Victorian Women in Dracula by Bram Stroker and Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Throughout Bram Stokers novel Dracula and William Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth, the female characters Mina, Lucy, and Lady Macbeth represent the negative and positive aspects of the presence of women in certain situations. Throughout the entire novel, Mina possesses a 'good heart' and great respect for her husband. Dracula influences Lucy all the way to her death and into her after life as a vampire. Lady Macbeth is the true essence of evil because she only 'adds more fuel to the flames'. Lady Macbeth makes it clear that her motives are all personal, but Macbeth always plays a vital element in all her actions. All hail Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis! All hail Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor! All hail Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter! (17)', the witches originally put the idea that Macbeth will be king one day. After learning this information Macbeth writes a letter to his wife, Lady Macbeth instantly has thoughts of how great life would be as queen and the potential power. The moment Lady Macbeth hears that King Duncan is coming to visit thoughts of assassinating Duncan filters her mind.

Though she wants Duncan dead, she wants nothing to do with the murder and forces Macbeth to kill the man. Lady Macbeth may not want apart in the death, but ultimately her hands feel the blood of Duncan and forever she is traumatized. Lady Macbeth has a downward spiral after Duncan death; she frequently sleepwalks and at one point confessed to the murder of Duncan. After Macbeth's crowning, directly afterward he starts to feel disgruntled thinking that he must eliminate the competition to the throne. 'O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife! Thou know'st that Banquo and his Fleance lives. 93)', Macbeth admits to Lady Macbeth that he needs to reassure himself that the crown will be his. Lady Macbeth has her own problems, but Macbeth gives the impression that his problems are just emerging. During the Elizabethan era men were expected to improve the status of all family members, so is it wrong for Lady Macbeth to want more power. Lady Macbeth exhibits a state of hysteria; her craving for power makes her conceit that her actions may be condemned. Her hysteria or fear comes in all different forms from sleep walking to her final suicide death.

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The women of her time were commonly housewives and were expected to conceive a child every two years; though a child was born every two years families were small, constant illness caused the death of many children. Lady Macbeth does not ever conceive a child or do the active duty as a housewife; for her time she was obscure and viewed as out of place. Her unconventional role and dealings denounced her from Elizabethan society, and her inability to fit the mold might have led to her hysteria. The power she so craved drove her mad, she had gained the utmost power available and yet her actions still haunted her.

Macbeth seeks the advice of the witches after realizing that Lady Macbeth is in no state to respond about Macbeth's situation. The three witches hover over a bubbling cauldron; Macbeth enters the underground cave and asks the witches to prophecies about his uncertain future. They respond by stating that Macduff should be closely watched and 'none of woman born shall harm Macbeth'. The witches disappear before Macbeth could get a clear, explicit response, Macbeth does not want any vague commentary that could affect his future.

The idea ' none of woman born shall harm Macbeth' is a vague statement that can be altered and viewed in many different lights. The witches influence Macbeth to believe he is invincible to man; their techniques in manipulating Macbeth show how women bring out his negative qualities and influence him into becoming something he is not. The witches immediate interaction with Macbeth start the plot for Macbeth, William Shakespeare has the women characters in Macbeth's life adjust Macbeth's mind and indefinitely change the course of the tragedy.

The presence of women throughout the book changes Macbeth's view, the death of Duncan perhaps would not have happened if Lady Macbeth was not there to push Macbeth. If the witches did not predict Macbeth's future maybe Macbeth would not have gone on to become king and remained a war hero. The tragedy Macbeth would not be considered a tragedy if Macbeth was not altered by the presence of women, Lady Macbeth and the witches do their part in the tragedy to affect all of Macbeth's actions. Throughout the novel Dracula, Bram Stoker shows the variety in Victorian women.

Mina shows her weaknesses, but shows greater qualities when motivating to kill Dracula. Lucy is Mina's best friend and shows her Victorian values in a completely different way, her flamboyant behavior leads to frequent encounter with many men. Dracula is a very intriguing character. At the beginning of the novel Bram Stoker makes the reader believe that Dracula is a good, warm hearted person by the way he treats Jonathan Harker at his home. 'Welcome to my house. Enter freely and of your own will'' (22). Dracula often refers to Jonathan as his good friend and companion.

Dracula would come only during the night time and talk with Jonathon, but soon enough he would pick up on little things that the Count would do and conclude his superstitions. 'When the Count saw my face, his eyes blazed with a sort of demoniac fury, and he suddenly made a grab at my throat. I drew away, and his hand touched the string of beads which held the crucifix. It made an instant change in him, for the fury passed so quickly that I could hardly believe that it was ever there'' (31). This event for Jonathan confirms that the Count has alternative motives for keeping Jonathan in the castle.

It's ironic that at the beginning the count offered Jonathan to enter and leave as he pleases but now makes him stay for an extra month. This makes Jonathan to believe is being held a prisoner. Mina Harker is called into the story when she receives a letter from the hospital saying that her husband is sick. Mina goes to the hospital where he Jonathan is being kept. Jonathan had a brain fever after he left the Counts home. So Mina goes to him; he does not remember a thing about his stay at the Dracula's castle. Soon after they leave and get married. Mina plays her role as a Victorian woman her because of this.

Mina goes to her husband who is very ill; Mina went out of her way to see Jonathan in Transylvanian hospital. Stoker used Lucy to convey the fear of sexual expression, and the fear of the outcome of female sexual expression. Lucy starts out as the ideal Victorian woman, but that image is challenged when she receives three marriage proposals from Dr. Seward, Quincy Morris, and Arthur Holmwood. Lucy becomes subject to sexuality when Stoker portrays her as an object of desire, and when she states 'Why can't they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want her, and save all this trouble? , not only does the interest of the three men make Lucy an object of desire, but her question of women marrying as many men as they want also shows that Lucy herself has desires. This desire is a key characteristic of vulnerability that the other female lead in the story, Mina, does not have. That is why Lucy falls easily for Dracula's transformation process. The transformation process of Lucy; the transition from being an ideal Victorian woman to a sexual creature, and then back to a perfect woman through her ultimate demise via a stake being driven through her heart, is another method Stoker uses to convey the fear of sexual expression.

The description of her death shows that she has crossed into the realm of the supernatural: the wounds on her neck disappear and her beauty returns to her in death, and that she has clearly become a Vampire. Dracula's attack has transformed an ideal Victorian woman into a sexual predator. Mina is a character Stoker uses to represent the ideal Victorian woman, and thus represents anti-sexual expression in the story, and the prejudices that society had against women.

To all of the men in the story, Mina is a true Victorian heroine, who aides them in figuring out the mystery of Jonathan's strange stories and Lucy's death. It is made clear that women were expected to be truthful, sweet and noble, and that Van Helsing is praising Mina and admonishing all other characters in the story who don't meet the idealistic standards. With Stoker describing Mina as the perfect woman, he conveys the idea that without this idealism, a woman doesn't have a place in aristocratic Victorian society.

Stoker also makes Mina an interesting character in the sense that he allows her to think of escaping suppression of society and expressing not only sexuality, but also ideas of female equality, yet in the end of the novel she becomes the every-day Victorian woman with a house, husband, and children. Mina throughout the novel is a daring character, and is shown to be a very intelligent woman who is highly respected by the doctors, and seems to be advanced in her thinking for the Victorian time periodBibliography-Bram Stroker's.. 'Dracula'William SHakespeare's... 'Macbeth'



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