The Woes of Mina Harker

November 8th

Mina Harker, the beloved wife of Jonathan Harker, who barley managed to escape Dracula’s grasp at the start of the novel, has been bitten by the Count. Upon her being bitten, Jonathan Harker, Dr. Van Helsing, Quincey Morris and Dr. Seward decide to rid the world of this repugnant Count once and for all by following him back to Transylvania, where he has escaped to again. In the process of killing the Count, they hope Mina will be saved from the transformation from human to vampire before it completes itself. Before they all depart to Transylvania however, Mina requests that if, for whatever reason, she becomes a vampire in the end, to kill her.

Mina Harker’s character in this situation appears to be another embodiment of Dracula’s theme of sexual repression and the attitude towards the sexuality of women during the Victorian Era. Poor Mina would rather be killed then become a “monster” of ravenous sexual impulses and animalistic behavior. Could this be a commentary on the sometimes narrow and potential harmful expectations of people of “class” in Victorian Society? Death before something weird and seemingly “demonic”?

Could be. It is very possible that this could be the case. A rather cynical conclusion. There are other views. Perhaps this is not a commentary on Victorian social habits but more so, a demonstration of Mina’s sense of pride in her relationship to John.

Vampirism has already caused such horrible incidents for her, her friends and her love and she would rather not become part of this horrible phenomenon. She wouldn’t be who she once was if she allowed the transformation to occur and became an Undead Vampire. Her love of life and John is so great that she would rather leave the world as who she was and have John remember her that way.

Personally, I believe that both of the statements referenced above are possible.

Whatever the message behind this situation, it’s very much an example of character vs. self. Mina now has something within her that is not truly herself, inserted by a malevolent force. This new energy within her will continue to change her into something she’s not, a twisted, mockery of the original being and it’s her decision to have her killed should it succeed. So, as much as this is a story about character vs. character conflict, in the main protagonist’s struggles against Count Dracula, character vs. self comes into play with Mina’s internal and emotional conflicts once she is bitten.