The Tainting of Innocence in Dracula

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Julia Ziyue Peng

Mr.

IB English 10

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

                                 The Tainting of Innocence in Dracula

        Life in modern times is drastically different from life how life was in the Victorian era,

especially for women. During the Victorian era, European society saw a significant shift in the role

women played. Only years before Bram Stoker started to pen Dracula, the roles of men and women

have already became more and more interchangeable. The theme of women and their suppressed

sexuality in the novel is the result of this paradigm shift. In addition, Dracula is told through a

variety of different perspectives in the form of both diary and document entries conveniently

compiled together. Stoker employs the use of this epistolary narrative, as well as connotation and

similes, to enhance the way in which women were tainted through encounters with Dracula. In this

individual section, it is exceedingly important to note that Lucy Westenra, the female character, is

overly tainted in a sexualized manner. And in Victorian society, an aggressive sexual desire amongst

proper, well-bred women is nothing short of an expression of evil.

        Even during Stoker’s own lifetime, women were no longer viewed as being polar opposites

of men. Instead, they were perceived to have become more contemporary and modern. However, in

Dracula, there is still a great disparity pertaining to what was deemed socially acceptable for women

to act. In this particular component of the novel, women are sexualized after their encounter a

vampire, and are furthermore portrayed as possessing wicked qualities. This is most evident through

Stoker’s usage of negative connotation on words that describe how Lucy Westenra, as a vampire,

appears and behaves. In terms of appearance Lucy is described by Seward, the narrator, to resemble a

“dark haired woman, dressed in the cerements of the grave” and feeding from a “fair haired

child” (Stoker 180). This description of hair colour in itself is actually a typical portrayal of good and

evil. Developmentally, natural fair hair is more common amongst children and is often a bright

marker of youth, since hair tends to become darker with age. Children are thus stereotypically
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classified as being innocent, naive, and good because they lack substantial experience, whereas

adults are regarded as having lost that pure innocence. In this scenario, the word “dark” has a

negative connotation, and the word “fair”, meaning “light”, has a contrasting positive one.

Intricately, Lucy’s hair colour is actually fair as well, from previous chapters where she is described

to have “sunny ripples” (Stoker 137). The only way in which her hair could have changed its colour

is if she has dirtied through neglect, or as a result of her transformation. The feature that her grave

cerements are white is positive connotation, and represents how her soul itself was pure before. This

is symbolic of Lucy’s innocence becoming tainted with darkness and evil after her change, since

traditionally light colours represent good and dark colours stand for evil. As a result, Lucy becomes

more aggressive in terms of her sexuality. She is associated with adjectives such as “voluptuous”,

“unclean”, “callous”, “unholy”, “languorous”, and “diabolical” (Stoker, 180-181). These harsh words

immediately highlight the undesirableness of a character. However, Seward also remembers Lucy as

“sweet”, “pure”, “gentle”, and “beautiful” (Stoker 180-181). Before her unfortunate transformation,

the adjectives associated with Lucy are all pleasing to hear and possess a positive connotation. For

example, the word “pure” is the opposite of adulteration. A “pure” being is essentially the type of

woman to strive for in the Victorian era. Nevertheless, that connotation in itself turns startlingly

negative after Lucy confronts Dracula. “Voluptuous” and “diabolical” are two adjectives that women

would avoid being labelled, as it would be consequentially costly to their social demeanor, since

“diabolic” implies association with the devil and “voluptuous” implies sensual pleasure. In Victorian

society, rules about sexual behaviour and women in general were extremely rigid, unrelenting, and

unforgiving. It is important to note that throughout the entire novel, the word “voluptuous” is used to

describe female vampires a total of eleven times (Allen). Before meeting Dracula, Lucy was chaste,

desired, and innocent. The result of her encounters with Dracula developed her into someone who is

the complete opposite, someone that is unapologetic about her desires. Lucy was sullied and tainted,

and the reader acknowledges this through the repetitive negative connotation that is associated with

the new Lucy. Subconsciously, connotation is an effective literary device employed by Stoker to

further the understanding of the reader to develop an absolute perspective of a single character.
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        Strict Victorian ideals on female behaviour are reflected with a startling level of clarity in

this section of Dracula. Lucy Westenra, as an undead, represents all the ideals that were harshly

prohibited during the 19th century. Many comparisons are made between her and other creatures of

malice and sin. The way she reacts to Seward, Van Helsing, Harker, and Quincey horrifyingly

resembles “a cat...taken unawares” (Stoker 181). She displays an “angry snarl” and “eyes of hell

fire” (Stoker, 181). It is clear the reason in which Stoker utilizes these alarming similes of Lucy and a

cat. Because Lucy fell victim to Dracula, it changed her in such an appalling way that her soul was

no longer human, but rather that of a creature in which Seward can bring forth no words to describe.

