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Essays on Dracula

What makes a good dracula essay topic.

When it comes to writing an essay on Dracula, it's important to choose a topic that is both interesting and relevant. A good Dracula essay topic should be thought-provoking, engaging, and offer the opportunity for in-depth analysis. Here are some recommendations on how to brainstorm and choose a strong essay topic:

First, consider the themes and motifs present in the novel. Dracula is rich with themes such as the battle between good and evil, the fear of the unknown, and the struggle for power. Choose a topic that allows you to explore these themes in depth.

Next, think about the characters in the novel. There are complex and multi-dimensional characters in Dracula, from the eponymous vampire to the brave vampire hunters. Consider how you can analyze and interpret these characters in your essay.

Finally, consider the historical and cultural context of the novel. Dracula was written in the late 19th century, a time of significant social and technological change. How does the novel reflect the anxieties and fears of this period? Choose a topic that allows you to explore these historical and cultural aspects of the novel.

In general, a good Dracula essay topic should be specific, focused, and offer the opportunity for original analysis and interpretation. It should also be relevant to the themes and motifs present in the novel, as well as the historical and cultural context in which it was written.

Best Dracula Essay Topics

When it comes to choosing a Dracula essay topic, it's important to think outside the box and choose a topic that is unique and engaging. Here are some creative and thought-provoking Dracula essay topics to consider:

• The role of gender in Dracula: How does the novel challenge traditional gender roles and expectations?
• The use of symbolism in Dracula: Analyze the use of symbols such as blood, the cross, and the stake in the novel.
• Dracula as a commentary on colonialism: How does the novel reflect the anxieties and fears surrounding the British Empire?
• The portrayal of mental illness in Dracula: Analyze the representation of madness and sanity in the novel.
• Dracula and the fear of the Other: How does the novel explore the fear of the unknown and the Other?

These prompts are designed to inspire creativity and originality, and to encourage you to think critically and imaginatively about the novel. Have fun with them, and let your imagination run wild!

Evil Against Good - Perpetual Conflict in Dracula

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Sexuality in Bram Stoker's Novel Dracula

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The Same Vague Terror - How Dracula Established Control and Began to Dominate

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The Influence of Stoker’s Descriptions of Settings in Dracula

Two new women in bram stoker’s novel, gender in gothic literature, feminine features of count dracula, elements of gothic literature in bram stoker's dracula, the fears of the victorian era that were highlighted in dracula's novel, gender roles and religion culture as the main elements in dracula's novels, the representation of victorian era in dracula's novel, the religious connotations of the novel dracula: vlad tepes, antichrist, vampire, the phenomenon of american xenophobia in dracula, bram stoker's exploration of gender roles in dracula's novel, gender roles as a prominent topic in the novel 'dracula', dracula as an image of the merge in the society, dracula character: numerous binaries throughout the novel, the absenteeism of amsterdam: confounding principles in dracula, the phenomenon of cognitive dissonance of the protagonist in dracula, the issue of meta-textuality within dracula, the display of unreal in dracula, count dracula vs. vlad the impaler , mechanical reproduction in dracula and art in the age of mechanical reproducibility.

26 May 1897, Bram Stoker

Horror, Gothic

Count Dracula, Van Helsing, Jonathan Harker, Mina Murray, Lucy Westenra, John Seward, Arthur Holmwood, Quincey Morris, Renfield, Mrs. Westenra

1. Halberstam, J. (1993). Technologies of Monstrosity: Bram Stoker's" Dracula". Victorian Studies, 36(3), 333-352. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/3828327) 2. Craft, C. (1984). Kiss me with those red lips: Gender and inversion in Bram Stoker's Dracula. Representations, 8, 107-133. (https://online.ucpress.edu/representations/article-abstract/doi/10.2307/2928560/82590/Kiss-Me-with-those-Red-Lips-Gender-and-Inversion?redirectedFrom=PDF) 3. Hughes, W. (2008). Bram Stoker: Dracula. Palgrave Macmillan. (http://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/705/) 4. Hatlen, B. (1980). The return of the repressed/oppressed in Bram Stoker's Dracula. Minnesota Review, 15(1), 80-97. (https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/4/article/427122/summary) 5. Wyman, L. M., & Dionisopoulos, G. N. (2000). Transcending the virgin/whore dichotomy: Telling Mina's story in Bram Stoker's Dracula. Women's Studies in Communication, 23(2), 209-237. (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07491409.2000.10162569) 6. Kuzmanovic, D. (2009). Vampiric Seduction and Vicissitudes of Masculine Identity in Bram Stoker's Dracula. Victorian Literature and Culture, 37(2), 411-425. (https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/victorian-literature-and-culture/article/vampiric-seduction-and-vicissitudes-of-masculine-identity-in-bram-stokers-dracula/8C5957AAE79F1018DA8A089A32F78F88) 7. Almond, B. R. (2007). Monstrous infants and vampyric mothers in Bram Stoker's Dracula. The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 88(1), 219-235. (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1516/0EKX-38DF-QLF0-UQ07) 8. Rosenberg, N. F. (2000). Desire and Loathing in Bram Stoker's Dracula. Journal of Dracula Studies, 2(1), 2. (https://research.library.kutztown.edu/dracula-studies/vol2/iss1/2/)

