Whiteman 1

Moriah Whiteman
Mrs. Cramer
College Comp. 1 Pd 1
30 October, 2015

Dracula: A Glimpse in Time

A woman with "the mind of a man." This is how Bram Stoker describes a woman who
has some intelligence in his Victorian horror novel Dracula. Interestingly, Stokers
understanding of the world is clearly exposed as his writing speaks of social classes and the
restrictions of his day. An example of his influence weaves itself throughout the book Dracula as
Stoker repeatedly emphasizes sexist gender roles.
Now, you can tell from several scenes in his novel how he views the world. By way of
illustration, We women have something of the mother in us that makes us rise above smaller
matters when the mother-spirit is evoked." This quote was from chapter seventeen and paragraph
fifty-nine where he clearly shows how he believes women should act motherly and that they are
lesser than a typical man, therefore you can confide in them without judgment. This was
common thought during this era so it is not a surprise that sexism shows up in the writing but
rather how much the author brought it up. What was most to be pondered was how accepted and
rooted the thought was within Mr. Stoker. Another example of his writing of male superiority
was in chapter eighteen and it is profoundly obvious of his bias views towards women. "Mina
has a man's brain- a brain that a man should have were he much gifted- and a woman's heart. The
good God fashioned her for a purpose, believe me, when He made that so good combination."
What is a man's brain? Who is to say all men are courageous and all women are more

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compassionate in comparison? If the reader is not comforted by the simple fact that sexism is not
as prominent as it once was then the reader by definition is crazy!
It does not end there my friend, Stoker addresses two social issues in his novel, as you saw
in the previous paragraph one was sexual discrimination and the other is social class. He conveys
typical stereotypes such as how men are always courageous, whereas, women are delicate. I
suppose that we women are such cowards that we think a man will save us from fear, and we
marry him. The reader can deny my accusations but this quote was quite candid and revealing
of his view on this specific issue. If that was yet insufficient then read on. "A brave man's blood
is the best thing on this earth when a woman is in trouble. You're a man, and no mistake." This is
such a great quote because through it you can see how he bluntly states a woman's need of a
"brave" man because a woman is too weak to care for herself in times of trouble. If the "brave"
man's blood did anything in the book it was prolonging a painful death and repeatedly bringing
Dracula back for more blood. Although, women were not the only ones discriminated against in
this novel, the lower class was as well. The characters for the duration of this book were all
wealthy. I could not find the specific area for my supporting quote but it basically said how it
would have been impossible for the team to have tracked Count Dracula if they did not have a
means of bribery. This is still true in the time we live in now, if you do not have money then you
are unable to save or protect your loved ones. You have to be wealthy to be a hero.
With that being said, Mr. Stokers life has had a great deal of influence on his novel because
it is bias towards a gender therefore showing personal belief. Except one has to remember the
fact Bram Stoker grew up in the 1800s when men were thought of as the superior gender and
everything was about where you stood in the social classes. This means he sadly grew up with
this misconception and did not know any different so he did not know he was wrong in what he

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wrote. At this moment in time women were just thought of as inferior and money had the
capability to make impossible things possible through bribery.
To conclude, Bram Stoker's Dracula, was quite biased against women and overall an
immensely dull and over-rated novel. He intricately laced a web of his corrupt worldviews in an
attempt to ensnare his reader. He only mentioned two social issues where he had the upper hand.
Mr. Stoker was of wealthy descent and a man. Henceforth, he should have just stuck to writing
about the political climate in Ireland and things of that nature because the book was wordy and
uninteresting. Do not read this wretched thing of a novel, but if you do, tell me how you feel
because, as an advocate for all literature, I have actually found a book I completely disliked.