“Dracula” by Bram Stoker: Female Characters Analysis

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Main body
Conclusion
References

Introduction

Dracula by Bram Stoker provides a complex representation of female characters. The central figures of the novel, Lucy and Mina are not examples of a typical Victorian-era woman. Dracula was written when the society was already experiencing conflict between a conservative part standing up for gender roles and Victorian feminists seeking equal rights. This time created the so-called New Women who were fighting for intellectual and sexual autonomy for females. The novel Dracula depicted complex female figures not fitting easily to any of the represented forces.

Main body

Mina Harker brightly shows the conflict between two extremes of Victorian England. On the one hand, she possesses some traditional features of an ideal Victorian woman. She is submissive to Jonathan and rather emotional. She also proposes ideas that are typical for the perception of women of that time. Mina writes: “We women have something of the mother in us that makes us rise above smaller matters when the mother spirit is invoked” (234). Her words imply that all women have a maternal instinct that just should be awoken. Mina’s thoughts about every woman as a mother correlate with traditional gender roles. As Hughes notes, in the Victorian era, “women were assumed to desire marriage because it allowed them to become mothers” (para. 7). Thus, Mina certainly represents traditional values; however, she also has characteristics of the New Woman.

Mina is smart, educated, and financially independent from her fiance. Intelligence and critical thinking are essential for the New Woman. It contrasts with traditional Victorian wives, whom Grand calls “cow women,” or man’s “domestic cattle,” never having their own opinion (qtd. in Kistler 6). Mina, however, was not afraid that studying would have a “damaging effect on the ovaries,” turning her into a “dried-up prune,” as some doctors of the Victorian era believed (Hughes para. 6). She also became a key element in helping to defeat Dracula. According to Kistler, “Mina is a producer, and in this role she is integral to the success of the vampire hunters” (10). It is possible to agree that Mina’s character is reflected in Van Helsing’s words, who says that she has “a man’s brain” and “a woman’s heart” (240). Thus, Mina is a complex figure representing features both of the traditional Victorian woman and the New Woman.

In addition, it is interesting to discuss Mina’s attitude toward the New Women. Mina considers that in the future such a woman “will do the proposing herself” (90). She also adds: “And a nice job she will make of it, too! There’s some consolation in that” (90). These words may seem mocking, although sarcasm is not typical for Mina. However, in any case, Mina voices ideas that would be revolutionary for that time and would shatter the ideals of the Victorian era. This controversial moment also adds to the complexity of her character.

Another significant female figure in the novel is Lucy Westenra. Being innocent and pure, she is, nevertheless, represented with a focus on sexuality. In the beginning, Lucy has three suitors and wishes she could marry them all. Later, in the form of a vampire, she tries to seduce Arthur. The representation of Lucy distances her from the traditional image of Victorian “cow woman” but, at the same time, does not make her a prostitute (a good wife or a prostitute — the two only opposites of women in the Victorian era). She can be considered more as a victim of Victorian standards. As Kistler assumes, the novel suggests that the “lack of activity or intellectual engagement” leaves Lucy “vulnerable to vampire attacks” (5). In this regard, it is possible to agree that Lucy was destroyed as she was not able to fit either the traditional Victorian world or the world of the New Women.

One also can assume that, through Lucy’s image, Stoker represented his attitude toward changes in the perception of genders. Lucy became seductive when she turned into a vampire, that is a monster. For expressing sexuality, Lucy was punished and killed by Van Helsing and her suitors. Of course, it was not the only reason for killing her. However, there can be seen a parallel between sexuality and the monstrous image. Sexual desire was not appropriate for Victorian women, and people of that time were pretending that women did not need this kind of satisfaction. They were perceived as objects providing birth-giving or sources of men’s pleasure. According to Hughes, doctors of that time considered that “the majority of women (happily for them) are not very much troubled with sexual feeling of any kind” (para. 7). In this regard, it is possible to agree that Lucy’s storyline reflected a rather negative attitude of Stoker toward the New Women who were standing for sexual autonomy.

Conclusion

One may conclude that Bram Stoker, in his novel Dracula, provided a controversial representation of the gender conflict of the Victorian era. His female characters possess traditional features of ideal Victorian women, at the same time, challenging the values of the divided world where men and women belong to different spheres. In this regard, they turn out to be between two fires, not fitting entirely to any side of the conflict.

References

Hughes, Kathryn. Gender Roles in the 19th Century. The British Library, 2014. Web.

Kistler, Jordan. Rethinking the New Woman in Dracula. 2018. Web.

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“Dracula” by Bram Stoker: Female Characters Analysis

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