The Treatment of Women in Bram Stokers Dracula Essay

The Treatment of Women in Bram Stokers Dracula In reading Bram Stokers Dracula, I find the treatment of the two main female characters-- Lucy Westenra and Mina Harker-- especially intriguing. These two women are two opposite archetypes created by a society of threatened men trying to protect themselves. Lucy is the Medusa archetype. She is physically attractive, and wins the heart of any man who comes near her (e.g. Arthur, Quincey, Jack, and Van Helsing). Her chief quality is sensual beauty, but her sexual desire is repressed and not allowed to communicate. And yet both the spiritual side and the sexual side are in her, and when the long repressed sexuality finds a vent, it explodes and takes over completely. In other†¦show more content†¦She must not be active or adventurous, and definitely cannot be the advancing party in sexual engagement. That would be taking away mens sexual advantage, and will not be tolerated. The party of men gathers in Lucys graveyard, then, feeling their masculine power being subdued by the feminine attraction, turn angrily in defense of themselves. On the other hand, Mina Harker is the Madonna archetype. Her chief quality is not her physical attraction, but her role as mother, sister, and wife. She is not a threat to the men because her social role is domestically defined. As a wife she loves her husband, and tries to be useful to him. She practices typewriting and shorthand, keeps diaries, arranges papers, and tends to Jonathan when he is sick. As a mother and sister, she gives her sympathy to Jack, Arthur, and Quincey, allowing them to express their emotions, and thus winning their affection: I suppose there is something in a womans nature that makes a man free to break down before her and express his feelings on the tender or emotional side without feeling it derogatory to his manhood; for when Lord Godalming found himself alone with me he sat down on the sofa and gave way utterly and openly. . . . I felt an infinite pity for him, and opened my arms unthinkingly. With a sob he laid his head on my shoulder, and cried like a wearied child, whilst he shook with emotion (268,Show MoreRelated Comparison of Dracula and Bram Stokers Dracula Essay1462 Words   |  6 PagesCompare/Contrast Dracula and Bram Stokers Dracula A noticeable difference in the way movies have changed over the years is evident when comparing and contrasting two films of different eras which belong to the same genre and contain the same subject matter. 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And as the years pasted, the industry grew and became strongerRead More Comparing Sexuality and Power in Dracula and Buffy the Vampire Slayer1657 Words   |  7 PagesComparing Sexuality and Power in Dracula and Buffy the Vampire Slayer    At first glance, Joss Whedons Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the hour-long TV series which premiered in 1997 and is now in its third season, bears little resemblance to the book which started the vampire craze -- Bram Stokers Dracula, published a century earlier. And yet, looks can be deceiving. Although the trendy -- and often skimpy -- clothing and bandied about pop-culture references of Buffy clearly mark the seriesRead MoreAn Analysis Of Bram Stoker s Dracula 1330 Words   |  6 Pages Bram Stoker in Dracula imagines a â€Å"proper women† by demonizing Lucy ascribing to her traits of a wanton woman; a whore of a demon. A misogynistic attitude is popular in a patriarchal society, especially in the middle of the nineteenth century. On the other hand, Stoker unconsciously ties Mina’s behavior to emulate a woman of propriety. She is the very bane of what a progressive woman looks like but not when looking at her through a gynocritics lens. To prepare the reader for the id eology of the