Portrayal of Women in Bram Stoker’s Dracula
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published 22/10/2007
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SummaryHorror stories are known to be misogynistic in their portrayal of women; Bram Stoker’s Dracula is no exception. The novel offers a stereotypical, character archetype of the female in various forms: Mina Harker, Lucy Westenra, and the Succubi. The women are used to embody ideas and values of the woman living in the Victorian Age. Women had a strictly defined role within the era; there was no thought of equality; no thought that women could liberate themselves sexually. Dracula is sopping wet with overtones alluding to women’s sexuality and sexuality in general. Stoker uses these characters as a critique against women’s liberation; to stress that sexual liberation, for him, meant damnation. Mina Harker is the embodiment of Victorian virtue in which she is loyal, earnest and, above all, solely has an identity dependent upon her husband; Lucy Westenra, Mina’s good friend, embodies the desire of women who want to liberate themselves. As the novel shows, desires of such leads to death; the Succubi, Dracula’s servants, embody the abysmal end to which the road of sexual liberation leads. Mina Harker is beloved in Stoker’s eyes, but from a modern point of view, sets the forward drive of women’s liberation into a sudden and screeching halt.
Table of Contents
- Mina is the Victorian Ideal for women.
- The quote emphasizes Mina's preoccupation. From the line, 'and if he is thinking of me!?
- In the Victorian marriage, the man is the head and the woman is the heart.
- Lucy is far more modern in thought than her friend Mina.
- Stoker expresses similar feelings toward the Succubi, or the trio of Un-Dead vampire sisters.
- The Succubi represent the end of the road for the liberated woman in Stoker's terms.
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