Catholic Allegory In Dracula

Vampires have been around for centuries, they represent the fear of many things such as sexuality, race, gender, etc. and above all, they stand for the fear of diseases. Vampires have once been the symbol of horror due to their terrific depictions and were described as a threat to the humanity. Throughout time, the image of vampire has changed dramatically from a monstrous, inhumanely creature that doesn’t belong to human society to such an attractive and adaptive figure that expresses more of the human side than the evil. They developed human feelings, senses, and live within our society. Modern vampire movies are often more romantic and “sympathetic” comparing to the past. Vampires have abandoned their horror and evolved to a more

Are there still connections between Bram Stokers famous novel Dracula and modern day society? In Dracula, Stoker expands on many themes that indeed exist today. Not only does he touch on the most obvious theme, sex. He expands on gender division and good versus evil. Some say since times have changed the themes I introduced have changed as well, leaving connections between then and now irrelevant. However, I feel that although times have changed they still have roots from the time of the novel to now. In this essay I will expand on the themes of this novel while connecting them to modern day society, the critical texts I have chosen and will mention later on in the essay are a good representation of the commonalities between the chill, dark Victorian days in which the era that Dracula was written in and modern day.

Bram Stoker's Dracula is highly acclaimed and has received many different interpretations which deal with complex symbolisms and metaphors. These interpretations often require a great deal of knowledge in psychology, political science, anthropology, and other non-literary disciplines. These interpretations may be valid, as they are related to the disciplines on which their arguments are based, but the true power of the novel is due to a very simple theme that lies beneath the other, more convoluted interpretations. This theme is the universal concept of identity: us versus them. This criticism sets aside outside disciplines and focuses on the literary motif of identity. John

Dracula is of mixed racial heritage and blood “in the whirlpool of European races,” a concept which would have been fearful to the novel’s white, upper-class English audience. This widespread xenophobia, a fear and hatred of foreigners, was a reaction by Victorian England to the perceived threat of outsiders to white genetic purity. Dracula’s real threat is not in the physical destruction of Western Europe, but in the assimilation, reproduction, and infestation caused by the literal and figurative mixing of his barbarian animal blood with that of the “superior” English race. The concept of eugenics, the “qualitative and quantitative improvement of the human genome” (Galton 99), gained widespread popularity during Stoker’s lifetime and became a prevalent theme in the works of many authors aiming to make a social commentary or criticism on the invasion of England by foreign peoples. Adolph Hitler would later adopt eugenic ideals in the intended creation of a “master race,” one which victimized many of the same groups and relied upon almost identical anti-Semitic imagery as the earlier Victorian proponents (Hauner 15).

Unremarkable though it may seem, to affirm the obvious truism that Bram Stoker’s Dracula originates from a century that historians often describe as the most significant in terms of revolutionary ideology, whilst wishing to avoid the clichéd view held, it is undeniable that the more one delves into the depths of this novel the greater wealth of meaning demonstrates significant correlation with Marxist ideology. The 19th Century saw the emergence of revolutionary socialist Karl Marx, who himself used the vampire metaphor to describe the capitalist system as ‘dead labour which, vampire like, lives only by sucking living labour’. Through Stoker’s opulent use of narrative structure, use of setting and imagery, this novel presents a multiple

The story of Dracula is well documented and has stood the test of time since it’s Victorian age creation. More times than not, literature writings are a reflection of the era from which they are produced. In the case of Dracula, Vampire literature expresses the fears of a society. Which leads me to the topic I chose to review: sexuality. The Victorian Era was viewed as a period diluted in intense sexual repression and I believe that Dracula effectively exploited this as the fear of sexuality was commonplace in the society. In this paper I will examine Bram Stoker’s Dracula and highlight his use of sexuality. I will analysis the female sexuality that is prevalent throughout the book, the complexities are at work within the text, and the

“Despite the claimed reverence for puritan ideals, the Victorian era brought numerous challenges to Christianity, including the growing trends of materialism, rationalism, communism, and "higher criticism" of the Bible.” (WEB). There was a lot of controversy going on at that time so people were beginning to doubt their religion and the church, these people who were against God were seen as immoral just as Dracula seen as. Just like Mina and Lucy were infected by sinful blood, the people in that time were also brainwashed by scientists to believe that religion was not true. However Bram Stoker reinforced his universal truth to show that in this context, religion was the good and that scientists were the bad of that time. “A great number of people were habitual church-goers, at least once and probably twice, every Sunday. The Bible was frequently and widely read by people of every class; so too were religious stories and allegories.” (WEB). Although some people went astray of their religion, a large part of the population was still true to their roots and followed religious practices. The church’s main goal was to increase its followers, usually the ones off track were brought back only when the doubt was destroyed; Mina’s process of conversion was stopped the same when Dracula was destroyed. Being religious meant the god would keep you in health and if you were evil then you would have a terrible life. Stoker described

