The decline of patriarchy in the novel coincides with the feminist uprising during the 1890’s, ‘Under exclusively man-made laws women have been reduced to the most abject condition of legal slavery in which it is possible for human beings to be held...under the arbitrary domination of another's will, and dependent for decent treatment exclusively on the goodness of heart of the individual master.’
(Florence Fenwick Miller)
The female need for independence and freedom from their oppression drove the male hierarchy to do everything it could to quash these ideals, ‘Signs of rebellion were swiftly crushed by fathers, husbands, even brothers. Judge William Blackstone had announced that husbands could administer "moderate correction" to disobedient wives, and there were other means: as late as 1895, Edith Lanchester's father had her kidnapped and committed to a lunatic asylum for cohabiting with a man. As a Marxist and feminist, she was morally and politically opposed to marriage’ (Internet Source: ‘Women in the 19th Century’)
This in turn isolated those women who rebelled and portrayed them as deranged or insane, thus enabling the division seen in Dracula.
At the start of the novel this division of the ideal woman is portrayed greatly by the three female Vampires, they are viewed as a group of sexually obsessed and predatory monsters. This view could be seen as a link to those ladies of the 19th century who had rebelled against conformity and thus been outcast by society.
This division is apparent between Lucy and Mina,: Lucy is very open about sex and sexuality, whereas Mina rarely comments on the subject at all. The reader gets the impression that Lucy is selfish and concentrates only on her own issues in life regardless others. In only the second letter written by Lucy, she laments 'Why can't they let a girl marry three men, or as man as want her, and save all this trouble?'. Even though Lucy recognises that this is a somewhat heretical comment, she still makes this inner confession to her friend Mina, and whilst it appears that the two have an emotional link through their friendship, there is no point in the novel where Mina makes such a controversial comment; rather, Mina is everything that a Victorian woman could be expected to be, 'So true, so sweet, so noble' as Van Helsing comments. The fact that Stoker has chosen to include such and important contrast between the two major characters so early in the novel suggests that it will play an important part in the narrative. This difference is essential to the plot, as it is only Mina's purity and innocence that allows the group to defeat Dracula at the end of the novel, and saves Mina from Lucy's fate. This sense of purity and morality is greatly reinforced when she comforts Arthur
“We women have something of a mother in us”
Mina is in some ways Stokers ideal woman as she is dedicated to her husband and also strives to help Jonathan in any way she can, which was expected of 19th century women, ‘I have been working very hard lately, because I want to keep up with Jonathan's studies, and I have been practicing shorthand very assiduously.'
Within the novel women are not only portrayed as virginal victims through Lucy and Mina’s letters to each other the reader can experience enter the changes that late 19th century women were going through. This stereotype of the helpless woman is most apparent when the men are preparing themselves to destroy Dracula. This act can be seen as a re-establishment of power and order, which 19th century men were striving for.
Stoker’s attitudes towards the female characters in his novel are not a defence of the patriarchal system of Victorian England but not a complete acceptance of the modern women. Although Stoker incorporates the ideals of the rebellious (deranged) woman through the female vampires, he also in Mina’s character includes small characteristics of a modern female but not to stray too much into this he constantly reinforces her dependence on patriarchy. In a way Stoker is trying to portray his ideal woman. And through the statements made by Van Helsing, 'So true, so sweet, so noble’, ‘we are but men and able to bear, but you must be our star and our hope...’ Mina is created into a type of feminine role model. The fact that Mina is glorified in a talismanic way by Van Helsing shows his inability to accept the changing roles of women.
The division, which is seen throughout the play and the fate of the main female characters, could be seen as a deterrent for women to accept these ‘New Woman’ ideals.