Bram Stoker’s book Dracula begins with a journal entry by Jonathan Harker. Harker is an English lawyer traveling to Transylvania, an Eastern European country, to meet with Count Dracula for business purposes. In his first journal entry, Jonathan records his trip to Dracula’s castle. Along the way local peasants warn him not proceed on to his destination especially so late at night. The worried peasants keep repeating the word “vampire” and give him crucifixes to ward off evil. Harker does get a bit scared but he still decides to continue on to the castle. When Jonathan arrives to his final destination, the friendly and gently Count greets him. During his stay at the castle, Harker feels more and more uncomfortable as certain events take place.…
Carter presents patriarchal ideology as being almost inherent unless a generation is conscious of a woman’s oppression and decide to sever themselves from it, as the young girl in The Werewolf literally severs the wolf’s paw off with her knife - which she “knows how to use.” This is arguably symbolic of this oppression being as a result of marriage, as Carter focuses on there being a “wedding ring on the third finger.” This perhaps correlates with the statistical evidence that men benefit from marriage more than women, just as a result of her oppressive and patriarchal marriage, the grandmother’s hand is “toughened with work.” Carter, who famously stated that her gender “defines” her, may also be challenging gender stereotypes within this as…
In an analysis of Bram Stoker’s Dracula and one of many film adaptions, Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula, it is very evident that the female characters within the movie and the book are remarkably different. Not only is the love interest between Mina (Ryder) Harker and Dracula (Oldman) an addition to the movie, but the extreme sexualization of all the female characters within the film adaption portray the women in a new light. Through the distinction in character portrayal between the movie and the book, the underlying contrast between the “New Woman” and the Victorian Woman become very identifiable.…
These women can suddenly take the male prerogative to instate an encounter that is inherently sexual, and penetrate their victim (with their fangs). This destabilisation of gender roles is not limited to female people receiving phallic symbols however; the vampire itself completely reverses the stereotypical roles of men and women in the Gothic story. The women become predators, dangerous creatures to be hunted and feared; the men are the prey and they crack under the pressure and become hysterical on several occasions, the “stalwart manhood seemed to have shrunk somewhat under the strain of his much tired emotions” [Stoker, p.181]. After Lucy is killed, Dr. Seward must comfort Arthur Holmwood in the funeral parlour when he “suddenly [breaks] down, and threw his arms round my shoulders and laid his head on my breast, crying,” [Stoker, p.181]. Whereas when Mina is told of Lucy’s death, she shows “courage and resolution in her bearing” [Stoker, p.240], and is determined to tell the full story of their fight against Dracula, even if recording the death of her friend upsets…
An Australian male; outgoing, masculine, hard working and courageous who can concur anything with a cold one in his left hand, a snag in the other and a hot shiela by his side. This seems exactly the life Australian blokes are living, so were told or rather yet shown. This perception of a dominate brute male, with his submissive shiela by his side is the typical representation displayed within mainstream Australian films. Although this view on gender roles outside of the big screen is not the case. Australian women are stepping out into the world in 6 inch heels ready to destroy the marriage obsessed, uneducated and husband orientated image illustrated in these such films. House wives are taking on a new status removing barriers and breaking…
The text uses the occurrence of sex as an act of aggression, erotic brutality, and dominance in which the male partner is seen as sadistic and the female partner is seen as oppressed. This is portrayed by The Marquis’ wives, both past and present, as he objectifies them by placing them on display, enabling him to manipulate and mold them to satisfy his perverse erotic tastes. Additionally, all of the female roles are unnamed, only referred to by jobs for example the Mother, the Opera Singer, the Evening Star Walking on the Rim of Night, and the Romanian Countess (Carter 1990: 4), drawing attention to the idea of gender inequity as the women are not worth of a name (Barry 1995: 126). The act of sexual objectification by The Marquis lends itself to interpretation as The Bloody Chamber depicts the darker side of sexual relationships, exploring the essentialist idea that men and women are different beings. The text symbolizes the inequality between men and women in the ‘[m]ost pornographic of all confrontations’ (Carter 1990: 8), through the satirical images by Felicien Rops, where a fully clothes man is sizing up a naked women as though she is “a lamb chop” (Carter 1990: 8). From the…
Other than being remade into other forms such as movies and cartoons, Dracula was a relatively new concept during the time of its publication and had a major impact to its surrounding society. Today, the novel’s uses of multiple unique elements of writing such as dramatic irony, the everyman, and suspense/mystery continues to speak to interests of readers. In addition, the character itself, like any other supernatural beings including ghosts and witches, naturally intriguing us just based on many people’s love of getting scared; Dracula is portrayed in the novel as a completely evil and manipulative character that feasts upon the lives of mortals for his survival. Throughout the course of “Dracula,” Stoker used an epistolary form of writing not only for its prevalence in the Victorian era, but also for its effectiveness in portraying first person point-of-views and first-hand accounts for multiple characters. By doing so, he was able to make readers feel as if they themselves could have been in the characters’ shoes. Because it was an epistolary format and readers knew exactly what each character knew and did not know, his application of dramatic irony became clearer than other literary pieces as well. Dramatic irony was used in the course of the novel in multiple ways. The Victorian readers already knew of the vampire concept by the 18th century and Dracula was written in the early-mid 19th century. As they read the novel, they generally would have known what Dracula was, and had a similar idea to what we think now, before Jonathan Harker’s realization of Dracula’s intentions (Stoker 22). Another way dramatic irony was added in the novel was the placement of each journal. For instance, readers were notified first of Jonathan’s experiences in his journal and then Mina’s journal was revealed with her wondering about the condition of her finace (Stoker 27,…
