Feminism In Bram Stoker's Dracula

One of the pioneering and most influential works of horror fiction, Dracula by Bram Stoker has been rediscovered in the late 20th century from the gender studies perspective. Many scholars have pointed out since then that under a classic adventurous vampire story Stoker managed to hide his contrasting understanding of the gender roles of late Victorian Britain, especially the contradicting images of femininity. While Stoker’s attitude toward women is a debatable topic, with some scholars viewing Dracula as an example misogyny and others claiming Stoker expresses feminist ideas in his most famous novel, it seems clear that two of the Stoker’s main female characters - Lucy and Mina - express two differing femininity models. Stoker’s depiction of Mina as a balanced combination of the New Woman ideas and traditional …show more content…
The novel was written in 1897, depicting a story about the mysterious Vampire Count Dracula. A young woman called Lucy is killed by Dracula, which forces a group of her friends to try to solve the case and chase Dracula to prevent further deaths. Stoker's novel was incredibly influential throughout the entire 20th century, especially leaving the impact on the popular culture. However, it is only after the wave of success in the popular culture that Dracula received a deep critical analysis on the topic of gender depiction in the novel. Especially interesting is Stoker’s depiction of two female characters, their roles in the story and their destinations. It seems quite certain that Stoker willingly emerged the gender issue in the novel, as Mina, the only woman in the vampire-hunters team, remembered her experience of the great hedonistic freedom, claiming that they “would have shocked the “New Woman” with our appetites” (Stoker and Kelly, 110). Therefore, Stoker knew about the feminist trends of his time and actively used his novel to express his thoughts on this