Dracula is based on typically conventional ideas regarding marriage, men and women as well as playing with the themes of ‘abnormal’ sexuality, homosexuality and ideas about the ‘New Woman’.
In chapter 12 (page 172; Penguin Classics edition) Lucy is on her deathbed and so the doctors awaken Holmwood and bring him to Lucy in order to say his goodbyes. ‘Her breathing grew stertorous, the mouth opened, and the pale gums, drawn back, made the teeth look longer and sharper than ever. In a sort of sleep-waking, vague, unconscious way she opened her eyes, which were now dull and hard at once, and she said in a soft, voluptuous voice, such as I had never heard from her lips: – “Arthur! Oh, my love, I am so glad you have come! Kiss me!”‘
Throughout Lucy’s vampire trans
ition, she becomes increasingly sexualised because her suppressed sexuality is becoming more obvious and transparent as well as becoming the sexual aggressor, which in 1897, was not the norm. Women were supposed to accept their husband’s sexual needs and expectations but never act on their own. Throughout the novel a sca
le was set, Mina on one end, representing the ideal Victorian woman with traditional ideals and Dracula’s three daughters on the other end, depicting the Victorian idea 
of evil and impurity mostly shown with their hyper-sexuality and vampirism and as Stoker made clear that vampires are evil, then therefore so are hyper-sexual women.
In the text above, Lucy portrays a wanton creature, ‘her breathing grew stertorous’, ‘the mouth opened’ and ‘she said in a soft, voluptuous voice’ as well as asking Holmwood to kiss her, ‘Arthur! Oh, my love, I am so glad you have come! Kiss me!’. Indicating her sexual aggression and her desire to the point that even on her deathbed, she is showing signs of impurity and lust.
I think that sexuality figures so centrally in our novel because Stoker uses the character of Lucy to tackle the concept of the ‘New Woman’ and Victorian men’s fear of women rightly taking advantage of newly available educational and employment opportunities to break free from the intellectual and social restraints imposed upon them by a male-dominated society. Stoker portrays her as having weak morals and ‘an unruly desire’ which was so different to what the typical 1897 Victorian woman strived towards in order to please her husband and society but what was starting to happen. Stoker used the character of Lucy to depict the decline from the Victorian feminine ideal to the perceived selfish, wanton, unnaturalness of the ‘New Woman’.
After reading Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market, I immediately saw similarities between Lizzie and Mina as well as Laura to Lucy from Bram Stoker’s Dracula. In Dracula, Lucy is tempted by Dracula (an evil force) and succumbs to the evil, letting Dracula suck her blood. In the end, Lucy dies because of her impurities. Her character is similar to Laura, who also is tempted by evil and succumbs to eating the “forbidden fruit” of the goblin men. This makes her very ill, near death until her sister Lizzie saves her. Lizzie and Mina are similar because they are both female protagonists. Mina is tempted by Dracula but instead, uses her connection with him to help defeat him and his curse. This is similar to Lizzie who is tempted by the goblins to eat their fruit but she denies them and in the end saves her sister Laura. The hidden meanings of Dracula and Goblin Market both exemplify the idea of the “New Woman” as bad and the ideal Victorian woman as protagonists.
I think your analysis of Lucy plays very nicely against our in class conversations about Laura from Goblin Market. In your post you note that “Throughout Lucy’s vampire transition…her suppressed sexuality is becoming more obvious and transparent as well as becoming the sexual aggressor.” Laura, while not a vampire, experiences much the same transformation after her encounter with goblins. This closely connects the narratives in a few different senses. First, both Lucy and Laura are displayed as more adventurous from the beginning. Second, both the girls see their increased sexuality represented by subsequent rises in thirst. Thirst, as we all know, can only be quenched by the consumption of liquid. In Lucy’s case, that means blood. In Laura’s, however, she says that she is “thirsty, cankered, goblin-ridden” (14) and the only solution is more goblin fruit juice. In both cases, however, I would say that the each substance is merely a stand in for semen. (On a side note, I find this to be interesting since thirst in that sense is still used today.) Lastly, however, both cases highlight the relationship between the sexual and the exotic influences of the “other.” Whether it be Count Dracula or a goblin, foreign men are coming and corrupting Western virtue. Thus, Lucy and Laura are able to connect different stories in different forms in order to highlight prevailing Victorian anxieties.
