New Woman as Seen in Bram Stoker's Dracula

RHEAVANYA WINANDHINI, Rahmawan Jatmiko, S.S., M.A.

2019 | Skripsi | S1 SASTRA INGGRIS

Penelitian ini membahas pengaruh feminisme dalam novel klasik Victoria Dracula karya Bram Stoker. The New Woman adalah ideal feminis yang muncul pada abad ke-19, lebih khususnya di tengah kebangkitan feminisme gelombang pertama. Metode penelitian yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini meliputi pembacaan dekat dari bahan sumber dan menganalisis karakter novel melalui perspektif teladan New Woman. Karakter-karakter wanita dalam Dracula karya Bram Stoker menggambarkan sedikit banyak karakteristik New Woman. Kemandirian wanita, kecerdasan, hiperfeminitas, dan hiperseksualitas, adalah beberapa aspek dari gerakan tersebut yang bertentangan dengan norma dan nilainilai wanita di Victoria Inggris, seperti "otak pria" Mina, dan hiperfeminitas Lucy, sementara para pengantin Dracula memberikan kontras sebagai perempuan yang tertindas dengan sikap tunduk dan patuh terhadapnya. Tanpa menghapus penggambaran mereka dari ideal New Woman ini, Mina dan Lucy juga menggambarkan kompleksitas dan dimensi menjadi seorang wanita di era Victoria; kecantikan dan daya tarik mereka dipuji sementara aspek-aspek mereka yang lebih "tidak ramah" menghadirkan semacam ancaman bagi laki-laki.

This paper discusses the influence of feminism in the classic Victorian novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. The New Woman is a feminist ideal that appeared in the 19th century, more specifically amidst the rise of the first wave feminism. The method of research used in this study covers close reading of the source material and analyzing the characters of the novel through the perspective of the New Woman ideals. The female characters in Bram Stoker's Dracula portrayed the New Woman characteristic to some degree. Women's independence, intellect, hyperfemininity, and hypersexuality, are some of the aspect of the movement that go against the norm and values of women in Victorian Britain, such as Mina's "man's brain" and Lucy's hyperfemininity, while the Brides of Dracula provide a contrast as the oppressed women with their submissive and compliant attitude towards him. Without erasing their representation of these New Woman ideals, Mina and Lucy also portrayed the complexity and dimensionality of being a woman in Victorian era; their beauty and appeal were praised while their more "unwomanly" aspects present some kind of a threat to men.

Kata Kunci : first wave feminism, New Woman, Victorian Britain, Bram Stoker, Dracula