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by Bram Stoker

Dracula study guide.

The first edition of Dracula was published in June 1897. As late as May of that year, Stoker was still using his original working title for the novel, The Un-Dead. "Undead," a word now commonly used in horror novels and movies, was a term invented by Stoker. Dracula was his most famous novel, instantly a bestseller and perhaps the most famous horror novel ever. It has been made and re-made in film adaptations, been reprinted numerous times, and has continued to sell copies for a hundred years.

Although earlier novels about vampires had been published in England, Stoker's depiction of the vampire has had perhaps the strongest hold on the popular imagination. Stories of vampires or vampire-like creatures exist in all cultures: from China to India to the Incan Empire, variations of the vampire have populated diverse peoples' nightmares and folklore. Stoker researched Eastern European legends, which offer widely varied tales about supernatural monsters. In Eastern European lore, there is not one kind of vampire but many, and "vampire" is not so distinct a category from "demon" or even "witch" as it has become in modern horror movies. Stoker chose freely from among the legends about various Eastern European demons, some of them bloodsucking, and came up with a suitable interpretation of the vampire for his novel.

He also studied Eastern European history. In the prince of Wallachia, Vlad Tepes, or Dracula ("Son of Dracul"), Bram Stoker found inspiration for his tale of an undead nobleman. Vlad Tepes ("Vlad the Impaler") was a fifteenth Christian nobleman who fought against the Turks. He was a defender of his country and his religion, winning the Pope's praise for his campaigns against the Moslems. The times were full of fear for Christendom?Constantinople, the Rome of the East, had just fallen to the ever-expanding Turks. Vlad was also legendary for his cruelty, to Moslem and Christian enemies alike. He was famous for his love of impaling his victims, a method of execution in which it often took days for the condemned to die. After one battle, thousands of Turkish soldiers were impaled at Vlad's command. After Vlad's death, legends about him continued to multiply. Stoker drew on Vlad's legend for the creation of the vampire Dracula.

Stoker was deeply concerned with sexual morality. Although his novel is full of racy subtext?possibly far more subtext than the author intended?his own views regarding sex and morality were in many ways quite conservative. He favored censoring novels for their sexual content?he considered racy literature dangerous for the ways that it nurtured man's darker sexual tendencies. Although Dracula has many scenes that seem to revel in sexual language and sensual description, these pleasures are sublimated to a Victorian and Christian sense of morality. Sexual energy, in Stoker's view, has great potential for evil, but part of the novel's trick is that Stoker is allowed to have his cake and eat it, too. In writing a novel that implicitly conflates sin with sexuality in a moralizing way, Stoker is also given free reign to write incredibly lurid and sensual scenes. The themes of Christian redemption and the triumph of purity carry the day, but the sexually loaded scenes?that of the three female vampires closing in seductively on a powerless but desiring Jonathan Harker , for example?tend to linger longest in the reader's mind.

Dracula Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Dracula is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

How does the zookeeper discuss xenia (hospitality)?

Are you referring to Dracula?

In what year does the novel "Dracula" take place?

Jonathan Harker's first entry in his diary reads, "Wednesday, 3 May 1893.

Seward suspects Dracula has been hiding right next door to them in the asylum.

Study Guide for Dracula

Dracula is a novel by Bram Stoker. The Dracula study guide contains a biography of Bram Stoker, literature essays, a complete e-text, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Dracula
• Dracula Summary
• Character List
• Chapter 1-5 Summary and Analysis
• Related Links

Essays for Dracula

Dracula is a book written by Bram Stoker. The Dracula literature essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Dracula.

