Gender Roles In Dracula Essay

The 21st century has certain ways for people to act in society, although it's not as strict as it used to be. In literature there are writings about the expectations society used to hold. One era that had specific rules was the Victorian era. For example, women were not allowed to work or go to school, they were married off. Women didn't have all the privileges that men did. In the novel Dracula, Bram Stoker uses Victorian standards the characters must uphold to portray sex and death. It also portrays the gender roles they had in this era. For example, women did not have the right to vote, sue, or own any property. When a women was married off all her rights would be given to her spouse. Including even the right of consent to her own body.

"Mina cries that she "must bear this mark of shame upon [her] forehead until the Judgment Day" (296), while Van Helsing mitigates its implications, telling her "that red scar [...] shall pass away when God sees right to lift the burden that is hard upon us" (296).

During the Victorian era, a predominant problem was the place women held in society. Two of the characters, Mina Murray and Lucy Westenra display not only the gender roles in a Victorian society as well as sex and death. In Dracula, Stoker portrays women as sexualized Victorian women and different women as pure. To be in a Victorian society women that were pure were held to a high standard. Women that were impure were looked down upon and didn't take part in social events. Considered in Dracula the sexual and impure women as evil; the pure women are strong. The ideal embodiment of a Victorian women is Mina Murray. We see Mina as an intelligent woman and strong in the novel.Traditionally Mina is the Victorians perfect wife. . Mina however in chapter six writes, "No news from Jonathan. I am getting quite uneasy about him…" (72). Jonathan being away from her, Mina remains faithful to Jonathan and does all she can to get Jonathan

back. She represents the values of the Victorian woman because she is not sexualized. By not making Mina a sexualized character, Stoker keeps Mina’s purity which is so deeply desired in a Victorian society. She also represents the "new woman" of the era. An example of Mina as a "new woman" was her as a school teacher. Stoker has it set up for Mina to represent Victorian women as a whole. By being both a "new woman" and the traditional woman of the Victorian era.

A character who definitely upholds to a Victorian society standards. Women who were sexual were looked down on as evil. These being the views of people in that society of sexualized and impure women in Victorian Society are sinful and evil, By Victorian society standards impure women were outcasts in society and why Stoker would compare sexual women and In the novel, Stoker uses Lucy's character to represent good and evil Victorian woman. We see that Lucy has pure qualities similar to Mina. With three men after her attention because of the pure qualities she possesses. Lucy, politely turns down to be with a man whom she loves. Mina being her best friend reflects well on her as she's close to the image of a traditional Victorian women. Throughout the novel we witness Lucy's reputation as a Victorian woman demolish altogether.Although Lucy is somewhat mentioned as sexual where Mina isn't. Dracula intentionally turns Lucy into a sexualized vampire. Described as "The sweetness was turned to … heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous wantonness" (187). There being the only option to turn Lucy back to her true sweet self in death is by stabbing her through the heart with a

stake. Lucy portrays pure Victorian woman and the impure Victorian woman. Stoker tries to show the potential in which Victorian women could possibly be turned into sexual, impure Victorian women.
Lucy represents the odds of women in a Victorian society to go from pure to impure.