ipl-logo

Wilhemina In Bram Stoker's Dracula

442 Words2 Pages

Wilhemina (Mina) Harker (neé) Murray is a central character in Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula. Mina is initially mentioned in the first chapter of the novel when protagonist Jonathan Harker notes that he needs to ask for a chicken recipe to give to her, since the two will be married soon. Jonathan mentions Mina several other times in the opening chapters of the novel, during his time of imprisonment at Count Dracula’s castle. Mina assumes a narrator role in Chapter 5, beginning with a letter to Miss Lucy Westenra, which is the first time that readers learn more about Mina than simply her name and her relationship with Jonathan. In her letter to her dear friend Lucy, she reveals that she is an assistant schoolmistress and is learning to write in shorthand in order to keep notes for her future husband, Jonathan in his work. …show more content…

She is a gentle, caring person, while he is a vicious, bloodthirsty man/vampire. When she begins to exhibit vampiric symptoms herself, she uses her ailment in order to help the men (Jonathan Harker, Professor Van Helsing, Arthur Holmwood, Quincey Morris, and Dr. Seward) track and ultimately kill Count Dracula. When Dracula’s grip on her is the weakest, she understands that she can use information from hypnosis in order to calculate Dracula’s whereabouts. However, when Dracula’s power over her is the strongest, she does not possess her normal personality, and is ineffective in aiding in the hunt. Her motives for wanting so strongly to kill Dracula could be interpreted as both selfish and selfless. Obviously, she desired to kill Dracula in order to free herself from his power over her. However, given Mina’s generally selfless nature, she likely also desired to kill Dracula so he would not be able to prey upon anyone else. Dracula also indirectly murdered her dear friend, Lucy Westenra, which could be a likely source of a strong desire to kill

Show More
Related

  • Dracula Movie And Book Comparison

    1495 Words  | 6 Pages

    So when Dracula went into his coffin the doctor, Jonathan, and Jonathan’s father found Dracula and killed him with a stake and then saved Mina. This was similar to the way that Dracula was killed in the

    Read More

  • Summary Of Homosexuality In Bram Stoker's Dracula

    901 Words  | 4 Pages

    The essay I chose to compare Dracula with was “Kiss Me With Those Red Lips: Gender and Inversion in Bram Stoker’s Dracula” by Christopher Craft. The essay explains the sexuality in Dracula, desire, gender, and even homosexuality. Craft mentions his essay gives an account of Stoker’s “vampire metaphor” (Craft 108). He highlights certain and very valid points in the story of Dracula that breaks the Victorian gender role, writing, “a pivotal anxiety of late Victorian culture.” (Craft 108).

    Read More

  • Good Vs. Evil In Dracula

    889 Words  | 4 Pages

    Dracula traps Jonathan Harker in his castle, but he finally escapes without the Count killing him. Dracula then sucks Lucys blood and turns her into a vampire. At this point everyone is against the bloodsucker. Since Lucy died, well turned into a vampire. Lucys friends have to stab her in the heart and cut off her head.

    Read More

  • Renfield In Bram Stoker's Dracula

    1367 Words  | 6 Pages

    Also, when traveling to Transylvania, Van Helsing creates defenses for Mina Harker by forming a “Holy circle” consisting of the men in the novel, which he believes will “[ward] away Dracula’s [followers]” (Gray). Van Helsing is also described to rely heavily on Christian ritual when he places the “piece of Sacred Wafer” upon Mina Harker’s forehead, a method believed to protect her from Dracula’s attacks (Stoker

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In Bram Stoker's Dracula

    1350 Words  | 6 Pages

    The fact that there were some role reversals in the novel, especially among the female characters, made most characters all the more dynamic. All the same, the novel was very obviously influenced by gender roles and when Stoker was writing Dracula there was an obvious dividing line between male and female characters that he would not cross. Stoker’s preoccupation with female sexuality in Dracula “is attested to by the fact that [gender roles] actually come to dominate the story, with the vampire hunters mainly concerned not with Dracula himself but with his effect on their beloved companions” (Dixon) While Mina, who represented the ideal Victorian woman, acted as a support system and assistant to the heroic group of men. While things have changed significantly for men and women alike in the modern age, Dracula will likely remain in place as one of the most famous and telling critiques of Victorian gender

    Read More

  • Desire In Bram Stoker's Dracula

    1160 Words  | 5 Pages

    Bram Stoker’s Dracula, is a classic that has been enjoyed by readers for many years. It is one that involves fantasy, gore and even has the potential of scaring readers. It is a story that has been enjoyed and feared by readers for centuries. With that said, even though it is commonly known as a classic horror novel, it can also be seen as an erotica. Throughout the novel, Stoker incorporates sexual scenes, and scenes of desire that may or may not capture readers’ attention due to the presence of horror.

