Bookspit:
http://bookspit.wordpress.com/2012/10/29/feminism-and-dracula/
The Less Lovely the Thing: Feminism and the Women of Dracula Feminism is a frightening thing. Dictionary.com defines “feminism” as “the doctrine of advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men” and “an organized movement for the attainment of such rights for women.” When “feminism” is involved, women feel the need to seek social justice, economic self-sufficiency, and sexual liberation, leading to a “genre” of women known as the New Woman. The New Woman began to assert itself in Victorian society and literature in works such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula, where female characters explored the boundary between traditional womanhood and feminism.
Vampirism can be seen as a deviation which infects the body with disease and the mind with fear. In both men and women, this infection leads to sexual deviance; men explore homosexual relationships with other men, while women explore their own sexuality, homosexual or otherwise. Once a woman is infected with sexual desire, she transitions from the passive recipient of the sexual act to a penetrative and active participant. Women who taste eroticism become monsters, running amuck through society and infecting other women with ideas of female independence and sexuality (Sceats 115).
The two female characters in Dracula, Mina Murray and Lucy Westerna, represent very different ideas of Victorian womanhood. Lucy attempts to explore sexual transgression within the Victorian sphere, and is consequently infected with vampirism and killed. Mina chooses not to explore her sexuality, trying instead to make a place for herself between the male and female spheres, where she hopes to be accepted by men as more than just a wife and mother. Her stint within masculine affairs temporarily liberates her and positions her as an intellectual equal, but the men quickly put her back within her proper domestic sphere once they have reclaimed their masculinity.
Dracula can be divided into two parts, each based on the different concepts of Victorian womanhood. Lucy represents nostalgic views of women in the 1850s, and Mina shows characteristics of the New Woman of the 1890s, though her liberation is not completed (Demetrakopoulos 109). Mina is able to partially defend herself against Dracula’s seduction, while Lucy quickly and quietly succumbs. Lucy’s only defense is her mother, a naïve woman who removes the protective garlic and flowers placed by Van Helsing in Lucy’s room, allowing Dracula to suck her dry once again (Stoker 260). The mother means well, but her lack of understanding of the crisis at hand leads to her own demise, as well as that of the daughter she is socially expected to protect.
In contrast, Mina educates herself so she can be prepared for any advances from Dracula. She transcribes the diaries of the individual men so their knowledge of Dracula is combined and uses her insight to track the vampire’s travels through the world. Mina’s characterization comes from her intelligence and strength, whereas Lucy’s come from her emphasized femininity. Mina has more masculine traits than Lucy, but these do not negate her femininity; her femininity is simply less excessive than Lucy’s, ultimately allowing for her survival (Demetrakopoulos 110). The New Woman was a threat to society, not because of a woman’s potential financial independence or refusal of marriage and motherhood, but because of her openness to sex (Senf 38). Lucy attempts to assert individual authority by initiating sexual relationships. She writes to Mina about her three suitors and her open desire for all three. She is clearly unhappy with her social role, but the only way she knows to remove herself from it is to find a mode to express her sexuality. Her body represents a battleground for social morals as she pursues Morris, Seward, and her chosen fiancé, Holmwood, though her highest transgression is a kiss for Morris. These interactions do not prove satisfying, however, and she is found by Dracula, the ultimate moral faux pas. His penetration and her subsequent draining make her a vampire.
There are many masculine attempts to regenerate Lucy as a part of Victorian society, but the men immediately turn against her once they witness her seductive vampire behavior and her drinking from a child. Clearly, her Victorian woman values have been destroyed, and so she must be as well. Dracula’s kiss excites Lucy and creates her aggressive sexuality, which requires corrective patriarchal penetration. Four heterosexual males read the masculine Bible and penetrate her with a stake, “some two and a half or three inches thick and about three feet long” (Stoker 326). It is fiancé Holmwood who pounds the stake into her the night after their intended wedding, violently consummating their marriage (Howes 109). The result is “Lucy as we had seen her in life, with her face of unequalled sweetness and purity” (Stoker 328). Yes, it is “a vicious attack against a helpless woman,” but it “succeeds in destroying the New Woman and reestablishing male supremacy” (Senf 45). Luckily, Van Helsing and his Crew of Light still have “Madame Mina,” who they see as the sweet, feminine, engaged-to-Jonathan antithesis of the destructive vampire. Before her marriage she tries to be the New Woman, but as the story progresses she reverts to her traditional Victorian roles. Mina’s attempts at New Woman-hood are admirable, but she falls short of true independence because she always justifies her attempts within the patriarchal sphere. She works as a typist and educates herself so she can help Jonathan and “keep up with” his studies (Stoker 194). She keeps a regular journal, which is a very New Woman-esque way to establish a strong sense of self; however, she claims it is just a routine of self-improvement which she can study when necessary (Prescott 490). She actively participates in the pursuit of Dracula, but at soon as the men feel like they can take over she allows herself to be re-restrained, both literally and socially. She is married to Jonathan before the hunt for Dracula, but this does not restrict her while the men need her support. As soon as the vampiric threat is destroyed, however, patriarchal dominance is reestablished, and within a few years she is a homemaker and mother.
The women in Dracula do not dwell on the “monstrous Other” which threatens to encompass them; rather, they want to “narrate a strong and determined Self” that the vampire can help them discover (Johnson 79). This “Self” could be found in the gradual presentation of the New Woman to Victorian society and its partial acceptance in cultural phenomena such as Bram Stoker’s novel. Unfortunately, Stoker either does not yet embrace or does not yet understand what the New Woman sought to achieve, pushing his characters through half-formed ideas of feminism and sexual independence which lead to their physical and mental destruction.
