suitors. Judith Weissman explains how Lucy’s accommodating nature makes it hard for her to choose just one man, as she feels capable of pleasing and would be happy to oblige all three men (3). Lucy writes to Mina and describes in a self-satisfied tone of the three proposals she received in one day. One critic notes, although she claims to be remorseful for the broken hearted men she has been forced to reject, she sounds rather jubilant in her description (Johnson 4). Nonetheless, Lucy accepts the noble Arthur Holmwood’s proposal. Arthur is a doctor, whom Lucy’s mother likes very well.
In the 19th century Bram Stoker wrote the infamous novel, Dracula. This novel was composed in the style of letters, journal entries, newspaper articles and telegrams in order to convey to the reader a realistic story. The story of Dracula is about an ancient vampire who moves to London from his native country of Transylvania. In London, Dracula seduces and bites a young woman by the name of Lucy Westenra. When Lucy falls sick, no one knows how to help her because while Dracula has bitten her many times she has always been in a trance. Lucy?s friends decide to join together to combat what ever is ailing Lucy. In hopes of some help, Lucy?s friend Dr. Seward asks an old mentor of his by the name of Dr. Van Helsing to come to London and solve this puzzling illness. When Dr. Van Helsing arrives in London and sees Lucy he is the only one that knows almost immediately what has happened and what they are up against. The character of Dracula rarely appears in the story because this creates suspense and magnifies the fear of the unknown. The theme of good versus evil is developed throughout the book in many ways. One of the most important examples is Dracula and Mina. Dracula is the ultimate evil and Mina is full of goodness and purity. The Victorian view of women was not helpful to the characters in Dracula. For example, every time the male characters in the story decide not to tell Mina some particular type of information, things end up going terribly wrong. Even though Mina ends up being the key to destroying Dracula she is still a women and the Victorian view gets in the way.
“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...
The three brides are introduced to the reader on page 51 of the novel, when they seduce Jonathon. This is one of the main reasons they are traditional and don’t obey the modern laws of the Victorian era. For women to seduce and show their sexuality in those times was one of the huge horrors of the novel for the intended audience of the Victorian age. It was also one of the most wanted yet fearful thing men had; they wanted women although they were afraid to lose power from a...
To “be a lady” in Victorian times, women had to repress their “instincts,” meaning that they must not have sex. Lead by the “cult of true womanhood,” which dictated piety, purity and submissiveness in women, females were directed to become almost asexual. Women went into sexuality thinking that it was something not to be talked about, that women were not supposed to have a libido, and that the act of sexual intercourse was not something that they should enjoy.
Here we see Mina contrasted to the three Brides of Dracula, Harker portrays them as complete opposites.... ... middle of paper ... ... Stoker uses Freudian theory in his novel, in order to examine sexuality in this era without seeming visibly critical of the society in which he lived.
Dracula accentuates the lust for sexuality through the main characters by contrasting it with the fears of the feminine sexuality during the Victorian period. In Victorian society, according to Dr.William Acton, a doctor during the Victorian period argued that a woman was either labelled as innocent and pure, or a wife and mother. If a woman was unable to fit in these precincts, consequently as a result she would be disdained and unfit for society and be classified as a whore (Acton, 180). The categorizing of woman is projected through the “uses the characters of Lucy and Mina as examples of the Victorian ideal of a proper woman, and the “weird sisters” as an example of women who are as bold as to ignore cultural boundaries of sexuality and societal constraints” according to Andrew Crockett from the UC Santa Barbara department of English (Andrew Cro...
...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.
During the Victorian Era, society had idealized expectations that all members of their culture were supposedly striving to accomplish. These conditions were partially a result of the development of middle class practices during the “industrial revolution… [which moved] men outside the home… [into] the harsh business and industrial world, [while] women were left in the relatively unvarying and sheltered environments of their homes” (Brannon 161). This division of genders created the ‘Doctrine of Two Spheres’ where men were active in the public Sphere of Influence, and women were limited to the domestic private Sphere of Influence. Both genders endured considerable pressure to conform to the idealized status of becoming either a masculine ‘English Gentleman’ or a feminine ‘True Woman’. The characteristics required women to be “passive, dependent, pure, refined, and delicate; [while] men were active, independent, coarse …strong [and intelligent]” (Brannon 162). Many children's novels utilized these gendere...
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
Women were expected to set the example for their children, satisfy the needs of their husbands, and it was unheard of for women to express their sexual desires. During this time women were placed into two categories, they were either virgins or married, any woman who did not fit into either of these categories was considered a whore and this meant she was essentially useless. “If a woman went into a hansom alone with a man who was neither her father, nor her husband […] her reputation was irretrievably lost” (Swisher, 181). This shows that even though people did not know the whole story, they judged others by the appearance of things. Most of the Victorian culture was centered on these things that women were expected to do or not to be seen doing. Scientists believed that men were the active ones who were supposed to use all of their energy, while women were sedentary and were supposed to conserve energy. “According to Wollsto...
sexuality. The Victorian culture had very rigid roles for women, and their reputation was almost
The Victorian era was an extremely difficult time for women in Great Britain. They were subject to gross inequalities such as, not being able to; control their own earnings, education, and marriage. As well as having a lack of equality within marriage, women had poor working conditions, and an immense unemployment rate as well. Not only was the fact that women were viewed as second-class citizens and had limited rights compared to men during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries a major problem, but women were also held to a much different standard, and expected to carry out many
Two hundred years ago, during the reign of Queen Victoria in England, the social barriers of the Victorian class system firmly defined the roles of women. The families of Victorian England were divided into four distinct classes: the Nobility or Gentry Class, the Middle Class, the Upper Working Class, and lastly, the Lower Working class . The women of these classes each had their own traditional responsibilities. The specifics of each woman’s role were varied by the status of her family. Women were expected to adhere to the appropriate conventions according to their place in the social order . For women in Victorian England their lives were regulated by these rules and regulations, which stressed obedience, loyalty, and respect.