Lucy vs. Mina: Opposites Reveal Truth about Human Mentality

2054 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Count dracula character analysis

Placing two opposite people in the same exact situation can reveal truth about how the human mind works. Differing personalities, decisions made, and impulses of each person influence their destiny. The use of the characters Lucy Westerna and Mina Harker in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, give insight into how certain types of humans think and how decisions they make determine their future. Lucy and Mina have such different views and reactions when placed in an uncertain situation such as being bit by a vampire. By examining the psychology of the characters, Lucy and Mina, it is revealed that through their opposing characteristics when placed in the same situation that the factors of fear, fascination, uncertainty, instincts, and capability to accept or reject change that much is divulged about human nature and how decisions and reactions make their future inevitable.

Lucy Westerna is viewed as innocent, ignorant, young, dependent on others, and selfishly in her own world. According to Eltis’ essay, “Lucy is far more reminiscent of the traditional feminine, defenseless, and frivolous Victorian lady…she clearly has no occupations or concerns beyond her social engagements and amours” (Eltis 457). She has never had a job or shown qualities of being headstrong or dedicated to anything except for her life. Lucy is caught up in her love life and when she receives three marriage proposals, she shows how she is egotistical and caught up in her own rosy world. Lucy writes to Mina, “today I have had three. Just Fancy! Three Proposals in one day! Isn’t it awful!” (Stoker 78). Lucy says she feels awful but definitely is not. She continues to say, “Oh, Mina, I am so happy I don’t know what to do with myself. And three proposals!” (78). She is obvio...

... middle of paper ...

...g or rejecting of change all contribute to determining what our futures will hold. Lucy Westerna and Mina Harker are both bitten by Count Dracula to become a vampire, but the person who is headstrong, independent, driven, and able to defeat change is able to evolve into their true predetermined future as shown through Mina Harker.

Works Cited

Eltis, Sos. A Gender Studies Perspective, Corruption of the Blood and Degeneration of the Race: Dracula and Policing the Borders of Gender. Bedford St. Martins, 2002. Print.

Foster, Dennis. A Psychoanalytic Perspective, The Little Children Can Be Bitten: A Hunger for Dracula. Bedford St. Martins, 2002. Print.

Stoker, Bram. Dracula: Complete, Authoritative Text with Biographical, Historical, and Cultural Contexts, Critical History, and Essays from Contemporary Critical Perspectives. Bedford St. Martins, 2002. Print.

Show More
Related

  • Impurity In Dracula

    999 Words  | 2 Pages

    The novel Dracula by Bram Stoker has plentiful examples of key concepts we have examined in class including: Purity and impurity, magical thinking, strong emotions such as disgust and shame, , formalization, and myth. In this essay I will summarize events that take place within the novel when the protagonists deal with Dracula and then relate these events to the key concepts to demonstrate why the characters view him as dangerous, and therefore something to be avoided completely.

    Read More

  • Dracula: A Simple Tale of Good vs. Evil

    1486 Words  | 3 Pages

    This fictional character was soon to be famous, and modified for years to come into movie characters or even into cereal commercials. But the original will never be forgotten: a story of a group of friends all with the same mission, to destroy Dracula. The Count has scared many people, from critics to mere children, but if one reads between the lines, Stoker’s true message can be revealed. His personal experiences and the time period in which he lived, influenced him to write Dracula in which he communicated the universal truth that good always prevails over evil. Religion was a big part of people’s lives back in Stoker’s time.

    Read More

  • Comparing The Lost Boys, Dracula and Peter-Pan

    3005 Words  | 7 Pages

    Florescu, Radu R., and McNally, Raymond T., Dracula, Prince of Many Faces: His Life and Times (1989)

    Read More

  • Use Of Empiricism In Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'

    1776 Words  | 4 Pages

    Bram Stoker’s Dracula includes themes of death, love, and sex. Stoker’s use of empiricism utilizes the idea that everything is happening “now”. The book offers clear insight into who is evil without explicitly saying it. Stoker’s interest in empiricism uses British womanhood as a way to distinguish between good and evil.

    Read More

  • Foreshadowing, Mood, Mythical Parallels, and Narrative Elements in Dracula

    1445 Words  | 3 Pages

    Birge, Barbara.  "Bram Stoker's DRACULA:  The Quest for Female Potency in Transgressive Relationships."  Psychological Perspectives.  1994.  22-36.

    Read More

  • Dracula and the Threat of Female Sexual Expression by Bram Stoker

    1398 Words  | 3 Pages

    The late nineteenth century Irish novelist, Bram Stoker is most famous for creating Dracula, one of the most popular and well-known vampire stories ever written. Dracula is a gothic, “horror novel about a vampire named Count Dracula who is looking to move from his native country of Transylvania to England” (Shmoop Editorial Team). Unbeknownst of Dracula’s plans, Jonathan Harker, a young English lawyer, traveled to Castle Dracula to help the count with his plans and talk to him about all his options. At first Jonathan was surprised by the Count’s knowledge, politeness, and overall hospitality. However, the longer Jonathan remained in the castle the more uneasy and suspicious he became as he began to realize just how strange and different Dracula was. As the story unfolded, Jonathan realized he is not just a guest, but a prisoner as well. The horror in the novel not only focuses on the “vampiric nature” (Soyokaze), but also on the fear and threat of female sexual expression and aggression in such a conservative Victorian society.

