Feminist Theory in Bram Stoker’s Dracula -
http://arthurxg.wordpress.com/letter-to-future-self-about-what-i-learned-in-engl-122/
Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a highly controversial work of fiction that is still analyzed by many academics to date. Bram Stoker’s Dracula touches on many different categories of text from Sci-fi Horror to 1800’s English Romance literature which is why it can be analyzed in many different ways using an assortment of critical theories. This piece, however, is only focused on one type of critical theory which is called the feminist theory. Feminist Theory cannot be used to analyze Dracula as a whole but it can be used to analyze the texts multiple female characters. Therefore, Bram’s stoker’s Dracula can be analyzed through feminist theory by focusing on the characters Lucy Westenra, Mina Harker, and the three brides of Dracula.
To start, it is easy to see that Lucy Westenra’s position as a feminine character in the text is to support a patriarchal society. This point can be proven by not only some of Lucy’s thoughts in the text but in many of her descriptions by other characters in the text as well. First off, while writing letters back and forth with her dearest friend Mina, who goes by the name of Mina Murray at this point in the novel, Lucy begins to represent her role as a member of “The Cult of ‘True Womanhood’” by writing to Mina “You and I, Mina dear, who are engaged and are going to settle down soon soberly into old married women, can despise vanity.” (Stoker 78). This is because Lucy’s willingness to go “settle down” and become nothing more than an “old married women” is the kind of traits that are expected of a woman of traditional gender roles. Another example of Lucy’s patriarchal beliefs is her willingness to please her, to be, husband, Arthur Holmwood, which can be implied when she writes “I do not know myself if I shall ever speak slang; I do not know if Arthur likes it; as I have never heard him use any as yet” (Stoker 78). According to sexist beliefs as part of a patriarchal society a woman is expected to be a natural follower of their husbands will which is precisely how Lucy is portrayed in the text. Because of this, feminist theorists would condemn the text because of Lucy’s sexist and patriarchal beliefs.
After the death of Lucy, by the likes of Dracula, her body is placed in a mausoleum and soon becomes an undead vampire. Upon the various encounters with vampire Lucy she is described as “impure” or as having a lack of the “purity” she once had. This can be inferred when Dr. Seward writes “the whole carnal and unspiritual appearance, seeming like a devilish mockery of Lucy’s sweet purity” (Stoker 224). The acknowledgment of Lucy’s “purity” is another example of the character’s role as a member of the “Cult of ‘True Womanhood’” because “true women” in a patriarchal society are expected to be physically and sexually pure. Later in the story when vampire Lucy is finally executed Dr. Seward writes that Lucy’s face again looked of “unequalled sweetness and purity” (Stoker 224). Again, reinforcing the idea that the purity of her “true womanhood” had been restored after the vampire’s presence was gone. In this case a feminist theorist might condemn this text for describing Lucy in such patriarchal terms.
Another character praised, in the novel, for her level of conforming to traditional gender roles is the character Mina Harker. Much the same as Lucy, Mina can also 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” by this passage it can be assumed that, just as Lucy Westenra, Mina also intends to live up to her patriarchal gender roles as a servant to her husband Jonathan Harker (Stoker 75). Mina’s role as a patriarchal woman is surfaced again when after she is married, she becomes Mina Harker, and 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’s sense of “duty” to her husband falls under the category of traditional gender roles because it is due to the sexist beliefs of the patriarchal society she lives in that she expects herself to have to give her whole life and the capacity of her life’s duties to her husband. Feminist theorists on the other hand could argue that it is not Mina’s responsibility to be of use to, and meet the demands of, her husband but to instead due as she pleases with her life while being able to retain a healthy relationship with her husband.
