In Bram Stoker’s, Dracula, we see the New Woman first being introduced to the reader by the three women that Jonathan Harken encounters in Count Dracula’s castle. Mina and Lucy are a representation of the good, traditional Victorian women in comparison to those three women. In her article "Bram Stoker 's Dracula and Late-Victorian Advertising Tactics: Earnest Men, Virtuous Ladies, and Porn", Tanya Pikula argues that “Dracula not only functions as a ‘kind of ‘test-bed’ for competing arguments and sensibilities,’ but it reflects the ways in which its society’s ambivalent responses to consumerism and advertising were repeatedly elaborated through models of femininity and female sexuality”. I strongly disagree with because I do no think that the
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What they fail to realize is that the New Woman is interested in far more things than just sexuality. As Prescott and Giorgio define in their article: “Rejecting the home and traditional motherhood as the only acceptable occupation for women, the New Woman actively sought educational fulfillment and work where non had existed before, in education, and the newly forming Typing Girl pools”(Prescott and Giorgio, 488). This definition of the New Woman we see being represented by Mina. The men fear is focusing on the perversion that the Count is bringing to their women. They fail to see that Mina has all along have the ideals of the New Woman. Although Lucy has some of the characteristics of this woman she falls short in comparison to Mina who excels them. I would like to argue that although Lucy is the one that Count Dracula fully converts into a vampire, Mina is the one that has all the characteristics of the New Woman. Although Mina posses these characteristics she struggles between being the traditional woman who is who she is tell to be while she is trying to break from this and be the New Woman. They need to fear Mina because she is the one in a way disrupting the norms of society. She is acting like an independent woman who does not need a man to be her hero like Lucy did. This is important in the book because the men are …show more content…
Going off the previously given definition of the New Woman, I think that Mina does represent the New Woman. She represents the New Woman because unlike Lucy she does things to better herself, she tells Lucy in her letter “I have been simply overwhelmed with work” she continues telling her “ I have been working very hard lately, because I want to keep up with Jonathan’s studies” (Stoker, 53), here we see how Mina does not have plans to be the typical housewife of the time. She is bettering herself so she can be helpful to her husband. Although here, Mina’s solely reason is her husband, the fact that she is seeking knowledge demonstrates how different she is from Lucy. Lucy’s character is one that is much weaker and is highly sexualized that made it easier for the Count to controlled, “Lucy, aside from craving far more men than the traditional, heterosexual marriage can decently accommodate, is unable to resist Dracula’s charms” (Pikula, 289) while Mina challenges him more because she is a woman far more intelligent who is showing that she has plans for herself, although Pikula argues that Mina mainly acquires practical knowledge in order to ‘be useful to Jonathan’” (Pikula, 289). I would as Prescott and
What they fail to realize is that the New Woman is interested in far more things than just sexuality. As Prescott and Giorgio define in their article: “Rejecting the home and traditional motherhood as the only acceptable occupation for women, the New Woman actively sought educational fulfillment and work where non had existed before, in education, and the newly forming Typing Girl pools”(Prescott and Giorgio, 488). This definition of the New Woman we see being represented by Mina. The men fear is focusing on the perversion that the Count is bringing to their women. They fail to see that Mina has all along have the ideals of the New Woman. Although Lucy has some of the characteristics of this woman she falls short in comparison to Mina who excels them. I would like to argue that although Lucy is the one that Count Dracula fully converts into a vampire, Mina is the one that has all the characteristics of the New Woman. Although Mina posses these characteristics she struggles between being the traditional woman who is who she is tell to be while she is trying to break from this and be the New Woman. They need to fear Mina because she is the one in a way disrupting the norms of society. She is acting like an independent woman who does not need a man to be her hero like Lucy did. This is important in the book because the men are …show more content…
Going off the previously given definition of the New Woman, I think that Mina does represent the New Woman. She represents the New Woman because unlike Lucy she does things to better herself, she tells Lucy in her letter “I have been simply overwhelmed with work” she continues telling her “ I have been working very hard lately, because I want to keep up with Jonathan’s studies” (Stoker, 53), here we see how Mina does not have plans to be the typical housewife of the time. She is bettering herself so she can be helpful to her husband. Although here, Mina’s solely reason is her husband, the fact that she is seeking knowledge demonstrates how different she is from Lucy. Lucy’s character is one that is much weaker and is highly sexualized that made it easier for the Count to controlled, “Lucy, aside from craving far more men than the traditional, heterosexual marriage can decently accommodate, is unable to resist Dracula’s charms” (Pikula, 289) while Mina challenges him more because she is a woman far more intelligent who is showing that she has plans for herself, although Pikula argues that Mina mainly acquires practical knowledge in order to ‘be useful to Jonathan’” (Pikula, 289). I would as Prescott and