Lucy Westenra

Mina’s carefree childhood friend, who becomes Dracula’s first female victim upon his arrival in Whitby. With Van Helsing’s support, her betrothed - Arthur Holmwood - ensures the salvation of her immortal soul.

Fallen woman

Following her first encounter with Count Dracula atop the cliffs of Whitby (a location associated with the Sublime), Lucy fulfils the symbolic role of the fallen woman - arguably having more in common with the female-vampires than her best friend, Mina.

Desire for sexual liberation

Lucy famously laments how society dictates she can only marry one man.
Whilst her tone is somewhat flippant, it's perhaps a latent desire for sexual liberation and polyamory that she later attains through her undead existence as a vampire.
Seductively, she implores Arthur to "Come to me, Arthur. Leave these others and come to me. My arms are hungry for you. Come, and we can rest together. Come, my husband, come!"

Foil to Mina

Lucy serves to act as a foil for Mina, accentuating the invaluable qualities of the other.
- There is a certain irony to Lucy's self-deprecating views on her gender when she writes “we women are such cowards” - in stark contrast to the way in which Mina is described as a “brave and gallant woman” by Van Helsing.

Lucy's insignificance?

Perhaps the most damning method Stoker uses to present Lucy’s lack of significance, particularly in comparison to Mina, is her absence from Jonathan’s final note.
Given the lengths the men went to try and save her (four of them offering up their blood in a moral-mirroring of the method used by vampires to convert humans), this may seem odd at first glance.
One suggestion is that this signifies how much more virtuous Mina was by comparison.

Lucy's insignificance? (cont.)

Even Arthur has moved on - now happily married - leaving the events featuring Lucy tied to the past in the documents that Jonathan suggests no-one will even believe.

1Context - Gothic Literature

1.1Origins & Conventions of Gothic Literature

1.1.1Origins of Gothic Literature

1.1.2Key Ideas in Gothic Literature

1.1.3Gothic Genre Conventions in Dracula

1.2Vampires in Gothic Literature

1.2.1Vampires

1.3'Terror' & 'Horror'

1.3.1Ann Radcliffe & Lewis' The Monk

1.3.2'Terror' & 'Horror' in Dracula

1.4Narrative Features

1.4.1First-Person Narration & Epistolary Format

2Context - The Victorian Era

2.1The Victorian Era

2.1.1Fin de Siecle

2.1.2The 'New Woman'

2.1.3The Contagious Diseases Act

3Chapter Summaries & Analyses

3.1Chapter Summaries & Analyses

3.1.1Chapters 1-2

3.1.2Chapters 3-4

3.1.3Chapters 5-7

3.1.4Chapters 8-10

3.1.5Chapters 11-12

3.1.6Chapters 13-14

3.1.7Chapters 15-16

3.1.8Chapters 17-18

3.1.9Chapters 19-20

3.1.10Chapters 21-23

3.1.11Chapters 24-25

3.1.12Chapters 26-27

4Character Profiles

4.1Archetypal Gothic Characters

4.1.1Stock & Proppian Gothic Characters

4.2Count Dracula

4.2.1Count Dracula: Character Profile

4.2.2Count Dracula: Different Literary Perspectives

4.3Other Main Characters

4.3.1Jonathan Harker

4.3.2Dr Abraham Van Helsing

4.3.3Dr Jack Seward

4.3.4Mina Harker

4.3.5Lucy Westenra

4.4Minor Characters

4.4.1Arthur Holmwood & Quincey Morris

4.4.2Renfield

5Key Ideas

5.1Key Ideas

5.1.1Transgression of Boundaries

5.1.2The Supernatural & Un-dead

5.1.3Masculinity & Femininity

5.1.4Science, Modernity & Superstition

5.1.5Madness, Illness & Confinement

6Writing Techniques

6.1Writing Techniques

6.1.1Epistolary Form & Narrative Voice

6.1.2Intertextuality & Cultural References

6.1.3Structure

7Critical Debates & Interpretations

7.1Initial Reception of Dracula

7.1.1Initial Reception of Dracula

7.2Modern Reception of Dracula

7.2.1Modern Reception of Dracula

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