Lucy vs. Mina: Opposites Reveal Truth about Human Mentality

Similar to almost every piece of literature ever created, Dracula by Bram Stoker has been interpreted many different ways, being torn at from every angle possible. Just as one might find interest in interpreting novels differently, he or she might also find interest in the plot, prose, or theme, all of which ultimately lead to the novels overall tone. Throughout the novel, it becomes blatant that the novel contains an underlying theme of female incompetence and inferiority. Through a true feminist’s eyes, this analysis can clearly be understood by highlighting the actions of Mina and Lucy, the obvious inferior females in the book. Through Stoker’s complete and utter manipulation of Mina and Lucy, he practically forces the reader to analyze

The death of Lucy Westenra serves as a pivotal moment in Dracula. It is a reminder of the terrible fate that awaits the victims of the Count, and it motivates many of the men later involved in his defeat. But Lucy’s death also demonstrates one of the novel’s core themes, and this is no better seen than in Van Helsing’s conversation with Dr. Seward regarding her blood transfusions. We learn through this conversation that Lucy died due to her impurity, and so one of Dracula’s core themes is revealed: the struggle between lust and chastity, between promiscuity and marriage. The novel serves as an indictment of sexual freedom and a call for a return to traditional romance.

The characteristic that successfully saves her was her ability to continue to be strong and continue to control herself. Lucy, on the other hand, usually was weak and she didn’t even try to fight off Dracula. She often tries to not recollect the events that occurred between the two. In the end, Mina was able to actually go back to her old habits and be back into a pure state, while Lucy, sadly, was not able to. Lucy turned into a vampire, and as a vampire her terrible characteristics were more apparent than those of when she was pure. While Lucy was a vampire, he eyes were “unclean and full of hell-fire, instead of the pure, gentle orbs we knew” (222-223). Lucy was not only an active threat to children but her desires for the men of the land also posed an active threat. At one point, Dr. Seward recorded, “at that moment, the remnant of my love passed into hate and loathing; had she then been killed…” (223). Both Lucy and Mina get to a common phase of purity but since Lucy has a lack of self control and she has unexpected childish qualities, she eventually had to get back her qualities of innocence in her death.

The book describes how Lucy Westerna is a nice young woman and her best friend is Mina Murray. She is the first one to fall under Dracula’s spell. She is a good character because even though she got transformed into a Vampire she still tried to do everything that she could to help the others stop Dracula while she was not under Draculas spell, she was really cooperative with Dr. Van Helsing when he tried to hypnotize her to find out where Dracula was and that was a very important part in helping to stop Dracula because it was able to show them were Dracula was and helps them find out what he is trying to do at the time and she was not truly evil at heart like Dracula is. Eventually Lucy’s body returns back to normal with the help of Dr. Van Helsing and the others when they defeated Dracula.

In chapter 5, the perspective changes from Johnathan Harker, to his fiancee, Mina, who discusses how much she misses him to one of her close friends, Lucy. In the quote, Lucy writes about going against society’s norms, a contrast to the reserved Mina.

This passage characterizes Mina’s obedience to her spouse Johnathan, and introduces her as the modest woman. Lucy Westenra represents the sexual woman. In her second letter to Mina, she tells of the three marriage proposals that have come to her in one day, and the results of each. She has turned down two men, and accepted the last, but feels badly about having to turn down two of her suitors. She proclaims, “Why can’t they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want her, and save all this trouble?” (61). From this passage, it can be assumed that Lucy desires sexual relationship with all three men, as that is the result of marriage. Here lies the main difference between the two women. In the end Mina benefits from her domesticity and life of service to men. Lucy, on the other hand, is deviate from social norms, and in turn suffers the consequences for her own sexual aptitude. Dracula’s deadly bite does not harm Mina due to her morals dictating that she continues to live as a human. Dracula soon disappears from the scene, and Mina enjoys her marriage and bears a child. However, Lucy is not as lucky. She is described as a sexual monster after her death. It is believed her sexuality that sealed her fate. It is clear that this is a statement about not only the roles of women in society, but also about the fears of society. The good Victorian woman, represses her sexual desires and will lead a respectable life.

