Context

• • Published in the last decade of the 19th century, Dracula reflected the intellectual and cultural debates surrounding science and religion during that time:
  • One of the main conflicts in the novel is the clash between rational and scientific views, which are represented by characters such as Dr Seward, and the traditional, religious views that Van Helsing uses to destroy Dracula
• • At the time the novel was written, religion was being overlooked in favour of science and medicine:
  • However, religion is depicted as a source of strength against Dracula and the forces of evil
  • From the very beginning of the novel, characters use religious symbols and prayers to protect themselves against supernatural beings
  • Stoker is suggesting that faith and religion can provide a sense of security and hope when faced with something unknown and unnatural
• • Darwin’s Theory of Evolution was published decades earlier and society was beginning to question traditional religious doctrine:
  • Stoker attempts to highlight the limits of science through the characters of Van Helsing and Dr Seward, who fail to save Lucy using scientific methods
  • This message highlights the idea that science alone may not have all the answers and that old practices and beliefs should not be completely dismissed
• • While science was a big focus during the 19th century, there was a resurgence of interest in the occult and the supernatural:
  • This may have reflected the crisis of faith that was taking place during that time
  • The characters of Dracula and Van Helsing represent these conflicts and clashes as they both represent good vs evil
• • The sheer size of the empire meant that people feared invasion from outsiders that could weaken or diminish its stronghold in the world:
  • Stoker’s Dracula is a reflection of those fears
  • The image of the vampire as the “stranger” who has infiltrated civilised Western society is a reflection of the fears of that time
• • During the 19th century, the British Empire was one of the largest superpowers and a formidable empire that consisted of countries such as Canada, India, Australia and New Zealand:
  • The British Empire was therefore determined to maintain its power and status in the world
• • Stoker also uses the character of Dracula as a means to threaten England’s spiritual identity:
  • Christianity was the only significant religion in Victorian England and Victorians were afraid that a foreigner would infiltrate and destroy their core beliefs
  • In Dracula’s case, he brought godlessness and evil with him and was a threat to Victorians’ morality
• • Dracula also represents a cultural “otherness” as he spends time familiarising himself with English culture and norms in order to infiltrate and prey on the society:
  • When he arrives in England, he metaphorically invades England via his attack on Lucy Westenra
  • She is a representation of England and its morals, so when she is attacked, those morals are attacked
  • As a result, when Lucy begins to change, she becomes a part of the “other” and becomes less like her old self, thus reflecting society's fears of invasion
• • Abraham Stoker was born in Ireland in 1847
  • According to Stoker’s son, his inspiration for Dracula came from a particularly disturbing dream about a “vampire king emerging from the dead”
• • It is also worth noting that Stoker borrowed a book from the local library in Whitby:
  • In this book, there was mention of a 15th-century prince by the name of Vlad Tepes
  • Stoker may have taken some of this as inspiration for his villain in Dracula
• • Stoker used Whitby as the setting for some of the key events that unfold in the novel and it is now considered the “birthplace of Dracula”:
  • He was recommended to visit Whitby by a friend
  • Some of the stories that Stoker incorporated into the novel were stories that he had been told during his stay at Whitby
  • These include the story of the Russian boat that became shipwrecked off the coast of Whitby