The StereotypicalRepresentation of FemaleCharacters in Gothic Fiction: Passivity Vs Fatality

Abstract

In earlyconventional Gothic fiction,femaleprotagonistswerealwaysdepictedwhether as weak, passive, submissive, and dependent to men or as fatal, monstrous and lustfulpredators if they do not conform to male’ssupremacy and authority. The following research is a study of representing femininity in Bram Stoker‘s Dracula. This dissertation, accordingly, attempts to analyze the female characters Mina and Lucy in Dracula‘s novel by describing them and categorizing each one of them. The aim of this study is to investigate how the characters of this novel illustrate the stereotypical representation of femininity in Gothic literature that reflects patriarchal domination during the Victorian era.