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Literature often reflects the widespread beliefs of a society, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula published in 1897, is no exception, supremely depicting the repressed female sexualities of the moralistic Victorian age. In Dracula, the vampires, who symbolize taboo female sexuality, are regarded as evil by dangerously reversing the traditional gender roles. In conjunction with such strict ethical values, the rise of feminism offers a motif for character construction in Dracula. For example, Lucy and Mina, the main female characters, contrast strikingly, the former a traditional woman and the latter a ‘New Woman.’ In Dracula, through comparison of two main characters, we see the ambivalent image of the ‘New Woman’ in both feministic and conservative perspectives. Lucy Westenra and Mina Harker fit distinct archetypes. Lucy is a beautiful blonde with blue eyes who, with her amiable personality and sensual beauty, attracts all men to her. By contrast, Mina, an intelligent and independent school teacher, represents what became known as the ‘New Woman.’ Both Lucy and Mina are sexually repressed through Victorian education, and only Count Dracula offers them access to their repressed sexualities, allowing them to express sexuality explicitly by transforming them into sexual aggressors. Unsurprisingly, both women vampires and Dracula are seen as evil, since they threaten the societal norm of male dominance. Despite this parallel, Lucy and Mina respond quite differently to sexual penetration by Dracula.
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