The Victorian Vampire and Women’s New Status in Society
Vampires are a cultural phenomenon, as are many other “monsters” that rear their heads in the literature of the times. The monsters are all linked in some way to the culture they appear in. Vampires are often used as a way to diagnose a change in society that may clearly affect the entire society’s way of thinking. Dracula, as any other novel containing vampires, touches on many of the changes happening in society at the time. One such change would have been the obvious change in women’s roles, both in society and sexually. Previously thought to have been void of sexual feelings, women were starting to be more open. For the men of Victorian society, none of this boded well. This change meant a loss of power, as women were starting to become far more independent of their male counterparts.
Of the main women in the novel, Dracula’s three wives were far different than either Mina or Lucy. Their sexually centered single-minded natures are similar to how men are viewed in society today. Making the women into this sort of monster, Stoker shows the evils of a liberated woman, as can be especially seen when his wives taunt him about not being able to love and the Count turns almost secretly to Jonathan to correct the statement. Dracula views his wives as children, but also gives them far more freedoms than either Lucy or Mina are ever given throughout the novel. Van Helsing says, before killing one of the wives, “She was so fair to look on, so radiantly beautiful, so exquisitely voluptuous, that the very instinct of man in me, which calls some of my sex to love and protect one of hers, made my head whirl with new emotions” (374). Almost as a premonition of the way women were headed, the three wives of Dracula were rather masculine in their actions, when they tried to take advantage of Jonathan Harker, and strangely effeminate before their deaths. The feminization of Jonathan Harker, in comparison to the female vampires, shows the feelings of many men in society at the time who feared the loss of their own power. Pegging Dracula as the voice of tradition, his intervention on the near “rape” of Jonathan Harker might be seen as that of the traditional role of men overcoming the overly sexual female vampires. Even so, Jonathan Harker’s psyche is damaged. “…Nothing can be more dreadful than those awful women, who were - who are – waiting to suck my blood” (49). Such phrasing has even found its way into the slang today; for example, saying that someone (generally female or a supervisor) is a “blood-sucker” implies their power over a person’s life. Jonathan Harker feels trapped and vulnerable, contrasting the more powerful and haughty feelings he had in the village with the people who were deeply Christian and, implied by Harker, ignorant. The sexually aggressive vampire women go against the grain of the standard Victorian woman, who was very submissive and seemed to lack all sexual feelings. To this extent, the three vampires needed to be destroyed so that their influence did not spread.
Lucy is a bit more on the deviant side of society’s view of women. Confused about the prospects of three suitors, she even whimsically wishes that she might marry all three of the men. Lucy even goes so far as to say, “…why are men so noble when we women are so little worthy of them? Here was I almost making fun of this great-hearted, true gentleman” (68). Bram Stoker’s personal views on women, at the beginning of the story, could easily be seen through this sentence. His feelings are that women are merely fanciful creatures, little more than children in their thoughts. Seeing the influence of Dracula on Lucy, the men had decided to pierce her heart with a stake, her final death scene very erotic. “The Thing in the coffin writhed; and a hideous, blood-curdling screech came from the opened red lips. The body shook and quivered and twisted in wild contortions…” (222). By making the female version of sex one of the evils of the story, Stoker can reassert his male authority over the women of the book, and also of the changing society.
Mina is more of the ideal woman in terms of the newly instated women’s rights. Unlike Lucy, she does not flaunt what she knows or does, but subtly makes herself more useful than any of the men were. Through Mina’s character, at first nothing more than the reasonable female, changing to become the understated hero, Stoker’s feelings towards women can be seen to turn slightly in a more positive direction. The ending scene even has Van Helsing praising Mina as “a brave and gallant woman” (382). Ultimately, it is Mina who organizes all of the information, the letters, phonograph notes, telegraphs and journal entries, to find Dracula. Her role having changed from that of the good little woman to that of a useful asset, the men go off to find Dracula, leaving Mina alone. While she is left alone, Dracula comes to her, and tries to change her over to a vampire by force. When the men burst in on Dracula, the moment is described as, “…a terrible resemblance of a child forcing a kitten’s nose into a saucer of milk to compel it to drink” (288). Despite otherwise being a decent woman, even Mina is seduced by Dracula without the men to watch over her. The vigilance suggested by Stoker here is one of mistrust towards women. While women may be able to be useful to society, it is thought that without the care of men, still, women will stray from the righteous path. Stoker goes so far as to have Dracula try to escape from England on the ship, Czarina Catherine, a Russian queen who, although having done a great many good things for Russia, is most often remembered for being promiscuous after the death of her husband.
Changing gender roles led men of the Victorian period to become more defensive about their power. Bram Stoker is no different from those men. While the debate may be whether or not Stoker supported women’s rights, it is more likely that he felt threatened, but was willing to put up with it on certain conditions. Having once had the free reign over most everything, and to lose such power to women, once thought little more than children in their mindsets, men were finding it hard to cope with these “new women.” Their loved ones, sisters, mothers, wives and daughters, were all showing signs of being proverbially bitten by the vampire of change. Worst of all, for the Victorian men, the change would stay and the equality grow rather than diminish.