"The difference between Mina and the vampire women in the novel is a sexual difference." How far do you agree with this statement? Discuss what is revealed about late Victorian sociConfidential Page 1 30/08/03ety through Stoker's portrayal of female characters.
Women and their sexuality is a major theme presented in the novel "Dracula". We see a great contrast between Mina, a typical virtuous Victorian woman, and the evil vampire women who are provocative and morally wrong.
We first see Vampire women when Jonathan Harker pretends to be asleep in Dracula's castle, in Transylvania. By locating Dracula's castle in Transylvania, Stoker highlights the idea of xenophobia, the Victorians fear of all things foreign. At this stage in the novel we see Jonathan on the verge of madness, having found himself trapped in the castle. The women are described as beautiful, and Jonathan admits he longed for them to kiss him, yet, .
"something about them made me uneasy".
As one of the Vampire women bends to kiss Harker, he describes the smell of her breath as "bitter underlying the sweet". This makes the reader wary of the women, as this is a metaphor for the women's beauty underlying the evil inside them.
We are relieved as Jonathan is saved from the woman by Dracula hurling her away just at the last moment. Harker could never imagine "such wrath and fury, even in the demons of the pit." The women go on to tell Dracula that he has never loved, but Dracula claims he can, and says "you yourselves can tell it from the past." .
The reader is intrigued as to what exactly has gone on in the past between these women and the Count. Dracula then presents the women with a child, and to Jonathan's horror they attack the child. Jonathan later describes these women as "demons of the pit", and says they have "naught in common" with Mina. The reader later sees this is the case, as we are introduced to the character of Mina.
