Different Perception of Women Dracula by Bram Stoker

In the late 19th century, when Dracula by Bram Stoker is written, women were only perceived as conservative housewives, only tending to their family’s needs and being solely dependent of their husbands to provide for them. This novel portrays that completely in accordance to Mina Harker, but Lucy Westenra is the complete opposite. Lucy parades around in just her demeanor as a promiscuous and sexual person. While Mina only cares about learning new things in order to assist her soon-to-be husband Jonathan Harker. Lucy and Mina both become victims of vampirism in the novel. Mina is fortunate but Lucy is not. Overall, the assumption of women as the weaker specimen is greatly immense in the late 19th century. There are also many underlying†¦show more content†¦According to Thomas C. Foster, the author of How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines, he states in his chapter â€Å"It’s All About Sex†¦Ã¢â‚ ¬  that stairs represents sexual intercourse. ( ). In the scene leading up to Jonathan Harker getting seduced, he has to climb up stairs to reach the room. The stairs could be a foreshadowing of a sexual intercourse about to take place. It is possible that the women and Jonathan could have had sexual intercourse, due to his actions of accepting the temptation of seduction, but we will never know because Jonathan is saved by Dracula. According to Thomas Foster in his chapter â€Å"Nice to Eat You: Acts of Vampires†, evil has had to do with sex since the serpent seduced Eve. (Foster 16). The act of Eve being seduced by the serpent was a sexual act and it was very evil. Foster states many things in this section that relate to Dracula. â€Å"The Count always has this weird attractiveness to him?† (16). â€Å"†¦always he’s alluring, dangerous, mysterious and he tends to focus on beautiful, unmarked virginal women.† (16). â€Å"A nasty old man, attractive but evil, violates young women, leaves his mark on them, steals their innocence and their â€Å"usefulness† and leaves them helpless followers in his sin.† (16). These define the novel’s storyline perfectly. â€Å"But it’s also about things other than literal vampirism: selfishness,Show MoreRelatedSexuality In Bram Stokers Dracula1082 Words   |  5 PagesSexuality in Bram Stoker s DraculaBram Stoker s Dr acula, favorably received by critics upon publication in 1897, entertained its Victorian audience with unspeakable horrors such as vampires invading bedrooms to prey on beautiful maidens under the guise of night. The novel s eroticism proved even more unspeakable. 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