ipl-logo

Mina And Lucy In Bram Stoker's Dracula

1144 Words5 Pages

Mina and Lucy
Bram Stoker’s gothic novel, Dracula, was written in the nineteenth century, where he uses the main two female characters to depict the varying role between man and woman. Dracula is set in the Victorian Era, where the man in the relationship has all the power. Stoker uses these female characters, Mina and Lucy, to offset these prejudices. Lucy, is your beautiful and innocent woman, who is defined by her sexuality and is left uninformed about the dangers of Dracula. Mina, who can be defined as pure and innocent, shows off her dedication to her husband by keeping up with his studies which ultimately saves her. Both females present a version of your typical Victorian woman, but Stoker uses the two best friends to show what a woman …show more content…

Mina embodies all the characteristics that makes up the perfect woman of this time. Due to this, Mina would not obtain a friendship that could threaten her status, which means Lucy is a suitable friend who shares common qualities. Mina and Lucy are portrayed as unequal, defenseless objects that are to be protected and desired. They both seem to push the boundaries of their relationship but at the end of the day, both know who has the control. Lucy is a sexualized being who ends up being transformed into a vampire and dying because of the men she thought she has able to trust. They believed it was in her best interest to keep her in the dark about what was happening to her. As Lucy is on her death bed, she states “How good they all are to me. I quite love that dear Dr. Van Helsing. I wonder why he was so anxious about these flowers. He positively frightened me, he was so fierce. And yet he must have been right, for I feel comfort from them already” (Stoker 134). She has such faith in these men and their intentions, yet they never once inform her of why she is so ill. The same goes for Mina. She may have the brain of a man, but she still puts the men’s lives before hers. She vowed to kill herself if she endangered the others in any way. No matter how valuable she may have been in finding Dracula, Mina was

Show More
Related

How Does Mitsuko Change In The Deep River

613 Words | 3 Pages

In the book “Deep River” by Shusaku Endo, the character Mitsuko goes through an abundance of trials in search of peace for her soul. Her longing for love and for self-happiness was not found in materials, through actions of pleasure, or through mindless acts of service. There is a sudden change in Mitsuko’s outlook on the world and life when she is submerged in the waters of the Ganges River. She is transformed and feels at peace knowing that the burdens of life and worries are all within the river of humanity and will be washed away (Endo 210,211).

Read More

Stoker's Critique Of The New Woman Movement

1268 Words | 6 Pages

“We have to free half of the human race, the women, so that they can help to free the other half. ”- Emmeline Pankhurst. Pankhurst, a suffragette during the Victorian era in the UK, made the claim that the freedom of all humans is intrinsic to the success of humanity. The protest for freedom for women during the Victorian era was called the New Woman movement.

Read More

Theme Of Corruption In Bram Stoker's Dracula

1161 Words | 5 Pages

Everybody knows the classic tale of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. It is most famous for its introduction of the character of Count Dracula into both deep-rooted and contemporary literature and media. One critic claimed,” Bram Stoker set the ground rules for what a vampire should be.” It follows the story of Jonathan Harker, an English solicitor who visits Count Dracula in his castle in Transylvania – soon realising that he is being kept as a prisoner. Dracula forms a liking to the character of Lucy which ultimately leads to her death.

Read More

Analysis Of Mina Murray Harker In Dracula By Bram Stoker

1008 Words | 5 Pages

She is a strong, independent, intelligent woman who breaks gender and societal barriers. Stoker’s writing begs the question, how does Mina break societal barriers, but at the same time possess many traditional abilities and behaviors? Based in the late 1800’s in Victorian England, women were not likely to be educated and independent, but rather submissive to their husbands. Stoker creates Mina’s “New Woman” persona to develop the novel into more than the audience of the time would expect. Mina occupies inspirational qualities such as loyalty and strength, as well as finding a balance between her independence and not overstepping societal boundaries.

Read More

What Does Religion Symbolize In Dracula

1196 Words | 5 Pages

Bram Stoker's Dracula is filled with interesting symbology and religious comparisons. Dracula is a gothic novel set in late 1800s Britain and Transylvania. Dracula is an epistolary, meaning it is told through a series of journal entries, news clippings, etc. It’s like the written version of found film. Dracula draws from many old myths for its villain and is the basis for the modern vampire.

Read More

Renfield In Bram Stoker's Dracula

1367 Words | 6 Pages

Also, when the three female vampires appear before Jonathan, he characterizes them to have “dark, piercing eyes” and “ruby [red]” lips, which conveys that they are also among the evil in Dracula (Stoker

Read More

Summary Of Homosexuality In Bram Stoker's Dracula

901 Words | 4 Pages

The essay I chose to compare Dracula with was “Kiss Me With Those Red Lips: Gender and Inversion in Bram Stoker’s Dracula” by Christopher Craft. The essay explains the sexuality in Dracula, desire, gender, and even homosexuality. Craft mentions his essay gives an account of Stoker’s “vampire metaphor” (Craft 108). He highlights certain and very valid points in the story of Dracula that breaks the Victorian gender role, writing, “a pivotal anxiety of late Victorian culture.” (Craft 108).

