The novel, Dracula, by Bram Stoker was written in the Victorian Era focusing on the ideals of that time. One of the ideals that the novel focused on was the ideal of the Victorian woman. An ideal Victorian woman is pure, chase, submissive, and not a sexualized character. Bram Stoker thinks that women should follow the Victorian ideas of purity, chastity, and submission characterized through the three female vampires, Lucy Westenra, and Mina Harker.
Jonathan Harker met the three female vampires in Count Dracula’s castle. The vampires were describes as sexualized characters. In Victorian society women should be pure and innocent, yet the vampires were flirtatious and promiscuous. The three female vampires tried to seduce him and drink his blood. …show more content…
Mina is characterized as the ideal Victorian woman. Mina writes in her journal about when Lucy and she went on a walk and ate a lot, saying, “I believe we should have shocked the “New Woman” with our appetites”(Stoker 110). Mina says this because they ate so much without worrying about being a proper woman and she felt compelled to follow the Victorian ideals. When Lucy was outside sleep walking, Mina worries if there is anyone around to see Lucy in her sleepwear, focusing more on how other people would perceive them if they were found. This reveals another ideal of the Victorian woman, a woman should be proper and look presentable when they are outside. Mina represents the “New Woman” because she is educated. She is an assistant school mistress, showing that she has a job outside of the traditional domestic chores. She is proficient in shorthand and is very observant, becoming a very crucial character in the identification Count Dracula and his weaknesses. Van Helsing notices that Mina is an ideal Victorian woman when he says “She is one of God’s women, fashioned by His own hand to show us men and other women that there is a heaven where we can enter, and that its light can be here on earth. So true, so sweet, so noble, so little an egoist” saying how she is smart, submissive, and nurturing (Stoker 224). He describes Mina with the highest accolade as one of God’s women. Even though Mina seems to be the most competent in identifying Count Dracula and his weaknesses, putting the events in order, and documenting the events, she is not accepted as a man’s equal. Once the men get her information, they leave her out on their conquest of killing Dracula. Van Helsing says “Madam Mina, this night is the end until all be well. You are too precious to us to have such risk” to the men, since she is a woman she should stay at home for the men to protect her and do the job (Stoker 286). Even though she was left behind, she
Jonathan Harker met the three female vampires in Count Dracula’s castle. The vampires were describes as sexualized characters. In Victorian society women should be pure and innocent, yet the vampires were flirtatious and promiscuous. The three female vampires tried to seduce him and drink his blood. …show more content…
Mina is characterized as the ideal Victorian woman. Mina writes in her journal about when Lucy and she went on a walk and ate a lot, saying, “I believe we should have shocked the “New Woman” with our appetites”(Stoker 110). Mina says this because they ate so much without worrying about being a proper woman and she felt compelled to follow the Victorian ideals. When Lucy was outside sleep walking, Mina worries if there is anyone around to see Lucy in her sleepwear, focusing more on how other people would perceive them if they were found. This reveals another ideal of the Victorian woman, a woman should be proper and look presentable when they are outside. Mina represents the “New Woman” because she is educated. She is an assistant school mistress, showing that she has a job outside of the traditional domestic chores. She is proficient in shorthand and is very observant, becoming a very crucial character in the identification Count Dracula and his weaknesses. Van Helsing notices that Mina is an ideal Victorian woman when he says “She is one of God’s women, fashioned by His own hand to show us men and other women that there is a heaven where we can enter, and that its light can be here on earth. So true, so sweet, so noble, so little an egoist” saying how she is smart, submissive, and nurturing (Stoker 224). He describes Mina with the highest accolade as one of God’s women. Even though Mina seems to be the most competent in identifying Count Dracula and his weaknesses, putting the events in order, and documenting the events, she is not accepted as a man’s equal. Once the men get her information, they leave her out on their conquest of killing Dracula. Van Helsing says “Madam Mina, this night is the end until all be well. You are too precious to us to have such risk” to the men, since she is a woman she should stay at home for the men to protect her and do the job (Stoker 286). Even though she was left behind, she