Who Is The Protagonist In Dracula

While vampire lust is prominent throughout the novel, human lust also contributes to the eroticism that readers are confronted with throughout the story. Some characters, such as Mina Harker, were focal points within the story due to the lust that followed them. For instance, throughout the story, readers were able to notice Dr. Van Helsing’s lust arise for Mina Harker. In Dracula by: Bram Stoker, Dr. Van Helsing is captivated by Mina and her body when he says, “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” (320). He did not lust after her because of her personality, but for

her body—when he speaks about her size and how his attraction to her is becoming more than he can handle. For instance, the words “beautiful,” “voluptuous,” and “fair,” suggest that Van Helsing likes her for her body rather than her mind and soul. This is evident because of the fact that Dracula is a horror novel rather than a romance. The fact that he notices and lusts after her body rather than her personality backs up the idea that this novel can be known as an erotica as well as a horror novel. With that said, Phyllis A. Roth explains that Van Helsing is, “Overwhelmingly attracted to sexuality” (415), thus, he feels the need to focus his attention on a woman’s body. Out of all of the men in the novel, Van Helsing is known as a respectable man yet, he sees Mina as a female sexual object rather than a woman. This is clear as he remarks about his erotic feeling for her in the above quote. Words such as “sex,” “love,” and “emotion,” prompt the reader to think of sexual and/or erotic behavior. Since, indeed, Van Helsing was experiencing sexual feelings and erotic thoughts without emotional relaxation—strong feelings towards another such as love—one can infer that this novel, Dracula, can be seen as an erotica.
Though Mina and the vampire sisters are clearly sexualized throughout the novel by men, there is one character who is sexualized by both men and women—Lucy Westenra.

Mina constantly makes comments/remarks when it comes to Lucy’s beauty. She openly expresses her feelings when it comes to Lucy’s physical features and body shape. In one section in particular she meets up with Lucy explaining that, “Lucy met me at the station, looking sweeter and lovelier than ever” (Stoker 63). Mina comments on her friends’ beauty as a lover would—which was not the “norm” when it came to the Victorian culture. Mina does this by saying that Lucy looked “lovelier than ever” (Stoker 63) and commenting on the fact that she also looked “sweeter” (Stoker 63). These are terms of endearment and love that are normally spoken to or about a significant other. With that said, Lucy is not Mina’s significant other, so the fact that she expressed her feelings in such terms suggests that she has feelings for her. Mina seems very interested in Lucy, which may have been the case due to the fact that Mina was not as interested in any other character in the story, even her husband. She remarks about Lucy’s beauty all of the time, but she does not comment about her attraction to her husband. While she worries about her husband’s health, she does not speak to or of her husband in the way that she does Lucy. For example, when writing a letter to Lucy, Mina says, “I am longing to be with you” (Stoker 55). The love that she carries for Lucy is quite breathtakingly beautiful. As a reader, I was able to catch a glimpse at this forbidden love, and notice how well of a relationship Mina and Lucy would have had if only they were not married. Lucy’s beauty irrupted later on in the story when changes took place. Dominguez-Rue explains that, “Lucy is insatiable, her vampire state a kind of nymphomania. Lucy’s fatness indicates her exaggerated, carnivorous sexuality” (303). When she became a vampire, her beauty was

heightened and her sexual desires were as well. It was in this moment that her body changed to that of a vampires—round and voluptuous. She became overly sexualized, hence the above term “nymphomania” (Dominguez-Rue), which made her more desirable by men. This makes sense, because the horror genre often includes sexual themes and women who are overly sexualized.
Throughout the novel—Dracula by: Bram Stoker—readers are confronted with an overload of erotic scenes. It is within these scenes that readers are able to notice that such erotic feelings are happening between both the opposite sex and the same sex. These cases of eroticism are composed of raw feelings and are acted on impulse such as the erotic scene between Harker and one of the vampire daughters. Obsession is even displayed through such eroticism when the Count confronts his daughter when it comes to touching Harker in a sexual manner. With that said, Dracula has been enjoyed by readers for centuries because people tend to enjoy small amounts of eroticism. Since the story is not overly erotic—which makes it more enjoyable—readers are able to enjoy themselves as they experience the horror aspect of the novel as well. Since mild eroticism combined with horror could create more suspense for the reader, it is understandable that authors would infuse eroticism in their horror novels. The genre of horror mixed with erotica combines to create a suspenseful and likable story. The erotic scenes in Dracula can be suspenseful and even add to the scary aspect of the story as readers sit on the edge of their seats waiting for something to go wrong (which is what happens when Dracula appear as Harker is about to be bitten). With that said the novels genre that of horror and erotica, creates a suspenseful yet likable atmosphere for readers as they are taken on a roller coaster ride through scenes of horror and desire.