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Stereotypes In Dracula

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The Battle of the Genders: Societal Limitations of Females
What are some of the expectations that society has for men and women? Some may respond to this by discussing jobs. Others may talk about the responsibility of duties and the role of personality. There may even be a group of people that says that society no longer sets expectations for males and females. In Dracula there are gender roles that are set for both males and females. The story begins with a lawyer named Jonathan Harker, who is trying to finalize selling a house to Count Dracula. Plans start to fall apart when Jonathan realizes that Dracula is a vampire. To make matters even worst, Dracula starts to intervene into Mina’s life, Jonathan’s soon-to-be wife. Dracula attacks Lucy, …show more content…

The main argument against women’s disempowerment in the novel is that a women could have broken free from society. However, this is not the case. Marriage in the novel as well as Victorian society was regarded as mandatory as well as part of life. It would typically go along the lines that a man would ask a woman to marry him and while he would work she would raise the children and help him out with his career. This is exemplified when Lucy explains, “I supposed that we women are such cowards that we think a man will save us from fears, and we marry him” (84). There was legitimately no other option for women to support themselves then marriage. Women had not power without having a husband to support them. In fact, it was their main role to support their husbands. This idea is shown when Mina writes, “When we are married I shall be able to be useful to Jonathan, and if I can stenograph well enough I can take down what he wants to say in this way and write it out for him on the typewriter, at which also I am practicing very hard” (79). In their society, it was common and viewed as proper for a women to strive to help her husband succeed. However, by devoting all of her time to her husband, women in Dracula disregard their own ambitions to

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