“A brave man’s blood is the best thing on this earth when a woman is in trouble” (page 138). This quote, coming from the famous novel Dracula, captures the message Bram Stoker creates in the novel about the roles of men and women. In the story, solicitor and nobleman Jonathan Harker is invited to Castle Dracula to finish a real estate transaction. He quickly becomes unsettled during his travels due to warnings, crucifixes, and charms given to him by local peasants. Yet, the mission continues, and he goes on through the many disconcerting obstacles to reach the residence, only to realize a few days later that he is now a prisoner of the castle. Simultaneously, his fiance, Mina Murray’s, friend Lucy becomes a victim of Dracula., and doctors Seward and Van Helsing diagnose and attempt to treat her. Yet, to no avail. Lucy joins the undead. Upon Harker’s return he marries Mina and joins forces with the others. After Mina becomes victim to the vampire, the men devise a plan to make Dracula flee back to his homeland, and destroy him in the end. In this horror novel, Stoker takes advantage of the main character Mina Murray to represent the contrast taking place during the nineteenth century between the bold, progressive women who wanted to change society, and the typical ladies who complied with civilization’s rules. Fairly soon after her introduction, Mina makes it evident that she sympathizes with the “New Women” of England. That is, the progressive women of the nineteenth century who questioned and challenged gender roles and defied societal standards. Among other references, Mina states, “But I suppose the New Woman won’t condescend in future to accept, she will do the proposing herself. And a fine job she will make of it too! There is some consolation in that” (page 87-88). Here, she shows her support for the girls who are already and will make a stand, and she also has some attributes of a “New Woman” herself. For instance, she is an assistant schoolmistress, meaning that she has her own income and is financially independent, even before marriage. While this could just be because her parents are dead and she has no other choice, Mina proves herself to be slightly bold and liberal in other circumstances. She says that she “has been practicing shorthand very assiduously” and wants “to keep up with Jonathan’s studies” (page 55). Both of these actions contribute to her brain being regarded as manly by other dramatis personae, as well as accentuate her support for the “New Women” arriving in this day and age. However, Stoker could not have intended for Mina to be a symbol for feminism and women’s rights, as several characteristics written about her persona make her a model for what a nineteenth century English lady should have been, and the roles in which they were required to conform to. Contradicting the slightly progressive aspects of Mina’s
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She makes it clear multiple times, to several people, that she is a proponent for the “New Women” in England and the points in which they stand for. Some parts of her character even show her to be participating in the newly emerging feminist movement. It was fairly unusual for her to be partaking in her gentleman’s studies, as well as for her to be teaching herself shorthand. It is also peculiar that she is financially stable without Harker, and supports herself with a full time job. However, the author did not designate Mina as a representation of these strong females. He instead wrote her to have several facets that were standard for the women of the time period. Mina being a very maternal figure, who eulogizes the men for being powerful and for their accomplishments, as well as her fervent devotion to religion, all goes to show that this leading lady, is not meant to be so much of a leader after all. But rather, a quiet, temperament, gentle woman who stays back and encourages the males in the story. These two competing components of Mina’s personality delineate the conflicting viewpoints and attitudes of many woman at the dawn of the women’s liberation campaign at the time that the novel Dracula was written, all while proving that even the most prime epitomes of a stereotypical girl’s innocence and purity can break the boundaries they are so often enclosed
She makes it clear multiple times, to several people, that she is a proponent for the “New Women” in England and the points in which they stand for. Some parts of her character even show her to be participating in the newly emerging feminist movement. It was fairly unusual for her to be partaking in her gentleman’s studies, as well as for her to be teaching herself shorthand. It is also peculiar that she is financially stable without Harker, and supports herself with a full time job. However, the author did not designate Mina as a representation of these strong females. He instead wrote her to have several facets that were standard for the women of the time period. Mina being a very maternal figure, who eulogizes the men for being powerful and for their accomplishments, as well as her fervent devotion to religion, all goes to show that this leading lady, is not meant to be so much of a leader after all. But rather, a quiet, temperament, gentle woman who stays back and encourages the males in the story. These two competing components of Mina’s personality delineate the conflicting viewpoints and attitudes of many woman at the dawn of the women’s liberation campaign at the time that the novel Dracula was written, all while proving that even the most prime epitomes of a stereotypical girl’s innocence and purity can break the boundaries they are so often enclosed