While I agree with your analysis of the similarities between Lucy and Laura, I think that an apt comparison for Lizzie is actually with the men of the Dracula story, as opposed to Mina. Where the men in Dracula are constantly telling Mina that it would be better for her to stay out of the investigation into Dracula (and we all see how that turned out for her), there are no men in Goblin Market, forcing Lizzie to take over the role that the men of Dracula play. Lizzie must confront the monster, in her case the goblins, in order to save the classic Victorian damsel in distress. And in Goblin market, Lizzie is victorious in overcoming the goblins and not only lives to tell the tale, but is no less a woman for her troubles. Even though Lizzie is shown to have gone through these experiences that are, not only traumatizing, but as we see in Dracula experiences reserved for men. In the time after the main events of the story take place, we are told about the future of Lizzie and Laura and that they both have children and grew up to fit the idea of Victorian women. This could be reconciling the fact that perhaps women, in their early years can have some freedoms, so long as they conform to Victorian ideals by getting married eventually and having children.
This was a very well-written post. Clearly, Mina and Lucy are set up as binaries, and I think that you described that contrast flawlessly.
In terms of Goblin Market, evidently a similar situation is occurring. From the onset of the poem, we are introduced to two female characters: Laura and Lizzie. Just like Dracula, this story was written before the Women’s Liberation Movement (which came in the 1960s), so women were expected to fulfill rigidly-defined guidelines. In other words, their lives were governed by domesticity, so they were expected to clean, cook, sew, etc. (This goes for Dracula and Goblin Market.)
When we are first introduced to Laura and Lizzie, they are innocent characters (as far as we know) – just like Mina and Lucy in Dracula. However, when faced with temptation – that is, the temptation from the goblins – Laura falls to it, while Lizzie seems to be satisfied with her life as being the “typical” woman and, therefore, does not fall to evil. From this point forward, the rest of the poem focuses on what happens when women deviate from their “typical” expectations: Laura becomes increasingly sick (before she suddenly recovers). In Dracula, a similar thing happens: Lucy falls to the seduction (and temptation) of Dracula. Therefore, by escaping the “normal” female lifestyle, much of the subsequent novel focuses on what has happened to Lucy ever since she has decided to escape the status quo of women.
In general, both works seem to criticize a society by highlighting the domestic role of women, only to show what happens when women deviate from their expected roles. Generally, the ending is not good, as seen with Lucy in Dracula. However, a difference in Goblin Market: the writer seems to want to tell women that it is alright to escape the expectations imposed on women because, even though things will be bad for awhile, it will become better and, suddenly, you will recover.
This post clearly draws upon the idea of Lucy as the ‘New Women’ who goes against social norms during her transition or evolution into, as the author of this post depicted, “a wanton creature”. This portal of Lucy may be connected to the sister, Laura, from Goblin Market. Laura similar to Lucy has golden hair which men, or goblin men find attractive. Prior to giving into Dracula’s temptation Lucy was known for her purity and virginity, which is similar to how Laura is depicted right before she gives into the goblins beckoning; “Laura stretched her gleaming neck like a rush-imbedded swan, like a lily from the beck, like a moonlit poplar branch, like a vessel at the launch when its last restraint is gone” (3). By relating Laura to a swan she may viewed as white, pure, and graceful; until she loses her “restraint” and falls into the goblins trap. Once she has eaten the fruit she no longer resembles the Victorian women, but fell ill and “seemed knocking at death’s door” (9); which draws upon yet another connection between her and Lucy because once Lucy was bitten she fell ill and died. This correlation indicates like the author of this post suggests that women who choose to transition away from the ideal Victorian will then be perceived by society as sexual, selfish, monstrous, and or animalist.