Literary representations of female monstrosity often refer to arrangements of reality that organize individuals into certain social divisions in an attempt to classify and judge their actions in comprehensible terms. Following Victorian guidelines, the women in Stoker’s text are divided into “good women” — Mina and Lucy before their vampirization — and “bad women” — the unholy trio of female vampires from the Count’s castle, and Lucy after contamination. The “good woman” would be traditionally virtuous and pure, whereas the “bad woman” — henceforth referred to in relation to the New Woman — would be the personification of modern controversies that arose in relation to issues of feminism and purity. Indubitably, the women in this text possess Trapped in the Count’s castle, the young English lawyer beholds a strange series of events, ranging from listening to ghostlike packs of wolves to witnessing flickering shadows as they sneak through the stonewalls of the estate. Yet, the most terrifying moment occurs when Harker disobeys the Count’s orders and falls asleep outside of his designated sleeping quarters, at which point he is visited by three lewd women ready to attack and seduce the mortal visitor. “There was something about them that made me uneasy, some longing and at the same time some deadly fear. I felt in my heart a wicked, burning desire that they would kiss me with those red lips” (Stoker 69), he admits. Together, this unholy trinity of women embodies an animalistic form that both seduces and horrifies the traveler — in his words; the attack was “honey-sweet (…) but with a bitter underlying the sweet” (Stoker After all, with their “beautiful eyes (…) and [their] voluptuous mouth[s] present to a kiss” (Stoker 411) the female seduction is a threat because “man is weak” (Stoker 411), as Van Helsing alerts upon coming to face with the three vampires. The unholy trio remains as a warning to the fear of excess that permeated Victorian thoughts about sex, for despite their inhumanity, their figures are that of women — although, as Harker proclaims “Mina is a woman, and there is nought in common. They are devils of the Pit!” (Stoker 85). The vampire women offer immediate sexual gratification, though on illicit and dangerous terms, a tempting alternative to the “socially imposed delays and frustrations of his relationship with the chaste but somewhat sexless Mina” (Bentley 26). Certainly, the triad’s attempt to make Harker their pray suggests that vampirism is a perversion of normal acts of heterosexual activity, which he may morally share with Mina once they are wed in holy
Further characteristic of Bram Stoker’s Mina Harker befitting of her image as the traditional Victorian woman and Gothic damsel are her chastity and modestly. In contrast to her friend and confidante Lucy
In order to discuss the decline in masculinity (or manhood) and moral values, synonym of religious values in both books, it becomes necessary to define what Late-Victorian society considered them to be. In Dracula, masculinity is defined almost exclusively by contrasting it with femininity. The men in the book are praised when they show the opposite qualities that women are described as possessing. While women are shown as obedient and complacent, men are stern and in command of themselves and situations. Men are expected to protect women while women expect and cherish the protection of men. While men are expected to face the unpleasant facts of life, the darkness and the evil, with integrity and courage, women are to be sheltered from danger to avoid the breakdown of their fragile characters. When the group headed by Van Helsing starts their mission of vanishing the Count and all the dangers he brings for England, the men unanimously decide to hide all the unpleasant facts f...
“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...
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,
At the beginning of the book, the three vampire ladies were depicted as voluptuous and sexually aggressive. For example, the three ladies nearly tempted Jonathan into letting them take a bite of him as well Dr. Van Helsing at the end of the book. However, this behavior of women is shunned by the Victorians since they believe that women should not be overly sexualize, but rather be modest, loyal, and faithful. When the three vampire ladies die, they were purified for their immoral actions, "For, friend John, hardly had my knife severed the head of each, before the whole body began to melt away and crumble into its native dust, as though the death that should have come centuries agone had, at last, assert himself and say at once and loud "I am here!"" (404). Therefore, this means that the evil plague of immoral women's behavior has been purified and transformed into dust. Not only that, this demonstrates to the reader that women should not be acting with indecent behavior during the Victorian era. Female's corrupt behavior was purified upon the death of the three vampire
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.
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.
...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.
The Victorian England setting and culture of “Dracula” by: Bram Stoker attributes to many stylistic components and character behaviours in the novel. One of which is the behaviour and actions characters express that are a result of sexual repression. In Dracula, sexual repression is best expressed by the character’s desire to create. This desire is exemplified by the way Dracula creates other vampires, Lucy’s sexual desires, and the men’s expression of aggression. The creation of other Vampires is evident through events including Dracula’s aggressive encounters with Lucy and Mina, and the fact the Dracula is building up a Vampire army. Lucy’s sexual desires are exemplified through her longing to have sex with multiple men and how she compares
Carmilla, the title character and the vampire of the work, is especially important to the definition of vampirism in literature, not only because she threatens to take young women from their religious societies, but also because her victims are all women. A vampire’s victim is often synonymous with his or her lover. Both sex and homosexuality are considered taboo in Western society, because it presents both of these topics, the work is especially deviant from the time in which it was written. Le Fanu in particular was inspired by the near obsession the British Empire had with morality in the 17th century. While sex and sexuality was not necessarily suppressed during the time, and most of society was beginning to come to terms with their own agreement the topic was still banned from polite conversation. Homosexual acts, like those depicted in Carmilla were still considered extremely taboo, and often times illegal, as homosexuality was a crime punishable by death up to ten years before the work was written. Carmilla, like most of the other works in the time it was written is the product of strictly religious society and represents the amoral. Carmilla however was exceptional in the fact that the vampire is female, rather than a male vampire that has remained present throughout most vampire-centered work since their creation. Women were
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.
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
There are a few characters in Dracula that embody society’s views of the time towards the uprising of women for better rights. On the other hand there are also characters that portray the Victorian ideals that men are stronger than women and how it should stay that way. As author Bram Dijkstra mentions in his response essay, “Stokers work demonstrates how thoroughly the war waged by the nineteenth century male culture against the dignity and self -respect of women had been fought”.(Dijkstra , p.460).