Dracula by Bram Stoker

Lucy is the center of attention between the men in this group, “Why can’t they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want her” (Stoker 69), and because of this she is Dracula’s first target. She opens up more possibilities to Dracula.

During the read of chapters one through nine, the gothic novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, gives each character their own spotlight throughout the book. Characters’ that stood out the most to me were the women of Dracula, Lucy Westenra and Mina Murray. Beginning with Lucy, she has many qualities that differed from the other characters in the book; although, she is like her friend Mina Murray in some ways. Lucy is sexualized in the book and I think Stoker purposely focused that exact interpretation for a reason. Her physical beauty obviously captivated her fiancé, but also two other men. She seems to portray as an innocent and vulnerable woman, giving those around her reasons to protect her at a constant state. Giving that Lucy is voluptuous, as

During the Victorian Era, women struggled to attain gender equality by challenging the traditional roles that defined them. These women no longer wanted to remain passive and obey the demands of their husbands nor be domestic and the caretakers of their children. They strived to attain the role of a 'New Woman', an intelligent, liberated individual who was able to openly express her ideas (Eltis 452). Whereas some women were successful in attaining this new role, others were still dominated by their male counterparts. The men felt threatened by the rising power of women and repressed them by not allowing them to work, giving them unnecessary medications, and diagnosing them with hysteria (Gilman

In Dracula, Stoker portrays the typical women: The new woman, the femme fatale and the damsel in distress, all common concepts in gothic literature. There are three predominant female roles within Dracula: Mina Murray, Lucy Westenra and the three vampire brides, all of which possess different attributes and play different roles within the novel. It is apparent that the feminine portrayal within this novel, especially the sexual nature, is an un-doubtable strong, reoccurring theme.

Dracula uses his supernatural powers to feed his fascination with youth and innocence. In the beginning of the novel, when Dracula is first encountered, he is described as old, although “His face was strong… [his] lips, whose ruddiness showed astonishing vitality in a man of his years… The general effect was one of extraordinary pallor.” (27). This description of the Count shows that while he is old, he still possess some attributes and features of the young. Once Dracula finds that the men have made a bond against him, he makes a bond to take all of their women. He succeeds in transforming Lucy and scaring her mother to death, although Mina is stronger and the men save her by killing Dracula. Also, the three women vampires in his home are past conquests of beautiful, young women. Dracula only sucks the blood of young women in the novel reflecting his hunger for youth and innocence. As the

Dracula is a novel written by Bram Stoker during the late 1800’s. The book starts out with Jonathan Harker, who is a smart young business man, who wants to travel to Count Dracula for a business ordeal. Many locals from the European area warned Jonathan about Count Dracula, and would offer him crosses and other trinkets to help fend against him. Mina, who is at the time Jonathans soon to be wife, visits to catch up with an old friend named Lucy Westenra. Lucy gives Mina an update on her love life telling her how she’s been proposed to by three different men. The men are introduced as Dr. Seward, Arthur Holmwood, and Quincey Morris. Unfortunately for her she will need to reject two of the men, and Lucy ends up choosing to marry Holmwood. Later on after Mina visits Lucy, Lucy starts to sleep walk, becomes sick, and then finds out she has bite marks on her throat. Due to this incident, another new character is introduced who happens to be Van Helsing. As the novel progresses, lady vampires are introduced and Lucy is eventually turned into one of the lady vampires as well. With the introduction of female vampires, the novel Dracula turns into a sexual and sensational novel by Bram Stoker. The female characters in the book are overly sexualized to where we can compare it to how women are viewed from back then in history to today’s world.

