Savoy White Professor Sarah Farrell English 2319 25 April 2018 Identity Construction in Dracula Stokers Dracula was a well thought out novel that successfully boggled some minds in the Victorian era also known as the fin de siècle. Stoker made sure to focus on gender roles in the novel concerning men’s masculinity and the role of the ideal Victorian women which I’m sure baffled some readers. He made sure to show that men are meant to be the protectors, fighters, and providers in the novel but also didn’t shy away from showing how women can be more resourceful than being just the house wife. He still makes sure to put the overall security in the man’s hand to let it be known that men do overcome and come out victoriously. During a period where …show more content…
But the confusion was exactly what Stoker was hoping for in my opinion. Honestly, we can’t expect a man to be powerful and fearless at all times. In situations where they might feel like the end is near I’m sure all kinds of emotions are thought and shown. After the successful escape and regaining his strength and mind Harker quickly became the determined, strong, and fearless man that Stoker wanted him to be portrayed as. He then became the perception of how a man should be. Stoker also made sure to include two women in his novel who both displayed the ideal Victorian woman but also a glimpse of the “New Woman” that was upcoming in the Victorian era. For instance, Lucy, she was beautiful innocent, and vulnerable and served as the counts first victim. Her thoughts included marriage and promiscuity. She even added to her letter to Mina that she wishes she could marry as many men that she wanted. She stated,” Why can’t they let a girl marry three, or as many as want her, and save all this trouble?” Lucy may have even been a bit naïve, but submissive …show more content…
Mina was engaged to Harker and seen as pretty and maternal but not as beautiful as Lucy. Mina was intelligent, independent, and had thoughts and words of her own but she did not stray from her fiancé. She cared for Harker while he was sick with her maternal ways but she does not let her knowledge go to waste. Van Helsing even mentions that Mina has “man’s brain”. He said,” She has man's brain--a brain that a man should have were he much gifted--and woman's heart. The good God fashioned her for a purpose, believe me when He made that so good combination” (Stoker). Mina was quick on her feet when she got heed of the horrible experiences Harker had to go through and made the decision to get help without his approval. The character Mina in stoker’s novel displayed an educated woman who moved somewhat independently. Reminding us that in the Victorian era women like this were seen as too masculine, too intellectual and could be deemed as a concern. In the late 19th century an organization called “women’s work for women” started up. It gave women the opportunity to be more involved, speak independently, and join mission societies in large numbers
... period where there was a mix of different feeling and ideas coming about. Religion was the core of his tale, and also modeled it. On one side were the humans and on the other Dracula. Through their struggles to defeat the monster they experienced changes in gender roles, which was also present in real time. Women were becoming more free and working. The only way this change happened was because of the trust and the love between family members; that led to good stable home and ultimately success in life. Stoker wrote Dracula later on his career, this way he had more experience and knowledge of life and grew to believe in common universal truth. Dracula was a hit because it had truth and history in it, and it turned the ordinary good beats bad story into a compelling and interesting narrative, and if readers read carefully they could even find themselves in the book.
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
“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...
The passage depicts the unnatural occurrence of the female’s sexual advances, and establishes the link between vampirism and sex that is seen throughout the novel: unlike Mina and Lucy, who are idyllically virtuous and pure, these un-dead women are insatiable and dominant. Stoker takes the fantastic image of the sexual woman to its most extreme manifestation, and suggests that Harker would not only lose his reputation by indulging in these sexual acts, but also his life. The three vampires that Harker encounters in Dracula’s castle are embodiments of the ‘beautiful nightmare’ of the male Victorians; they are representations of everything that the Victorian society states that women should not be – they are sexually aggressive, ‘voluptuous’, and seductive. This sexual proficiency, though appealing, is rebuked and seen to undermine the male dominancy within the patriarchal society, and therefore must be destroyed. The notion that a woman can be both attractive and repulsive is also presented by Angela Carter in The Lady of the House of Love. The character of the countess is presented as both the predator and the prey – the victim and the vixen. Just as the female vampire in Dracula is described as “thrilling and repulsive”, the countess is described as “beautiful and ghastly”. Despite her beauty and “fragility”, the countess
In Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, Stoker’s use of inverted gender roles allows readers to grasp the sense of obscureness throughout, eventually leading to the reader’s realization that these characters are rather similar to the “monster” which they call Dracula. Despite being in the Victorian era, Stoker’s use of sexuality in the novel contributes to the reasoning of obscureness going against the Victorian morals and values. Throughout the novel the stereotypical roles of the Victorian man and woman are inverted to draw attention to the similarities between Dracula and the characters. Vague to a majority of readers, Bram Stoker uses Dracula as a negative connotation on society being that the values of the Victorian culture are inverted amongst the sexes of characters, thus pointing out the similarities of the characters and the so called “monster” which they call Dracula.
