Femininity in Dracula
Discuss how Bram Stoker portrays femininity in Dracula?
Bram Stoker uses both the female and the male characters to present femininity in Dracula. Stoker uses characters like Dracula to explore the sexuality of women and to express the idea that it is morally wrong and dangerous for a woman to be voluptuous and if she is, she will suffer the consequences. Additionally, the two most important female characters in Dracula, Mina Murray and Lucy Westenra, are used by Stoker to present different female values and morals that existed during the Victorian era, the era in which the novel was written. Stoker shows a dichotomy of femininity in his novel. The first, which is represented through Mina, serves the men and the status quo but throughout the novel adopts skills such as the willingness to work and to adopt new technologies. The other, which is represented through Lucy, is strongly based on sexual liberation. The first is celebrated whereas the other is monstrocised. It is this that makes Dracula a sexist novel.
The most stereotypical woman is Mina Murray. Bertens argues in his Literary Theory that female characters that hold culturally stereotypical traits are ‘constructions’ “put together - not necessarily by the writers who presented them themselves, but by the culture they belonged to”. The character of Mina Murray and to a certain extent Lucy as well, is exactly as Bertens describes. Mina is a construction, as she is presented by Stoker as a character who behaves how a culturally stereotypical woman should. An example of this is when Mina says “we women have something of the mother in us that makes us rise above smaller matters when the mother-spirit is invoked”. Stoker makes a generalisation about all women but it is interesting that Stoker makes the female character say this because it emphasises that not only the men in the novel are sexist. The inclusive pronouns suggest that the sentiment is true of all women. Mina is referring to all women being
Bram Stoker uses both the female and the male characters to present femininity in Dracula. Stoker uses characters like Dracula to explore the sexuality of women and to express the idea that it is morally wrong and dangerous for a woman to be voluptuous and if she is, she will suffer the consequences. Additionally, the two most important female characters in Dracula, Mina Murray and Lucy Westenra, are used by Stoker to present different female values and morals that existed during the Victorian era, the era in which the novel was written. Stoker shows a dichotomy of femininity in his novel. The first, which is represented through Mina, serves the men and the status quo but throughout the novel adopts skills such as the willingness to work and to adopt new technologies. The other, which is represented through Lucy, is strongly based on sexual liberation. The first is celebrated whereas the other is monstrocised. It is this that makes Dracula a sexist novel.
The most stereotypical woman is Mina Murray. Bertens argues in his Literary Theory that female characters that hold culturally stereotypical traits are ‘constructions’ “put together - not necessarily by the writers who presented them themselves, but by the culture they belonged to”. The character of Mina Murray and to a certain extent Lucy as well, is exactly as Bertens describes. Mina is a construction, as she is presented by Stoker as a character who behaves how a culturally stereotypical woman should. An example of this is when Mina says “we women have something of the mother in us that makes us rise above smaller matters when the mother-spirit is invoked”. Stoker makes a generalisation about all women but it is interesting that Stoker makes the female character say this because it emphasises that not only the men in the novel are sexist. The inclusive pronouns suggest that the sentiment is true of all women. Mina is referring to all women being