Patriarchy In Dracula

Feminism, a controversial topic, is defined as the belief that women should have equal rights and opportunities as men. Throughout history, the dominance of the male gender, otherwise known as patriarchy, exists. Male dominance is particularly present in many works of literature during the Victorian . Dracula, by Bram Stoker, is a patriarchal novel due to the use of Dracula being the dominant figure, the distinction of “good” vs “bad” women, and how the women are weaker overall.

Dracula, the male figure in this novel, has all the power and is dominant. The count, being the only one that can create more of his kind, transforms Mina and Lucy into vampires. Although Lucy and Dracula’s three brides feed on the blood of children “...saw the wounds

on Lucy’s throat, and saw the wounds so similar on the child’s at the hospital…” (Stoker 172), it is not stated that they are able to produce more vampires. Bram Stoker shows that the man, Dracula, has all the reproductive power, not the woman.
Bram Stoker distinguishes the women in the novel as either pure or evil and stereotypes them.

Lucy and Dracula’s three brides represent the “bad” women due to their sexual desires. Lucy was one of the Count’s victim due to her weakness, sleepwalking. “She (Lucy) was bitten by the vampire when she was in a trance, sleep-walking…” (Stoker 172). Her fate could have been a result of her sexual desires, in which she indicated by wanting to marry all three men that proposed instead of one. “Why can't they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want her…” (Stoker 50). However, during the Victorian era (and today), women were subjected to be dedicated to one man only, and the thought of any more would be considered immoral. A critique argued that, “A woman...is better dead than sexual” (Craft 88). Children were also important in the Victorian era. Lucy’s transformation from an innocent and beautiful girl to a child-harming monster shows how looked down upon women who were disloyal to their husbands

were.
Bram Stoker depicts Dracula’s brides as tempting and seductive. Jonathan Harker states, “I felt in my heart a wicked, burning desire that they would kiss me with those red lips.” (Stoker something near the beginning).
One may also argue that Mina is a prime example of the “good” woman in the novel in ways which makes Dracula a story not centered on patriarchy.

Mina displays as a different kind of woman. She states that she has been “working very hard lately...to keep up with Jonathan’s studies” (Stoker 46). As an assistant school mistress, Bram Stoker shows that she is not the stereotypical woman in the Victorian era. Women during this period of time were expected to stay at home all day to cook, clean, and take care of their children, while men were the ones who typically had occupations. Men were also considered to be smarter than women. “Male intelligence was greater than female, men had greater independence and courage than women, and men were able to expend energy in sustained bursts of physical or cerebral activity.” (Geddes 53). However, Stoker proves Mina to be intelligent because of her ability of using a stenograph, typewriter, shorthanding, and being able to memorize train schedules. In addition, Van Helsing states that she has a man’s brain “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.” (Stoker 201). This show that her mind is different and more complex, to the point where she reaches the level of a man’s intelligence. Through Mina’s character, Stoker implies that futuristic women can be seen as more than just maternal figures, suggesting progressive ideas toward

feminism.
However, although Mina’s shows intelligence, Stoker still presents her as a weaker subject to the men in the novel.
Furthermore, women are overall portrayed as weak and in need of the presence of a male figure. Bram Stoker applies this idea with Lucy, needing assistance with the blood transfusions from Dr. Seward and Van Helsing. “Then with swiftness, but with absolute method, Van Helsing performed the operation. As the transfusion went on, something like life seemed to come back to poor Lucy’s cheeks…” (Stoker 106). The male doctors are the ones who are actually doing the work, which is expected from them, as men are the ones who typically . Stoker depicts Lucy as poor, helpless and in need of male support, much like how society sees women. “And now for you, Madam Mina...You are too precious to us to have such risk...We are men and are able to bear.” (Stoker 207). The fact that Dr. Seward states that he and the group are men that can bear implies that women cannot and that they are characterized as precious, delicate, and feeble, not in equal terms of men.
Although Dracula’s three brides take the role of the evil women, Stoker characterizes them as weaker and under the status of men. Before Van Helsing could kill one of the wives, he thinks to himself, “She was so fair to look on, so radiantly beautiful, so exquisitely voluptuous, that the very instinct of man in me, which calls some of my sex to love and to protect one of hers, made my head whirl with new emotion.” (Stoker ). His hesitation to kill her was not due to his instinct, but due to his patriarchal nature of needing to protect all women, whether she is good or evil.
In many works of literature, there are similar elements that reoccurs. The dominance of the male gender over the female frequently appears through works the of art. Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a prime example of gender inequality through the roles of the different female characters. Dracula’s power, Lucy’s character, and the corrupt brides herself all show how Dracula is a novel that can be seen through the feminist lens.