Dracula stands for Satan, and that stands for whatever is evil and bad. He hates goodness and tries to perpetuate evil while at the same time keeping an almost charming since about himself. However despite the vampires charm and strangely enticing appearances their wickedness could not be hidden from the band of men. Even beautiful Lucy, when she becomes a vampire, is hated by this band of men, despite the fact they were in love with her before. This is clearly a battle between the two most significant supernatural beings in the Christian Faith.
FEMALE SEXUAL REPRESSION IN DRACULA Women in Bram Stoker’s Dracula are primarily presented in two ways: There is the sexual being created solely with the aid Dracula’s vampire influence, and the device manipulated and virtually exploited by the men throughout the novel to contribute to the fight between Dracula and Van Helsing and his companions. This battle is not only the literal battle between Dracula and the men, but it is primarily a battle for the empowerment of women, both sexually and intellectually a fight against the constricting social boundaries which forced men and women into their respective roles. Dracula’s bite enables women to become sexual penetrators. Using their sharp teeth to penetrate men, the reverse the traditional gender roles and placemen in the passive position customarily reserved for women. 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.
‘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.
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.
Filled with theatrical themes, dramatic irony and symbolism, Dracula acts as much more than a vampire novel. Bram Stoker writes of an assembly of people who have to contract a way to save themselves and others by putting their lives in danger against a resilient vampire. Although society of the time period frowned upon certain behaviors, Stoker managed to get away with writing shocking the social values of a Victorian reader. Through symbolism, Stoker explores female sexual corruption and Christian salvation by contrasting the power of good over evil. Dracula opens with Jonathan Harker, a man who is newly engaged to Mina Murray, traveling to Transylvania on a business trip while telling of his journey through a web of journal entries that last from May to June.
Dracula criticises the conservative nature of the social situation in the Victorian era, as well as the unrefined, superstitious nature of the pre-enlightenment era. An example of this juxtaposition is found in the character of Dr. Van Helsing. Van Helsing’s character juxtaposes the scientific man of the enlightenment era with the superstitious vampire hunter: “We went into the room, taking the [garlic] with us [to keep vampires away]. The Professor’s actions were
A friend of Mina Harker, Jonathan’s fiancée, develops a strange disease leading to vampire expert Prof. Van Helsing’s statement that Dracula must be caught and ritually killed. Bram Stoker undoubtedly reveals his distinct writing style in Dracula, partly because of his nineteenth century style. Whether the purpose of Dracula was to entertain or not, it was certainly a suspenseful novel. Although the first four diary
Theresa James English 121 Professor Jesse Stommel Frankenstein Is a Gothic Novel Frankenstein; or the Modern Prometheus, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797 – 1851), a classic occult fiction, was first published in London in 1818 in three volumes. It tells a story of how Dr. Victor Frankenstein creates an artificial man out of fragments of bodies from churchyards, and dissecting rooms – a human form without a soul. The monster longs for love and sympathy but inspires only horror and loathing and becomes a powerful force for evil. It seeks revenge against its creator, murdering his family and friends, also, and bringing death to Victor himself. In the most important aspects of Frankenstein; Frankenstein is compelling in and of itself.
(Establish credibility) I myself have been associated with VAMPIRE since the New York Vampire Riots in 1882. For goodness sake, Dracula was at my wedding. But to get down to the point, there are serious atrocities that need to be addressed! Humans do not seem to understand that vampirism is not a choice, it is a way of life. (Preview Main Points) There are specific issues that I will discuss with you: human’s attitude toward vampirism, their eating habits, and finally their destruction of the planet earth.