In Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’, Mina measures up fairly well as a traditional Victorian woman. She has a good extent of tradition, and she matches the acquirements well. Mina is beneath veneer of modernity; she is wealthy and therefore shows signs of financial independence. She also stands as a model of domestic propriety, an assistant schoolmistress whose duty involves machines like the typewriter. This is important, because it shows us that she is a virtuous person, and it also shows us her stability; as holding the job as an assistant schoolmistress isn't something that every Victorian woman was thought capable of doing. Later on she uses her domestic chores, to assist her husband with his work, and this shows us that she is a devoted wife.
Unlike Lucy, she is not most noteworthy for her physical beauty, which spares Mina her friend’s fate of being transformed into a voluptuous devil. Her sexuality remains enigmatic throughout the whole of the novel, however she does undertake one sexual encounter with Dracula towards the end, but it is forced. Although Mina does not produce an heir during the novel, we do know that she produces a child afterwards, and this is important information.
The entire second half of the novel concerns the issues of Mina’s purity, and Bram Stoker creates suspense as to whether Mina, like Lucy will be lost. Mina is far from a ‘New Woman’, she is a dutiful wife and mother, whose successes are always in the service of men. She even pokes fun at the New Woman several times, as she notably writes “Some of the New Woman writers will someday start an idea that men and women should be allowed to see each other asleep, before proposing or accepting. Mina is summed up as having a very good aspiration of a traditional Victorian ideal, and she is credited well, especially by Dracula, for having, ‘the brain of a man and the heart of a woman’.
In many ways Lucy is much like her dear friend Mina. She is a paragon of virtue and innocence, such qualities that draw not just one man, but three suitors to her. She does have one crucial aspect that differs from Mina though, she is sexualized. Lucy has such physical beauty that captivates each of her suitors, turning her into a New Woman. She displays a comfort or playfulness about her desirability, that Mina never feels, and we can see that Lucy is turning into a New Woman, within the way she acts and dresses. She also quotes in a letter to Mina “Why can’t they let a girl marry three men or as many as want her, and save all this trouble?” Stoker describes the undead Lucy as a wanton creature of sexual appetite, as a dangerous threat to men and that therefore she must be destroyed. Lucy’s death returns her to a more harmless state, fixing a look of purity on her face that assures men that the world and its women are exactly as they should be.
As well as Mina and Lucy, we could question how the three female vampires in the novel, relate to the traditional Victorian ideal. The truth is they don’t show much innocence and virtue like Mina and Lucy. They may have sexuality in attraction and appearance, however it turns them into New Women. If they didn’t belong to Dracula, then all riots would have broken loose, especially with Jonathan Harker. The three female vampires stipulate what a woman should not be, -voluptuous and sexually aggressive. This making their beauty both a promise of sexual fulfillment and a curse. They do not give the impression that they are well mannered and spoken, especially within the way that they are introduced. They talk dirty, and their actions are extremely un-feminine. They do not have a certain position in society, and they attempt to run the household however Dracula stops them in their tracks. Overall the vampires do not show much appreciation to the Victorian traditional ideal. Every aspect apart from their feminine appearance seems to pin point in the opposite direction.
Looking closely at the key three female characters in the novel, I can see that all three key characters relate in some way to the traditional Victorian ideal, some more than others do. Mina is an excellent example of this, showing a good extent of tradition. Her everyday life involves tradition, using her domestic propriety, to help her husband. To have a certain position in society is something to be proud of, and that’s what Mina has.
On the other hand, Lucy and the three female vampires are purely ‘New Women’. They use their sexuality to attract men, breaking all tradition. All of their moves are a promise of sexual fulfillment and a curse.
Bram Stoker’s novel ‘Dracula’ indulges the Victorian male imagination, regarding the topic of female sexuality. The extent of the characters merely over looks the traditional Victorian ideal. Sometimes the characters fulfil their role well, but sometimes everyone betrays the tradition.
Stoker created an image at a first glance that the characters appear to be cast in typical gender roles, the purpose of this being not to upset or threaten the reader’s sense of how things should be. He then creates suspense into the actions of the characters, for example, Mina turning into some one like Lucy; will she be lost?
Bram Stoker shows us with Mina, that she was able to achieve her own goals, as well as the typical goals of Victorian women. Mina still carries on with the tradition as well as maternal instincts, and we know this from the important information given to us after the novel; her having a baby. This is therefore showing us that Victorian Women could do more than that was traditionally common or expected, without the rebellious, threatening ‘New Woman’.
By Jade Boggust (10A)