Almost every sin imaginable is included in this text if one were to interpret Bram Stoker’s writing to be as such. The glaring Christianity, coded sexual innuendo, and the vampire stereotype still attracts many to this novel. Despite the Victorian era’s social expectations of a woman, gluttony and lust are the two most abundant and greatly detailed sins alive in this text and usually descriptively, if not symbolically intertwined. The female characters of this novel lavishly display their sexual and physical appetites throughout the novel thus tempting the male figures. Mina and Lucy are portrayed in opposition to both each other and societal norms, in the nineteenth century and these traits are still displayed today in the twenty-first century. Voraciousness and Lust as portrayed through vampirism in Dracula details the dichotomy of Bram Stoker and of all men; which wife would a man want to have, the smart maternal plump woman or the fanciful beautiful thin woman.

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.

In the 1993 version, Van Helsing refers to Lucy as "a willing recruit, a whore of darkness, a bitch of the devil."(Bram Stoker's Dracula). Also, Mina chooses whether to be with Dracula or with Jonathan. We wonder at the end whether she will choose to remain with Jonathan after Dracula's death.

In the late 19th century, when Dracula by Bram Stoker is written, women were only perceived as conservative housewives, only tending to their family’s needs and being solely dependent of their husbands to provide for them. This novel portrays that completely in accordance to Mina Harker, but Lucy Westenra is the complete opposite. Lucy parades around in just her demeanor as a promiscuous and sexual person. While Mina only cares about learning new things in order to assist her soon-to-be husband Jonathan Harker. Lucy and Mina both become victims of vampirism in the novel. Mina is fortunate but Lucy is not. Overall, the assumption of women as the weaker specimen is greatly immense in the late 19th century. There are also many underlying

Dracula succeeds in doing so with Lucy. After Lucy herself becomes a vampire, she requests a kiss from Arthur Holmwood, her fiancée, which turns voluptuous – a word Stoker continually uses throughout. Here Stoker presents the female characters

Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a story that narrates the association between a woman and a small group of men led by Professor Abraham Van Helsing that counteracts with Count Dracula. The Count Dracula travels from Transylvania to England to change human beings into something they refer to as, “foul things of the night like him, without heart or conscience, preying on the bodies and the souls of these (they) love best” (p. 223). The author utilizes the epistolary format in the short story (Cranny-Francis 38). Today, Dracula is the most loved epistolary works written in the nineteenth century but representing the current situations in the society. Literary the term epistolary stories represent novels written from various sources documents such as newspaper clippings, letters, and journals (McNally 18). Bram Stoker achieves the effects of using the epistolary style in conveying the characters inner states through different story setups and broad descriptions that develop the conscious self and the context (Cranny-Francis 64). The paper analyzes the gender roles as depicted in the short story by Bram Stoker.

For these reasons, vampirism in Bram Stoker's Dracula can be interpreted as metaphor representing the basic human drives, contained in the id of Freud's model of the psyche. However, to insinuate a deliberate implication of the Freudian id by Stoker would be a misconception, since Dracula was written thirty-six years prior to the publication of Freud's structural model. Their correspondence in this matter should rather be understood as a depiction of a universal truth about the human nature, executed in different literary

This unforsaken tragedy, an untimely death for one proves to be a new beginning blossoming for the pair. The death also leads to the figurative death of the “old” Lucy, and makes for a shifting, dynamic character to arise. A defining moment of her transformation occurs when lonesomely wander the city, her thoughts begin to take control. Her mind wandered “the gates of liberty seemed still unopened. [Lucy] was conscious of her discontent; it was new to her to be conscious of it. "The world," she thought, "is certainly full of beautiful things, if only I could come across them" (27). It is clear here that she seems trapped, in a way she her self can’t explain, she is only aware that she isn’t happy with the way she is and has been living. This feeling was new and she was aware of just that, she had unlocked a new level on consciousness she had been unable to acquire in the home country of England. She knew she needed to leave it behind, to break away from this feeling that was consuming her, but how she was going to go about it, had her confused. Subconsciously she knew this was a step in the right direction to finding her identity. Her whole life Lucy had merely allowed other to make decisions on her behalf, she was no stranger in being told what to do. As Lucy began discovering her own identity and becoming her own person she struggled with the new obligation of thinking for herself, “This solitude oppressed her; she was accustomed to have her thoughts

Mina believes that "Some of the `New Woman' writers will some day start an idea that men and women should be allowed to see each other asleep before proposing or accepting." (p111)Therefore Stoker portrays Lucy as a New Woman as she admits to Mina in a letter that she and Arthur Holmwood have "slept