SparkNotes: Dracula: Themes

Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideasexplored in a literary work.The Consequences of Modernity

Early in the novel, as Harker becomes uncomfortable withhis lodgings and his host at Castle Dracula, he notes that unlessmy senses deceive me, the old centuries had, and have, powers oftheir own which mere modernity cannot kill. Here, Harker voicesone of the central concerns of the Victorian era. The end of thenineteenth century brought drastic developments that forced Englishsociety to question the systems of belief that had governed it forcenturies. Darwins theory of evolution, for instance, called thevalidity of long-held sacred religious doctrines into question.Likewise, the Industrial Revolution brought profound economic andsocial change to the previously agrarian England.

Though Stoker begins his novel in a ruined castlea traditional Gothicsettinghe soon moves the action to Victorian London, where theadvancements of modernity are largely responsible for the ease withwhich the count preys upon English society. When Lucy falls victimto Draculas spell, neither Mina nor Dr. Sewardboth devotees ofmodern advancementsare equipped even to guess at the cause of Lucyspredicament. Only Van Helsing, whose facility with modern medicaltechniques is tempered with open-mindedness about ancient legendsand non-Western folk remedies, comes close to understanding Lucysaffliction.

In Chapter XVII, when Van Helsing warns Seward that torid the earth of this terrible monster we must have all the knowledge andall the help which we can get, he literally means all theknowledge. Van Helsing works not only to understand modern Western methods,but to incorporate the ancient and foreign schools of thought thatthe modern West dismisses. It is the fault of our science, hesays, that it wants to explain all; and if it explain not, thenit says there is nothing to explain. Here, Van Helsing points to thedire consequences of subscribing only to contemporary currents ofthought. Without an understanding of historyindeed, without differentunderstandings of historythe world is left terribly vulnerablewhen history inevitably repeats itself.

Most critics agree that Dracula is, as much as anythingelse, a novel that indulges the Victorian male imagination, particularlyregarding the topic of female sexuality. In Victorian England, womenssexual behavior was dictated by societys extremely rigid expectations.A Victorian woman effectively had only two options: she was eithera virgina model of purity and innocenceor else she was a wifeand mother. If she was neither of these, she was considered a whore,and thus of no consequence to society.

By the time Dracula lands in England and begins to workhis evil magic on Lucy Westenra, we understand that the impendingbattle between good and evil will hinge upon female sexuality. BothLucy and Mina are less like real people than two-dimensional embodimentsof virtues that have, over the ages, been coded as female. Both womenare chaste, pure, innocent of the worlds evils, and devoted totheir men. But Dracula threatens to turn the two women into theiropposites, into women noted for their voluptuousnessa word Stokerturns to again and againand unapologetically open sexual desire.

Dracula succeeds in transforming Lucy, and once she becomesa raving vampire vixen, Van Helsings men see no other option thanto destroy her, in order to return her to a purer, more sociallyrespectable state. After Lucys transformation, the men keep a carefuleye on Mina, worried they will lose yet another model of Victorian womanhoodto the dark side. The men are so intensely invested in the womenssexual behavior because they are afraid of associating with thesocially scorned. In fact, the men fear for nothing less than theirown safety. Late in the novel, Dracula mocks Van Helsings crew,saying, Your girls that you all love are mine already; and throughthem you and others shall yet be mine. Here, the count voices amale fantasy that has existed since Adam and Eve were turned outof Eden: namely, that womens ungovernable desires leave men poisedfor a costly fall from grace.

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SparkNotes: Dracula: Themes