There are also many points in the book where Mina’s physical appearance is remarked upon by the standards of a patriarchal system of beliefs. In the text, after some time living in Dr. Seward’s asylum Mina, like Lucy, is also attacked by Dracula and therefore begins to transform into a vampire(Stoker 283). Upon trying to bless Mina Van Helsing burns a mark into Mina’s forehead which causes quite uproar of emotion from the character’s (Stoker 296). In his response to this event Van Helsing says “And oh, Madam Mina, my dear, my dear, may we who love you be there to see when that red scar, the sign of God’s knowledge of what has been, shall pass away and leave your forehead as pure as the heart we know.” (Stoker 296). Once again, much like in the case of Lucy, Mina is perceived as having been pure before she is changed into a vampire. Feminist theologists would condemn this because the idea of purity in a woman comes from the belief in a patriarchal society and the “Cult of ‘True Womanhood’”.
Later in the story as Van Helsing and Mina make their way to Dracula’s castle Mina begins to change more and more into a vampire. Van Helsing suspects she is changing but relays a point of weakness when he writes “I am amaze, and not at ease then; but she is so bright and tender and thoughtful of me that I forget all fear.” (Stoker 356). In this passage, Van Helsing’s feelings that Mina is “bright and tender and thoughtful” are nothing more than his patriarchal bias towards her for being a woman and these ideas cause him to “forget” the danger he is in. Finally, when Jonathan Harker and Quincey Morris succeed in killing Dracula Quincey cries with nearly his last breath “Now God be thanked that all has not been in vain! See! The snow is not more stainless than her forehead! The curse has passed away.” (Stoker 368) Quincey’s comparison to the snow and Mina Harker’s forehead in this quote is yet another indication of the purity expected from a woman in a patriarchal society.
Much unlike Mina and Lucy, before she is turned into a vampire, the brides of Dracula are sinister and evil from their parts in the beginning to the end of the text. However, this does not mean that the bride’s do not in their own way represent patriarchal idealisms. In the beginning of the novel, while trapped in Dracula’s castle, Jonathan Harker is confronted by the bride’s who put him in a trance of “anticipation” and “desire”. This is because, when hunting their pray, the bride’s seem to emanate sexual intent so as to take their pray off guard. This much can be surmised when Jonathan writes “I felt in my heart a wicked, burning desire that they would kiss me with those red lips.” (Stoker 61). According to feminist theory, in a patriarchal society there are “good girls”, like Lucy and Mina, who are pure and useful to their husbands, and there are “bad girls” who are sexually explicit in nature and are considered to be not the “marrying type”. In this case, due to their sexual nature, the brides would fall under the category of “bad girls”. However, feminist theory would argue that both types of categories are patriarchal in that they objectify women instead of treating them as individuals. In other words more relative to the text, the bride’s should be considered dangerous because they suck people’s blood and not because they are sexual in nature.
The brides themselves do not come into play again until near the end of the text when they confront Van Helsing and Mina on a snowy pathway outside of Draculas castle. Once again, the three brides are objectified as sexual figures or “bad girls” when Van Helsing writes “I knew the swaying round forms, the bright hard eyes, the white teeth, the ruddy colour, the voluptuous lips.” (Stoker 359). Soon after, Van Helsing enters Dracula’s castle he suddenly stops before killing one of the brides and thinks “She was so fair to look on, so radiantly beautiful, so exquisitely voluptuous, that the very instinct of man in me, which calls some of my sex to love and to protect one of hers, made my head whirl with new emotion.” (Stoker 361). In this case, feminist theorists would argue that it was not Van Helsing’s instinct that led him to so abruptly stop, before he killed the vampires, but instead it was his upbringing in a patriarchal society that led him to feel that he must protect all women, good or evil.
Using feminist theory to analyze Bram Stoker’s Dracula one can conclude that the text was written in a time of deep patriarchal beliefs in society. This can be determined by analyzing the few female characters of the novel whose idealisms and physical descriptions conform to patriarchal beliefs. For instance, Lucy and Mina’s needs to serve their husbands and their many descriptions of physical purity or, in the case of the brides of Dracula, their many descriptions of being sexual deviants or “bad girls” and man’s irrational willingness to have sexual relations with them and protect them. As was stated in the beginning of this essay, Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a very controversial piece to date and can be analyzed in many ways through the use of an assortment of critical theories including, but not limited to, feminist theory itself.
