Psychoanalytic Theory on Dacula

Dracula by Bram Stoker is a horror story about a hero’s quest to rid the world of vampires from the Victorian era. Readers are horrified by his graphic descriptions and horrifying struggles. However, Dracula is much more than just a vampire fantasy; in this novel, Bram Stoker explores the unconscious sexual desires repressed during the Victorian era and the controversy surrounding sexuality.

Jonathan Harker starts off the book with his journal of his travels to meet count Dracula, and begins to regret ever leaving home soon after. Jonathan is very observant, noting details throughout his journey; he remembers foreign words to look up, many details of the journey to the castle, and sees “a faint flickering blue flame” many times off in the distance

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

Dracula by Bram Stoker is the original vampire book, the one that started it all. From it derived the now so beloved and famous teen-romance vampire genre, with novels like Twilight. However, Dracula is not remotely like the sparkle-in-the-sunlight, falling-in-love-with-mortals vampire any more than Harry Potter is like the Wicked Witch of the West. Dracula is a gothic horror novel set in Transylvania and England during the Victorian Era. Letters, diary entries, and newspaper clippings from the viewpoint of several characters tell the story, allowing for a wide variety of viewpoints that highlight happenings in Dracula as well as present the social issues pertained within. While it contains action, suspense, horror, and romance, it also displays the corruption within the everyday society. The way the women are presented, interacted with, and how Count Dracula affects them brings forth the issues within the Victorian society, especially the men’s treatment of women and the different social and gender roles, which Stoker uses to highlight the situational irony found within the novel.

Dracula, constructed as the “other” is at odds with the “self” or the typical British characters, which is the reason why he must be annihilated. He represents the “other” in two senses; firstly based on his location and secondly based on his non-humane attributes. The space that Dracula occupies,

In Arthur’s absence, Lucy unknowingly takes up her old nervous habit of sleep-walking. Late in the night while sleep-walking she makes her way to the church courtyard overlooking the harbor. Here, Lucy is exposed and helpless and Dracula begins to take advantage of her. As Weissman notes, the change in Lucy is almost immediate; throughout the day she appears frail, gloomy and preoccupied, but as night falls, Lucy’s manner changes and she is sultry and aggressive (4). Arthur Holmwood returns to Lucy’s side and with the help of Van Helsing and his group of God-fearing men attempt to save her. Sadly, the men’s efforts are in vain, as Lucy does not contest her transformation and surrenders to Dracula. Lucy’s undead body is buried; however, she flees her coffin nightly to feed on unsuspecting victims. Dr. Seward notes in his diary, “ ‘ The sweetness was turned to adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous wantonness’ ” (Diary, 29 September, Continued). Van Helsing and the gang of men descend on Lucy’s burial chamber where they dread the task that is at hand. Nonetheless, Arthur bravely accepts the duty of freeing his beloved’s soul. With the aid of Van Helsing, Arthur drives a stake through Lucy’s heart. The men look on as Lucy’s body quivers and her soul is freed. Lucy’s appearance returns to the soft, beautiful girl of their memory. The men can at last mourn the loss of sweet Lucy, and she may finally rest in peace.

In this passage of Dracula, Stoker uses important diction and imagery to portray the image of Lucy. The character Lucy had died a while back, however she is found to be alive again after obviously dying. Written in Seward’s perspective, Lucy coming back alive goes against logical thinking that Seward and most people cannot comprehend. Lucy’s appearance is described through various literary devices. The use of literary devices such as imagery and diction contrast each other to signify the changes of Lucy from having pure morals as a human to having evil intentions as a vampire.

Deviance from what is “normal,” from what society deems as acceptable, cannot exist unchallenged. There is no room for difference, no allowances for nonconformity to the norm. When there are deviations from this norm, society immediately rejects them, as they upset the careful, stagnant balance that society has worked so hard to maintain. This was the reality of Victorian society, but the coming of the fin de siècle brought about “a time of growing social uncertainty” and therefore anxieties about these social changes (Warwick). Bram Stoker’s Dracula also reflects this reality, but utilizes the metaphor of a monster, Count Dracula, to illustrate society’s concerns about specific changes and uncertainty. In Stoker’s Dracula, Dracula represents

