How Does Bram Stoker Use Gothic Tropes In Carmilla

The same could be said for Laura as she appears quite taken with her new guest. She is “flattered by the evident, though as yet undeserving, fondness she showed me.” Laura also seems to describe her “companion” in much detail greatly admiring her looks. The vampire character represents a being without inhibitions and someone who gives into their desires. This was a popular theme in many Gothic novels, giving in to wants and no longer containing somewhat primal feelings.

In Dracula, Stoker portrays the typical women: The new woman, the femme fatale and the damsel in distress, all common concepts in gothic literature. There are three predominant female roles within Dracula: Mina Murray, Lucy Westenra and the three vampire brides, all of which possess different attributes and play different roles within the novel. It is apparent that the feminine portrayal within this novel, especially the sexual nature, is an un-doubtable strong, reoccurring theme.

Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” is a story about a Vampire named Count Dracula and his journey to satisfy his lust for blood. The story is told through a series of individuals’ journal entries and a letters sent back and forth between characters. Bram Stoker shows the roll in which a certain gender plays in the Victorian era through the works of Dracula. This discussion not only consists of the roll a certain gender takes, but will be discussing how a certain gender fits into the culture of that time period as well as how males and females interact among each other. The Victorian era was extremely conservative when it came to the female, however there are signs of the changing into the New Woman inside of Dracula. Essentially the woman was to be assistance to a man and stay pure inside of their ways.

While reading Dracula, by Bram Stoker, readers are transported into the Victorian Era through the pages of great, mythological, literature. Not only does Stoker place emphasis on the gender role issues circulating the 1800’s, but focuses on controversial topics such as religion and sexuality, while masking it behind a riveting fictional work. The book takes place between a series of letters and journal entries written by the characters. Dracula, the antagonist, is depicted as a blood-thirsty vampire, who transforms wholesome men and women into the like. Throughout the book, Stoker covers many feminist theories, while primarily focusing on female sexuality, showing the perception of women during the 1800’s.

From Mina being completely independent to Lucy conclusively disregarding the ethical and social standards set for women, the females in the novel exemplify strong, impregnable figures that directly oppose the traditional, weak woman. In addition, the female vampire and her vast abilities demonstrate the potential that women can have if they attain the level of being the New Woman. By switching the gender roles in the novel of Mina and Jonathan, Stoker was able to exhibit that the female can be just as capable and accomplished as a man. Finally, Stoker constitutes that the females character be disparaged and devalued in order to show how crucial the transformation of women into a fierce figure is. All in all, this novel truly manifest the capability of the female. This is summed up beautifully by Gloria Khader when she states, “Women are always saying, 'We can do anything that men can do.' But Men should be saying, 'We can do anything that women can do” (Khader

In Carmilla, Sheridan Le Fanu uses vampires to identify and challenge gender roles of women in the Victorian age. From the outset, Carmilla and Laura’s relationship appears to transcend mere homosocial characteristics; Carmilla awakens sensations in Laura which she has never known before because her sexuality has always been suppressed. This suppression is inherently motived by the dominant ideology in Victorian culture that lesbianism, and homosexuality more generally, are “unnatural” forms of sexuality. According to Colleen Damman, “as a woman, Carmilla can only claim her sexuality after death” (). This is an interesting statement because it provides context for the idea that vampirism is the only way Carmilla can express her own carnal desires; She too is then subject to the constraints of Victorian culture. This to say that, for Le Fanu, the only way to have an open discussion concerning homosexual desire is to employ the vampire. Bearing this concept in mind, by analyzing certain key passages and elements of Carmilla and by applying some modern conceptualizations on gender and sexuality, one can see that Carmilla and Laura are merely byproducts of a period rife with sexual desire, frustration, and tension.

him succumb into being their victim. This example shows how the roles of both genders of vampires come into play when seducing a victim. Dracula traps his victims with swiftness. The female vampire such as his three brides and Carmilla use a different technique. Rather than seduce him himself, Dracula uses his brides to get the job done more rapidly using manipulation and their sexual appeal.

During the ninetieth century, the Victorians debate over women’s behavior. In Jennifer Swartz-Levine’s article “Staking Salvation: The Reclamation of the Monstrous Female in Dracula” she comments about “The concept of the Angel in the House--the pure, virtuous, non-sexualized female--is one of the most monolithic and immobile depictions of Victorian womanhood”(Swartz-Levine 2). At the time the belief of following the Victorian society’s set limits would be beneficial while wrongdoers would be punished. Victorians at the time were to believe in women being pure and non-sexual, like Stoker’s character Mina Harker. When characters like Lucy and the other three female vampires act apart from Mina, morals come into question.

