The Gothic Project - Dracula Week 4

[Gem , Moderator]

The Gothic Project - Dracula Week 4: Chapters XVI - XX

1) How do you feel about the way the men treat Mina in this week's chapters? And what about Van Helsing’s “man’s brain” comments? Why does Van Helsing exclude Mina from the action against Dracula, how does she respond, and what is ironic about his decision to exclude her? Do you think Stoker wants his readers to approve or disapprove of this treatment?

2) Mina meets Renfield. He is surprisingly polite but warns her. Why does he warn her here? What is his purpose? What is the purpose to the story?

3) By the end of the chapter, everyone is working on their own part of the plan to confront Dracula. How does this compare to what Van Helsing said at the outset: they would need to stick together and use all of their resources? How is it still true to his intent? How is it different?

4) What clues do the men miss about Mina's well-being, and why do the men fail to note how her experience parallels Lucy's?

[Robin P, Moderator]

I'm not clear how the author felt about Mina being excluded. She was certainly valuable to the group. It never dawns on the men to check on her to see if she is being targeted. There's definitely a creepy sexual vibe to the fact that Dracula chooses to attack young women rather than random people. Once Lucy was affected, she went after children but the disappearance of children only started once she was involved.

In this part we finally get the history and qualities of the vampire.

[Nancy]

When I consider Mina’s treatment in this section, I have to remind myself that ladies in the Victorian era were regarded as gentle and to be protected. Even as Mina continually shows her strength and brains, the societal mandate for gentlemen is to protect her, even though this unnecessary protection leads to her becoming a victim of Dracula. Was it right for them to shut her out? Not according to our modern sensibilities, but it does result in some interesting plot complications. As for the men all working separately, I think this results in their obtaining more information more quickly.
One final remark on the exclusion of Mina - I enjoyed running for several years (old, slow, back-of-the-pack running), and during that time I learned that for a great part of the 20th century women were not allowed to run marathons because it was falsely believed that it might cause their uteruses to fall out. Really. My point is that much of the progress we see as women is very recent and hard-won. Bram Stoker clearly sees Mina’s strengths, but he was a Victorian writer creating Victorian characters.

[Robin P, Moderator]

In the 19th century, male doctors and scientists insisted that if women got higher education, the brain work would make their uteruses dry up! Hmm, fixation of men on women's organs isn't new, and they knew as little about biology as many do now.

Even in my younger years, people thought weight lifting or other strenuous activity would make women "too muscular".

[Gem , Moderator]

While I knew women were treated with kid gloves, not considered equal, etc. I did not know about the education or physical activity. Wow.