Female Role in Vampire Literature (Essay Sample)

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Female Role in Vampire Literature
Many vampire literary works seem, at first glance, to utilize females as means to reinforce patriarchal principles and the role of a house angel, as the sole practical choice for women that strive to thrive in society. This essay seeks to explore women’s behavior and prevalent attitudes toward them during different eras through their portrayal in two works of vampire literature. These attitudes have been primarily examined within the context of feminism. The first book, Dracula, by Bram Stoker, provides insight into gender stratification during the later part of the Victorian era, as patriarchy was gradually beginning to fall apart. More than a century later is Stephanie Meyer’s series of books, the Twilight Saga, which further highlights the depiction of females in the contemporary society. Women’s behavior, combined with other people’s attitude toward them in the works under scrutiny, shows that societal outlook toward females and their sexuality is still underdeveloped, while presenting a potent platform for social transformation.
Dracula by Bram Stoker is perceived as a masterpiece and one of the most revered literary works on vampirism. In addition to its reputation as an exceptional work on vampires, the book showcases the gender anxieties and cultural fears that characterized the late 19th century. There are several conflicting gender roles that can be discerned from the book, the principal ones being the growth of female power and sexual assertiveness, the purported threat of this New Woman to motherhood and to male authority. In this book, the primary female characters are Mina and Lucy Westenra. Stoker uses these two characters to highlight the ideals expected of Victorian women (Waters 34). For example, when professor Van Helsing meets Mina, he explicitly states “ she has given me hope ... that there are good women still left to make life happy, good women, whose lives and whose truths may make good lesson for the children that are to be” (Stoker 166). This suggests that women in Dracula are expected to make use of their mothering instincts to guide both their children and men. In contrast, Lucy ends up dying, as a result of unleashing her adventurous sexuality. In her assertive transformation to the Woman in White, Lucy gets dark hair, which symbolizes light against dark and good against evil. In this new state as an assertive woman, she is even reported to lure kids to the grave yard only to throw them away, effectively becoming “callous as a devil” (Stoker 188).
Critical analysis of Dracula’s Mina Murray reveals that she is the ultimate representation of a Victorian woman. This is not only evident from Van Helsing’s praise, but also from the fact that she serves as an assistant schoolmistress, which is a socially acceptable female role in Victorian England. Mina also goes out of her way to understand the working of complex typewriters, in order to serve her husband with utmost efficiency. Further, unlike her friend Lucy, she is plain and cannot be praised for her exceptional beauty, hence evading the fate of being turned into a monstrous vampire. She also refrains from sexual impulses and upholds her purity. The book molds Mina’s character into an image of conservativeness. Even though she is smart and resourceful enough to carry out research which enables Van Helsing to reach the count, she is not given an opportunity to maximize her potential. Instead, Mina is relegated to the roles of a dutiful mother and wife, with her successes being largely to the service of males around her. On the other hand, Lucy Westenra bears some similarities to Mina. She is a symbol of Victorian innocence and virtue; qualities that enable her attract three suitors. However, unlike Mina, Lucy entertains thoughts of sexual adventure and desirability. In a letter to Mina she complains significantly, asking “Why can’t they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want her, and save all this trouble?” (Stoker 189) Even though she is adamant that she is not unorthodox, the latter statement shows that she yearns for desires she cannot meet. Stoker aggravates this suggestion of Lucy’s sexual insatiable nature to great heights, when he describes her as “a wanton creature of ravenous sexual appetite” (Stoker 189). Apparently, in this state, Lucy is perceived as an unsafe threat to men and weak self-control. This seems to provide justification for Lucy’s destruction.
In Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight Saga, the female protagonist, Isabella "Bella" Swan transfers from Phoenix in Arizona to a small town in Washington known as Forks. Even though she is not happy with the decision, she opts to go live with her father in order to allow her mother to pursue her love interest, Phil. This shows that Bella sacrifices her joy from the onset of her journey from Phoenix. When she enrolls in high school, she takes note of the Cullen siblings and particularly Edward, gradually developing a liking for him. As the plot unfolds, Meyer explores Bella’s ups and downs, as she tries to befriend Edward and occasionally gains interest in Jacob, another male character. Just like Mina in Dracula, Bella is yet another example of a potent female, whose dependence on male models around impedes her from maximizing her potential. Bella is intelligent and fully capable of making her own decisions. However, when she meets Edward Cullen, a vampire in her class, she instantly becomes interested in him and seemingly forgets her immense command over her life. Another notable female character in the Twilight Saga is Rosalie Hale. Unlike Bella, she is an assertive vampire teenager, who is not afraid to stand up for what she believes in. She is also tenacious and largely disapproving of Bella. Even though the Cullen matriarch initially turned Rosalie into a vampire with the hope of ensuring that she became Edward’s companion, she falls in love with another character, Emmett. Rosalie is further portrayed as being envious of Bella because she is human and depicts desirable female attributes. By showing that Rosalie is jealous of Bella, Meyer implies that a normal woman should be submissive and reliant on men to save her from precarious situations. There is also an implication that attributes like assertiveness and tenacity are not desirable. Further, it seems as though being denied the chance to be with Edward is a punishment for her tenacity and confident nature.
Stoker’s Dracula and Meyer’s Twilight Saga are two vampire literary works that have wrought the debate on vampirism and feminism. In Dracula, the female characters face two choices both of which appear unappealing and unfavorable. The first alternative available to them is to renounce their partial independence and adopt the position of victims, which males in the novel both human and supernatural, require of them. The second choice available to the women in Dracula is to yield to the vampire seduction and gain power, which is portrayed as an immoral sexual dissatisfaction hence demonic in nature (Guyant 330-331). It is strange that women’s strength and self-assertiveness is shown to be wrong and demonic. There is an irrefutable implication that an authoritative woman is a threat to male dominance and conventional social structure, where the man wields power (Stevenson 141). The same unappealing alternatives for women are evident in Meyer’s book. The Twilight series, which is written in first person, makes it, appear as though it is Bella’s satisfactory choice to be the weaker gender.
Even though the protagonist is said to be the novel’s heroine, she does not meet the common heroine criteria. Ordinarily, a heroine is supposed to consistently perform heroic acts that depict courage and boldness. She is also supposed to serve as a role model to those around her, inspiring them to undertake equally courageous feats. This is, however, not the case for Bella. She displays very limited resilience, strength and courage. Bella constantly stays aside waiting for the males in her life to fight her battles and protect her from adversity. Further, she is in continuous need to get protection from the men, with her sole focus being how to attract Edward and please him enough to stay with her. The fact that Meyer’s Twilight saga revolves around a romantic story limits Bella’s development. Throughout the novel, Bella remains stagnant and passive, only jumping to action during the occasions that the male characters in her life require her to do so. She often takes blame for wrongs she has not committed, until a man makes decisions that she follows without question. Just like in Dracula where the Mina is portrayed as a possession for men, Bella perpetuates this notion. This becomes apparent when Meyer develops a subplot of an additional romantic interest in another male character, Jacob Black. Both novels make it appear as though women are possessions that belong to the males, not only for protection, but also for exchange during romantic relationships. This concern about women being unable to take care of themselves becomes even greater, when Bella’s father is said to be concerned about his innocent daughter eventually finding a suitable boyfriend to take care of her. The protagonist explicitly states, “I sympathized with him, it must be a hard thing, to be a father; living in fear that your daughter would meet a boy she liked, but also having to worry if she didn’t” (Meyer 199). It is worrying to note that, Bella’...