Dracula is a story about the perennial battle between good and evil involving Dracula as the antagonist. This war dates back as far as God versus the Devil or the Wicked Witch of the West and the Good Witch in Oz. It is black and white, right? But wait, wasn’t it God who drowned the entire human population at one point and killed every Egyptian firstborn son at another. Was Lucifer a revolutionary who spoke out against dictatorship and was cast down to Hell for it? The Wicked Witch’s name already spells out how we should view her but is it not well within her rights to inherit her dead sister’s shoes? Instead we see them on the feet of her murderer, does that make her Wicked? Why does The “Good” Witch leave out the fact the shoes are magic until after she allows the innocent Dorothy carry out the deed of murdering her rival? The maxim goes “There are two sides to every story” and I have to whole-heartedly agree with it. No human being is wholly good and neither are they completely evil. In this essay, I will examine the themes of good and evil and attempt to change the way you view Dracula, its characters and plot.…
The story starts off with a young Englishman named Jonathan Harker. He travels to Eastern Europe in order to sell some property to Count Dracula. The antagonist is a reclusive but seemingly normal “man” from Transylvania. This section of the story takes place from the view of Harker, who decided to chronicle his adventures abroad for his fiancée, Mina Murray.…
When Dracula transforms women into vampires their bodies and mindsets change. The vampires are “fair as can be, with great wavy masses of golden hair and eyes like pale sapphires” (Stoker 38). Their minds become seductive and sexual, and their bodies become voluptuous, causing men to fantasize and desire their kisses and touches. It was perceived as evil for a woman to embrace her sexuality back in the Victorian time period because it symbolized her gaining power and taking control away from the man. In Harker’s case, he is afraid yet bewitched by the three women as they take command and seduce him into sexual behavior that typically he, the male, is used to leading. These sexual encounters lead Harker to feel subjugated by the women, which in that time period was unheard of and taboo. Later in the novel when Van Helsing is about to kill the three vampires, he opens their boxes and becomes infatuated with their appearances. He immediately notices how they are “so fair to look on, so radiantly beautiful, so exquisitely voluptuous, that the very instinct of man in [him]…made [his] head whirl with new emotion” (Stoker 372). By allowing a notable intelligent doctor to become entrapped in these women’s power to seduce, Stoker is revealing how dangerous they can be to society. He describes the vampires as lustful and emphasizes that…
While Count Dracula is prominently reckoned as an opposition within a methodical society, he can somehow exemplify a potential alteration for oppressed women against the Victorian’s standardized expectations. In the primary introduction of Mina and Lucy’s appearance, the two female characters express a vast ideology of obedient and pure Victorian women. Both of them desire to wholly love and marry whomever they want without feeling oppressed by the expectations that society imposes on them. After Count Dracula corrupts Lucy to become a vampire of her own, her sexual desire commences to expand, and she deviates herself from the norms within the Victorian society. In chapter 15, Dr. Seward anxiously states, “She still advanced, however, and with…
Vampire legends are interesting to study in the modern world and people are surprised worldwide in getting to know more about the vampire culture and legends. People worldwide have heard stories of a night being that does not die at all and survives only on the blood of human beings. Many cultures have their way of describing and portraying their vampires into the society. They also have their way of using vampire lore to incorporate it into their society and make it survive over a long time. Vampire fictions themselves majorly concern with the subject of the vampires who depend on the living creatures for them to survive. Traditionally, vampire stories were not only villainous, but also horrific. Modern understandings habitually reimage the…
Some men abused this power though, and used it to have complete control over women’s sexuality. During this time women were susceptible to rape, because women were seen as the weaker sex. It was a dark time for women; the possibility of being raped or abused was high. In Blocks excerpt, she brings to light the numerous sexual attacks on women going on in early America. According to Block, “sexual coercion took many forms in early America.” Block starts off her argument by telling numerous stories of victims of sexual assault and rape to illustrate to readers some of the horrific behaviors men were inflicting on women during early America. The sexual attacks Block discusses were a result of social power and physical force. These stories reiterate to readers that in early America women were vulnerable to sexually coercive tactics, simple because they were women. Women were being sexual attacked by men who had no social relation with them, or men in their households, such as fathers, husbands, and masters. Men were able to get away with a lot during the 18th century; this increased their power over women, and in their efforts to further control women’s…
Firestone argues that the biological sexual opposition is the root cause of male domination, economic class exploitation, racism, imperialism and ecological irresponsibility. Sexual inequality is an oppression that goes back beyond recorded history to the animal kingdom times, and in this sense, it has been universal and inevitable, but the cultural and industrial qualifications now exist that make its elimination possible and perhaps necessary for human…
William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night's Dream” (c. 1595) is a play that dramatizes gender tensions arising through complicated familial and romantic relationships. In the beginning of the play, a young woman, Hermia, fights her father, Egeus, for the right to choose her own husband, a duke, Theseus, is set to marry a woman, Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons, who he recently conquered in battle, and the King and Queen of the Fairies, Oberon and Titania are performing warfare against each other. All these scenarios enact immensely intense battles of the genders. Throughout the play, stereotypes about traditional gender roles when it comes to romance are also being challenged. For instance, norms…