The novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, written in 1897 during the Victorian era, describes and explores the historical context of what society was like in the past. His extraordinary work places a strong emphasis on sexuality, contrasting it with the conventional and stereotypical views of sexuality that were once embellished during his lifetime. In painting an elaborate picture of the conservative society in which Stoker grew up, I argue that through his main female characters he seeks to embody and challenge the Victorian notion of sexuality by incorporating female characters with strong sexual desires. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Stoker explicitly connects vampirism and sexuality from the first chapters of the novel, when the three vampire beauties visit Harker in Dracula's castle. Because the prejudices of his time prevented him from writing frankly about sexual intercourse, Stoker suggests explicit sexual acts through the predatory habits of his vampires. The means by which Dracula feeds, for example, echo the mechanisms of sex: he waits to be beckoned to enter his victim's room, then he pierces her body in such a way as to make her bleed. In the mind of the typical Victorian man, this act has the same effect as a real sexual encounter: it transforms the woman from a repository of purity and innocence into an uncontrollable lustful creature who inspires "wicked and burning” in men. We witness such a transformation in Lucy Westenra, who becomes a dangerous figure of sexual predation bent on destroying men with her wanton lust. Because of her immoral mission, the men realize that Lucy must be destroyed. In this sense, Stoker's novel betrays a deep-seated fear of women who exceed the sexual boundaries that Victorian society proscribed for them. If the women are not hopelessly innocent virgins, like Lucy before Dracula took her over, or married, like Mina, they are whores who threaten to demolish men's reason and, by extension, their power. The fact that such temptresses are destroyed without exception in Dracula speaks to the level of anxiety Victorian men felt regarding women's sexuality. In Dracula, Bram Stoker writes characters who come face to face with sexuality - sexual repression is at the heart of this theme. Both men and women are sexually repressed, as evidenced by Jonathan Harker's thoughts and actions during his imprisonment in Dracula's Castle. Her sexual repression is best described in the following quote: “I was afraid to raise my eyelids, but I looked out and could see perfectly under the eyelashes. The girl knelt down and leaned over me, just gloating. There was a deliberate voluptuousness that was both exciting and repulsive, and as she arched her neck, she licked her lips like an animal... I closed my eyes in languorous ecstasy and waited – I I waited with my heart pounding. Jonathan Harker is about to be bitten by Count Dracula's three daughters. Female vampires are voluptuous and highly sexualized; they are free to act on their sexual desires, which is the exact opposite of men and women in Victorian society. The fact that Jonathan has to close his eyes demonstrates his inability to manage open sexuality. At the same time, he feels his desire to be ravished by the female vampire bubbling as he states that he closed his eyes and waited in a dreamy state of ecstasy. He wants the woman to take advantage of him, but hefeels shame, as he finds it difficult to view his sexual expressiveness as both desirable and repulsive. Women are defined on a continuum in Dracula. Mina is pure and chaste throughout the novel and embodies the ideal Victorian woman. Van Helsing says: "She is one of God's women, fashioned by his own hand to show us, men and other women, that there is a heaven...so true, so gentle, so noble, so unselfish - and that, let me tell you. you are a lot at this age, so skeptical and selfish. “Mina embodies the ideal woman in every way. She is careful, intelligent, caring and understands her place in society. Stoker develops Mina as an ideal so that he can present what is considered unacceptable behavior for women through the character development of Dracula's daughters, the "strange sisters". The three women are the opposite of Mina: impure, radical and evil. They represent everything a Victorian woman was not supposed to be in society. Women are called “monsters” by Jonathan. Women seduce men, something the novel clearly opposes. A woman should be pursued by men appropriately and should not pursue a relationship independently. There was something about them that made me uneasy, a burning desire and at the same time a mortal fear. I felt in my heart a wicked, burning desire for them to kiss me with those red lips. It is not good to note this, lest one day it might meet Mina's eyes and cause her pain; but it's the truth. (3.29) Jonathan's pent-up sexual desire surfaces when he sees the sexy vampire ladies at Castle Dracula. He is both attracted and repelled by them, and ashamed to admit that he somehow wants them to kiss him.[…] we recognized Lucy Westenra's features. Lucy Westenra, but yet, how it has changed. Gentleness was transformed into adamantine, heartless cruelty, and purity into voluptuous voluptuousness. (16.17) Jack Seward can't believe how much "Lucy Westenra" has changed: he keeps repeating her full name, pointing out that it's just an empty label. “Lucy Westenra” is no longer herself; this oversexual demoness is not the girl he fell in love with. This vampire lady may be sexy, but she's sexy in a totally weird way. The thing in the coffin was writhing; and a hideous, blood-curdling scream issued from the open red lips. The body trembled, quivered and twisted in wild contortions; the sharp white teeth bit until the lips were cut, and the mouth was coated with crimson foam. But Arthur never wavered […] as his unwavering arm rose and fell, driving deeper and deeper into the mercy-bearing stake. (16.45) Whether or not you want to read the pyre as a phallic symbol, this scene is quite sexual. “Yes, I was moved – I, Van Helsing, with all my aim and with my motive of hatred – was moved to a desire for delay which seemed to paralyze my faculties and encumber my very soul. (27:30) Even the great Van Helsing felt the sexy power of "strange sisters." Of course, he recovers and puts all three of them in play. I was afraid to raise my eyelids, but I looked and saw perfectly under the lashes. The girl knelt down and leaned over me, just gloating. There was a deliberate voluptuousness that was both arousing and repulsive, and as she arched her neck, she licked her lips like an animal. . . . His head sank lower and lower as the lips descended below the reach of my mouth and chin and seemed about to attach to my throat. . . . I closed my eyes in languorous ecstasy and.