The New Woman within Dracula revised

At the end of the 19th century women began demanding radical change from society that would enable them to take on more responsibility for themselves, and live a life outside of their husband’s complete control. The term a “New Woman” was coined to describe the women of the time who were unlike generations of the past. The New Woman was a woman that was educated, had her own career, and oftentimes was sexually autonomous. With the emergence of this new feminism that pushed the bounds of society there was a push back as the general victorian public questioned the possible outcome of such radical change. Why was it that most of society feared the change that was to come from women gaining a more important role in life and society itself? And how does Btram Stoker portray the New Woman feminist movement within Dracula and what are his own thoughts on it throughout the novel? Within this essay I will be exploring the New Woman movement in context within the novel Dracula and Stoker’s commentary on the movement throughout the text and through his characterization of his female characters throughout the novel. I will be analyzing Stoker’s harsh criticism of female sexuality and how the female characters within the novel approve of the notion that female sexuality outside of marriage is inherently perverted and thus discredit the New Woman of the time. I will also be analyzing the inclusion of Mina Harker in the novel and her role as a New Woman, who abstains from sexual autonomy but in every other way is a New Woman. Due to the contrasting female characters within Dracula, Stoker is able to draw a metaphorical line of acceptable behavior that he does not allow Mina to cross, which he then emphasizes further through the extreme oversexualization of the female vampires. This leads us to assume that Stoker does not have any qualms with the idea of a woman who is educated and independent in her career, but that the problem lies in the sexual freedom that a New Woman pursues. Stoker juxtaposes the idea of horror and lust so as to further pervert the idea of a New Woman who is sexually autonomous. Bram Stoker discredits the idea of a New Woman who is promiscuous whilst not entirely discrediting the feminist movement itself. He is able to do this through the use of the juxtaposition of lust and horror, the contrast between Mina Harker and Lucy Westerna, and the hypersexualization of female vampires. By doing this Stoker created a novel with female characters who acted as a kind of guideline for his opinion of the “desirable” characteristics of a New Woman.