Dracula Context Flashcards
How were women viewed in the Victorian era?
Viewed as secondary citizens and housewives. Physically weaker but morally stronger than men.
Who did Victorian women typically marry and why?
Older men because it withheld the ‘natural hierarchy’. Wealth only passed down the male line so once a woman was married, she forfeited whatever small income she had.
Who does Mina represent?
the late Victorian ideal of femininity: intelligent, capable, and willing to go into the workplace just for her husband. Has a “man’s brain”
How did people view sex in the Victorian era?
They viewed it as a way for married couples to procreate and spiritually bond.
What were the attitudes towards STIs in the Victorian era?
Viewed as a punishment for having ‘loose morals’
What does blood symbolise in Dracula?
Sex; the characters are both repulsed and attracted towards the idea of having their blood sucked. When Dracula attacks Mina it mirrors sexual assault.
Which groundbreaking scientific book was published in the Victorian Era?
Darwin’s ‘Origin of Species’
Why did people attack Darwin’s ‘Origin of Species’?
Many people felt it was an attack on religion and like they had to pick between the two.
How was science viewed in the Victorian Era?
Dangerous and meddling in matters which only God could control
How is science and religion represented in Dracula?
- Characters in the novel use science to solve their problems with the supernatural.
- Harker doesn’t believe in the supernatural so he is not religious.
- Religion has power over Dracula: he gains power through fear? The crucifix takes away his power and people feel protected by God.
- Stoker might be suggesting that religion simply empowers peopel
What were the Victorian attitudes to madness?
Insanity was deeply feared. “lunatics” were seen as violent and unpredictable. Confinement was considered the kindest option. It was believed that women were more prone to become a “lunatic”
How is madness and insanity portrayed in Dracula?
- Harker believes he is going insane during his time at Castle Dracula: treated for “nervous illness”
- Renfield desires to consume the blood of living organisms: “so unlike the normal lunatic”
What are the generic conventions of Gothic Horror?
- Castles filled with dungeons
- Young heroine threaded by villains
- Supernatural elements
- Plot twist
Which elements of Gothic Horror are portrayed in Dracula?
- Dracula’s ruined castle
- Harker engages in life or death struggles to escape: roles are reversed, he plays the role of the heroine.
- Mina and Lucy embody moral goodness and resourcefulness of heroines
What were the attitudes to the different social classes in the Victorian Era?
- Social class was clearly defined
- Divided into 3: working man, intelligent artisan, and educated working man
- Upper class hired the lower class to do manual labour for them
How are social classes portrayed in Dracula?
- No significant lower class characters which suggest that they were insignificant and how it was impossible to mix social classes
- Lucy is beautiful and rich with a respectable family name: 3 proposals suggests that she is highly appealing to suitors. Mina is also attractive but of a lower class and does not inherit wealth. She makes an honest living.
- Lucy and Mina being best friends juxtaposes them and sheds light of the two categories of women
How is gender represented in Dracula?
- despite Mina’s maternal femininity, her ‘man’s brain’ serves a balance for the power dynamic between her and Harker
- Harker expresses his fear of the 3 brides: “I am alone in the castle with these three awful women and their is bought in common”: he compares them to Mina by thinking of them as women. the vampires have lost the feminine virtues that Mina possesses.
- most men in the novel are shown to be braved at devoted. Van Helsing: “A brave man’s blood is the best thing when a woman is in trouble.” (Chapter 12). Implies the most useful thing to an endangered woman is the presence of a man. Ironic because the men fail Mina as she is atttacked by Dracula.
How was Transylvania perceived in the Victorian Era?
- not completely European
- percepted as a strange and distant place
When did Stoker visit Whitby?
- found a book there
Whitby
Whitby was an abbey sacked by Pagan vikings - hence why Dracula would be drawn to it
Victorian attitudes to suicide
viewed it as a sin. illegal to attempt.
Chapter 6; Swales tells the story of the crippled man who kills himself to keep his mother from getting money from insurance policy
Attitudes to sleepwalking
- a sign of possession
What did Victorians believe about disturbing the undead?
it is unchristian and disturbing a body disturbed the soul within and the mind of the person once alive
Why might Dracula target women first?
it could be for sexual reasons or because it is easier to catch them
What happened to Victorians who committed suicide?
they were buried with a stake through their heart to symbolise shame to that person and their family. suicide was very scandalous
