Abraham Van Helsing Essay

Innocence, chastity, purity, and married life are just a a few(prenominal) things that made up the image of the nineteenth century twee woman. During this clipping, it was greatly looked down upon if a woman chose to stay single, as she would be pitied and dubbed a working girl. Lucy Westenra is angiotensin-converting enzyme of the main characters in the novel, genus Dracula by Bram Stoker. Lucy is a beautiful young lady whose honor and virtuous being draws three suitors to her.Although, this portrayed innocence is not the only thing that is drawing these men towards her. Lucy has a sexual appeal to her personality, much different than her best friend Mina Murray and the typical puritanical woman. This sense of sexual desire will eventually lead her right into the insecure and evilness arms of Count Dracula. The Count only has the ability to antiaircraft gun willing victims, which is why the sexually driven Victorian woman, Lucy Westenra is the first character to become vic timized by Draculas deadly spell.Count Dracula was an evil, lustful vampire who wanted nothing only when power and control. He lived in an Eastern European country called, Transylvania. The Count preyed on any case-by-case who would make him feel in control and powerful of the situation. This is why Lucy Westenra was targeted and made Draculas first victim. The first peculiar account Lucy and Mina fetch was when they see a Russian ship wrecked safe the shore and hear that the there was no life aboard and the captain had died holding a crucifix in his hands. Soon after the account, Lucy started mysteriously sleep walking many night in a row into the grave yard near her home. One night, Mina had awoken the Rowatt 3find Lucy missing and not in her bed, she then install her outside with a creature with beaming red eye hunched over her. Mina tried to continue her friend but by the time she got over there, the creature was gone. In the morning Mina had found strange dots on Lucys ne ck and after struggling for weeks Lucy became deathly sick and started to change before everyones eyes.Unknowingly, she was transforming into a super natural and dangerous form of herself while dead and lying in a cold grave. Indeed, it is not only Lucy and Mina who are dramatically transformed in the draining, but Dracula himself, whose transformations are much more varied and complex than those of his victims. (Pg. 238, Viragh) Count Dracula had stripped this woman of her innocence and virtue by changing her to an evil vampire just like him. Dracula now had control over Lucy but only because she was willing to let him control her.In the nineteenth century, tramp away from who a woman is supposed to be according to the Roman Catholic Church is heresy. A woman was never to be with more than one man, but was to be married and completely faithful to her partner. This century was ruled by the belief that an individuals sex and sexuality form the close to basic core of their identity, potentiality, social/political standing, and freedom (Pg. 1, Ridgway) Lucy Westenra had a completely different mindset as she expressed in a letter to her lovemaking friend Mina. Why cant they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want her, and save all this trouble? (Pg. 66, Stoker) After Lucy states these words in her letter, she immediately admits to her thoughts and actions being heresy. Just because she confessed Rowatt 4to this sin against the church and her beliefs does not simply alleviate Lucys sexual desire. This difference between Lucy and other nineteenth century virtuous women was not just a phase of rebellion, it was psychological. Lucy is fully aware that she is desired by many men and she lets that get into her head, essentially she is feeding off the attention. This vulnerability and openness is why Lucy Westenra is Count Draculas first and easiest target. The first time the Count starts to get into Lucys head is after her and Mina see the wrecked boat upon sh ore, containing the containers of dirt. These were Draculas sleeping quarters. This fact was not know by the women at the time, but soon after this event is when Lucy starts to sleep walk.This sleep walking is not a coincidence but is psychologically affiliated to her sinful desires of lustfulness. Count Dracula only has the power the attack willing victims, which could only mean Lucy knew in her subconscious what she was doing by going out to the burying ground at nights. This spell Dracula puts on Lucy is the same spell he put on the three women who now life in Dracula fastness with him. These women were just as innocent and virtuous as Lucy was and are now sex crazed and evil just as the Count is. This spell was a way to beneathmine women so that Dracula would feel powerful and controlling over them.In essence, Lucy Westenra was a seemingly virtuous nineteenth century Victorian woman who actually had underlying sexual desires. These desires made Lucy vulnerable to Count Dracu la, who was consumed with gaining control over his victims. Because of her lustful manor, Lucy was drawn to the attack of Dracula and fell under his deep spell. From then on there was no turning back.Works CitedStoker, Bram. Dracula. 1897. New York Oxford University Press, 1990.Viragh, Attila. Can The Vampire Speak? Dracula As Discourse On Cultural Extinction. English Literature In Transition, 1880-1920 56.2 (2013) 231-245. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 25 Sept. 2013.Ridgway, Stephan. Victorian Sexuality in Sexuality and Modernity originally written as a lecture for Sociology at Sydney University, 1996. Isis Creations. Web. 12 Nov. 2010.