This shows that Lucy is more open them Mina however Mina has much more potential then Lucy. Now that Lucy has gone, Mina is the one to look out. As soon as Lucy turned into vampire, Van Helsing and the other men felt as if they had to keep Mina safe from Dracula protecting what was left of her purity and womanhood. As said in Jonathan Journal. Mina is, “one of God’s women, fashioned by His own hand to show us men and other women that there is a heaven where we can enter, and that its light can be here on earth. So true, so sweet, so noble” (Stoker and Hindle, 2003 201.) As Erin Pennill states, “In Chapter 12, shortly before Lucy's death she beckons to Arthur saying "Oh, my love, I am so glad you have come! Kiss me!" (192), which immediately puts Van Helsing and Seward in a state of alarm and fright, at her overt sexuality, as it is unexpected of her gender. This scene on the death bed nearly resembles a game of tug of war, where the purely beautiful

Dracula is a signet classic novel written by Bram Stoker. This novel is portrayed by an antagonist character known as Count Dracula. He has been dead for centuries yet he may never die. He has a peculiar power of hypnotic fascination but he is weak in god’s daylight. He is immortal as long as he is able to drink blood from the living. He can change his form into a wolf, a bat or a puff of smoke. Dracula get in touch with Jonathan Harker through a real estate transaction. He went to Dracula’s castle through a carriage as were planned. After a few days, he felt as if he were prisoned in the castle as his movements were restricted. Meanwhile, Harker has a fiancée named Mina

In the 1993 version, Van Helsing refers to Lucy as "a willing recruit, a whore of darkness, a bitch of the devil."(Bram Stoker's Dracula). Also, Mina chooses whether to be with Dracula or with Jonathan. We wonder at the end whether she will choose to remain with Jonathan after Dracula's death.

Dracula takes place during the Victorian Age, a time of religious expansion and a focus on social class structures. Bram Stoker, creates Dracula a human with animalistic characteristics who is a menace to society. Immediately when Johnathan enters the East we see the fear Dracula inflicts in the townspeople, when Jonathan tells the superstitious old lady that he is about to go to Dracula’s castle and meet with him “she went down on her knees and implored me not to go; at least to wait a day or two before starting; “She then rose and dried her eyes, and taking a crucifix from her neck offered it to me” (Stoker 5). The old lady offering Johnathan a crucifix and imploring Johnathan not to go to the castle is a sign that she knows that Dracula is dangerous and that she knows what he is capable to doing. We then see Harker in the castle “But my very feelings changed to repulsion and terror when I saw the whole man slowly emerge from the window, and begin to crawl down the castle wall over that dreadful abyss, face down, with his cloak spreading out around him like great wings” (Stoker 32).

    Van Helsing however, is seen as the chief paternal figure.  He acts as the leader of the men and the architect of the plot to root out and remove the threat Count Dracula brings.  He also cares for those who are weak in the novel, as a father would care for his frail child.  When Mina and Lucy are seen as infected, frail, and vulnerable, he is there to console and to try to strengthen them.  Mina and Lucy, once victimized by Dracula, develop wounds that symbolize their infection and vulnerability, but Van Helsing stays by their side to protect them.  He even refers to Mina as "my child"  (Stoker 309).  When Lucy is extremely ill, he speaks to her as a father would, seen in the quote, "Now, little miss, here is your medicine.  Drink it off, like a good child"  (Stoker 131). Van Helsing is constantly concerned with those who are below him and he acts consistently as a sturdy and rational male.

Dracula uses his supernatural powers to feed his fascination with youth and innocence. In the beginning of the novel, when Dracula is first encountered, he is described as old, although “His face was strong… [his] lips, whose ruddiness showed astonishing vitality in a man of his years… The general effect was one of extraordinary pallor.” (27). This description of the Count shows that while he is old, he still possess some attributes and features of the young. Once Dracula finds that the men have made a bond against him, he makes a bond to take all of their women. He succeeds in transforming Lucy and scaring her mother to death, although Mina is stronger and the men save her by killing Dracula. Also, the three women vampires in his home are past conquests of beautiful, young women. Dracula only sucks the blood of young women in the novel reflecting his hunger for youth and innocence. As the

The Vampire in Dracula threatens the very existence of Victorian England. Stoker constructs the vampire as an embodiment of threat by surpassing his Gothic novelist predecessors to bring the threat of the Gothic home to Victorian England (Arata 119). This in turn crosses the boundary between what is foreign and what is national; and dually East and West. Dracula is open to many