Read More

The Oppression Of Women In Bram Stoker's Dracula

1218 Words | 5 Pages

When Lucy turns into a vampire, it is made a point to describe how she appears and behaves in opposition to the Lucy we were introduced to before her death. With Lucy as a vampire it gives her many virtues she didn’t possess when she was alive. In this novel she is portrayed as a predatory. The importance of being a virgin in the 19th century is perceived through Lucy’s transition into a ‘she-devil’ once Dracula takes away her purity. A person like Lucy, her sexuality is viewed as offensive, is apparent that the gender categories are challenging to gender categories more than

Read More

Lucy Westenra In Dracula

825 Words | 4 Pages

Lucy stands in many ways in contrast to Mina’s character as their moral views and ways of life are distant. She has no occupation and is in no way seeking any form of education. Due to this fact she resembles at first initially in no case the modern New Women, as these sought for independence and education. Her personality can be described as girly, lovely and ‘sweetly innocent’, a seeming sample of Victorian perfection. Lucy is highly beheld for her beauty as her appearance is that of a luminous beauty with fair hair, that is described as “sunny ripples” , and pure bright eyes.

Read More

Lucy's Duality In Dracula

506 Words | 3 Pages

The ways in which Van Helsing and Seward customarily address Lucy with pet names and terms of endearment, is the same as how an adult would treat a child that denies their maturity. In spite of the fact that these appear affectionate on the surface, it is a manipulative tactic exercised frequently by the band of men. Whether or not they are aware that they are doing such, revoking Lucy of her name strips her of her identity and, essentially, her authority over her personhood. Women in Victorian could only be two things; either you were a pure woman or you were a fallen woman. Lucy can only be one or the other, it was not common for women of the time to possess the traits of both types.

Read More

Women In Dracula Essay

696 Words | 3 Pages

Lucy showed the ideal Victorian woman and the frowned upon one too. At some points, Lucy is a lot like Mina in the way that she loves one man. She has multiple men wanting to be with her and although she doesn’t mind being with all of them, she turns them down for the man she loves the most, Arthur Holmwood. Lucy’s best friend is Mina, which tells us where she gets the ideal traits from. Stoker also characterizes Lucy as sexual when Dracula turns her into a sexual vampire and she goes to the dark side.

Read More

Suddenly Sexual Women In Bram Stoker's Dracula Summary

1830 Words | 8 Pages

Maybe her reason why she hides such a frightening thing is her fears of society and that she knows what will be her punishment if males, figures of power, know. Moreover, Mina is so

Read More

Gender Roles In Bram Stoker's Dracula

1350 Words | 6 Pages

The fact that there were some role reversals in the novel, especially among the female characters, made most characters all the more dynamic. All the same, the novel was very obviously influenced by gender roles and when Stoker was writing Dracula there was an obvious dividing line between male and female characters that he would not cross. Stoker’s preoccupation with female sexuality in Dracula “is attested to by the fact that [gender roles] actually come to dominate the story, with the vampire hunters mainly concerned not with Dracula himself but with his effect on their beloved companions” (Dixon) While Mina, who represented the ideal Victorian woman, acted as a support system and assistant to the heroic group of men. While things have changed significantly for men and women alike in the modern age, Dracula will likely remain in place as one of the most famous and telling critiques of Victorian gender

Read More

The Importance Of Dracula In Stoker's Dracula

1253 Words | 6 Pages

Gothic horror novel Dracula, the title character makes only several relatively short appearances, some of which are while in disguise. Throughout the novel, Stoker keeps Count Dracula in the shadows, both literally and figuratively. This essay will describe these appearances and analyze Stoker’s use of them to determine what effect they might have on the impression of the character and the novel overall. It will be claimed that by keeping his title character hidden for much of the novel, Stoker’s Dracula is made much more frightening to the reader. Human beings tend to fear the unknown, and by leaving Dracula to the imagination,

Read More

Fear In Dracula

811 Words | 4 Pages

Dracula’s castle was just the beginning of what was to come. Jonathan 's meeting of the three female vampires it was a catalyst for what he believed was right and wrong. With the 3 women being polar opposites of what was expected from a 19th-century Victorian woman compared to the pure and proper Mina the 3 vampires are straight forward and dominant. Something that he had never experienced before and he can 't help that he is both attracted and repulsed by them. “ There was something about them that made me uneasy, some longing and at the same time some deadly fear.

Read More

More about Mina And Lucy In Bram Stoker's Dracula

Related Topics

Open Document