Queen Victoria declared: “Let women be what God intended, a helpmate for man, but with totally different duties and vocations” (Leghari). This represents a damning perspective for females who wanted to stand up against social injustice. Furthermore, the Queen herself engineered: “socially constructed ideals for how women were to be during the Victorian era” (Leghari). The purpose of this paper is to take an in depth look at gender roles, oppression of women and sexuality in the Victorian era, as they relate to Bram Stoker’s famous 1897 novel, Dracula. Throughout the paper I analyze the ways in which Bram Stoker highlights a compelling form of female sexuality which both contests and evaluates the Victorian concept of women not possessing a sexual desire, via the main female characters, thereby showing powerful images of women’s sexual desires. My thesis statement is: Stoker clearly shows that women’s sexuality could not be oppressed for all women during the Victorian era.
A Victorian Perspective on Female Sexuality
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"Gender Roles in the Victorian Era".
During the course of the Victorian era, there was a strong discriminatory perspective regarding females and their sexuality. They were commonly viewed by men as sexless. They were thought of as beings without any sexual craving that had to be quenched; and that their sole wish was to satisfy the sexual requirements of the men. A specialist doctor and essayist from the Victorian era, William Acton, wrote on the sexuality of women from that period, and noted: “There are many females who never feel any sexual excitement whatsoever… The best mothers, wives, and managers of households, know little or nothing of sexual indulgences. Love of the home, children, and domestic duties are the only passions they feel” (Acton 180).
Stoker (1897), investigates the persuasion that when compared to males, females are more sexual, and to that end, they want more in their lives than just the role of a nurturer. Stoker sounds out women’ s sexuality in his novel, by making it extremely pronounced. Traditionally, in the era of Queen Victoria, it was not acceptable to talk about intimate matters. (Foucault 893),
highlighted in the way in which Victorians crushed “the rules of marriage” through “seeking
strange pleasures.” In the same vein, Dracula depicts his characters looking for bizarre satisfaction outside marriage. An examples of this sucking bodily fluids and blood. Stoker’s characters’ dreams involving sexual acts would be classed as “debauchery” and “grave sins” to a conventional Victorian (Foucault 893). Ultimately, this fortifies the sexual identities of the women characters, as while they dream, what they channel is turned into reality. The topic of female sexuality via Dracula is fully confronted by Stoker (Stoker).
Stoker’s Uncovering of Female Sexuality
Dracula continually takes part in sexual and sensual acts, and because the women are vampires, they are at liberty to submit to their quiescent desires which were normally taboo during Queen Victoria’s era. As vampirism spreads, the sisters who become vampires are transformed into sexualized luscious women. As these characters have been given the chance to practice their inner sexual lust, they stand face to face against the fear of womanly sexuality that has been imposed upon them by Victorian society. Lucy for instance, investigates female sexual practice and progressively questions the stereotypical female’s gender ideal which is turning more and more voluptuous and sexualized (Stoker). It may be said that vampire sisters represent the visible womanly sexuality which the majority of Victorian men were scared of.
It can be argued that when they seduce Harker, the vampire women’s actions are representative of new emotions regarding the New Woman’s coming out. The latter represented a form of female that stood up to the predominating ideas about womanhood. While Mina, who is financially independent might well be regarded as a New Woman, she has no respect whatsoever for this category of women. And in regard to views on marriage, she notes that in the future, the New Woman will not lower herself to agree to it; she will propose to the man herself. With regard to the female vampires, in light of what Mina has stated, it could be said that due to their seduction of Harker, they could be thought of as New Women. From Harker’s viewpoint, the vampire sisters are representative of an upsurge of womanly sexuality which Victorian society aimed to suppress. Yet Harker is not displeased by their barefaced sexuality, he is ecstatic and longs to be pleasured by them. Stoker describes the actions of the fair vampire as though she is going to give oral sex. Harker was both repulsed and thrilled, disgusted and fascinated with her sexuality (Stoker). Lucy and Mina are highly symbolic illustrations which Stoker has used to get across the message that what went on in Victorian society with regard to women’s sexuality and their gender role, could not be classed all in one category. That is to say that all females were obedient and adoring spouses to their husbands, as this was very likely not the case.
For the purpose of highlighting the stark difference between the two sisters, the author utilizes Mina’s character to contrast and compare her with Lucy. During the course of the novel: “…Mina remains an idyllic depiction of the traditional Victorian female, however… at times defies these Victorian idylls…[stating] the ‘new woman’ will introduce the idea that men and women should be allowed to see each other asleep before proposing or accepting” (Leghari). The era of Queen Victoria represented a changeover from societal norms that were once seen as traditional. As a result, a change in social philosophy took place. Mina is representative of the new woman who is doing as much as she can to give a perceptive look into the advancement of females as independent humans by sabotaging the longstanding Victorian gender relations which rank females as dependent on men, and males as superior. Although from the outside, she seems like the perfect wife who practices conventional Victorian values, her forward-looking perspective on gender equivalence is in stark contrast to traditional Victorian beliefs. Conversely, Lucy examines the idea of females being promiscuous by making a stand against the long held belief that women must be married. This rejection of the values so prevalent in the Victorian period is highlighted by Stoker displaying Lucy’s rammed up sexual appetite post contamination. By puncturing her neck, Dracula has penetrated her in a sexual way, and it could be argued that Lucy loses her virginity due to this action. Lucy can be classed as a ‘fallen woman,’ in line with the social conventions of the period. As a vampire woman, she has the power to threaten the conventional Victorian woman (Leghari).
In summary, the main female characters in Stoker’s Dracula stand firm against the traditional Victorian roles: Mina embodies the “new woman’ concept, whereas Lucy takes a look at female promiscuity. And although it is apparent that during the Victorian era, the lines between women and men were inflexible to the point that females were continually oppressed, there were females who were drive to resist them. My thesis statement: Stoker clearly shows that women’s sexuality could not be oppressed for all women during the Victorian era, has been proved by the accounts of Lucy and Mina.
- Acton, William (1998). “Want of Sexual Feeling in the Female.” Embodied Selves: An
Anthology of Psychological Texts. Clarendon. - Foucault, Michel (2004). “The History of Sexuality.” Literary Theory: An Anthology. Blackwell.
- Leghari, Akbar (2014). “Re-framing the Victorians.” Retrieved from
http://reframingthevictorians.blogspot.bg/2014/12/gender-and-sexuality-
in-victorian-era.html
- Stoker, Bram (1897). Dracula.
