Masculinity in Stoker and Eltis

Sos Eltis introduces his essay by giving an almost New Historic background into the time surrounding the penning of the novel. He says in the second sentence, “As numerous women fought for a larger role in public life and challenged the traditions that defined women’s nature as naturally submissive, passive, self-sacrificing, and domestic, so the debate inevitably extended to include masculinity and man’s natural role.”(450) It is evident in Stoker’s writing that some of the men are concerned with the masculinity of the others when it comes to dealing with such grave events. First we see Van Helsing using the term ‘man’ as a compliment to Quincey Morris before the transfusion when he tells him, “A brave man’s blood is the best thing on this earth when a woman is in trouble. You’re a man, no mistake. Well, the devil may work against us for all he’s worth, but God sends us men when we want them.”(162) In these lines Van Helsing is falling into a misogynistic view of the role of man as being necessary for saving woman, claiming that man is a Godsend when woman is in trouble.