“The aim of this essay is to offer a reading of Bram Stoker’s Dracula as an example of the dialogue established between science, literature and the study of the supernatural in Victorian England. The novel, as part of the fin-de-siècle scientific period, can be interpreted as a conscious inquiry into the functioning of the mind and, most especially, into the aetiology of paranoid behaviour. Thus, Stoker’s text becomes a testimony of a mental disorder known as folie à deux, or shared madness.”
– Andres Romero Jadar
This reminds me of both the novels Jane Eyre and Frankenstein. The part about the relationships between science and the supernatural really coincides with Frankenstein, as this was one of the main themes of the book. However, in this story the creature was not created but has already existed. Also, the mental illness aspect really connects ts back to Jane Eyre and the character of Bertha. These common fears of people at the time are really apparent in these repeating themes throughout novels.
“Dracula – described by a reviewer in the 26 June 1897 edition of Punch as ‘the very weirdest of weird tales’ – presents a series of contrasts and clashes between old traditions and new ideas. Stoker uses the figure of the vampire as thinly-veiled shorthand for many of the fears that haunted the Victorian fin de siècle. Throughout the novel, scientific rationality is set against folklore and superstition; old Europe is set against modern London; and traditional notions of civilised restraint and duty are threatened at every turn by the spread of corruption and wanton depravity.”
“Dracula’s forays into London, for example, and his ability to move unnoticed through the crowded streets while carrying the potential to afflict all in his path with the stain of vampirism, play upon late-Victorian fears of untrammelled immigration. The latter was feared as leading to increased levels of crime and the rise of ghetto communities. Dracula creates several lairs in the metropolis, including one in Chicksand Street, Whitechapel – an area notorious for the Jack the Ripper murders of 1888″
-Greg Buzwell, Dracula: The Victorian Vampire
These quotations from Greg Buzwell show exactly the type of fear that Stoker attempted to draw on for this novel. Dracula is literally placed in London almost as an “undocumented immigrant” (I guess some of our fears haven’t changed) . Here, he creates lairs in areas of London where brutal crimes are known to happen. The setting of this novel is very clear about who the monster is. This fear of immigration is similar to the one found in The Beetle. Once again, these possible immigrants are depicted as scary and monstrous as possible.
