In Dracula, Bram Stoker portrays a clear battle between the “traditional woman” of the time and the “new woman.”. Stoker uses the contrasting characters of Lucy Westenra and Mina Murray to depict this evolution in women and, also, to paint an image of the reaction to this advance, expressed by both men and women.
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.
Lucy Westenra is the antithesis to Mina. In her letters to Mina the reader can see her contrasting attitude and personality. In the first letter wri...
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...ughout the book, the reader can see a story of a new type of woman emerging in the 19th century. At the end of the story Van Helsing speaks of Mina and Jonathan’s newborn son and how he is going to be the new age man that will accept the new age woman and understand a woman who not only is motherly and loving, but also proud, strong, and independent. Mina now represents the new age woman just as much as she did the traditional woman in the beginning, and in the end the men fought to save her life. Stoker wrote Dracula to prove a point that the new age woman will eventually emerge as the leading type of woman and the traditional woman will be no more. Although Mina isn’t the drastic new woman that Lucy was, she shares many similar characteristics and is as strong and powerful as the new age woman, with the intelligence and motherly love that the traditional woman had.
...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.
Science has proven that anatomically, women’s physical strength is generally less in comparison to men’s enhanced muscularity. This anatomic disadvantage that women suffer has led to negative stereotypes of gender. Women are considered weaker, or less intelligent than men based on an impression that women are minuscule in comparison to men. In the novel Dracula, Bram Stoker sheds light on gender inequality, establishing that not all women are inferior to men, in fact, they should be seen as equals. Notably, Stoker reveals society’s ambivalence to women’s fortitude by providing an abundance of Victorian gender stereotypes and their inaccuracies throughout the novel. In addition, Stoker downplays female cliché’s, disclosing that women
...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.
A noticeable difference in the way movies have changed over the years is evident when comparing and contrasting two films of different eras which belong to the same genre and contain the same subject matter. Two vampire movies, Dracula and Bram Stoker's Dracula, present an interesting example of this type of study.
“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...
Over the years people have given new out looks on the original vampire, Dracula. He was a tall non-attractive looking man who would never come out during the day. Hollywood however has made new vampire stories such as Twilight, True Blood, and The Vampire Diaries/The Originals that have new ideas of a vampire. These novels/books all have differences, but some still have key characteristics of the original vampire.
Bram Stoker and Sheridan Le Fanu’s texts, Dracula (1898) and “Carmilla” (1872), use gothic tropes in similar ways to captivate readers with horror and terror. This essay will illustrate how, in comparison, both texts include gothic tropes: the New Woman, sexuality and setting, in order to provoke emotions and reactions from the readers. To achieve this, this essay will focus on the women that challenge traditional gender roles and stereotypes, and deconstruct each text in regards to the very strong undertones of homosexuality; specifically between Carmilla and Laura, and Dracula and Harker. By discussing the harshness and darkness of the environments described, including ruined castles and isolated landscapes; this essay will also explore the
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.
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.
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...
Books for centuries influence countless people and the world itself. Some novels describe the life at the time, and others defy society any way thought of. Wuthering Heights written by Emily Bronte and Dracula by Bram Stoker lie on the side of defying society. These two novels were written against the odds due to their various themes and topics. Both contain material that would be considered scandalous or daring, and one of these multiple themes include dominance. Dominance runs rampant in both texts. Throughout the two novels, dominance emanates in fascinating and unexpected ways.
The reader sees the emotions that run rampant when Mina, Jonathan, Arthur Holmwood, Dr. Seward, Dr. Van Helsing, and Quincey Morris find that Lucy is truly dead.
This scene sets the basic structure of gender roles in Victorian society. In this scene, Stroker shows Mina as weak and under the influence of men. She is unable to free herself until men come to her rescue. Dracula controls the men by turning their women into vampires. Stoker reflects the idea that women are mere possessions of men. Dracula and other men are fighting to gain control over her. By controlling Mina, Dracula has challenged their masculinity, because they are unable to protect her from Dracula. The fact
Stoker chooses to give her strong will and protective instinct, all necessary qualities to defeat the darkness looming ahead. When Mina discovered she had been violated by Dracula, for instance, she adamantly told those around her “‘if I find in myself- and I shall watch keenly for it- a sign of harm to any that I love, I shall die!’” (Stoker 270). Her words serve as a testament to her concern for the men in her company, and her unfailing devotion to do what is necessary to blot out the growing vampirism around her. By carefully developing these characteristics, Stoker constructs Mina to serve as the embodiment of what the Victorian woman should be. Mina is devoted to her husband, has a strong commitment to the Lord, and later in the novel serves as a maternal figure to those around her. When Mina’s male counterparts are emotionally weary, for instance, she comforts them, writing, “we women have something of the mother in us that makes us rise above smaller matters when the mother-spirit is invoked” (Stoker 214). This caring, parental trait is one that Stoker sees as the ideal form of social stability, valuing it as one of the greatest forms of goodness that a woman could