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

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