"My dear Mina, why are men so noble when we women are so little worthy of the,? Here was I almost making fun of this great-hearted, true gentlemen. I burst into tears - I am afraid, my dear, you will think this a very sloppy letter in more ways than one - and I relaly felt very badly. Why can't a girl marry three men, or as many as want her, and save all this trouble? But this is heresy, and I must not say it." (60)
Lucy Westenra: The young woman we see constantly clad in the virginal white lawn dresses. However, she takes a turn in the story of Dracula that represents much more than just a supernatural transference from human to vampire. As discussed in my previous blog post "Feminism with the Weird Sisters", Stoker used female vampirism to convey the idea of over-sexuality in women. When Lucy is turned into a vampire, it becomes apparent that Stoker is again using a woman to embody his idea of the sex. By staging her as the "bloofer lady" he is further showing how women, once they fall into a life of sexuality, are unfit mothers, even dangerous to children.
"We need only recall that Lucy, as 'bloofer lady,' as well as the other vampire women, prey on children" (Roth)
While they, and the men in the Crew of Light, are drawn to Vampire Lucy, she is detrimental to their well-being. The children must be saved from her like they are saved from a monster, and if we read Dracula with the idea that vampirism equals sexuality and childhood represents innocence, then Lucy is a threat to societal cleanliness.
"We need only recall that Lucy, as 'bloofer lady,' as well as the other vampire women, prey on children" (Roth)
While they, and the men in the Crew of Light, are drawn to Vampire Lucy, she is detrimental to their well-being. The children must be saved from her like they are saved from a monster, and if we read Dracula with the idea that vampirism equals sexuality and childhood represents innocence, then Lucy is a threat to societal cleanliness.
"In the case of Lucy, the children are as attracted to her as threatened by her"
"Female vampires are equivalent to the fallen women of the eighteenth and nineteenth century fiction"
(Roth 8, 1)
"Female vampires are equivalent to the fallen women of the eighteenth and nineteenth century fiction"
(Roth 8, 1)
Deathly Attraction
"There was a cold-bloodedness in the act which wrung a groan from Arthur; when she advanced to him with outstretched arms and a wanton smile, he fell back and hid his face in his hands. Still she advanced, however, and with a languorous, voluptuous grace, said - 'Come to me, Arthur. Leave these others and come to me. My arms are hungry for you. Come, and we can rest together. Come, my husband, come!' There was something diabolically sweet in her tones - something of the tingling of glass when struck - which rang through the brains even of us who heard the words addressed to another' (188)
The strong theme repeating here is the threat of female sexuality. Phyllis Roth stated, "much of the novel's great appeal derives from its hostility toward female sexuality." The reader gets an impending sense of doom whenever they encounter a sexually charged scene, which is covering up sexual repression. Since Lucy was a woman who started as sexually repressive and transformed into a "fallen woman", she is the best example of Stoker's attack on sexual women.
"Another tone interrupts the dread of impending doom throughout the novel; that note is one of lustful anticipation, certainly anticipation of catching and destroying forever the master vampire, Count Dracula, but additionally, lustful anticipation of a consummation one can only describe as sexual" (Roth 2) |
Although Lucy is described as promiscuous before she makes the transition into vampire, she is not necessarily labeled as a sexual woman. She doesn't discourage attention from multiple men, or even realize that she has made them sexually attracted to her, which makes her an easy target for sexuality.
"Only relations with vampires are sexualized in this novel; indeed, a deliberate attempt is made to make sexuality seem unthinkable in 'normal relations' between the sexes ... vampirism is associated not only with death, immortality, and orality; it is equivalent to sexuality ... Moreover, in psychoanalytical terms, the vampirism is a disguise for greatly desired and equally strongly feared fantasies." (Roth 4) | Lucy turning from a promiscuous woman into a vampire is Stoker's way of showing what happens to women when they let the smallest amount of sexuality enter their lives. Roth says, "Only when Lucy becomes a vampire is she allowed to be 'voluptuous,' yet she must have been long before, judging from her effect on men and from Mina's description of her." This transition into vampirism is her sexual release - a movement that must be taken care of by the "virtuous" characters. However, even they are victim to vampiric seduction. "Johnathan, Van Helsing, Seward, and Holmwood are all overwhelmingly attracted to the vampires, to sexuality. Fearing this, they employ two defenses, projection and denial" (Roth 5-6) They keep their virtue by suppressing their desires and claiming the seduction is all due to the vampires (projection) and not allowing themselves to entertain the idea of their seduction being desirable (denial) In the end, the Crew of Light vanquishes Vampire Lucy, but more importantly her sexual threat. Stoker presents a clear solution to feminine sexual freedom - it has to be squelched. Poor Lucy was simply Stoker's use of character to show how he thought women should act and the roles they should be in. |
Works Cited:
Stoker, Bram. Dracula. Norton Critical Edition. Eds. Nina Auerbach and David J. Skal. New York:
W.W. Norton & Co., 1997.
Roth, Phyllis A. "Suddenly Sexual Women In Bram Stoker's Dracula." The Taboo. 23-36. New York, NY: Bloom's Literary Criticism, 2010. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 2 Dec. 2013.
Stoker, Bram. Dracula. Norton Critical Edition. Eds. Nina Auerbach and David J. Skal. New York:
W.W. Norton & Co., 1997.
Roth, Phyllis A. "Suddenly Sexual Women In Bram Stoker's Dracula." The Taboo. 23-36. New York, NY: Bloom's Literary Criticism, 2010. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 2 Dec. 2013.