This paper examines the female characters of Bram Stoker's Dracula — Mina Harker and Lucy Westenra — as literary representations of shifting gender roles during the Victorian era. Set against the backdrop of the women's suffrage movement and Victorian social norms, the paper argues that Mina embodies an emerging progressive womanhood through her financial independence, career ambitions, and intellectual strength, while Lucy represents a more limited form of liberation rooted primarily in sexuality. Drawing on Foucault's theory of sexual identity and secondary scholarship on the novel, the analysis demonstrates how Stoker uses his two female leads to chart the early stages of feminist development in English literature.
The paper demonstrates comparative character analysis as a method for exploring thematic argument. By systematically pairing Mina and Lucy across categories such as career ambition, sexuality, intelligence, and response to the vampire, the writer builds a cumulative case for Mina's proto-feminist status. This technique shows how sustained comparison across multiple dimensions produces a more persuasive argument than a single-point contrast.
The paper opens with historical context on Victorian gender norms and the suffrage movement, then introduces the two characters and the central thesis. Subsequent sections develop Mina's progressive qualities before shifting to Lucy's limitations. A direct head-to-head comparison follows, focusing on the vampire encounter as a test of character. The conclusion synthesizes the argument and frames Mina as a transitional feminist figure bridging Victorian tradition and modern independence.
During the nineteenth century, the women's suffrage movement was gaining momentum. Emerging from an era heavily influenced by Victorian ideals and beliefs, it had become a pressing question of whether women should be allowed to vote, work, and live as they wished. At this point in history, women were considered significantly inferior to their male counterparts and were not recognized as full citizens of the United States under its constitution. They were acknowledged as people but fell into a special non-voting category, and it was not until the 1890s that the first state — Wyoming — granted women the right to vote. In England, Queen Victoria was in power and promoted ideals of blissful motherhood and marriage as the ultimate goal for women.
In the midst of the suffrage movement, Bram Stoker wrote his immortal novel Dracula. His two leading female characters, Mina Harker and Lucy Westenra, though different in personality, both represent a new kind of woman in English literature. Mina, while well educated and independent, showcases many of the mother-like attributes championed by the Victorian era. Her character lacks overt sexuality and is most often sought out in times of despair. Lucy, on the other hand, demonstrates the power a woman's sexuality can have and captures the hearts of numerous men. Her physical attractiveness marks the early stages of women's sexual liberation, while Mina's ability to be self-sufficient — both economically and spiritually — points toward a more independent woman capable of surviving in modern times without the assistance of a man, and of becoming a model for future feminists in literature and in the wider world.
Mina Harker's character occupies a space between traditional Victorian ideals and modern progressive thought, demonstrating the capacity to exist within the boundaries of both. Victorian women were generally financially dependent upon men throughout their entire lives. As children and young women, they were supported by their fathers and typically made finding a husband their primary goal. Once married, they moved directly from their father's household into their husband's, where domestic life became their top priority. As Meike Roder notes, "Women were supposed to stay at home and their main duty was to take care of their household and their children" (Roder, 3).
Mina represents a change in this tradition while acknowledging that such change cannot arrive too quickly. She possesses some of the progressive convictions a feminist might hold while remaining somewhat conservative in her actions. She stands as a maternal figure to most of Stoker's male characters, providing spiritual support to those deeply affected by Lucy's death and offering the kind of comfort a mother gives to her children. Yet she is also remarkably self-motivated and self-sufficient. In addition to her duties as a schoolteacher — which she describes as exhausting in a letter to Lucy — she "mentions her other work activities: learning shorthand, keeping a journal, and 'doing what I see lady journalists do'" (Prescott, 4). Mina's journal-keeping signifies a desire to pursue a personal interest as a possible career and gives her character a passion that reaches beyond the scope of domestic duties. She states that she wishes to be of service to Jonathan, but, as Prescott has pointed out, "we can wonder how a lady journalist can possibly help a solicitor's clerk" (Prescott, 4).
Mina is passionate about her journalism. To her, it is something far more than mundane entries about the day's events — it becomes an important daily objective, something for which she must find peace and quiet in order to complete. The journal's contents, which prove vital to the plot of the novel, demonstrate a strong desire for self-expression. During the late nineteenth century, many women were repressed, under-spoken, and confined to the boundaries imposed on them by men. Although Mina was not directly rebelling against these ideals, she was breaking free of them without thinking twice.
The text of Mina's journal frequently raises awareness of the changing dynamics of women's lives. She presents her opinions on the "New Woman" and reflects on women's potential for the future. As Prescott notes, Mina writes: "Some of the 'New Women' writers will someday start an idea that men and women should be allowed to see each other asleep before proposing or accepting. But I suppose the New Woman won't condescend in future to accept; she will do the proposing herself. And a nice job she will make of it, too! There's some consolation in that" (Prescott, 5).
At the time of publication, this passage would likely have been interpreted as radical thought. The idea of a man and woman witnessing each other asleep could have been associated with sexual promiscuity, and the notion of a woman proposing to her potential husband was completely unheard of. Women were expected to take a passive role in their own lives and had little say regarding their futures. This liberal and progressive thinking would grant women the opportunity to choose their own partners and, ultimately, to exercise greater control over their own destinies.
Even though Mina possesses many attributes of the progressive woman of the twentieth century, she is entirely without overt sexuality. Lucy Westenra, on the other hand, is a highly sexualized character who captivates the imaginations of the story's male characters. They all adore her, and all of the younger men aspire to marry her. Lucy's beauty even intrigues Mina, who repeatedly comments on how gorgeous she is. However, despite reflecting certain progressive tendencies that distinguish her from the traditional Victorian woman, Lucy does not emerge as a convincing feminist figure.
Prescott, Charles E. "Vampiric Affinities: Mina Harker and the Paradox of Femininity in Bram Stoker's Dracula." Journals of Cambridge.
Foucault, M. The History of Sexuality. London: Penguin Books, 1976.
Roder, Meike. Mina Harker — A New Woman? GRIN Verlag.
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