In Dracula, there are people who portray different stereotypes of women, the sweet and innocent one, the smart but she’s like my sister one, and the femme fatale, sexy one. During the course of the book, the way women are portrayed are typical for the time period. Lucy, who has attracted many suitors, is docile, blonde, and innocent. She is also not very smart, saying,”Why can’t they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want her, and save all this trouble?” She does not understand the societal reasons of why this could not work and has no trouble voicing her brainless opinions. She portrays all of the traits associated with how the ideal women should act. She also plays directly into gender roles that women were supposed to poses.
When Lucy becomes a vampire, her image shifts entirely. She has been transformed into something evil, and becomes a creature that has attained a “voluptuous wantonness.” Of course after she has become a monster, she is then associated with the traits that are not associated with a woman of class and poise. On top of that she is seen eating a baby. So baby killer and being sexy are obviously just as condemnable and wrong. The monster inside of her now has taken away her naiveté and why she was coveted by so many men.
The way that Lucy is portrayed in this book give you two sides of the sexist proverbial coin. She’s either a sweet virgin dressed in white, or a sexy vampire baby killer. The positive associations that come from her being a sweet virgin, such as plenty of suitors, being likable etc. are so drastically contrasted with the negative ones such as she eats babies. The lack of subtlety is jarring.