• Dracula as Social Fusion
• Dracula as Feminine
• Dracula: The Self-Aware Mass of Typewriting
• Social Class and Bram Stoker's Dracula
• The Fantastic in Dracula

Lesson Plan for Dracula

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Dracula
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Dracula Bibliography

E-Text of Dracula

Dracula is an e-text that contains the full text of Dracula by Bram Stoker.

Wikipedia Entries for Dracula

• Introduction
• Textual history
• Major themes

Bram Stoker

Ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions, count dracula, mina harker, abraham van helsing, arthur holmwood.

Lucy Westenra

82 Dracula Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best dracula topic ideas & essay examples, ⭐ most interesting dracula topics to write about, 🥇 simple & easy dracula essay titles, ❓ dracula essay questions.

• Sex and Sexuality in “Dracula” and “The Bloody Chamber” On the other hand, Mina, who is portrayed as the typical modest and moral woman in the Victorian era, ends up being spared of criticisms and punishments in spite of her involvement with the Dracula […]
• Dracula by Bram Stoker: Comprehensive Analysis The story is set in the 1890s. In the meantime, Mina is writing to her friend. We will write a custom essay specifically for you by our professional experts 808 writers online Learn More
• Music in the Film “Dracula” directed by F. F. Coppola Therefore, the synchronization of the musical accompaniment with the drama which is developing on the screen in general and with the defining moment of the revelation of the woman’s suicide, in particular, is highly important.
• Presentation of Transgression in Bram Stoker’s Dracula While Dracula remains at the centerpiece of the novel, the transgressions portrayed in the story also contribute to the sense of all-encompassing fear. Thus, the presentation of transgressions in “Dracula” is unique and thought-provoking.
• Dracula by B.Stoker: Transgression Lucy was vulnerable to Dracula from the beginning, and she received a great deal of assistance from others during her illness.
• “Dracula” by Bram Stoker: Female Characters Analysis The central figures of the novel, Lucy and Mina are not examples of a typical Victorian-era woman. According to Kistler, “Mina is a producer, and in this role she is integral to the success of […]
• “The Crazies” by Paul Mccollough: Identity and Connection With Stoker’s “Dracula” According to the video The Crazies there are two phases, one in which efforts are made to help the general public be safe and sound after the release of the biological weapon and the other […]
• Mina and Lucy in Bram Stoker’s Dracula At the beginning of the novel, Mina Murray is seen as the more deviant of the two women because she is working as a school teacher’s assistant.
• Writing Techniques in Stoker’s Dracula and Kafka’s The Metamorphosis A critical analysis of the writing styles adopted by the two authors makes it clear that the texts have an effect on the reader.
• Stoker’s Dracula and Woolf’s Orlando Literature Compare When we talk about the qualitative aspects of the Victorian era in Britain, the first thing that comes in mind, in this respect, is the fact that European intellectuals of the time were strongly influenced […]
• Sex and Death in Stoker’s Dracula By presenting the portrayal of Mina as the one belonging to the New Women generation, the author provides an example of the Victorian woman that is capable of resisting the devil’s seduction.
• Phyllis Roth on the Themes in Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” The research focuses on the summary of Phyllis Roth’s critical analysis of the Bram Stoker’s Dracula novel. The writer uses the quotes to show proof of the author’s understanding of the Bram Stoker’s Dracula novel.
• Analyzing the Play “Dracula” at the Delaware Theater
• Belief Systems and Gender Roles in “Dracula”
• Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” and the Distrust Between the Sexes
• “Dracula” and Science, Superstition, Religion, and Xenophobia
• Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”, Charlotte Bronte’s “Villette”, and the Theme of Domesticity
• “Dracula”: The Picture Perfect Ideal of Gothic Literature
• Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” Meets Hollywood
• Monstrous Figure Dracula in the Spirit of Late Victorian Age
• Comparing and Contrasting “Dracula” and “Nosferatu”
• Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” Is Far From Being a Simple
• Comparing Elements of Horror in “Dracula” and “Frankenstein”
• Sexuality and Power in “Dracula” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”
• Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” and Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening” Compared”
• Comparing Stroker’s and Coppola’s Versions of the Movie “Dracula”
• Correlation Between “Dracula” and “Little Red Riding Hood”
• Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”, Capitalism, and Reverse Colonization
• Differences Between Count Dracula and Vlad Tepes
• The Use and Importance of Symbolism in Bram Stokers “Dracula”
• “Dracula” and Its Overwhelming Appeal in the 20th Century
• Modern Perversions in Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”
• Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” and the Fears of Victorian England
• “Dracula” and the Female Sexuality as Disease
• Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”: Lucy Western Character Analysis
• “Dracula” and the Threat of Female Sexual Expression by Bram Stoker
• Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” as Attack on Christian Tradition and Victorian Ideals
• “Dracula”: Metaphor for Human Evil
• Female Sensuality and Rebellion in “Dracula”
• “Frankenstein”, “Dracula”, and “Shrek”: Marxist Interpretations
• Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”: A Window Into the Victorian Soul
• Gender and Gender Roles in Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”
• “Dracula”: The Classic Monster by Bram Stoker
• Similarities Between Adolf Hitler and Dracula
• The Correlation of Social Class and Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”
• The Most Famous Vampire: “Dracula” by Bram Stoker
• “Dracula”: The Victorian Vampire and Fallout From Repressive English Culture
• The Perversion and Triumph of Christian Ideas in “Dracula”
• The Strengths and Weaknesses in Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”
• Unseen Forces: Lesbian Relationships in Stoker’s “Dracula”
• What Makes Good Characters Good in “Dracula” by Bram Stoker
• “Dracula” Versus “Frankenstein”: Which Story Is More Terrifying
• What Does the Wolf Symbolize in “Dracula”?
• How Did Vlad the Impaler Become Dracula?
• How Many Main Characters Are in “Dracula”?
• How Is It That Both Dracula and the Devil Are Called the Prince of Darkness?
• How Long Did Bram Stoker Write “Dracula”?
• What Is Count Dracula’s Real Name?
• Was the Sun Ever an Actual Lethal Threat to Dracula?
• What Is the Main Theme in “Dracula”?
• What Is the Connection Between Dracula and Frankenstein?
• What Is the Difference Between a Vampire and a Dracula?
• Why Is Dracula a Famous Vampire?
• What Makes Dracula a Monster?
• What Animal Did Dracula Transform Into?
• What Do Romanians Think of Count Dracula?
• Who Is the Most Famous “Dracula” Actor?
• What Is the Most Faithful Adaptation of “Dracula”?
• Where Does the Word “Dracula” Come From?
• Why Does Dracula Sleep in a Coffin?
• How Many Movie Versions of “Dracula” Are There?
• How Old Was Count Dracula When He Died?
• Were There Any Famous Vampires Before Dracula?
• What Is the Legend of Count Dracula?
• How Old Was Bram Stoker When “Dracula” Was Published?
• What Happened to Count Dracula’s Wife in “Hotel Transylvania”?
• Why Are Dracula and Vampires Associated With Romania?
• How Old Is Dracula in the Original Bram Stoker Novel?
• What Is the Moral of the Story “Dracula”?
• Why Is Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” So Famous?
• Who Was Dracula’s First Victim?
• Who Turned Dracula Into a Vampire?
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

