The Culture of Victimization and Empowerment of Lucy Westenra Women in Bram Stokers Dracula 1897
Dracula, a novel written by the British writer Bram Stoker in 1897,chronicles the life of Jonathan Harker and Mina Murray in Transylvania,where as engaged lovers, they encountered Count Dracula of Transylvania.Count Dracula's character provides the horror element to the novel becauseit was rumored (in the novel) that the Count is a vampire, who victimizeswomen in the town of Transylvania through impalement. The main conflictcomes when the Count transferred from Transylvania to England, where thereare more opportunities to victimize more people, putting Mina in danger. Prior to Mina's victimization, her best friend Lucy Westenra hasalready been afflicted with the Count's 'vampirism.' Chapters 7 through 16chronicles, through journal entries and correspondences, the worseningcondition of Lucy, starting from her sickness right after being impaled byDracula, and eventual transformation, or "birth," as a vampire (ProjectGutenberg, 2004). Lucy's victimization and transformation as a vampireillustrates a strong point in the novel. Lucy, as the victim, and Mina, asthe potential victim of Dracula in the novel, exemplifies the culture of"victimization of women" in the novel, where they are first
My soulseemed to go out from my body and float about the air" (August 18 entry,Mina Murray's journal). And then I seemed sinking into deepgreen water. Lucy and Mina, as the main women characters in thenovel, played important roles as victims of the Count who eventually becameinstrumental in making possible the defeat of Count Dracula from Harker'sgroup (Quincey Morris, Dr. ,asserting her true self), that is, her true place as a powerful andessential member of the society. " He goes further into his analysis, going so far to claimthat the "New Woman" is also synonymous with the 'female vampire,' of whichLucy has become. An illustration of this "strongconnection" is the persistence of the Count's "red eyes," which served asprecursor to Lucy's sleepwalking at night in the churchyard (August 14entry, Mina Murray's journal). Despite Lucy Westenra's death in the novel, Draculaoffers its readers thoughts and insights about the consequences of rigidityand conservatism in the imposition of social norms, just as Lucy, as thefemale vampire, proved threatening to English society as she continually'victimized' and brashly showed her sexuality and need for autonomy (i. Indeed, Lucy is a perfect example of a women empowered through theprocess of victimization. Encountering the Count's "red eyes" alsogive way to dreams, expressed as illusion-like realities by Lucy: "I had avague memory of something long and dark with red eyes. Similarly, the 'floating of the soul' and detachment of the body from thesoul is a symbolic representation of Lucy's liberation from the constraintsof England's predominantly patriarchal society. The illusion-reality dream of "drowning men" represents the eventualsubjugation of men over women, embodied by the character of Lucy.
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