Because the Victorian Era was an age so heavily influenced by religion, it is hardly surprising, that Bram Stoker’s Dracula contains many religious references. The Victorian Era was a time period from 1837 to 1901, during which Queen Victoria reigned in the United Kingdom. During this time, women were expected to be quiet, proper, and pure. All people were expected to attend church, and sexuality was incredibly censored. Religion played an influencing role in Victorian art including visual and literary. Likewise, the fear of being sinful, or not following the Bible was still a fear from the under educated members of society. The prominent branches of Christianity in this era, Protestants and Catholics, dominated the popular culture of western societies. Given the religious context of the Victorian Era, Vampires in Bram Stoker’s Dracula represent sin and have inherently sinful behavior, whereas the humans represents goodness and religion, no matter which kind of religion.

A key element of the fantasy / horror / gothic genres is to fascinate and intrigue readers through stories that pose the “what if” questions, thereby teaching us something new about the society we live in. Sometimes these stories are helpful in explaining difficult concepts of good and evil, science and religion. In Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend, the mythical horror creatures, the vampires, have many differences in their mythical abilities, functionality and origin; however, they both serve to underline themes that remind the reader of what makes us human and what defines us as ultimately good or evil. Stoker’s Count Dracula is the product of a religious strike against the antagonist whereas the vampires in I Am

    Perhaps no work of literature has ever been composed without being a product of its era, mainly because the human being responsible for writing it develops their worldview within a particular era.  Thus, with Bram Stoker's Dracula, though we have a vampire myth novel filled with terror, horror, and evil, the story is a thinly veiled disguise of the repressed sexual mores of the Victorian era.  If we look to critical interpretation and commentary to win support for such a thesis, we find it aplenty "For erotic Dracula certainly is.  'Quasi-pornography' one critic labels it.  Another describes it as a 'kind of incestuous, necrophilious, oral-anal-sadistic all-in-wrestling matching'.  A

“Vampire Religion” is an article written about Bram Stoker’s “Dracula.” The article is one that was found very useful in reading and understanding the story. Christopher Herbert, the author, argues of the importance that religion and events of the world played on the writing of “Dracula.” There are two parts to the article, one is “Religion/Superstition” and the second part is “The Vampire in the Church.” Both parts are vital to the article.

As we all know Dracula not only has to do with the horror, blood and vampires, but religion, christianity and the Victorian society that play a huge role in the story. These topics all have a reasonable amount of influence on how Dracula was written, and how the various themes in Dracula were developed. The input of religion is seen from the start all the way to the ending no doubt about it. In addition, there are also various examples of how the Victorian society also mixed in with religion, like the ideas of people back then and what they thought was wrong and right due to society’s beliefs . The exploration of thoughts and ideas by all the characters regarding what is wrong and right due to society and religion is also easily seen throughout the story. In the novel Dracula, written by Bram Stoker, the Victorian society influenced overall in the way it was written, and how their beliefs at this time of Christianity are being explored to these new ideas.

Throughout the Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, one is presented with the presence of many Christian ideals and symbols throughout the text. Count Dracula’s appearance and actions seem to display the perversion of various Christian ideals and symbols and Dr. Van Helsing uses various Christian symbols to defeat Count Dracula. Given that Van Helsing and his posse are able to use the Christian imagery to drive Dracula back to Castle Dracula and eventually defeat him, Stoker might be suggesting that the power of the Christianity and the Christian God will always prevail in a match against evil and the devil.

Dracula is a novel composed of letters, diary entries, and journal entries. There are also occasionally newspaper clippings in this novel as well. The novel reads as a vampire story in Transylvania. Though Dracula can be read that way, the novel has a “strong religious thrust of this novel has correspondingly been ignored, not to say suppressed…” (Herbert 100). While Dracula often reads as a horror novel and has been interpreted by some readers as anti-religious, it nevertheless contains religious symbols, and Christian themes. This paper argues that Dracula can be read as a salvation narrative.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula magnificently portrays Anti-Christian values and beliefs through one of its central characters, Dracula. Dracula himself, a demonic figure, both in appearance and in behavior, could be considered the Anti-Christ. This idea of Dracula as a gothic Anti-Christ is a major element in the novel. Stoker displays numerous Anti-Christian values, superstitious beliefs, and compares and contrasts the powers of God with those of Dracula.