In the late 19th century, when Dracula by Bram Stoker is written, women were only perceived as conservative housewives, only tending to their family’s needs and being solely dependent of their husbands to provide for them. This novel portrays that completely in accordance to Mina Harker, but Lucy Westenra is the complete opposite. Lucy parades around in just her demeanor as a promiscuous and sexual person. While Mina only cares about learning new things in order to assist her soon-to-be husband Jonathan Harker. Lucy and Mina both become victims of vampirism in the novel. Mina is fortunate but Lucy is not. Overall, the assumption of women as the weaker specimen is greatly immense in the late 19th century. There are also many underlying

Lucy is clearly the most sexual female of the female characters and this description leads to the reader understanding the inappropriateness of the women being overtly sexual and in some ways them understanding the threats the ‘New Women’ possess. When dying Lucy is described as having a “voluptuous mouth” and her body to be “withering and quivering” once again the ‘New Woman’ is referred to as being very sexual and confident,

In the novel Dracula, written by Bram Stoker in the late 1800’s, there is a great deal of characters that face trials and are forced to choose between good and evil. The two characters that will be compared and as well contrasted today are Mina Murray and Lucy Westenra. These two women are immensely alike in so many ways in the beginning of the novel. They begin the story on the same path, and Lucy begins to wander into a new lifestyle and begins thinking differently than she did at the beginning, while Mina remains who she is throughout the story.

The relationship that exists between gender, sexuality and sexual practice is one that is not static, but is ever changing and shifting dependent upon the society in which it exists (Brickell, 2007). This essay aims to describe how Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel, Dracula, presents a “characteristic, if hyperbolic, instance of Victorian anxiety over the potential fluidity of gender roles” (Craft, 111-112), whilst also inverting and subverting conventional Victorian gender patterns through the characterisation and portrayal of the vampire women residing in Count Dracula’s castle, Mina, and Lucy as well as the ‘feminine’ passivity and submissive depiction of Jonathan Harker.

The normal Victorian representation of a woman would be that of a weak character, who would faint at the sight of blood; a character who would only discuss weather and art. In this novel, the stereotype of an ideal Victorian woman is broken as it is contrasted with the modern woman. The two best friends, Lucy and Mina, are each a representation of each. While Lucy is shown as all weak and someone who gives in easily, Mina stays on the “good side” even after she has been bitten by a vampire and her conversion has started. She is presented a hero, who plays an important role in bringing Dracula down through her intelligence and resourcefulness. Hence, by representing Mina as such a powerful character, Stroker breaks the stereotypical idea of a

The idea of being innocent plays a critical role in how the characters act. To be innocent is to not be responsible for or directly take part in an event yet suffering its consequences. Mina falls into situations where her innocence faces challenges and she becomes apart of the consequences. An example of this is when Count Dracula bites Lucy and the result of this is that she tries to warn Mina about him but she passes away before she gets the chance. We see this when Lucy repeats, “his red eyes” (Stoker 9). It is a clear warning that Lucy is experiencing something that she wants to inform others of. Another example is when Lucy becomes a vampire after death and she is not the same person she once was. She takes on traits from Dracula such as manipulating a situation. We see this when Lucy says, “Come to me Arthur. Leave these others and come to me. My arms are hungry for you. Come, and we can rest together. Come, my husband, come!” (16) This quote demonstrates a possibly future for Mina if she chooses to take the same road as Lucy and give into temptation. Sigrid Anderson Cordell is an author who wrote “Sex, Terror, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula:

Mina believes that "Some of the `New Woman' writers will some day start an idea that men and women should be allowed to see each other asleep before proposing or accepting." (p111)Therefore Stoker portrays Lucy as a New Woman as she admits to Mina in a letter that she and Arthur Holmwood have "slept

In the 1993 version, Van Helsing refers to Lucy as "a willing recruit, a whore of darkness, a bitch of the devil."(Bram Stoker's Dracula). Also, Mina chooses whether to be with Dracula or with Jonathan. We wonder at the end whether she will choose to remain with Jonathan after Dracula's death.

Mina Murray is the fiancée of Jonathan Harker. She is portrayed as a good character in the book because she is shown as a really kind hearted and vivacious school mistress that always seems and is innocent and helps in anyway that she is able too. Mina is Lucy Westerna’s best friend and she is a very intelligent and resourceful young woman who eventually leads Dr. Van Helsing’s men to Castle Dracula.