Dracul A Fundamental Step Stone For Horror Literature

Written and set in the Victorian era, Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula is a fundamental stepping-stone for horror literature. Unlike most novels of its time, Dracula not only showcased the ideals of its era, but it completely flipped it on its head. Firstly, there are numerous examples of female sexuality and symbolism throughout the entire novel. In Victorian society, it was believed that women had no sex drive and only partook in sex when their male partners insisted. It was unheard of for a female to be sexually assertive in any way, and such an idea would likely have been a very disturbing and frightening concept to a conservative society. Needless to say, women often had to suppress their sexual desires during this period in order to keep†¦show more content†¦But along with along with being depicted as a traditional woman, she also represents the â€Å"new woman† of the time. Whereas Mina’s traditional woman aspects are more so depicted through her senti ments and principles, her â€Å"new woman† aspects are depicted through her intelligence. Mina is regarded to as a â€Å"new woman† due to her job as an assistant schoolmistress, seeing as to most women who worked were in order to make ends meat if their husbands were sick or injured and typically were jobs requiring manual labor. Stoker basically wrote Mina to represent the ideal Victorian woman with even Van Helsing praising her saying that she is â€Å"one of God’s women, fashioned by His own hand to show us men and other women that there is a heaven where we can enter, and that its light can be here on earth. So true, so sweet, so noble†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Stoker 114), but she is also simultaneously classified a â€Å"new woman†. She is the only female character who keeps the Victorian ideals constant throughout the novel, even after being â€Å"vamped† by Dracula and being confronted later on by his three brides. Now where Mina is the quintessenti al Victorian woman, Dracula’s three brides are on the complete opposite side of the spectrum, the real â€Å"new women†. They were completely sexual every time they showed up within the novel. Considering the high standards of purity Mina was held to due to her common Victorian nature, these three were a Victorians nightmare.