Out of all the characters presented in the novel, I chose Mina because I found her to be the character that kept me the most interested for the duration of Dracula. Mina sparked my interest as we began to further explore the content of Dracula in an effort to try to interpret how Bram Stoker used each character to illustrate his views on religion and society at the time. I concluded that through Mina’s character, Stoker was neither condemning nor promoting the expectations of the Victorian Era but instead he used Mina to exploit the expectations of that time period. In this paper, I will explore the different facets of Mina’s character and illustrate how her role as the only female protagonist in Bram Stoker’s Dracula is just as essential

Dracula is a novel that indulges its male reader’s imagination, predominantly on the topic of female sexuality. When Dracula was first published, Victorian women’s sexual behaviour was extremely restricted by social expectations. To be classed as respectable, a women was either a virgin or a wife. If she was not either, she was considered a whore. We begin to understand once Dracula arrives in Whitby, that the novel has an underlying battle between good and evil, which will hinge on female sexuality. Both Lucy Westenra and Wilhelmina “Mina” Murray embody two-dimensional virtues that have been associated with female. They are both virgins, whom are innocent from the evils of the world and that are devoted to their men. Dracula’s arrival threatens those virtues, threatening to turn Lucy and Mina into the opposites, noted for their voluptuousness, which could lead to an open sexual desire.

In order to reinforce as loudly and clearly as possible the patriarchal message that in Victorian society, New Women were to be regarded as social pariahs, the ultimate destruction of these literary characters had to be performed in the most savage manner feasible, the brutality of which is almost beyond belief. In Carmilla, prior to her slaughter, the male characters, representative of the Victorian patriarchy, dehumanize the vampire Carmilla, by no longer referring to her by name; Carmilla is simply reduced to being referred to as “the vampire” and “the body.” Dehumanization eliminates Carmilla’s individuality, metaphorically suggesting that her fate is the destiny that awaits all New Women. Carmilla’s execution is described as follows:

It is for this reason that masculinity was often associated with uncontrollable primal desires. However, Stoker’s representation of female sexuality is a form of rebellion against this notion. It is therefore contrary to this belief. In his novel, Dracula, Stoker presents two types of women to illustrate this contrast. Lucy and the Brides of Dracula represent the notorious group of women. They are painted as not having control of their sexual desires. On the other hand, Mina represents a group of ideal women. However, when Dracula temporarily turns Mina into a vampire, she drinks the blood from Dracula’s

The defining characteristics of female vampires, such as bloodsucking, rebellious and with an open eroticism, were representations of everything that conventional women in patriarchal society were not supposed to be. Le Fanu developed in 'Carmilla ' a tale about a dangerous and destructive female vampire, who is emotionally and physically engaged in a relationship with her victim Laura, while mirroring Victorian society’s angst of female sexuality. Le Fanu’s story ‘Carmilla’ treats vampirism as the means

In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, two different types of women are presented throughout the plot. Lucy Westenra and Mina Harker can both be compared to the upcoming “‘New Woman’” (Grand 271) of the Victorian era. A new kind of woman; riding a bicycle and no more willing to put her fate into a rich husband’s hand but instead keen on working herself. To what extent the two main female characters resemble this ‘New Woman’ depends on their performative acts, Judith Butlers’ notion after which gender is constructed. According to Butler, “gender is in no way a stable identity or locus of agency from which various acts proceed; rather, it is an identity tenuously constituted in time – an identity instituted through a stylised repetition of acts” (519). So

Otherness is defined as “the quality of or fact of being different.” Dracula’s entrance into England represents a sort of “invasion” of privacy and jumbling of ideals, however it also suggests unity. The monster which creeps into their Victorian society is a threat to their Christian morals. Despite the terror and destruction Dracula brings along, Stoker’s novel touches on the fact that foreign invasion can bring many people together. Dracula is known to be one of the most influential Gothic texts of the nineteenth century. The image of the vampire is constantly changing making it able to adapt the concerns, desires, and tensions of various periods, allowing the text to survive many centuries to come along. Stoker’s novel takes an interesting