Meredith Peters

WR 150 F6

Professor Goss

April 1 2011

Mina

In the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, one of the few female characters is Madam Mina, the wife of Jonathan Harker. She is a sweet, kind woman, a schoolteacher who was close friends with Lucy and cared deeply for her, trying to help her with her sleep walking habit when they lived together in Whitby. Mina is also described as a perfect, loving wife. I believe that she is a representation of an angel in this book that is centered on the terrible deeds of a monster.

Mina is the only woman present in the group working to destroy Dracula. Her, Jonathan Harker, Quincy Morris, Dr. John Seward, Lord Godalming and Abraham Van Helsing share their experiences involving the count in order to find more information on his actions and whereabouts. Mina goes beyond her duty by typing all the diaries and chronologically organizing them. She is a great help to the party. Each of the men in the group expresses their feelings of comfort around her. Mina is able to console Arthur Holmwood after the death of his beloved fiancée, Lucy. He is the only one that Arthur felt he could express his feeling of grieve to and being able to finally let out his feelings greatly helped Arthur. Mina helps Arthur with his grief so much that he comes to view her as a sister. Mina also quietly helps to console Dr. Seward and Quincy Morris, because she is aware of their proposals to Lucy and knows that they must be grieving too. All these actions of Mina’s show her angelic tendencies.

Another action of Mina’s that I believe is the best evidence of her being an angel is when she stands up for the count, after the terrible deed that he had committed by sucking her blood and forcing her to drink his. She tells the men to kill him, because it is necessary, but to keep in mind that he might not be evil; he might just have been turned that way by his condition. She compares herself to the count, saying “I too may need such pity; and that some other like you – and with equal cause for anger – may deny it to me!” (306-307). Mina’s ability to feel pity for the count after the monstrous way that he had acted against her truly proves that she is an angel. In this action, Mina reminds me of Belle from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Mina and Belle are both woman who have been the most harmed by their monsters, Belle being kept in captivity and Mina being bitten and forced to drink the vampire’s blood. Both these woman but the prejudices of the monster behind them and are able to put themselves in the monsters shoes. They both understand the actions that monster’s have done, although they done not feel that they are in any way right. They are able to look past the wrongs done to them and instead of hating the monster that committed it, they feel pity. They lack the need for revenge that most would have after being hurt. I believe that they are both representations of angels, through their actions and their ability to pity.