Lucy has changed into a creature that is strikingly more sexually aggressive and uncontrollable. She

displays qualities that were never socially acceptable at the time. Given this, Stoker has no other

choice but to compare her to an animal: primal, aggressive, and wild. Another example of a simile

between Lucy and a creature is that of how she treats the child she feeds from as a “dog growls over

a bone” (Stoker, 181). Animals are regarded as more untamed, feral, and savage than humans. This

usage highlights just how much Lucy has been tainted to a point where her aggressive nature deems

her unworthy of a human, and thus ultimately impure and evil. Indeed, in terms of Lucy’s change,

the rapidity implies “a degree of latent evil that is easily unleashed by sexual initiation” (Those

Monstrous Women 47-62). Thus, the concept of “evil” in Dracula originates from sexual initiation

and sexual aggressiveness, which is shown through these unsettling similes. This idea is furthermore

embellished, as Stoker takes it one more crucial step and compares Lucy to the devil himself and the

creature Medusa. Seward, retelling the story, records that “With a careless motion, [Lucy] flung to

the ground, callous as a devil, the child” (Stoker 181). This simile contrasting Lucy and the devil is

the result of her defilement by Dracula. “Callous” has a strong negative connotation of having a cruel

disregard for others, a trait in which Lucy repellently developed after her transformation. Apart from

sharing revolting similarities with the devil, Lucy is also portrayed to share startling similarities with

a creature called Medusa. Medusa is a chthonic monster that originated from Greek mythology. As a

Gorgon, she had the ability to turn anyone that looked at her to stone, and is also characterized by

“coils...of snakes” in replacement for hair (Stoker, 181). In Greek mythology, Medusa is a monster
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and a mortal enemy to humans. By comparing Lucy’s physical attributes to this abominable monster,

Stoker is again emphasizing the fact Lucy is not longer human, and that this is the result of her being

unjustly tainted. This usage is striking in the sense that Medusa is a character of myth and

supernatural as well as Lucy. Lucy is symbolic of the female population in England during the

Victorian era, because she displayed qualities which made her wanted and revered. But through this

usage of similes and comparing the transformed Lucy to creatures such as feral cats, dogs, the devil,

and monsters, the reader perceives just how much Dracula has changed her, both physically and

behaviourally for the worse. Lucy now completely represents all the forces of evil present in the

novel.

         One of the most important aspects to take into consideration when reading a novel comprised

of diary and document entries is the ability of a narrator to truthfully and reliably record every single

pivotal detail and event. Because absolute memory is not realistic, all the narrators present in

Dracula have to be understood with a significant degree of doubt, since every person’s memory is

selective. Therefore, the aggressive attributes that Lucy display is actually more enhanced than what

really happened. This is seen through the structure of the sentences that Seward uses, and also the

manner in which he is recording his breakthrough story. As perceived in earlier chapters, Seward’s

entries are recorded using a phonograph, which is a device that records sound, meaning that Seward

dictates all of his events to this instrument after the events have already happened. Considering the

way Seward describes Lucy’s actions and behaviour, he repeats adjectives such as “voluptuous” and

“pure” in this section of the novel because simply put, that is what he remembers Lucy being. The

flaw with this kind of compelling storytelling is that the encounter is always one-sided. There will

always be details that Seward leaves out and where his memory fails him, therefore he has to repeat

descriptions to a point where his own personal belief interferes with factual happenings. He describes

Lucy as she “flung to the ground, callous as a devil, the child that up to now she had

clutched” (Stoker, 181). The reader in this scenario can conclude that Lucy did indeed throw the

child to the ground because that is purely descriptive of events. But what also impacts the reader’s

view of how Lucy has become tainted is the simile that Seward throws in, comparing Lucy to the
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devil. It is clear that Seward would not have thought of this comparison on the spot as he actually

witnessed it, rather he added it in later on as he was recording his entry. This is incredibly crucial

because it outlines the fact that the degree in which Lucy was tainted depends on who the narrator is.

Seward in this chapter is very intent on portraying the vampire Lucy to be the epitome of all evil and

the worst female behaviour in society. Because of this the level in which Lucy was tainted and

changed by Dracula is enhanced just that much more. Dracula is an epistolary novel, told not as the

action happens, but afterwards when the narrator has had the time to reflect. It is a thoroughly

effective way of adding intensity and imagination to a work because it mimics real life. It enhances

the techniques that Stoker already has in place, such as connotation and similes. Told through diary

entries, the plot becomes more thick, realistic and suspenseful, which is exactly what Stoker was

intending.

        The recurring theme of female sexuality and the role of women in a society is one that Bram

Stoker was overtly fascinated in. Dracula is a result of a changing paradigm within 19th century

Victorian society, and acts as a bridge between historical views and modernity. Female sexuality is an

issue that crops up again and again from this time period. During the setting of this novel, it was not

a concern that was hidden in the dark. Rather, people were aware about issues such as prostitution in

urban areas of cities, which led them to be informed that some women were sexual beings. There is

much conflict between whether or not a sexually aggressive woman is either the nightmare or the

fantasy of Victorian men, since tradition pointed one way while modernity pointed the other. Lucy

Westenra is an example of sudden change from innocence to darkness. Throughout the entire section

analyzed, Stoker has employed literary features such as connotation and similes to guide the reader

through to the conclusion that Lucy has been tainted by Dracula, and that this tainting takes place

primarily on a sexual basis. This further enhances the power that Dracula wields because it enhances

the effects of his power. Through the use of an epistolary narrative, the reader is able to sufficiently

deem the entire plotline more realistic and a much more compelling story.
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                                           Works Cited

Allen, Brooke. “Dracula”. Google Books. N.p. n.d. http://books.google.ca/books?

      id=2Vkr9mVFbpQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=dracula&hl=en&ei=SdZtTZHfFcKBlAfggb2d

      BQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=book-thumbnail&resnum=1&ved=0CCsQ6wEwAA#. Web.

      Tues. 1 Mar. 2011.

Stoker, Bram. Dracula. New York: Dover, 2000. Print.

"Those Monstrous Women: A Discussion of Gender in Dracula." Dracula. Boston: Twayne

      Publishers, 1988. 47-62. Twayne's Authors Online. Web. 2 Mar. 2011.