Dracula: Mina Harker and Lucy Westenra
In the novel, Dracula, by Bram Stoker, we are introduced to two specific ladies that are essential to the essence of this gothic, horror novel. These two women are Mina Harker and Lucy Westenra. The purpose for these two women was for Stoke to clearly depict the two types of women: the innocent and the contaminated. In the beginning, the women were both examples of the stereotypical flawless women of this time period. However, as the novel seems to progress, major differences are bound to arise. Although both women, Lucy and Mina, share the same innocent characteristics, it’s more ascertain that with naïve and inability of self control, Lucy creates a boundary that shows the difference between these two ladies and ultimately causes her downfall. Therefore, Mina Harker and Lucy Westenra both have similarities and differences. Mina Harker is the epitome of the stereotypical Victorian era woman. Mina tends to be more conservative and she’s basically in the image of perfection. Dr. Van Helsing, an expert Dutch professor, once described Mina as a heavenly woman. Mina, explained by Dr. Van Helsing, “is one of God’s women, fashioned by his own hand to show us men and other women that there is a heaven where we can enter, and that its light can be here on earth” (198). Mina’s pureness and innocence is her most loved quality and she’s always be liked as pure and clean, even by the almighty God. Mina’s main conflict in the novel is keeping her innocence and purity when she was with the main antagonist, Dracula. One time, after multiple sessions of Dracula sucking her blood, a wafer was put on her head, a mark branded on her forehead, and she announced, “Unclean! Unclean! Even the Almighty shuns my polluted flesh! I must bear this mark of shame upon my forehead until the Judgment Day” (314). There was always an element of suspense as to if Mina was going to remain as the Mina that’s pure and innocent. There’s also an element of suspense that Mina might in fact turn into
Bibliography: Stoker, Bram. Dracula: With an Introduction by George Stade. New York: Bantam, 1981. Print.