Explain the role of women in Dracula. Compare the contrast the characters of Mina and Lucy. What could they represent to the "Victorian" society reading this novel?
Women played the role of the supporter and in some cases the wiser and smarter character. Also the two ships were also named after two powerful women, which could mean that Dracula, being a powerful male, might have had a powerful and meaningful name of his ships that he traveled on. Mina was the strong, smart, and caring character. Lucy was somewhat weaker, just as smart and caring character. Mina could represent the freethinking and independent women during the Victorian age, while Lucy could represent the old woman before the Victorian age that still clung to old traditions and values.
Hmm, Lucy clung to old traditions and values?? Dig a little deeper here. What kind of woman is Dracula portraying here? In what ways are Lucy and Mina fundamentally different?
I’ll give this another try. Dracula is trying to portray the new Victorian woman by using Mina and Lucy. Mina shows us the qualities and ideas of the age. As for Lucy she shows us the beauty that was sought for by men of that age, this can be supported by her three proposals that she received in the same day. Mina is different from Lucy in the way that she did not have any desires, but for Lucy she had desires that could not be met, which is apparent when she was “un-dead” Lucy still had a desire to have people see her beauty.
I think Stoker portrays Lucy as vain. She, like so many other women of that era, knew she was considered a beauty and thus represented herself as such. Even more so, she seemed to depend on the knowledge that she was pretty. As Brenden noted, she was proposed to trice in one day showing her loveliness was indeed noticed by others. Her vanity was continued, also noted by Brenden, into her short life as part of the un-dead. Feel free to offer another opinion, that's just what I felt like I obtained from Stoker's description of Lucy.
Stoker is trying to represent the woman that desires to be admired by all. The woman that cannot be happy with only one person saying that she is beautiful, but multiple people be it men, children, or women. This desire was not for just the outer beauty, but also the purity and inner beauty that she possessed. This was apparent when the "vampire hunters" made Lucy truly "dead." Also when she was being drained of blood by Dracula, the "vampire hunters" fought to preserve her purity.
Dig deeper Brenden? Think about the time period of this novel. You have two women, Mina and Lucy. Inconceivably, they are good friends even though they couldn't be more different. Lucy and Mina are both bit, right? How do they react?
In the book both Mina and Lucy are bit by dracula. They have different reactions when this happens. Lucy is the first one bit, and Mina trys day and night to help her out. This shows the caring quality in Mina. Lucy knows something is going on but she doesn't want to really do anything about it. This shows her carelessness. When Mina is bit Lucy is already dead. So Mina has the help of her husband and all her friends that are willing to do anything for her. She tells them right away what happened and she trys to help them in there search as much as possible. So I think in the book they are showing that there are many types of women and they have different ways of dealing with things.
Lucy and Mina have their key differences in reaction to being bitten by the Count. Lucy, when bitten, begins to become a mar on the ideals of Victorian society womanhood by giving in to temptation of sexual desire when she asks Arthur to kiss her. During her transformation into a vampire, she gave no signs of trying to remain pious in the eye of God. When Mina was doomed to become a vampire she lamented night and day over her being 'unclean' multiple times through the later chapters. No matter what the consequence, Mina constantly tried her hardest to retain her Christian womanhood and Victorian values throughout the story.
I’m not a deep person but I’ll try this again. Mina reacts by trying to distance herself away from the others when she is bitten. She put their safety above her own. During the Victorian Era religion was strong, there for Mina thought that she was now “un-pure” and will suffer the pain and suffering that sinners suffer. This could represent, during the Victorian Age, the want to be “pure” and a good follower of religion. Lucy didn’t act like she was afraid that she was dying or getting weak. She didn’t even show resistance to the changes that occurred in the last few minutes of her death. This could represent the weakness of some people, in the Victorian Era, to the evil that tempts them daily.
In the book, Mina was portrayed as the caretaker, or "mother hen." She always put other family or friend's safety before her own. An example of this was the time when Lucy had the troublesome problem of sleepwalking. When the sleepwalking problem aroused with Lucy, Mina constantly stayed to watch over her and also made sure Lucy did not hurt herself or any others. In the Victorian age, Mina would most likely be one of the leaders or the person to go to if someone was in need of emotional or physical help.
Mina and Lucy are very similar. They both believe that they need to be as good a woman as they can to be a good wife for their prospective husbands. Mina does this by furthering her education so she may help Johnathan. Lucy on the other hand is someone i think tries to make herself as beautiful as she can for her husband. They are both caring creatures with motherly instinct. The way they better themselves is also what makes them different. From her letters, Lucy seems to me like a bubble head. She doesn't seem to be very book smart, and is more of a person that would do whatever a man told her to do. In the novel, women are portrayed as the weaker sex. They are to be dutiful, caring, and not think about sex AT ALL. They are to have no sexual desires because it was unheard of during their time. They were to be caretakers of men. Their life consisted of learning how to take care of a home and when the time was right, get married and have babies. It was very taboo for a woman to live her life without getting married. An example of women not being thought of as beings with sexual desires was in Lucy's letter to Mina. She states "Why can't they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want her, and save all this trouble? But this is heresy, and I must not say it." She can be the object of desire but not have any herself. An example from Lucy's letter that describes women being brought up to think men are superior is when she says "My dear Mina, why are men so noble when we women are so little worthy of them?.....I suppose that we women are such cowards that we think a man will save us from fears, and we marry him." Thank goodness we have come a long way from this.