    Read More

  • Inverted Gender Roles: Dracula by Bram Stoker

    1455 Words  | 3 Pages

    Stevenson, John Allen. A Vampire in the Mirror: The Sexuality of Dracula. 2nd ed. Vol. 103. N.p.: Modern Language Association, 1988. JSTOR. Web. 6 Jan. 2014. .

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Two Vampires

    920 Words  | 2 Pages

    While Bram Stoker’s Dracula has been described as the “quintessence of evil creatures we meet in our everyday lives” and “the Darkness” in the hearts of men (Herbert, 2004, pp. 62), Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight

    Read More

  • Embracing Female Sexuality in Bram Stoker's Dracula

    1997 Words  | 4 Pages

    Conclusively, while Bram Stokers novel Dracula is seen as a gothic and horror story, I argue that it is a novel that seeks to address female sexuality directly. Seen through numerous passages, Stoker confronts and battles the views between sexuality during the Victorian era though 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. When contrasting his text upon today’s culture, the differences to how one perceived the vampire has changed significantly.

    Read More

  • Stoker's Portrayal of Women in "Dracula"

    1196 Words  | 3 Pages

    Stoker uses phenomenal imagery to produce a late nineteenth century setting, located somewhere within eastern Europe. Transylvania, the infamous home to Dracula himself, is described in great detail in Harker’s journal. There, Stoker purposely and meticulously outlines Dracula’s castle and the surrounding town. Stoker manages to do this with a very gothic tone, immediately lowering the societal status of women. In conjunction with Dracula’s gothic tone comes the understanding of male and female traditional roles of the era. The reader sees that there is no hesitation differentiating between the two, as Stoker “ cast[s] men as rational, strong, protective and decisive…[and] women as emotional (irrational), weak, nurturing and submissive.” (Tyson, 82).

    Read More

  • Summary Of Feminism In Dracula

    657 Words  | 2 Pages

    First, readers can tell that Lucy Westenra’s position as a feminine character in this novel is there to support the masculine society. This can be seen through the text and Lucy’s thoughts and by her descriptions of the other characters who are also in the novel. While Lucy is writing letters back and forth with Mina, Lucy starts to represent her womanhood by writing to Mina, “You and I, Mina dear, who are engaged and going to settle down soon soberly into old married women, can despise vanity” (Stoker 78). The expectations of a woman during this time would be for them to settle down, start a family, and to take care of the family and their house. Next, Lucy is very willing and goes out of her way in order to please her husband, Arthur Holmwood. Lucy wrote “I do not know myself if I shall ever speak slang; I do not know if Arthur likes it; as I have never heard him use any as yet” (Stoker 78). In this quote, Lucy is saying that if her husband does not like it that she wil...

    Read More

  • Comparing Sexuality and Power in Dracula and Buffy the Vampire Slayer

    1644 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...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.

    Read More

  • Dracula Gothic Analysis

    1188 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Count is the benchmark of the vampire archetype as the monstrous Other that “announces itself as the place of corruption” (Anolik and Howard 1). Dracula is associated with disruption and transgression of accepted limits—a monstrosity of great evil that serves to guarantee the existence of good (Punter and Byron 231). The “Otherness” Dracula possess reinforces our own norms and beliefs through his transgression that separates him from society and the polarity to Western norms and ideals makes him an effective device for extorting revulsion and horror. Stoker’s novel employs Gothic tradition, providing “the principle embodiments and evocations of cultural anxieties” from which the very Gothic mood and horror is produced, establishing the baseline used to distinguish the modern vampires, as part of vampire mythology within the Gothic (Botting Aftergothic

    Read More

  • Tragic Hero in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

    1080 Words  | 3 Pages

    Tragedy shows no discrimination and often strikes down on those undeserving of such turmoil. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, a creature more repulsive than one can imagine is brought to life by a young scientist. Although this creature is horrifying in sight, he is gentle by nature. Unfortunately, the softer side of the creature is repeatedly overlooked and the so called “monster” is driven to a breaking point. Even though the Creature committed many crimes, Mary Shelley’s Creature was the tragic hero of this story because of his efforts rescue the life of a young girl and helping destitute cottagers.

    Read More

  • Dracula

    894 Words  | 2 Pages

    While the character of Renfield is ostensively extraneous to the central plot of Dracula, he fulfils an important role in Stoker’s exploration of the central themes of the novel. This paper will examine how Renfield character is intertwined with the three central themes of invasion, blood and otherness. Firstly, through Renfield’s inner struggle we learn that he is ‘not his own master’ (Stoker, 211). The theme of invasion is revealed by the controlling and occupying powers of Count Dracula. Secondly, the recurring theme ‘the Blood is the Life’ (Stoker, 121), is portrayed throughout the novel and has been interpreted through Stoker’s character Renfield. Then finally, a look at the social construction of the ‘other’ in Dracula and how, through Renfield, who is ‘unlike the normal lunatic’ (Stoker, 52), the Count emerges as the ‘other’ of all ‘others’.

    Read More

More about Lucy vs. Mina: Opposites Reveal Truth about Human Mentality

Open Document