Stoker was well aware of these developments and was close friends with W. Victorian society had begun to take an interest in the welfare of children, resulting in the Factory Act of 1891 and the foundation of the SPCC, which would become the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. ![]() She historicizes the character (and the novel) by placing it against a backdrop of a number of well-publicized cases of molestation and abuse of children by mother figures, particularly in the context of baby farming, citing the case of Margaret Waters). Leslie Ann Minot pointed out, in a 2017 essay on Lucy Westenra and other 19th century female characters, that if Dracula is an overt portrayal of a sexualized monster then Westenra is problematic since her attacks on children would then equate to "the sweet Lucy sexually molesting toddlers" Minot sees this as one reason why the character has received less attention than others. Lucy's death and subsequent transformation into a vampire motivate her suitors and Mina to join forces with Van Helsing and Jonathan Harker in hunting Dracula in retaliation.Ĭritical readings, historical background Īccording to Sally Ledger, Lucy "is at first sight an archetype of Victorian femininity" but later shares characteristics with the then- feminist ideal of the New Woman. To ensure the creature's destruction, they also cut off her head, fill her mouth with garlic, and solder the coffin lid shut. ![]() The vampire flees into her tomb as the sun rises, allowing Van Helsing and her suitors to open her coffin and drive a wooden stake through her heart, destroying the vampire and allowing Lucy to rest in peace. She attempts to seduce her former fiance, but Van Helsing repels her with a crucifix. The sweetness was turned to adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous wantonness.” Seward describes the vampire as: “Lucy Westenra, but yet how changed. Far from the pure, kind-hearted young woman she was in life, she appears as a predatory temptress. While visiting her tomb after dark, the men encounter her undead corpse feeding on a child. Ī week after her burial Lucy rises from the grave as a vampire, attacking children, which Van Helsing identifies by the telltale bite marks on their necks and the timing of her death and the start of the attacks. In her final moments, her vampiric side emerges and nearly tries to bite Arthur, but Lucy regains her human senses and before dying asks Abraham Van Helsing to protect Holmwood. However, under the vampire's influence, she becomes prone to sleepwalking and is drawn outside, where the count fatally drains her of blood. Helsing attempts to thwart Dracula by securing the house with garlic. Abraham Van Helsing from the Netherlands, who is able to deduce that a vampire has been feeding on her. Lucy falls sick, and much to the men's dismay, no explanation can be found as to why her strength is leaving her. John Seward, a psychiatrist-and she chooses Holmwood. All three propose to her on the same day- Arthur Holmwood, the wealthy son of Lord Godalming Quincey Morris, an American adventurer and Dr. She is, however, not a passive woman: she has three suitors, and writes to her friend Mina that she would like to marry all of them, so none of them will feel sad. Lucy Westenra is a woman, "blonde, demure, and waiting for the right man to come along to marry her". She subsequently transforms into a vampire and is eventually destroyed. The 19-year-old daughter of a wealthy family, she is Mina Murray's best friend and Count Dracula's first English victim. ![]() Lucy Westenra is a fictional character in the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. Sadie Frost as Lucy in Bram Stoker's Dracula
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