Dracula: Mina Harker and Lucy Westenra

Lucy Westenra is presented to us by Bram Stoker in his novel Dracula as a very two dimensional character; however, Stoker uses her character as a beacon to convey the true, deeper threat that Dracula poses to society through three distinct stages being Lucy’s engagement, Lucy’s transformation, and the resulting Bloofer Lady. Lucy’s engagement and the proposals surrounding it establish her character as a standard, clear cut Victorian woman dismissive of any unfashionable thoughts. The later unfortunate transformation to vampirism displays impurities bubbling to the surface, with the subsequent Bloofer Lady displaying full force how damaging these impurities bestowed by Dracula are damaging

In the novel Dracula, Mina Murray and Lucy Westerna are some of the few notable female characters, and both seem to embody the ideal Victorian women: innocent and pure. However, the way they were described by others varies greatly. For instance, Lucy’s appearance is often described: “Lucy was looking sweetly pretty in her white lawn frock” (Stoker 73), suggesting that her greatest asset is her beauty. On the other hand, Mina is described to be “one of God’s women, fashioned by His own hand to show…men and other women that there is a heaven [they] can enter, and that is light can be here on earth. So true, so sweet, so noble, so little an egoist” (201) and is noted to possess a “man’s brain” (250); as for her physical appearance, there is nothing remotely mentioned. With this in mind, then, do you think Lucy’s “beauty” has made her an easy prey to Dracula? Is it sufficed to say that, perhaps, Mina’s maternal attributes and intelligence made her resistant to fall prey into vampirism? What does this say about the “ideal Victorian women”?

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

Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” is a story about a Vampire named Count Dracula and his journey to satisfy his lust for blood. The story is told through a series of individuals’ journal entries and a letters sent back and forth between characters. Bram Stoker shows the roll in which a certain gender plays in the Victorian era through the works of Dracula. This discussion not only consists of the roll a certain gender takes, but will be discussing how a certain gender fits into the culture of that time period as well as how males and females interact among each other. The Victorian era was extremely conservative when it came to the female, however there are signs of the changing into the New Woman inside of Dracula. Essentially the woman was to be assistance to a man and stay pure inside of their ways.

Mina's sense of duty to her husband falls under the sexist belief of women in the 19th century. She expects herself to give her whole life and the capacity of her life's duties to Johnathan. Many parts of the book mention Mina's physical appearance by the standards of patriarchal beliefs. Mina begins to turn into a vampire after being attacked by Dracula, and when Van Helsing tries to bless her, he burns a mark onto her forehead (stoker 296). This causes an uproar of emotion from the characters, for Mina lost her purity.

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

The Portrayal of Mina in Dracula ans Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula analyzes the portrayal of Mina in both novel and film, it is found that Coppola has strengthened Mina’s role in making her part of staar-crossed-lovers and has given her supernatural power. She stated that Mina has moved from a woman oppressed by Victorian norms to one that is a reincarnation of someone else (in the film) being ruled and oppressed by male power. Moreover, in the film Mina is even less emancipated than in stoker’s novel because the submitting of dominance of Dracula by

Just when all the characters and the audience had thought the events with Lucy were already enough, now they face a horrible reality; Mina is on the verge of turning into a vampire. As soon as Van Helsing began to speak, Jonathan was already fearing this. The love of his life was turned into an evil creature that he hated. Both the audience and Jonathan Harker knew that once Van Helsing informed she was changing, she was going to turn into a bloodthirsty vampire. Not only did Harker certainly have his fair share of terror with the Count, now he also faces the terror of loosing Mina.

In the book Dracula, Stoker characterizes Mina as the wife of Jonathan Harker and a friend to Lucy Westenra, a social butterfly. In the beginning of the story, Stoker identifies Mina as the ideal victorian woman in England. This generalizes some interesting contradictions about her character. First and Foremost, Stoker conveys Mina as a tender, maternal figure role of woman. Mina brings out the vulnerable side to Arthur Holmwood and Quincey Morris as they mourn Lucy’s death. Mina says softly, “I suppose there is something in a woman’s nature that makes a man free to break down before her and express his feelings on the tender or emotional side without feeling it derogatory to his manhood…” (245- 246). She provides comfort and holds them like

Stoker emphasises the threat of the ‘New Woman’ through constant mentioning of their dress and appearance; he does this to emphasis the contrast between the ‘New Woman’ and the traditional women. In the chapter where Jonathan is approached by the 3 woman vampires, who represent the dreaded ‘New Woman’ the language used to describe the women is very critical. He refers to them as “ladies by their dress and manner” stating them to be effeminate and vulgar and this makes it seem that they are impersonating women. Facially they are described as having “high aquiline noses”; these bird-like, pronounced features make them appear animalistic and dangerous. He contrasts their “dark, piercing eyes” with the “pale yellow

As aristocrats they had an image to uphold at all times. So, people would put on a social facade to impress their peers as a means of establishing a high reputation, keeping their true selves hidden behind the false front, hence where the idea of duplicity derives from. Such practice was primarily engaged by men, so for women to engage in that sort of dualism was considered by most explicitly unsettling, Stoker deliberately plays upon this fear in ‘Dracula’. Lucy shifts from innocent young

Throughout Dracula, Mina is the character to rely on for consistent faith and optimism. When Lucy’s illness seemed to worsen with each passing day, Mina could still find comfort in her religion. She says, “I must only pray to God for patience” (Stoker 77). With her mindset, she is under the impression that nothing fatal can happen, because she believes that God has

Lucy was introduced having many suitors and being very beautiful, but unlike women of her time she was very sexualized, even more so when Dracula turned Lucy into one of the undead. She is described as having a ravenous sexual appetite that was dangerous to men and their self-control. Mina was an ideal Victorian woman, “One of God’s women,”(Stoker, 1897) as described by Van Helsing. And remained that way through out the novel even thought there was suspense created that Mina who empathizes with the progressive new women of England would suffer the same fate as Lucy. When Stoker wrote Lucy’s demise it had a dominance undertone to it.

Regardless of her lack of complete transformation into vampirism, Mina still exhibits similar traits to Lucy because of her interaction and connection with Dracula. They both seek sexual gratification and are independent in their vampire state.

Mina’s role in the vampire hunters is extremely important. Not only is she one of the main characters, but because she is brave this makes her less afraid to deal with Dracula. She want’s justice for Lucy. The men think of her as frail and unable to