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Dangers of Female Sexuality (Dracula)

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Dangers of Female Sexuality (Dracula)
Written in the late 19th century Brom Stokers Dracula the danger of female sexuality was put on display. Brom stokers Dracula dealt a lot with Victorian women and how they were belittle. There were certain standards women had to meet to be considered Victorian women. In the Victorian society women had very narrow gender roles. There were two paths a women could take she could be pure and virginal which would include being a mother and a wife. Or you were regarded to as a whore or expendable to the world. The idea of this is expressed in Dracula by two main characters Mina and Lucy. Mina is a secretary for "The Children of Light" which was considered a man’s job, while Lucy on the other hand had three different men wanting to marry her which was not very ideal in this time. Victorian women and their duties after they were married were to cook clean have kid’s and cater to their husbands every need women were also not suppose to work there main job was to take care of the house. Mina can be analyzed through her own thoughts and her description from the view points of others throughout the novel. Early in the text Mina writes, in a letter to Lucy Westenra, "I want to keep up with Jonathan 's studies, and i have been practicing shorthand very assiduously. When we are married I will be able to be useful to Jonathan" from this passage it can be said that, Mina intends to live up to her the female gender in the Victorian era (Stoker 75).Mina Harker also writes "I had nothing to give him except myself, my life, and my trust, and that with these went my love and duty for all the days of my life." (Stoker 123). Mina for example as you can see was not your average Victorian women she met some of the Victorian women standards but also failed at some. She was the first human heroine (Caitlyn, Rivera). For starters she had a job which was a big no no but she also catered to her husband. Mina is a school teacher who marries Jonathan Harker and turns to be a housewife, mother


Cited: Freitas Donna, Ph.D. “Romantic and Gothic Horror” April 7, 2010. Web. March 27, 2013 Lane, Jacob Nighan, Raymond, Ph.D. “Feminism in Gothic Horror” April 7, 2010. Web. March 27, 2013 Pearce, John “English Extension Speech – “Dracula” – Feminist Reading” Web Rivera, Caitlyn. “Feminism in the Human Heroine”. 2013. Print Smith, Kelley SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on Dracula.” SparkNotes LLC. 2003. Web. 14 Mar. 2013. Stoker, Bram.Dracula. London, Constable, 1897. Print.
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