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Bibliography

IvyPanda . "82 Dracula Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." February 26, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/dracula-essay-topics/.

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Lucy Westenra: An Analysis

An analysis of Lucy Westenra from Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ as specifically suggested by the passages and descriptions about Lucy in the novel.

Lucy Westenra fulfills a specific function in ‘Dracula’ - that of tragic victim.  She is a vibrant beautiful girl of nineteen who falls prey to Dracula and becomes undead herself.  That she is one of only two main female characters, both of whom are pursued by the vampire, and that she is painted with such deliberate strokes before her undoing appear as narrative choices to simultaneously show the horror of falling prey to a vampire and to inspire a greater empathy for Mina’s plight when it is her turn to be pursued.  Whatever his intent in the time, Bram Stoker perhaps unwitting endowed Lucy Westenra with traits that have enabled her to be largely misinterpreted or painted as something of a ‘free’ and gossipy girl in modern portrayals.  However I believe, in examining the passages of ‘Dracula’ that pertain directly to Lucy, that this portrayal is somewhat false and colored largely by her trio of suitors and the specific words used to describe her once she has become undead.  I believe Lucy is a pure victim, an innocent beauty subverted by Dracula, and meant, in narrative terms, to represent the good and evil in women and the truth of their perception in the time the novel is set.

Lucy’s physical description in the book is problematic.  Though it is widely assumed that Lucy is blonde there are, in fact, only two references to her hair color.   The first comes right before her death in chapter 12 when her hair is described as being brushed to “sunny ripples” across the pillow.  The next time her hair color is referenced is in chapter 16 in which the now-vampire Lucy is described as being a “dark-haired woman”.  Either Bram Stoker didn’t care enough about Lucy’s hair color to recall it accurately or he intended the darkening of her hair to visually enforce the loss of innocence that came with her undead transformation.  More consistent are the descriptions of her “sweet purity”, “sweetness”, “loveliness”, and the “beautiful color” in her cheeks.  Lucy is nineteen years old and is variously described as wearing white, specific details designed to highlight her innocence and beauty.