Women played the role of the supporter and in some cases the wiser and smarter character. Also the two ships were also named after two powerful women, which could mean that Dracula, being a powerful male, might have had a powerful and meaningful name of his ships that he traveled on. Mina was the strong, smart, and caring character. Lucy was somewhat weaker, just as smart and caring character. Mina could represent the freethinking and independent women during the Victorian age, while Lucy could represent the old woman before the Victorian age that still clung to old traditions and values.
ReplyDeleteHmm, Lucy clung to old traditions and values?? Dig a little deeper here. What kind of woman is Dracula portraying here? In what ways are Lucy and Mina fundamentally different?
ReplyDeleteI’ll give this another try. Dracula is trying to portray the new Victorian woman by using Mina and Lucy. Mina shows us the qualities and ideas of the age. As for Lucy she shows us the beauty that was sought for by men of that age, this can be supported by her three proposals that she received in the same day. Mina is different from Lucy in the way that she did not have any desires, but for Lucy she had desires that could not be met, which is apparent when she was “un-dead” Lucy still had a desire to have people see her beauty.
ReplyDeleteOkay, so keep going? What kind of woman is Stoker representing in Lucy?
ReplyDeleteI think Stoker portrays Lucy as vain. She, like so many other women of that era, knew she was considered a beauty and thus represented herself as such. Even more so, she seemed to depend on the knowledge that she was pretty. As Brenden noted, she was proposed to trice in one day showing her loveliness was indeed noticed by others. Her vanity was continued, also noted by Brenden, into her short life as part of the un-dead. Feel free to offer another opinion, that's just what I felt like I obtained from Stoker's description of Lucy.
ReplyDeleteStoker is trying to represent the woman that desires to be admired by all. The woman that cannot be happy with only one person saying that she is beautiful, but multiple people be it men, children, or women. This desire was not for just the outer beauty, but also the purity and inner beauty that she possessed. This was apparent when the "vampire hunters" made Lucy truly "dead." Also when she was being drained of blood by Dracula, the "vampire hunters" fought to preserve her purity.
ReplyDeleteA good compare/contrast of Mina/Lucy needs to be developed here.
ReplyDeleteDig deeper Brenden? Think about the time period of this novel. You have two women, Mina and Lucy. Inconceivably, they are good friends even though they couldn't be more different. Lucy and Mina are both bit, right? How do they react?
ReplyDeleteIn the book both Mina and Lucy are bit by dracula. They have different reactions when this happens. Lucy is the first one bit, and Mina trys day and night to help her out. This shows the caring quality in Mina. Lucy knows something is going on but she doesn't want to really do anything about it. This shows her carelessness. When Mina is bit Lucy is already dead. So Mina has the help of her husband and all her friends that are willing to do anything for her. She tells them right away what happened and she trys to help them in there search as much as possible. So I think in the book they are showing that there are many types of women and they have different ways of dealing with things.
ReplyDeleteLucy and Mina have their key differences in reaction to being bitten by the Count. Lucy, when bitten, begins to become a mar on the ideals of Victorian society womanhood by giving in to temptation of sexual desire when she asks Arthur to kiss her. During her transformation into a vampire, she gave no signs of trying to remain pious in the eye of God. When Mina was doomed to become a vampire she lamented night and day over her being 'unclean' multiple times through the later chapters. No matter what the consequence, Mina constantly tried her hardest to retain her Christian womanhood and Victorian values throughout the story.
ReplyDeleteI’m not a deep person but I’ll try this again. Mina reacts by trying to distance herself away from the others when she is bitten. She put their safety above her own. During the Victorian Era religion was strong, there for Mina thought that she was now “un-pure” and will suffer the pain and suffering that sinners suffer. This could represent, during the Victorian Age, the want to be “pure” and a good follower of religion. Lucy didn’t act like she was afraid that she was dying or getting weak. She didn’t even show resistance to the changes that occurred in the last few minutes of her death. This could represent the weakness of some people, in the Victorian Era, to the evil that tempts them daily.
ReplyDeleteIn the book, Mina was portrayed as the caretaker, or "mother hen." She always put other family or friend's safety before her own. An example of this was the time when Lucy had the troublesome problem of sleepwalking. When the sleepwalking problem aroused with Lucy, Mina constantly stayed to watch over her and also made sure Lucy did not hurt herself or any others. In the Victorian age, Mina would most likely be one of the leaders or the person to go to if someone was in need of emotional or physical help.
ReplyDeleteMina and Lucy are very similar. They both believe that they need to be as good a woman as they can to be a good wife for their prospective husbands. Mina does this by furthering her education so she may help Johnathan. Lucy on the other hand is someone i think tries to make herself as beautiful as she can for her husband. They are both caring creatures with motherly instinct. The way they better themselves is also what makes them different. From her letters, Lucy seems to me like a bubble head. She doesn't seem to be very book smart, and is more of a person that would do whatever a man told her to do. In the novel, women are portrayed as the weaker sex. They are to be dutiful, caring, and not think about sex AT ALL. They are to have no sexual desires because it was unheard of during their time. They were to be caretakers of men. Their life consisted of learning how to take care of a home and when the time was right, get married and have babies. It was very taboo for a woman to live her life without getting married. An example of women not being thought of as beings with sexual desires was in Lucy's letter to Mina. She states "Why can't they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want her, and save all this trouble? But this is heresy, and I must not say it." She can be the object of desire but not have any herself. An example from Lucy's letter that describes women being brought up to think men are superior is when she says "My dear Mina, why are men so noble when we women are so little worthy of them?.....I suppose that we women are such cowards that we think a man will save us from fears, and we marry him."
ReplyDeleteThank goodness we have come a long way from this.