“Some critics have argued that Stoker uses the character of Lucy to attack the concept of the New Woman – a term coined towards the end of the Victorian era to describe women who were taking advantage of newly available educational and employment opportunities to break free from the intellectual and social restraints imposed upon them by a male-dominated society. Those who took a hostile attitude towards the New Woman saw her either as a mannish intellectual or, going to the opposite extreme, an over-sexed vamp. Stoker certainly portrays Lucy as racily ‘forward’ in her desires. At one point Lucy receives three proposals of marriage on the same day and comments, as she regrets having to turn down two of the proposals: ‘Why can’t they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want her, and save all this trouble?’ (ch. 5).” (The British Library) 

Works Cited

Buzwell, Greg. “Dracula: the Victorian Vampire.” The British Library, The British Library, 15 May 2014, www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/dracula.

Philip, Ben. “Call for ‘Dracula Coast’ Tourist Trail in North-East Scotland.” BBC News, BBC, 24 Jan. 2020, www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-51221746.