Throughout the novel thus far, we have been introduced to quite a few female characters, but most importantly Mina Harker and Lucy Westerna (and, well, the three female vampires). Living in the time of the British Victorian era, \u00a0these women were confined to fulfilling clearly-defined\u00a0social standards. That entailed\u00a0appearing pure, polite, abstinent – all together virtuous, really. Luckily for readers, Mina Harker and Lucy Westerna seem to encapsulate all that a Victorian woman should. While Mina may be considered stronger and more resourceful, and\u00a0Lucy weaker yet\u00a0attractive nonetheless, they both possess the “womanly quality” of virtuousness – which is a necessity\u00a0for women surviving in the time. Well, that is, if one is aiming to look favorable in the public eye.<\/p>\n
However, the three female vampires pose a threat to this conception\u00a0that women should be polite, pure, and collected. In all actuality, they are poles apart, as they are exceedingly sexual in behavior (“The fair girl went on her knees, and bent over me, fairly gloating. There was a deliberate voluptuousness which was both thrilling and repulsive, and as she arched her neck she actually licked her lips like an animal….” p. 43)\u00a0and violent in action (“The women closed round, whilst I was aghast with horror; but as I looked, they disappeared, and with them the dreadful bag” p. 45). They\u00a0even feed on a baby child! Alright, I may be going out on a limb here, but I think this sharp contrast between Mina & Lucy (well, before Lucy becomes a vampire) and the three, voluptuous women is trying to point at\u00a0something much more complex about the structure of Victorian society. What if Stoker added\u00a0these three, female vampires\u00a0into the novel\u00a0to awaken the emotions of society, especially\u00a0men? Think about it: while men dived into the novel, they were forced into a new world – a world where women existed completely different from that their wife. Rather than following the “guidelines” of the domestic sphere, men were forced to read about a world where\u00a0women are repulsive,\u00a0and engage in acts such as fellatio (or blood sucking?) in the presence of others. Stoker is doing something very different here – something that conflicts with Victorian norms. He is transforming women from elegant\u00a0and proper individuals to diabolical creatures hungry for sex and, more importantly, blood. Worst of all: what if male readers are enjoying this impolite description of women? To the people of the Victorian era, this truly was a terrifying thought: that\u00a0very degenerate, sexual beings can exist in an ever-so genteel\u00a0society.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Throughout the novel thus far, we have been introduced to quite a few female characters, but most importantly Mina Harker and Lucy Westerna (and, well, the three female vampires). Living in the time of the British Victorian era, \u00a0these women were confined to fulfilling clearly-defined\u00a0social standards. That entailed\u00a0appearing pure, polite, abstinent – all together virtuous, … Continue reading Women in the Victorian-era<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2975,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[123782],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2016-blog-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2975"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}