http://arthurxg.wordpress.com/letter-to-future-self-about-what-i-learned-in-engl-122/
Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a highly controversial work of fiction that is still analyzed by many academics to date. Bram Stoker’s Dracula touches on many different categories of text from Sci-fi Horror to 1800’s English Romance literature which is why it can be analyzed in many different ways using an assortment of critical theories. This piece, however, is only focused on one type of critical theory which is called the feminist theory. Feminist Theory cannot be used to analyze Dracula as a whole but it can be used to analyze the texts multiple female characters. Therefore, Bram’s stoker’s Dracula can be analyzed through feminist theory by focusing on the characters Lucy Westenra, Mina Harker, and the three brides of Dracula.
To start, it is easy to see that Lucy Westenra’s position as a feminine character in the text is to support a patriarchal society. This point can be proven by not only some of Lucy’s thoughts in the text but in many of her descriptions by other characters in the text as well. First off, while writing letters back and forth with her dearest friend Mina, who goes by the name of Mina Murray at this point in the novel, Lucy begins to represent her role as a member of “The Cult of ‘True Womanhood’” by writing to Mina “You and I, Mina dear, who are engaged and are going to settle down soon soberly into old married women, can despise vanity.” (Stoker 78). This is because Lucy’s willingness to go “settle down” and become nothing more than an “old married women” is the kind of traits that are expected of a woman of traditional gender roles. Another example of Lucy’s patriarchal beliefs is her willingness to please her, to be, husband, Arthur Holmwood, which can be implied when she writes “I do not know myself if I shall ever speak slang; I do not know if Arthur likes it; as I have never heard him use any as yet” (Stoker 78). According to sexist beliefs as part of a patriarchal society a woman is expected to be a natural follower of their husbands will which is precisely how Lucy is portrayed in the text. Because of this, feminist theorists would condemn the text because of Lucy’s sexist and patriarchal beliefs.
After the death of Lucy, by the likes of Dracula, her body is placed in a mausoleum and soon becomes an undead vampire. Upon the various encounters with vampire Lucy she is described as “impure” or as having a lack of the “purity” she once had. This can be inferred when Dr. Seward writes “the whole carnal and unspiritual appearance, seeming like a devilish mockery of Lucy’s sweet purity” (Stoker 224). The acknowledgment of Lucy’s “purity” is another example of the character’s role as a member of the “Cult of ‘True Womanhood’” because “true women” in a patriarchal society are expected to be physically and sexually pure. Later in the story when vampire Lucy is finally executed Dr. Seward writes that Lucy’s face again looked of “unequalled sweetness and purity” (Stoker 224). Again, reinforcing the idea that the purity of her “true womanhood” had been restored after the vampire’s presence was gone. In this case a feminist theorist might condemn this text for describing Lucy in such patriarchal terms.
Another character praised, in the novel, for her level of conforming to traditional gender roles is the character Mina Harker. Much the same as Lucy, Mina can also 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” by this passage it can be assumed that, just as Lucy Westenra, Mina also intends to live up to her patriarchal gender roles as a servant to her husband Jonathan Harker (Stoker 75). Mina’s role as a patriarchal woman is surfaced again when after she is married, she becomes Mina Harker, and 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’s sense of “duty” to her husband falls under the category of traditional gender roles because it is due to the sexist beliefs of the patriarchal society she lives in that she expects herself to have to give her whole life and the capacity of her life’s duties to her husband. Feminist theorists on the other hand could argue that it is not Mina’s responsibility to be of use to, and meet the demands of, her husband but to instead due as she pleases with her life while being able to retain a healthy relationship with her husband.
