While we were deliberating about Dracula in class today, Dr. McLeod made an emphasis on Mina and Lucy. Deciding to look further into the concept within the two characters, I have noticed a dynamic connection between the women’s encounter with Dracula. When Lucy was bitten by Dracula, she eventually fell under his mischievous intentions due to her openness to lust. Lucy was a very promiscuous woman for Victorian standards. Her sexuality was often exhibited towards many of the leading male characters through variations of metaphors such as the transfusion of the blood and her marriage dilemma with the three suitors. Lucy’s sexual deviance backfired over time a result. But on a different side of the spectrum, Mina uses her near transformation as an advantage to track down Dracula.
Mina is literary portrayed as the “angel of the House” due to her purity and innocence. She had no ambitions for any sexual behavior, and she often used her maternal extinct to protect Lucy and Jonathan when they were in peril. Therefore, Dracula had a harder time trying to manipulate her. As previously stated from past class discussions, the act of biting one’s neck was a euphemism for sex. The act of penetration through one’s vain for blood symbolizes the act of intercourse between a man and a woman. With Lucy, it was easy for Dracula to manipulate her because she was so open to any state of ecstasy. As a consequence, Lucy became a downfall on society when she developed into a ruthless and immoral vampire. But with Mina, her lack of ambition towards sex made her more resistant of Dracula. Dracula had to bite her three times, and at one point even shared his own flesh with Mina in order to form a closer bond.
Mina’s purity was still present regardless of the matter since she never completely transformed into a vampire. Instead, she used her wit by using telepathic vision to monitor Dracula’s whereabouts within the end of the novel. By comparing the contrasting elements of Mina and Lucy, Mina strived against Dracula due to her cleanliness from malice objectives and was lifted from the curse when Dracula is ultimately killed. Lucy represents the fallen woman to represent how immodest intentions can lead to a disgrace in society. If Lucy fitted more to the Victorian standards of women, she would have been able to repel from Dracula’s spell.
Victorian London's Underworld 