Women in Dracula: Mina Murray
Bram Stoker’s Dracula tells a story through a collection of documents written by different characters. Set in the Victorian era, Mina Murray stands out as a significant female character. Stoker’s portrayal of Mina as a strong heroine is conflicted, however, when questions arise from Murray’s characterization of purity and the general perception of a woman’s role in society.
Mina Murray — later known as Mina Harker — is an assistant schoolmistress, best friend of Lucy Westenra, and marries Jonathan Harker later in the novel. With this close connection to Lucy and Jonathan, Mina plays a significant role in saving her loved ones and helping Van Helsing with the discovery of vampires. Towards the middle of the novel — after Mina reunites with and marries Jonathan — Jonathan goes into shock when he sees a man who may be Count Dracula. Mina, worried about her husband, decides to read his journal and meet with Van Helsing to find the cause of his illness. After the meeting, Mina reflects in her journal:
He has come and gone. Oh, what a strange meeting, and how it all makes my head whirl round. I feel like one in a dream. Can it be all possible, or even a part of it? If I had not read Jonathan’s journal first, I should never have accepted even a possibility. Poor, poor, dear Jonathan! How he must have suffered. Please the good God, all this may not upset him again. I shall try to save him from it. But it may be even a consolation and a help to him, terrible though it be and awful in its consequences, to know for certain that his eyes and ears and brain did not deceive him, and that it is all true. It may be that it is the doubt which haunts him, that when the doubt is removed, no matter which, waking or dreaming, may prove the truth, he will be more satisfied and better able to bear the shock. (218)
In this scene, Mina uses her journal to take everything in. Throughout this process, Mina utilizes certain words reflecting her struggle to figure out what she should do and what she should believe. She begins with expressing, “I feel like one in a dream” but following after, considers possibilities, “consequences”, and the “truth”. However, she ends with writing “waking”, “dreaming”, and “haunts” in relation to Jonathan. The battle between dreams and the truth illustrates how others have reacted to the discovery of vampires. Nevertheless, even though she feels like she is in a dream, Mina is open to understanding the truth. She takes in the new information, connects them to Jonathan’s journal, and doesn’t disregard or deny it: “Can it be all possible, or even a part of it?”.
Most importantly from this passage, Mina expresses agency. Mina quickly comes to a decision as she focuses her attention on Jonathan and wants to do what’s best for him: “it may be even a consolation and a help to him…”. With her agency in her reflection, Mina shows attributes of a hero. First, she sympathizes with Jonathan, “Poor, poor, dear Jonathan! How he must have suffered.” Then, Mina declares that she should “try to save him”, a key part in showing her strength to help others, especially those closest to her. Further, she considers the consequences — though it may be “terrible” and “awful” — to finally come to an answer: “It may be that it is the doubt which haunts him, that when the doubt is removed, no matter which, waking or dreaming, may prove the truth, he will be more satisfied and better able to bear the shock”.
Mina Harker is compassionate and intelligent. She finds answers as to what she should do to help others. In fact, Mina’s answer proves to be right as Jonathan writes in his journal, “She showed me in the doctor’s letter that all I wrote down was true. It seems to have made a new man of me. It was the doubt as to the reality of the whole thing that knocked me over” (225). In these moments, Mina utilizes her agency and portrays herself as a person who is willing to save her loved ones as best as she can.
However, though Mina’s character begins to develop as a representation of a strong heroine, her character as a representation of purity also grows. During the scene in which Jonathan meets Van Helsing, the doctor praises Mina:
She is one of God’s women, fashioned by His own hand to show us men and other women that there is a heaven where we can enter, and that its light can be here on earth. So true, so sweet, so noble… (214)
Van Helsing explicitly connects Mina to the idea of purity, that she is “true”, “sweet”, “noble”, and “one of God’s women”. Mina is pure. She confirms “there is a heaven” and there is light. As a result, both representations of Mina are paired. To be a strong heroine, there must be purity.
Furthermore, the portrayal of women by men in the novel conflicts with the intelligent and strong depiction of Mina. On one hand, Van Helsing praises Mina: “Oh, but I am grateful to you, you so clever woman” (221). Yet, on the other hand, even when Lucy is on the verge of death, he will not allow the maids a chance to help transfer their blood for Lucy:
We must have another transfusion of blood, and that soon, or that poor girl’s life won’t be worth an hour’s purchase…. I fear to trust those women, even if they would have courage to submit. What are we to do for some one who will open his veins for her? (179)
Van Helsing wants a “brave man’s blood” as it is “the best thing on this earth when a woman is in trouble” (179). Instead of allowing a woman to aid and save another woman’s life, no matter if they have the “courage”, he would rather a man be the hero. What does this mean for Mina?
Mina Murray has proved to have the strength to believe in new truths and possibilities, no matter how strange or terrible, in order to help Jonathan (218). She has proved to have the intelligence to quickly find solutions and help Van Helsing with his research. Would they allow her to transfer blood to Lucy if she offered? Would Mina’s blood be considered a brave woman’s blood? Stoker portrays Mina’s purity as a strength — a factor into what makes her a strong and significant character — yet if a brave woman’s blood is not considered “the best thing on this earth when a woman is in trouble”, what is her role? To simply be “one of the lights”, “have a happy life and a good life”, and have her husband “blessed in” her (209)?
In the novel, thus far, the portrayal of Mina is a conflicting topic as her significance is overpowered and diminished. Mina Murray in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, though a significant female character, is subjected to fit in the image of purity and their society’s idea of a woman’s agency.
Works Cited
Stoker, Bram. Dracula. Apple Books Classic, e-book.
