Dracula by Bram Stoker. Bram Term Paper

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Women counted for little, but not everyone agreed with these Victorian standards.

For example, J.S. Mill and Harriet Taylor, a couple who flaunted convention of the time, advocated happiness above all and divorce when necessary (which was unheard of in Victorian times). They write, "If all persons were like these, [happy] or even would be guided by these, morality would be very different from what it must now be; or rather it would not exist at all as morality, since morality and inclinations would coincide" (Mills and Taylor 108). All they advocated was contentment over convention, but it was a radical idea for the time. The couple also advocated the "elevation of women" in society, and recognized the difficulty of being a woman in Victorian society - something which most Victorian men did not understand or agree with at all (Mills and Taylor 109).

Most men held beliefs more like Thomas Gisborne, who urged women to "fulfill their charge" (Gisborne 101), and not share secrets with their servants. Here is another important aspect of Victorian society and women's roles. There were two distinct classes in society, just as the two women in Stoker's novel come from two classes - the working class (Mina) and the upper class (Lucy). It was nearly impossible to move upward between classes, and there was a great difference between women of the working class, forced to work hard for meager wages to support their family, and women of the upper class, who employed the working class women.

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Thus, females also had class roles to overcome in order to become happier and self-sufficient, and none of this was encouraged during Victorian times. Stoker's novel is a classic, but it also illustrates the difficulties women faced in England and around the world. Thus, Stoker's attitudes mimic most of British society. Even author Gisborne believes that women and men are kept "apart" by Victorian mores, but for the most part, society echoed Stoker's beliefs and values, and women suffered because of them.

In conclusion, this novel is a classic horror tale, but read with a woman's point-of-view, it is even more frightening. Due to societal constraints, Victorian-era women had few real choices in their lives. They could become wives and mothers, they could remain single and chaste, or they could give in to the "evil" in their natures and become wanton whores. There was no place in polite society for the vixens, which is why they turn into the Un-Dead in Stoker's novel. As a writer, Stoker creates characters that mimic Victorian society - strong, smart men who solve mysteries and protect women, and weak, emotional women who need protecting. Anything else is as frightening as Count Dracula himself, and has no place in Victorian society......

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