In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Lucy Westenra and Mina Murray are used to contrast the societal expectations of the Victorian woman. The novel shows many elements of the literary theory of transnationalism by introducing matters of travel, gender, and sexuality. Lucy and Mina both start out similarly as typical Victorian women, but multiple events throughout the novel demonstrate their extreme differences. Lucy is portrayed as the inferior Victorian woman, who gives into sexual desires, and Mina is portrayed as the more modern and late Victorian woman who is not only pure and chaste, but also resourceful and somewhat independent. Their differences first become apparent when in letters to each other they write of the men in their lives. Mina tells …show more content…
Mina is disgusted by the idea of the possible impurity that he has threatened her with while Lucy doesn’t seem to know what’s going on and is dependent on the men in the novel to protect her from the evil that surrounds her. Eventually Lucy gives into the sexual desire that Dracula represents in the novel and therefore becomes an evil sexual deviant with the power to seduce the men in the novel and continue the cycle of vampirism. Sexuality, one of the elements used to define the literary theory of transnationalism, during the Victorian Era was supposed to be suppressed by women. In Dracula, Lucy and Mina vary in holding up this expectation. Lucy succumbs to the temptations of the elements of sexuality in the novel whereas Mina remains pure until the very end. Because Lucy becomes a threat to the men, she must be destroyed. The men are disgusted when they first see the evil version of Lucy and Van Helsing depicts an threatening image by noting “The sweetness was turned to adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous wantonness” (114). After the men destroy the Un-dead Lucy, she is restored to her original self and described by Van Helsing as once again “as we had seen her in her life, with her face of unequalled sweetness and purity” (117). Lucy’s restored innocence is a comfort to the men. Mina on the other hand is never considered to be impure, even after she …show more content…
Although they both started out as the typical Victorian woman, they ended up opposites. Lucy downgraded an became the flawed Victorian woman who could not overcome evil, while Mina rose above temptation to become the late Victorian woman, who was pure but also useful in helping to overcome the bad circumstances that could change the rest of her life. The many elements used to define the literary theory of transnationalism in the book show how norms of one society, such as gender and sexuality, can be different from one place to the next as compared to on a national
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 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 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,
The concepts of “New Woman” and “True Woman” are major parts of the novel. “True Woman” is a concept usually associated with Victorian England, but generally women who are religious, pure, submissive, and domestic (Brashears). Mina is the best portrayal of this idea. For example, her husband, Jonathan Harker’s interaction with her expresses the submissiveness as a “True Woman.” When Professor Van Helsing asks who is willing to join the mission to kill Dracula, Jonathan says, “I answer for Mina and myself” which puts Mina under the authority of her husband (Stoker 256). On the other hand, “New Woman,” was basically opposite, by being outside the home, working, involved in society and free (Brashears). Although for the most part, Mina follows the idea of the “True Woman,” she does not when she assists her husband to have (in reference to the letters and journals) “type ...
Sex and sexuality are not even mentioned in the Lucy’s and Mina’s characterizations before their encounters with Dracula. Mina remains sexually passive throughout the novel, only to give birth to her son Quincy, and even then, Stoker did not mention any sexual encounters between Mina and Jonathan preceding Quincy’s birth. However, once succumbed to Dracula’s influence, Lucy has sexual outbursts wherein
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, 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 Crockett, 1).... ... middle of paper ...
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.
Mina Murray embodies the traditional women that were commonplace in the late 19th century. Mina’s letters to Lucy most clearly express her attitude and personality. She expresses her aspirations in the first letter of hers that we read in the story. Mina states, "I have been working very hard lately, because I want to keep up with Jonathan's studies" (62). Jonathan Harker, Mina's fiancé, is a lawyer. Mina indicates that she would like to learn shorthand and typing so that she can assist her husband with his work (62). In the late 19th century women were beginning to get jobs of their own. In Mina’s case, she is attempting to work by her husband’s side, showing that the full independence is not within her yet. This was mostly because of the population of women being so large, which led to many single women needing to provide for themselves. Although Mina isn't a single woman, she does choose to seek out a job and become more independent. It is also disclosed that Mina is a teacher, aside from her working with Jonathan. Mina represents the new trend in women getting jobs and wanting to learn, and at the same time, the idea that she is still a traditional woman in that she has a motherly job on the side and is studying to work under her husband, as if she were inferior to him.
The idea of Victorian womanhood is extremely sacred, especially to a woman like Mina, who primarily wishes to be of use to her husband. Dracula’s penetrating the West and his actions are threats to female purity, and so they are threats to Victorian culture and order of England (Western world). Dracula is penetrating the entire nature of Vi...
During the Victorian era women were expected to be either a mother and a wife, or a pure, innocent girl. Any other deviation from the set path resulted in punishment, both physically and socially. Deviation can vary as women being over sexual to resembling men in their actions. Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula, is no exception in its representation of Victorian ideals. For his purposes, Stoker uses symbolism, tone, and diction throughout to convey the standard Victorian British perception of themselves. Through this conveyed standard to express his belief that gender roles are essential and relevant to Victorian society and that there are consequences if strayed from.
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.
AGFS: Do you believe the power of any emotion can drive a person to do the impossible?
One of the well-known characters in Dracula is, Mina Murray, virtuous, kind and good-natured, schoolmistress. Murray is the embodiment of the, “New Woman”. She empathically embraces the anti-Victorian feelings of that time in front of the rea...