English Source Doc.
Title: Dracula: Stoker 's Response to the New Woman
Author(s): Carol A. Senf
Publication Details: Victorian Studies 26.1 (Autumn 1982): p33-49.
Source: Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Jessica Bomarito and Russel Whitaker. Vol. 156. Detroit: Gale, 2006. From Literature Resource Center.
Document Type: Critical essay
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2006 Gale, COPYRIGHT 2007 Gale, Cengage Learning
Full Text:
[(essay date autumn 1982) In the following essay, Senf contends that, contrary to popular belief, Bram Stoker 's treatment of women in his novel stems not from his animosity toward women in general, but rather from his negative reaction to some attributes of the New Woman.]
Although Dracula,1 which was first published in 1897, has never been out of print and has been translated into a dozen foreign languages, it is only recently that students of literature have begun to take the novel seriously; and much of the recent scholarship has focused on Stoker 's treatment of the women in the novel. For example, Stephanie Demetrakopoulos describes Stoker as a feminist and states: "The novel falls clearly into two parts, each half centered around a different type of woman."2 At the other extreme are Judith Roth, who argues that "hostility toward female sexuality" contributes to the popularity of the novel,3 and Judith Wasserman, who explains that the "fight to destroy Dracula and to restore Mina to her purity is really a fight for control over women."4 Taking a radically different approach is Brian Murphy, who argues: "It is absurd to complain (as, I am afraid, some have) of the excessively 'Victorian ' treatment of Mina Harker. She is no Victorian; she is a medieval lady whose honor and virtue are protected."5 For Murphy, who is primarily interested in Stoker 's creation of myth, the treatment of women in the novel is clearly irrelevant.
Stoker 's treatment of women in Dracula is not irrelevant to most readers. Accustomed to seeing themselves portrayed
Author(s): Carol A. Senf
Publication Details: Victorian Studies 26.1 (Autumn 1982): p33-49.
Source: Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Jessica Bomarito and Russel Whitaker. Vol. 156. Detroit: Gale, 2006. From Literature Resource Center.
Document Type: Critical essay
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2006 Gale, COPYRIGHT 2007 Gale, Cengage Learning
Full Text:
[(essay date autumn 1982) In the following essay, Senf contends that, contrary to popular belief, Bram Stoker 's treatment of women in his novel stems not from his animosity toward women in general, but rather from his negative reaction to some attributes of the New Woman.]
Although Dracula,1 which was first published in 1897, has never been out of print and has been translated into a dozen foreign languages, it is only recently that students of literature have begun to take the novel seriously; and much of the recent scholarship has focused on Stoker 's treatment of the women in the novel. For example, Stephanie Demetrakopoulos describes Stoker as a feminist and states: "The novel falls clearly into two parts, each half centered around a different type of woman."2 At the other extreme are Judith Roth, who argues that "hostility toward female sexuality" contributes to the popularity of the novel,3 and Judith Wasserman, who explains that the "fight to destroy Dracula and to restore Mina to her purity is really a fight for control over women."4 Taking a radically different approach is Brian Murphy, who argues: "It is absurd to complain (as, I am afraid, some have) of the excessively 'Victorian ' treatment of Mina Harker. She is no Victorian; she is a medieval lady whose honor and virtue are protected."5 For Murphy, who is primarily interested in Stoker 's creation of myth, the treatment of women in the novel is clearly irrelevant.
Stoker 's treatment of women in Dracula is not irrelevant to most readers. Accustomed to seeing themselves portrayed
Cited: in Elaine Showalter, A Literature of Their Own: British Women Novelists from Bronte to Lessing (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1977), p. 205. 18. Bram Stoker, The Lair of the White Worm (1911; rpt. ed., London: Arrow Books, 1974), p. 152. 19. Judith Wilt, Ghosts of the Gothic: Austen, Eliot, Lawrence (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1980), p. 87. 20. Bram Stoker, The Jewel of Seven Stars (1912, rpt. ed., New York: Kensington Publishing Corp., 1978), p. 31. 21. Bram Stoker, The Man (London: William Heinemann, 1905), p. 83.