The Oppression Of Women In Bram Stoker's Dracula

In Dracula, Bram Stoker makes a contrast between two types of women in this novel. Women who are in the vampire state are vastly more powerful than the everyday human woman, but seem to still be subordinate. Towards the end of late 19th Century, the new woman develops toward the economic change as well as the sexual changes in society, with both men and women struggling to find a sense of this new order. The new woman was strong, finding a sense of independence and men were beginning to become terrified of their own woman. Stoker explains his idea behind the characters of the women in Dracula, he believes that “for women to deny their traditional role was to deny their womanhood, to challenge the distinctions between women and men upon which

Mina is intellectually equal to the opposite sex, but physically and emotionally submissive. Mina is devoted to her husband Jonathan, she is the ideal woman Victorian woman. Once Mina has been bitten, her transformation slowly spreads, the thoughts that have been repressed for so long have surfaced. Dracula is represented as having an unquenchable thirst for blood and even power. Using his male dominance and superiority over women to fulfill his every desire, having little regard for the well-being of others. He is considered to be a “threat” to a Victorian woman such as Mina, she becomes his victim by force, which some see as rape. Mina feels violated after being “penetrated” by Dracula. There’s a scene in which helps support the idea of Mina being raped. “With his left hand, he held both Mrs. Harker’s hands, keeping them away with her arms at full tension: his right hand gripped the back of her neck, forcing her face down on his bosom. Her white night dress was smeared with blood, a thin stream trickled down the man’s bare breast which shone by hi torn-open dress.” (Stoker 319) The revolting depiction of a man restraining a woman against her will, forcing her to do as he wishes, is by far the most suggestively insinuative scenes involving the notion of rape and sexual

She has fallen victim to Dracula and becomes undead herself. She is one of two female characters, who is pursued by the vampire. Bram Stoker may have given the impression that Lucy was of that a ‘free’ and gossipy female. I do believe that from reading a few passages from Dracula that apply directly to Lucy, this portrayal could be false, and this is in reference to her once she has become undead. Lucy could be a victim, an innocent woman sabotaged by Dracula. 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