‘The role of female vampires in the novel is to warn of the dangers of female sexuality’ consider the presentation of the female vampires in Dracula in the light of this comment Many may argue that the novel Dracula highlights the suppression and belittlement of women during the 19th Century. In Victorian England, women’s sexual behaviour was dictated by society’s rigid expectations. A Victorian woman was either a virgin or else she was a wife and mother. If she was neither of these, she was considered a whore, and thus of no consequence to society This idea is reinforced by Stoker with the contrast of the ‘brilliant white teeth, that shone like pearls against the ruby of their voluptuous lips,’ the virginal white is contrasted with the hellish red of their lips shows the battle the women went through suppressing and hiding their sexual desires. Stoker’s choose of women as the temptresses may be a warning to the women of the Victorian era to beware about pushing the boundaries of their sexuality.
The instance when Mina drinks from Dracula’s breast is the strongest example of this; where the reader to this point is accustomed to Dracula doing the “biting”, and suddenly Mina has the power to penetrate a male. Both Lucy and Mina, when they carry out a relationship with Dracula, become sexual beings, as opposed to when they are mortals and are forced to obey the social boundaries of their society. By expressing this sexuality, they become threatening to the men. Mina is intelligent, and despite the strong aversion she has to the “New Woman” or the “Modern Woman”, she is, in fact, a sort of modern woman; connected with modern ways, a schoolteacher with secretarial skills, she possesses a “man’s brain”. It is this very brain, which is ultimately used to aid in Dracula’s downfall.
“Women in literature are presented as either vampires, controlling and manipulative, or victims, passive and submissive”. Discuss this statement by comparing the poetry of John Keats, Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Angel Carter’s The Bloody Chamber. Through studying these three diverse but interrelated texts, the reader can see that the women are presented as being both vampires and victims; through the writers depiction of the objectification and subjugation of women the reader sees women presented very much as victims; through the presentation of the threat of female sexual expression, the reader sees the vampirism in women. Perhaps more importantly, through the depiction of virginity and sexuality, violence and death and the repeated motif of blood, the reader is presented with a more complex depiction of women as both vampire and victim simultaneously. Objectification and subjugation is very relevant to all three texts, but perhaps is most clearly seen in Angela Carter’s short stories.
It is there that Dracula in a burst of anger stabs the cross, and renounces God and everything pure. Dracula is immortal everyone knows that. He has the ability to control minds as we’ve seen from both R. M. Renfield and Mina’s friend Lucy. With Lucy we also saw that he has the ability to shape shift when he turned into a werewolf type creature when he rapes her, and thought he doesn’t see her Mina is standing back watching when he says “No! Do not see me!” When this happens he quickly hides, and Mina forgets what she ever saw and truly thinks to herself that “Lucy, you're dreaming.
Though, when actually examined, the females portrayed in both literary works do show signs of bravery and rebellious spirit, which represents the actual mind of authors, they are still oppressed by the patriarchal society to a large extent. In Frankenstein, superficially, most female characters are portrayed as “heaven-sent” angels (Shelley, 34). The soul of them is like “a shrine-dedicated lamp” and they are “the living spirits of love to soften and attract” (38), which are fully consistent with the image of women in people’s minds in mainstream society in the 19th century (Sunstein, 4). Nonetheless, the weaknesses of them, which are used by the author to criticize the unfairness of the society, cannot be neglected. The two main female characters in Frankenstein: Caroline and Elizabeth are carefully analyzed in this essay, and from Frankenstein’s narration of them, we can see the author’s deep thinking and criticism about the unfairness of society.
For example Laura’s severe craving for the precious fruit could symbolise an addicts withdrawal symptoms, and the exchange of a lock of hair and ‘’tear more rare than pearl’ describes the basic principal of prostitution. As suggested by Barfoot ‘Laura is lured by these strange vendors because she fails to realize that in the market women are not the buyers, but the “bought”. In fact the merchandise is not fruit but the female body’ . This statement clearly examines the underlying sexuality of Rossetti’s poetry, the link to prostitution and also the divide between men and women in the Victorian age. Women were used as chattel to secure alliances with wealthy families and to produce an heir.
2 Feb. 2009 <http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/2008/11/21/2008-11-21_on_the_eve_of_twilight_why_women_find_va.html>. There are four top reasons why women find vampires sexy. Joanne Detore-Nakamura, a professor of a literary film and monster class at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, says, “The vampire represents the quintessential bad boy.” She also says that people are drawn to things they fear, like roller coasters and scary movies. There is a type of thrill
The transient nature of humanity continually questions the ever-changing values and ethics in society. Although a contextual difference of 150 years, Mary Shelley’s gothic novel, Frankenstein and Ridley Scott’s science fiction film, Blade Runner focus on similar concerns and issues reflected by the zeitgeists of the people of their time. Blade Runner and Frankenstein illustrate the evolution of the role of women, the necessity of nature and parental responsibility through the manipulation of selective and skilful techniques. The women in Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein are conveyed as weak and helpless characters, a rigid dichotomy compared her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Women that fight for gender equality and criticized the "false system of education" provided for women. The debilitated women in Frankenstein imitate what was socially expected of women in her time, while the monster demonstrates the only alternative available that is self-education.
The melodramatic events that happen between Dracula, Lucy and Mina can attest to the fact, that the opposite sexes are unequal. Mina and Lucy’s correspondence that was taking place while Jonathan was traveling to Transylvania to work do some work for Dracula; can be perceived as young love of possibly considered naive. What this says to me is that their world view is distorted by their era. These women see England as a safe place and as a seat of power; that England is a safe place. While the rest of the world is poverty stricken countries and they are in British control.
Thieves!’ Significant that Desdemona is placed in the middle of this list of objects, suggests that she is seen as an possession by both Iago and Brabantio. Although Othello is shown to be an honourable man, he still considers his wife as an object that belongs to him. Homosexuality in Othello: Iago’s love Iago seems to love no one, and talks about sex in a lewd manner however he seems to be obsessed with sexual function perhaps its sex between a man and woman that disgusts him and not sex in general. Iago is constantly arguing that you can control your feelings ‘as out bodies are our gardens’. This implies that he may be suppressing his feelings towards Othello.