    Read More

  • Women In Dracula Essay

    696 Words  | 3 Pages

    As she is sick, Arthur gives her a blood transfusion to try to help her become better but when it does not work, she is stabbed in the heart to go back to her original beauty and die. Lucy in the book shows how the ideal Victorian woman can so suddenly turn into the bad, evil, sexual woman that was unacceptable. Throughout the novel, Bram Stoker showed in detail what was considered to be the ideal Victorian woman through the character Mina. He also showed how women were sexualized, misbehaved, and evil through the behaviors of Dracula’s three daughters.

    Read More

  • Lucy Westenra In Dracula

    825 Words  | 4 Pages

    Lucy Westenra is the best friend of Mina Harker and thus the second female main character of the novel. Stoker describes with Lucy a representative of the New Women movement, as the time was seen by the British population. She is single and lives with her mother, who is suffering from heart disease. Her family, that was once very prosperous, consist only of herself and her aging mother. She is Dracula’s first victim /vampire child in England.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Corruption In Bram Stoker's Dracula

    1161 Words  | 5 Pages

    Dracula learns that the group are plotting against him and feeds Mina his own blood to control her. In the final fight, humanity wins over the creature as they can kill him and Mina’s mind from his “spell.” The premise

    Read More

  • Theme Of Deception In Bram Stoker's Dracula

    778 Words  | 4 Pages

    Dracula’s deceitful traits carry over to his victims that become

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Dracula In Stoker's Dracula

    1253 Words  | 6 Pages

    This can even allow the reader to possibly ‘fill in the blanks’ about the unknown character with her own fears, adding to the horror of the novel. Count Dracula’s first appearance takes place in his castle in the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania when Jonathan Harker arrives to discuss a real estate transaction. When Harker arrives at the castle, he first hears Dracula approaching in an ominous manner before he actually sees the Count. “I heard a heavy step approaching behind the great door, and saw through the chinks the gleam of a coming light,” Stoker writes, “then there was the sound of rattling chains and the clanking of massive bolts drawn back. A key was turned with the loud grating noise of long disuse, and the great door swung back”.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Evil In Dracula

    711 Words  | 3 Pages

    The presentation of Good vs. Evil is one of the main themes in the novel, Dracula. The portrayal of good and evil is seen in each character throughout the book. The characters considered “evil” in the novel are Dracula and his vampire brides. Dracula converts humans into vampires and has immense power over certain individuals. Everything he does demonstrates that there is no good in him at all.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Mina Murray Harker In Dracula By Bram Stoker

    1008 Words  | 5 Pages

    The loyalty Mina presents to each character in the novel is uplifting. Due to the nature of their relationships, Mina’s loyalty is mostly shown to Jonathan and Lucy. When Jonathan Harker, Mina’s fiancée at the time, was being held prisoner at Castle Dracula, Mina remains a loyal fiancée to him, in hopes of his return. Upon discovering Jonathan had escaped Castle Dracula and was seeking shelter at a convent, Mina rushes to his side to support him through his mental

    Read More

  • Science And The Supernatural In Bram Stoker's Dracula

    823 Words  | 4 Pages

    Within Dracula, Van Helsing discovers new material about vampires by witnessing them in the flesh. During one of these instances, Van Helsing says to Mina, “‘Will you not come over to the fire?’ for I wished to make a test of what she could. She rose obedient, but when she have made a step she stopped” (Stoker 325). Van Helsing is testing Mina through an experiment with a ring of holy wafer around her.

    Read More

  • Fear In Dracula

    811 Words  | 4 Pages

    Dracula’s castle was just the beginning of what was to come. Jonathan 's meeting of the three female vampires it was a catalyst for what he believed was right and wrong. With the 3 women being polar opposites of what was expected from a 19th-century Victorian woman compared to the pure and proper Mina the 3 vampires are straight forward and dominant. Something that he had never experienced before and he can 't help that he is both attracted and repulsed by them. “ There was something about them that made me uneasy, some longing and at the same time some deadly fear.

    Read More

More about Wilhemina In Bram Stoker's Dracula

Open Document