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The Temptation Of Women In Bram Stoker's Dracula

813 Words4 Pages

Bram Stoker’s Dracula presents a tale of mystery and horror as heroes embark on a journey to save England from falling into darkness. While Count Dracula embodies the characterizations of darkness and death, he can hold a hypnotic influence over his victims personifying forbidden desire and temptation on all that fall under his curse. These qualities allow Stoker to criticize Victorian England’s views of desires and share how these unfulfilled desires will fall into temptation and lead to a darker path. Furthermore, he uses these qualities to criticize the male view of women, showing this by symbolizing the effects of not having crucial information with Mina Harker. Count Dracula is depicted as a charming and sinister man whose presence is magnetic and hypnotic to anyone who stands near him, allowing …show more content…

Without it, they would be in danger of moral decay. In Dracula, blood serves as a symbol of not just the need for it to live, but it also signifies sexuality, exacerbating corruption throughout the tale. The insatiable thirst for blood from the infected is not just used to signify the need for it to sustain life, but further to signify the sexual impurity from Dracula’s infection. For instance, as many of Lucy Westenra's male suitors find her with the unknowing infection of Dracula’s curse, they all leap at the chance to give her a blood transfusion to save her life. However, the act of medical transfusion serves as a metaphor for sexual intercourse through the exchange of bodily fluids from one to another. Alongside, as Lucy had received multiple transfusions from all men who wished to save her, this act violated the Victorian norms of the time for it denigrated female purity. Although this was an attempt to save Lucy’s life, the transfusion had sexual implications as she had served as a capsule to hold the men’s blood to feed Dracula as he came by

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Throughout the Victorian era, probably one of the biggest worries was the role of women in society. In “Dracula”, Bram Stoker makes most of the women in his story as very sexual and some as pure. The pure women in society were liked and the impure were considered evil and tempting. Throughout the story, Mina is the perfect fit for the “angel of the house” by remaining smart and loyal and she is seen as heroic and strong in the end because of it. Mina’s relationship with Harker represents the traditional part in society that women should play in the Victorian age.

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