This passage occurs after Undead Lucy has been found after finding her empty coffin. They see a standing and a version of Lucy that remains alive. In religion, virginity, and sex are truly sacred. Girls have always been taught that if they were to get their virginities taken away, they would go to hell. This idea has always placed the blame on women and in return, villainized those who choose not to stay confined in misogynistic norms. In the same way, we see Dracula’s version of going to hell, which is resurrecting to life by becoming a vampire. It is interesting to note the contrasting words Dr. Seward chooses to use when describing Undead Lucy, “The sweetness was turned to adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous wantonness.” (Chapter 16). Dr. Seward’s choice of words is very telling of how men react when an unmarried woman is sexually active. The usage of the brutal opposing words gives the sense that women evolve into another person when they lose their virginity. Although it can be made to sound that because they lack the spirituality and goodness of religion, they become influenced by evil, this is untrue. They willingly choose to believe that a person has changed due to their biases towards that certain stigmatized group (in this case before and after Lucy became a vampire after exchanging blood with another vampire). It appears that the men in the novel have a difficult time seeing just Lucy behind her vampire image. Metaphors aside, men have a difficult time just seeing Lucy without associating her sexual history. This aspect of Dracula screams madness because it is those who steal the innocence of women who create “monsters” of women who do not abide by the systems set by men.
3 thoughts on “which Lucy do you know?”
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I really enjoyed your post, especially the explanation of the quote involving purity. In Victorian times the link between power and sexuality was a very strong one. If a woman was not married and had sex with a man, she was seen as impure which forever became her reputation. This gave men power, which they used to their advantage in gaining a better social standing. Count Dracula had all of the power, and he stole it away from his victims and stockpiled it for himself.
This link between impurity and dehumanization you locate can be found throughout the book, and even shows up very subtly near the end. In earlier sections of the book, we recieved passage after passage from Mina’s diary, and she was a key focal character providing her opinion on the events around her. However, once she is turned, her diary disappears almost entirely. She is now wholly viewed from the outside, and does not offer her own perspective on any events. Her perceived impurity turns her from a narrator to an object and a threat.
I really enjoyed your commentary on this select passage. I think that throughout the entire novel there is a sort of lingering trace of sexuality that follows Lucy from being alive and undead. Similar to Lucy we can also see this with Mina. Around the end of the book we see Mina being forced against the chest of The Count. Similar to how Lucy is seen after becoming undead, Mina also is sexualized in the descriptions from the men that surround her. It is very prominent in this novel that the idea of being undead; especially with women, is seen as sexual.