Characters: Mina and Lucy

While Bram Stocker’s Dracula has a plethora of characters, the relationship

between Mina and Lucy is complex. Mina is a character that is both kind and loving.
Always loyal to her compatriots, she continues to support them even after being turned
into a vampire. She even managed to use her new state to her advantage when hunting
dracula. She is ultimately innocent and kind, possessing a certain moral character that
allows her to hunt dracula. This is shown in “that terrible record of Jonathan’s upset me
so. Poor dear! How he must have suffered, whether it be true or only imagination. I
wonder if there is any truth in it at all.”.
Lucy is a generally good person, however she also lacks the strength of
character of someone like Mina. This can be seen in her relationships in the beginning
of the book conflicted over marrying three men, leading them along for a while, before
choosing one “Why can’t they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want her, and
save all this trouble?”. .n addition, over the course of the story Lucy is turned into a
vampire. She succumbs to the curse and becomes one of Dracula's servants. In the
end, she attempts to use her relationship with Arthur to hurt the group.
Both Mina and Lucy have men in their life that love them, and they love inturn.
They do their best to make those men happy, and those men do their best to protect
them. They are both married and are happy in said relationships. They both support
their husbands in their endeavours, learning shorthand to help Jonathan and saying
king words ”we are the instruments of ultimate good. It may be!.
They are both innocent people that love those around them. However Mina's
love is selfless where Lucy's love is selfish. Lucy wishes to keep all her suters even
when it is impossible and detrimental to all of them. Lucy's love on the other hand drives
her to assist and protect her husband. The most stark difference between the two
however is their reaction to becoming a vampire. Lucy's reaction is to not only become
a monster but to attempt to take Arthur down to hell with her. Mina, on the other hand,
uses her condition to help the character to hurt dracula. An example of Mina’s use is
‘Here a process of exclusions may help us. By road, by rail, by water”. Here she help
the party track dracula.
I found that Mina is a more valuable character because she has the intelligence
and will power to help the group fight dracula. Unlike Lucy she is self sacrificing
spending a large amount of her time on aiding her allies. In addition she has the
courage to keep fighting despite being bit by dracula and becoming a vampire herself.
She even uses her condition to her advantage when it comes to tracking dracula. Mina
at the end of the day is useful to the group while Lucy is not. Lucy on the other hand is
actively detrimental to the efforts of the group to destroy dracula. She allows herself to
become corrupted and becomes a threat.