The Less Lovely the Thing: Feminism and the Women of Dracula Feminism is a frightening thing. Dictionary.com defines “feminism” as “the doctrine of advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men” and “an organized movement for the attainment of such rights for women.” When “feminism” is involved, women feel the need to seek social justice, economic self-sufficiency, and sexual liberation, leading to a “genre” of women known as the New Woman. The New Woman began to assert itself in Victorian society and literature in works such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula, where female characters explored the boundary between traditional womanhood and feminism.
Vampirism can be seen as a deviation which infects the body with disease and the mind with fear. In both men and women, this infection leads to sexual deviance; men explore homosexual relationships with other men, while women explore their own sexuality, homosexual or otherwise. Once a woman is infected with sexual desire, she transitions from the passive recipient of the sexual act to a penetrative and active participant. Women who taste eroticism become monsters, running amuck through society and infecting other women with ideas of female independence and sexuality (Sceats 115).
The two female characters in Dracula, Mina Murray and Lucy Westerna, represent very different ideas of Victorian womanhood. Lucy attempts to explore sexual transgression within the Victorian sphere, and is consequently infected with vampirism and killed. Mina chooses not to explore her sexuality, trying instead to make a place for herself between the male and female spheres, where she hopes to be accepted by men as more than just a wife and mother. Her stint within masculine affairs temporarily liberates her and positions her as an intellectual equal, but the men quickly put her back within her proper domestic sphere once they have reclaimed their masculinity.
Dracula can be divided into two parts, each based on the different concepts of Victorian womanhood. Lucy represents nostalgic views of women in the 1850s, and Mina shows characteristics of the New Woman of the 1890s, though her liberation is not completed (Demetrakopoulos 109). Mina is able to partially defend herself against Dracula’s seduction, while Lucy quickly and quietly succumbs. Lucy’s only defense is her mother, a naïve woman who removes the protective garlic and flowers placed by Van Helsing in Lucy’s room, allowing Dracula to suck her dry once again (Stoker 260). The mother means well, but her lack of understanding of the crisis at hand leads to her own demise, as well as that of the daughter she is socially expected to protect.
In contrast, Mina educates herself so she can be prepared for any advances from Dracula. She transcribes the diaries of the individual men so their knowledge of Dracula is combined and uses her insight to track the vampire’s travels through the world. Mina’s characterization comes from her intelligence and strength, whereas Lucy’s come from her emphasized femininity. Mina has more masculine traits than Lucy, but these do not negate her femininity; her femininity is simply less excessive than Lucy’s, ultimately allowing for her survival (Demetrakopoulos 110). The New Woman was a threat to society, not because of a woman’s potential financial independence or refusal of marriage and motherhood, but because of her openness to sex (Senf 38). Lucy attempts to assert individual authority by initiating sexual relationships. She writes to Mina about her three suitors and her open desire for all three. She is clearly unhappy with her social role, but the only way she knows to remove herself from it is to find a mode to express her sexuality. Her body represents a battleground for social morals as she pursues Morris, Seward, and her chosen fiancé, Holmwood, though her highest transgression is a kiss for Morris. These interactions do not prove satisfying, however, and she is found by Dracula, the ultimate moral faux pas. His penetration and her subsequent draining make her a vampire.
There are many masculine attempts to regenerate Lucy as a part of Victorian society, but the men immediately turn against her once they witness her seductive vampire behavior and her drinking from a child. Clearly, her Victorian woman values have been destroyed, and so she must be as well. Dracula’s kiss excites Lucy and creates her aggressive sexuality, which requires corrective patriarchal penetration. Four heterosexual males read the masculine Bible and penetrate her with a stake, “some two and a half or three inches thick and about three feet long” (Stoker 326). It is fiancé Holmwood who pounds the stake into her the night after their intended wedding, violently consummating their marriage (Howes 109). The result is “Lucy as we had seen her in life, with her face of unequalled sweetness and purity” (Stoker 328). Yes, it is “a vicious attack against a helpless woman,” but it “succeeds in destroying the New Woman and reestablishing male supremacy” (Senf 45). Luckily, Van Helsing and his Crew of Light still have “Madame Mina,” who they see as the sweet, feminine, engaged-to-Jonathan antithesis of the destructive vampire. Before her marriage she tries to be the New Woman, but as the story progresses she reverts to her traditional Victorian roles. Mina’s attempts at New Woman-hood are admirable, but she falls short of true independence because she always justifies her attempts within the patriarchal sphere. She works as a typist and educates herself so she can help Jonathan and “keep up with” his studies (Stoker 194). She keeps a regular journal, which is a very New Woman-esque way to establish a strong sense of self; however, she claims it is just a routine of self-improvement which she can study when necessary (Prescott 490). She actively participates in the pursuit of Dracula, but at soon as the men feel like they can take over she allows herself to be re-restrained, both literally and socially. She is married to Jonathan before the hunt for Dracula, but this does not restrict her while the men need her support. As soon as the vampiric threat is destroyed, however, patriarchal dominance is reestablished, and within a few years she is a homemaker and mother.
The women in Dracula do not dwell on the “monstrous Other” which threatens to encompass them; rather, they want to “narrate a strong and determined Self” that the vampire can help them discover (Johnson 79). This “Self” could be found in the gradual presentation of the New Woman to Victorian society and its partial acceptance in cultural phenomena such as Bram Stoker’s novel. Unfortunately, Stoker either does not yet embrace or does not yet understand what the New Woman sought to achieve, pushing his characters through half-formed ideas of feminism and sexual independence which lead to their physical and mental destruction.