Seen through numerous passages, Stoker confronts and battles the views of sexuality during the Victorian era through his genius of characterization of characters present within the novel. As it seems highly intentional to me, I respect the way in which he criticizes and critiques upon female sexuality by bringing into light new ideas regarding female desires.
...ny other novels of the time, Stoker’s Dracula purposely highlights the superiority of men, while simultaneously belittling women. After only a few pages of this novel, the reader should understand just how helpless the females become. No matter what the issue or controversy, they are unable to find any sort of solution, successful or not, without the help of the male characters. Stoker even goes as far as almost teasing Mina, by allowing her to aid in the hunt for Dracula, yet giving her trivial duties. Lucy on the other hand creates the novel’s most blatant case for male superiority. She is forced to constantly depend on four men for her survival. All blood transfusions she received were from men and even that could not save her life. Stoker manages to make a bold statement by pinpointing the inferiority of the two female main characters in the novel.
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 by Bram Stoker, there are two main female characters, Mina Harker and Lucy Westenra. Stoker used these two characters to represent the two different roles of women during this time. Lucy, as the innocence and sexual. Mina represents as the perfect Victorian woman. As she dutifully studies and helps her husband, Jonathan Harker. On the other hand, Lucy is represented as the way woman if they lust too much in society in the late 19th century. In this essay I will discuss the roles that Mina Harker and Lucy Westenra have in Dracula, how similar and different they are and why was Lucy Westenra the first to fall under Dracula’s spell?
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
Multiple characters are woven together by Bram Stoker in his novel Dracula. The novel begins with Jonathan Harker who travels to Castle Dracula where he confronts many frightening situations. Harker’s fiancée is the character Mina Murray. Mina is the most complex character in the novel along with being the best friend of Dracula’s first victim, Lucy. Mina has a direct relationship with each character in the novel. Moreover, she is essentially a never-ending contradiction. While she exemplifies the Victorian woman, she is equal in intelligence and bravery to her male counterparts. Mina is both a Victorian woman and a New Woman. Mina is also a vampire who can pass as a human. The dichotomy within her roles as a woman
In the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, there are many topics which have importance to the plot. These ideas are outlined quite well in this story. The problem is that these morals and beliefs have changed in the 117 years since this book was written. The ideas have evolved rather fast and may be unfamiliar to a modern audience. 1897 was a very different time that had more religious influence along with a lack of technology to help suffice. Such subjects that have evolved are: society’s take on women, problem solving, and the overall amount of resources available to common people.
In Case's article “Tasting the Original Apple,” it talks about the role that now the new woman has and how it comes into conflict with how men react towards it as stated “Dracula is often read as a largely reactionary response to the threat of autonomous female sexuality posed by the phenomenon of the "New Woman," with its anxieties about female sexuality being most clearly visible in Lucy Westenra's story. Particularly once she has been "vamped," Lucy's sexual assertiveness seems to link her with the New Woman. But Lucy's actions as a vampire, like those of the "awful women" (42) Jonathan encounters at Dracula's castle, perhaps owe less to the specific threat posed by the New Woman's insistence on sexual autonomy than to the ambivalences built into the model of Victorian womanhood from the start. Since ideal womanhood (and the ground of male desire) was characterized by a combination of total sexual purity and at least the potential for passionate devotion to a man, this model...
...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.