The three vampire women who inhabit the most remote regions of Count Dracula’s castle are of great importance to the narrative. Stoker’s description of them could be considered to embody Victorian worst nightmares regarding femininity. Jonathan Harker’s reactions after meeting them also convey late 19th century anxieties about the feminization of men.
Female gender identities were strictly defined in Victorian society. Women were generally considered to be of two kinds, the doting wife and mother or the fallen woman. Vampire women, or ‘strange sisters’, as Harker calls them, referring to the three witches of Macbeth – Could be considered an exaggerated literary equivalent of these fallen women. With their “bright white teeth” (p. 37) and “voluptuous lips” (p. 37), they are portrayed as overtly sexual beings. His appearance and demeanor are in stark contrast to that of Jonathan’s fiancĂ©e, the virtuous Mina, whom he describes as “having nothing in common” (p. 53) with vampire women.
During their seduction, Jonathan’s reactions to the strange sisters are decidedly ambivalent: “There was a deliberate voluptuousness that was both exciting and repulsive” (p. 38). He finds them in a distant chamber of Dracula’s castle while in an ambiguous state of consciousness, a common motif in Gothic literature: “I guess I must have fallen asleep; I hope so, but I’m afraid, because everything that followed was amazingly “. real “(p. 37). Seen from a Victorian context, Harker is portrayed in a somewhat feminized position, with reversed gender roles, in the sense that he is a man seduced by women, when in 19th century society he I would expect men to take on the role of seducers.
It is arguable that the actions of vampire women in their seduction of Harker represent newly discovered anxieties about the rise of the New Woman. The new woman was a type of woman who challenged prevailing Victorian notions of femininity. Although Mina could be considered a New Woman, with her financial independence gained from having a career before marriage, she speaks of this class of women with disdain. Regarding attitudes towards marriage, he affirms that “I suppose that the New Woman will not deign to accept in the future; she herself will be in charge of proposing” (p. 89). It would seem that in her seduction of Harker, female vampires could be considered New Women in light of Mina’s comments.
In the context of Gothic literature, Stoker is faced with several conventions, one of them through the role of Jonathan Harker in Dracula’s Castle. In the Gothic novels of the 18th century, such as the influential work of Ann Radcliffe The mysteries of UdolphoIt is about a young woman, of a ‘tremulous sensibility’ and very prone to fainting, who is trapped in a remote castle and at the mercy of male predators. On Dracula Stoker has subverted convention by having a male character in this role, a detail consolidated by Harker’s reaction to his gruesome encounter with vampire women: “horror overcame me and I fell unconscious” (p. 39). He is a man who assumes the role that women usually occupy in the Gothic narrative.
Mina’s role as a new woman is further supported during her encounter with the strange sisters much later in the story. Vampire women are shown to call Mina, referring to her as ‘sister’ in their invitation to join their ranks.
Jonathan’s “agony of luscious anticipation” (p. 38) when he was seduced by vampires is reflected in Van Helsing’s own anxieties about gambling on undead women. He also points out the sexual attractiveness of women in a tone similar to Harker’s: “She was so beautiful to look at, so radiantly beautiful, so exquisitely voluptuous” (p. 370). If Victorian masculinity could be undermined by the threat posed by sexually attractive women, then Van Helsing’s bet on female vampires could be seen as a reaffirmation of male patriarchy.