Essay
How are Lucy and Mina presented up to chapter 21?
Essay discussing how characters Lucy Westonra and Mina Murray are presented up to chapter 21 in Dracula (as female characters).
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H/W 20th October 2017How are Lucy and Mina presented up to chapter 21?
During the Victorian era, the ideal woman were expected to be modest, pure, and obedient to
their husbands whilst acting as the perfect mothers, however the increasing appearance of the ‘New
Woman’ within this era expressed a desire to be a more independent person who took advantage of
opportunities surrounding education and work; Stoker presents the female characters of ‘Dracula’ as
either a ‘New Woman,’ as something more sexual, or as an idealistic Victorian woman, suggesting
the influence this era and its women had on Stoker. The two main female characters – Mina and
Lucy – are representations of a ‘New Woman’ and an ‘Ideal Woman’, shown through how Stoker
depicts them in his descriptions of then and their dialogue.
Mina and Lucy are both introduced in chapter five through a series of letters addressed to each
other, which is where we first see the differences between the two women. Lucy is open about
sexuality - what was seen as taboo topics in those times - and wrote in a letter that ‘a woman ought
to tell her husband everything,’ implying that there is independence and not full dedication to her
selected suitor Arthur – especially through the verb ‘ought’ meaning to indicate duty, further
suggesting the aspects a ‘New Woman’ has - one of the three that proposed to her; Stoker’s
contemporary audience would perceive that as a degree of promiscuity, which heightens throughout
her transformation into a vampire, particularly expressed by how Lucy believes a woman’s husband
should be told everything, giving evidence to her openness. Lucy questions why ‘can’t they let a girl
marry three men’ to stop any hurt of the men being rejected, which implies that Lucy sees the
society – referred to as ‘they,’ indicating at her understanding of the societal constraints of the
Victorian era, such as being a doting wife and mother who submits fully to the man of the house,
shown by how, when writing to Mina, she asks ‘why are men so noble when we women are so little
worthy of them’ - she lives in as a conservative and judgmental one where there is a clear divide
between the social standing of men and women, however by using the pronoun ‘girl’ as opposed to
‘woman,’ she gives the impression of innocence and youthfulness, whilst ‘men’ suggests power
amongst men, and how they are superior to women; this could also suggest how Stoker thought
women perceived the world at the time, as he wrote this with no female influences to guide him on
such matters. Despite this openness and element of promiscuity Stoker includes to show Lucy’s
behaviour and thoughts towards the standards women face, her innocence and pure qualities are
evident from these points, and it is these that not only prevent her character from being
distinguished as either a ‘New Woman’ or an ‘Ideal Woman,’ but it also the vulnerability she
possesses as part of her innocence that leads to her transformation into a vampire. The progression
of her vampiric state could also be a reflection of what Stoker thought to be the sexually active
women of the Victorian era, and with that idea being seen as evil and impure, also suggests the view
of women at the time, and how their actions could lead to dire consequences, this being death for
Lucy to cleanse her soul.
On the other hand, Mina is the opposite of Lucy, ‘so true, so sweet, so noble.’ She is seen as a
proper Victorian woman, who does not make controversial comments about the number of men a
woman should marry, or talk openly about taboo subjects; this purity already differentiates Mina
from Lucy, and with Lucy’s physical appearance being the main descriptive points when Stoker
writes about her, Mina’s ‘beauty’ is rarely – if at all – spoken about. It is instead, her ‘man’s brain’
and her dedication to her husband, suggested through how ‘[she has] been working very hard lately’
in order to keep up with Jonathan’s studies, and practices shorthand when he isn’t there to further
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