There are also many points in the book where Mina’s physical appearance is remarked upon by the standards of a patriarchal system of beliefs. In the text, after some time living in Dr. Seward’s asylum Mina, like Lucy, is also attacked by Dracula and therefore begins to transform into a vampire(Stoker 283). Upon trying to bless Mina Van Helsing burns a mark into Mina’s forehead which causes quite uproar of emotion from the character’s (Stoker 296). In his response to this event Van Helsing says “And oh, Madam Mina, my dear, my dear, may we who love you be there to see when that red scar, the sign of God’s knowledge of what has been, shall pass away and leave your forehead as pure as the heart we know.” (Stoker 296). Once again, much like in the case of Lucy, Mina is perceived as having been pure before she is changed into a vampire. Feminist theologists would condemn this because the idea of purity in a woman comes from the belief in a patriarchal society and the “Cult of ‘True Womanhood’”.
Later in the story as Van Helsing and Mina make their way to Dracula’s castle Mina begins to change more and more into a vampire. Van Helsing suspects she is changing but relays a point of weakness when he writes “I am amaze, and not at ease then; but she is so bright and tender and thoughtful of me that I forget all fear.” (Stoker 356). In this passage, Van Helsing’s feelings that Mina is “bright and tender and thoughtful” are nothing more than his patriarchal bias towards her for being a woman and these ideas cause him to “forget” the danger he is in. Finally, when Jonathan Harker and Quincey Morris succeed in killing Dracula Quincey cries with nearly his last breath “Now God be thanked that all has not been in vain! See! The snow is not more stainless than her forehead! The curse has passed away.” (Stoker 368) Quincey’s comparison to the snow and Mina Harker’s forehead in this quote is yet another indication of the purity expected from a woman in a patriarchal society.
Much unlike Mina and Lucy, before she is turned into a vampire, the brides of Dracula are sinister and evil from their parts in the beginning to the end of the text. However, this does not mean that the bride’s do not in their own way represent patriarchal idealisms. In the beginning of the novel, while trapped in Dracula’s castle, Jonathan Harker is confronted by the bride’s who put him in a trance of “anticipation” and “desire”. This is because, when hunting their pray, the bride’s seem to emanate sexual intent so as to take their pray off guard. This much can be surmised when Jonathan writes “I felt in my heart a wicked, burning desire that they would kiss me with those red lips.” (Stoker 61). According to feminist theory, in a patriarchal society there are “good girls”, like Lucy and Mina, who are pure and useful to their husbands, and there are “bad girls” who are sexually explicit in nature and are considered to be not the “marrying type”. In this case, due to their sexual nature, the brides would fall under the category of “bad girls”. However, feminist theory would argue that both types of categories are patriarchal in that they objectify women instead of treating them as individuals. In other words more relative to the text, the bride’s should be considered dangerous because they suck people’s blood and not because they are sexual in nature.
The brides themselves do not come into play again until near the end of the text when they confront Van Helsing and Mina on a snowy pathway outside of Draculas castle. Once again, the three brides are objectified as sexual figures or “bad girls” when Van Helsing writes “I knew the swaying round forms, the bright hard eyes, the white teeth, the ruddy colour, the voluptuous lips.” (Stoker 359). Soon after, Van Helsing enters Dracula’s castle he suddenly stops before killing one of the brides and thinks “She was so fair to look on, so radiantly beautiful, so exquisitely voluptuous, that the very instinct of man in me, which calls some of my sex to love and to protect one of hers, made my head whirl with new emotion.” (Stoker 361). In this case, feminist theorists would argue that it was not Van Helsing’s instinct that led him to so abruptly stop, before he killed the vampires, but instead it was his upbringing in a patriarchal society that led him to feel that he must protect all women, good or evil.
Using feminist theory to analyze Bram Stoker’s Dracula one can conclude that the text was written in a time of deep patriarchal beliefs in society. This can be determined by analyzing the few female characters of the novel whose idealisms and physical descriptions conform to patriarchal beliefs. For instance, Lucy and Mina’s needs to serve their husbands and their many descriptions of physical purity or, in the case of the brides of Dracula, their many descriptions of being sexual deviants or “bad girls” and man’s irrational willingness to have sexual relations with them and protect them. As was stated in the beginning of this essay, Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a very controversial piece to date and can be analyzed in many ways through the use of an assortment of critical theories including, but not limited to, feminist theory itself.