Dracula Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Dracula - Essay Example In Gothic text, the fight between the forces of good and bad often dominates the intrigue. (Craft 1984) In Dracula, that conflict is principally based on the fate of its female characters, Lucy and Mina. Neither Mina nor Lucy is an intense character. Both symbolize the Victorian models of female desirable qualities. The two types of women portrayed in the novel are in stark contrast to each other: Lucy and Mina symbolize purity and goodness, while the three brides of Dracula in the castle characterize sleaze and sin. Dracula intimidates womanly good features, as the seductive voluptuous sisters confirm his knack to change the women into passionately sex demanding â€Å"devils of the Pit.† By the time Dracula reaches England and starts working his evil magic on Lucy, one understands that the imminent battle between the good and the bad will center on feminine sexuality. Both Lucy and Mina appear to be bookish versions of old times virtues personified. The two women are faithful, pure and untouched by the world’s evils, and are totally dedicated to their men. However, Dracula tries to transform the two women and reverse their natures by turning them into voluptuous women having unapologetically open sexual desires. Both Lucy and Mina encounter Dracula and experience such transformation. However Lucy falls most dreadfully under Dracula’s spell. Even though Lucy’s letters acknowledge the male fantasy of supremacy: Her letters also disclose that she fantasized sexually active life unlike most women of Victorian era. She is not just a ‘desired’ woman who gets three marriage proposals on the same day but also the one who desires more sex in her life. Lucy writes: Although she immediately retracts from such words but that appears normal on her part since sex was considered ‘dirty’ during those time. She had the desires to experience life outside the restrictions of conservative morality. Dracula’s depiction of women makes the story