Note: Yes I know this was written a hundred years ago, Im looking for legit discussion please.
Ive been reading Dracula and have noticed a lot of seemingly sexist themes throughout the first 13 chapters. Lucy is portrayed as a damsel in distress with no idea of whats making her ill. The men in her life seem to think she’s a child in need of caring for. When Helsing was doing the transfusions, he only asked the males to help and totally ignored the maids (who Stoker says were all very fond of Lucy, seems like they could’ve given a few drops).
The males in the book treat women like they are subservient and weak willed. Seward is very closed off and feels embarrassed at Helsing when he cries at Lucy’s demise. He treats any emotion as a weakness and continually attributes having feelings to women. Arthur isn’t much in this book so far, but for some reason he thinks giving Lucy his blood is a sign of marriage. Dracula himself keeps a harem and is intent on expanding it.
Despite this, Ive heard several points that make me think Stoker was an early feminist. Later in the book, Mina seems to save the day. She researches and uses modern science to help dispatch Dracula. The guys all say she has the “mind of a man”, which at first seem silly but rethinking it a little, maybe it means women can be taught the same way as men and therefore have the same capabilities.
Im debating on whether or not I want to keep reading and was curious as to the internets thoughts of this book and its ideals.
Okay since reddit is apparently going to keep this post at the top of my home page for 2 days, I guess I’ll add my thoughts…
Declaring something fully feminist or misogynist is just like. Not a useful way to do anything. For these purposes, feminism would be a critical lens through which to examine the work - one which should probably also work hand-in-hand with a historical lens for a book 100 years old. There’s going to be elements of both. It was written by a man a hundred years ago. Just by that alone there’s going to be problematic stuff in it, never mind the actual contents of he story. However, as any of the dracula daily tumblr girlies will tell you, there’s also plenty of character work that resonates strongly with a modern feminist audience that has good points to take away, especially depending on your interpretation.
Edit: Skimming some of the other comments has made me realize some of the words I want to use for this- I would say that judging dracula through a modern lens is probably misguided (though ngl I do thoroughly judge the twists several adaptations have made ever since that do make it MORE misogynistic imo), however I think analyzing it through a modern lens gives you all sorts of complicated answers to your question!