Modern interpretations of ‘Dracula’ at times see fit to portray Lucy as gossipy, flirtatious, and rather free with her affections.  The redheaded Lucy of Bram Stoker’s Dracula , while undeniably lovely in life and horrific as a vampire, nonetheless painted her as a rather saucy girl, deliberately using double entendre and coy wordplay to openly flirt with all three of her suitors even in each other’s presences.  She is shown as the studied opposite of demure, responsible Mina Murray.  She is seen as social butterfly, a glamorous counterpart to her more solemn friend.  This misinterpretation of Lucy stems in part, I believe, from the fact that she entertains three marriage proposals in a day from three equally dashing suitors.  Modern spin puts a wanton color on her because of this but the text does not support such a reading.  The only times all three men seem to be together in her presence are after she becomes engaged to Arthur Holmwood and once she has fallen ill and they are fighting to preserve her life.  She doesn’t toy with the two suitors she has no interest in marrying, either.  The text is explicit in describing, via her first letter to Mina in chapter 5, her affections for Arthur Holmwood.  

“I love him. I am blushing as I write, for although I think he loves me, he has not told me so in words.  But, oh, Mina, I love him.”

It is equally as pointed in describing her rejection of the other two suitors, via her second letter to Mina in the same chapter, and how each pains her.  She writes that she felt “a sort of duty to tell him that there was some one” in reference to John Seward’s proposal, though at that point she had no assurances that Arthur loved her back.  She was acting out of honesty, being true to her feelings.  And she tells Mina that she “can't help crying” because “it isn't at all a happy thing when you have to see a poor fellow, whom you know loves you honestly, going away and looking all broken hearted” which signifies that she did not take either the proposal or her rejection of it lightly.  Nor did she entertain it for any length of time despite not knowing where she stood with Arthur.  She deals with Quincey Morris’ proposal in a more lighthearted manner due to his “good-humored” and “jolly” demeanor but regrets her lightness immediately and bursts into tears.  She then writes to Mina that though she was crying she “was able to look into Mr. Morris' brave eyes” and told him “out straight” of her love for Arthur.  She laments, in her letter, that women can only marry one man.

“Why can't they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want her, and save all this trouble? But this is heresy, and I must not say it.”

This is the single most misinterpreted quote, for out of context it makes her seem callous and greedy.  But taken with the rest of her letter in consideration, it shows that she was writing out of the pain of being put in the position of having to reject two worthy suitors in order to be true to her own feelings.  In truth the novel gives no indication that Lucy courted any of the men for she appears to have fallen in love with Arthur almost immediately upon being introduced to him.  Thus her position was an awkward one in which three men simultaneously propose to her though she herself appears as nothing but virtuous, her mind already settled on a single man.

Additionally, Mina Murray and Lucy Westenra appear to have been written as opposites in financial situation only.  They appear to share a certain purity and a single-minded devotion to their husbands-to-be.  If anything Mina is the more modern woman, having a job, traveling independently to meet up with Jonathan Harker when the nuns write to her of his illness, and transcribing both her journals and Dr. Seward’s on a typewriter to aid in Van Helsing’s study of Dracula.  Yet Mina is ever seen as demure and Lucy as the wild-hearted antonym.  Lucy is the one, however, who writes that they shall soon “settle down soon soberly into old married women” and “can despise vanity”.  She also writes that she doesn’t know if she will use slang in her speech as she doesn’t know if Arthur will like it.  In this way she is written as wholly indicative of the period’s perception of what a good wife should be.  One who chooses to adhere to her husband’s ideals and plans to settle into his vision of domestic bliss.  Both Lucy and Mina are singularly devoted to their chosen men and talk of Arthur and Jonathan fills much of their correspondence and conversation.  

Lucy is written as a sweet, generous girl, one who is virtuous by nature and sensitive to the suffering of others.  At the time of her mother’s death, in chapter 11, when she is menaced by a wolf and her maids are all unconscious, she writes “I am back in the room with Mother. I cannot leave her” and later she braces for the worst and prays for Arthur when she writes “My dear mother gone! It is time that I go too. Goodbye, dear Arthur, if I should not survive this night. God keep you, dear, and God help me!”.  There is no indication in the text that Lucy is other than a true friend to Mina and a sincere and beloved girl whose instincts were to honesty and devotion.  She rather embodies the ideal woman a man of the time sought to marry.  And her seeming perfection as a beautiful innocent serves as glaring counterpart to what she becomes once undead.

It is worthwhile to ask why Dracula selects Lucy as his first victim.  There are multiple theories and as no single reason is offered by the text, we will extract meaning from what is given.  Lucy is afflicted by sleepwalking and the Westenras reside in Whitby on the seashore, overlooking the harbor.  These two details give the vampire opportunity.  Dracula arrives in the ship Demeter, her crew dead or gone, her captain strapped dead to the wheel, on the crest of a wild storm.  The Demeter comes ashore in the Whitby harbour.  It is entirely possible that Lucy is circumstantial, chosen because of her proximity to the harbour where Dracula first lands and due to her propensity for walking about in her sleep.  When the whole of the text is explored and Mina’s singular importance to Dracula is revealed, however, Lucy’s selection seems to stem both from accident and intent.  If we assume Mina to be the ultimate target - given that Dracula knew of her before sailing from his interactions with Jonathan Harker - then we can also assume that Mina’s proximity to Lucy combined with Lucy’s own circumstances make her an ideal target.  Narratively she is chosen because of her extreme virtue.  She is sweet and unspoiled and beautiful.  Thus the subverting of the ideal by turning her into a vampire serves to highlight exactly how horrific a creature Dracula is.

When Lucy is made a vampire, careful attention is paid to describing how she appears and behaves in opposition to the Lucy we got to know before her death.  Lucy in her coffin is described as “more radiantly beautiful than ever” with lips “redder than before”.  Once animated, more sensuous and savage language is used.  

“The sweetness was turned to adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous wantonness.”

“Lucy's eyes in form and colour, but Lucy's eyes unclean and full of hell fire, instead of the pure, gentle orbs we knew.”

As a vampire Lucy is given vices in direct opposition to the many virtues she possessed when alive.  She is shown as predatory.  She moves with a “languorous, voluptuous grace”.  She openly attempts to seduce Arthur.  She feeds off a child then throws the child to the ground.  She becomes furious and full of malice when Van Helsing presents a crucifix.  She appears as a “devilish mockery of Lucy's sweet purity”.  Her entire character is subverted.  She becomes the direct counterpart to what she stood for in life.  This is both a commentary on the evil that Dracula subjects her to and a suggestive look at the duality of women.  For within all women there must be, the text suggests, this expansive capacity for both virtue and voluptuousness, for sweetness and savagery.  The intervention of outside forces, in this case the vampire, twists the woman’s purpose and turns her into something she should not be.  Lucy is the most extreme example and she must be freed from the devilry subverting her by killing that which makes her undead.  Once she is staked by Arthur, true death gives her back her purity and untainted beauty.  

It is noteworthy that throughout the novel Lucy Westenra does little to nothing to direct her own fate.  She is not simple-minded but she is not devious either.  She merely takes what is dealt to her and proceeds accordingly.  Of three suitors, she loves one.  She deals with the other two in the honest way that defines her virtue.  Once engaged, she devotes the whole of her time and thought to Arthur.  While she is ill, wasting away after Dracula’s attack, she fluctuates between the good and bad of her virtue and the darkness subverting her character.  But she chooses no course for herself.  She merely responds to what is given to her, both by her protectors - Van Helsing, Arthur, Seward - and her attacker - Dracula.  Whichever influence is the greater is the one she responds to.  Stoker imbues Lucy Westenra with great gifts, even allows her to appear as a free thinker with her talk of slang, and makes her desirable and sweet, but he does not give her choice.  She is an accessory to the whims of the men in her life.  So she is indicative of the time period as a whole.  She represents the ideal wife both to Arthur and to Dracula, for she does not stand in opposition to either but embodies the desires of each in turn.

It is this lack of agency in her own destiny that is the truest tragedy of Lucy’s story.  Her spiral into illness and eventually a mockery of life as one of the undead is horrific.  Her innocence is overwritten by darkness and she has no say in it.  She is a victim in the most absolute sense of the word.  I reject the notion that Lucy Westenra was a coy flirt and somehow instrumental in her own downfall for the text says otherwise.  Lucy represents the purest tragedy of the novel and she is unforgettable and deeply moving because of it.

Copyright Corinne Simpson

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