Religion In Dracula Essay

443 Words1 Page

Some people may argue that the theme of religion in Dracula by Bram Stoker reflects the faith of characters. To prove so, they would refer to the Bible and quote, “And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove: and nothing shall be impossible unto you” (King James Version, Matthew, 17:20). Thus, people who do not believe and have faith in God are not able to use holy symbols. In Dracula by Bram Stoker, all the characters have faith in God which is why they are able to use the crucifix, the Host, and the holly water to win over Dracula. Moreover, if there is no faith in the novel then Stoker would have chosen a place other than the “Hospital of St Joseph and Ste Mary” (83) to take care of Harker after going out of the Count’s castle. …show more content…

Mina for instance says in her letter to Lucy that the Sisters have been great and she would never forget them or what they have done (88). Again, if the characters have not been believers then Stoker would not have mentioned Mina saying this, because what she has said suggests that she believes. However, people who claim so not take into consideration that the presence of religion in the novel is actually a reflection of Lacan and Marx’s theories as well as the Enlightenment era. Furthermore, those people do not consider that if the characters have had faith then most of the scenes would have been erased from the novel. This is because half of the scenes reflect the actions of characters and how they break away from Christianity. First, the men have a sexual relationship with Lucy when they give her blood without being married to her (Stoker 101, 107,112,

Show More
Related

  • Belief Systems and Gender Roles in Dracula

    1233 Words  | 3 Pages

    The crucifix and the empty cross are symbols of fear, loathing and danger to Dracula. There is a certain irony here as the cross is the ultimate symbol of redemption to all Christians. Sin or rather the dark side of humanity's turning from God is recognized and can be redeemed by coming to the cross. The cross is also a symbol of resurrection. The resurrection is the gift of eternal life through Christ to which all Christians can aspire. This is opposed to the Un-Dead nature of Dracula. He is immortal but it is not an eternal joyful thing. Indeed the eternity is always under threat by the very normalcy and goodness of people like the Harkers.

    Read More

  • Comparing The Novel And Film Extracts Of Bram Stoker's Dracula

    1505 Words  | 4 Pages

    Hollywood in known for making literary adaptations, and such adaptations will exploit context. Movies bring literary properties to the public that otherwise would not bother to read them. However the "marriage" of literature and film holds their own separate qualities.

    Read More

  • Dracula: A Simple Tale of Good vs. Evil

    1486 Words  | 3 Pages

    Religion was a big part of people’s lives back in Stoker’s time. A belief against religion was evil; therefore one who was not devout would be deemed bad or wicked. Dracula, was as evil as a creature gets and a nightmare for the pious; he was a symbol of an Anti-Christ and could even be called Satan. “I drew away, and his hand touched the string of beads which held the crucifix. It made an instant change in him, for the fury passed so quickly that I could hardly believe it was ever there.” (Stoker 24-25). Because Dracula was harmed by holy items, it could mean that he was pure evil, which would be true in Stoker’s time. As a result the main weapons the men had to fight against Dracula with was sacred matter; their struggle was like a fight was like a battle between the holy and satanic. The Count was invading Lond...

    Read More

  • Foreigner In Dracula Essay

    829 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout ‘Dracula’, Stoker presents the idea of ‘foreigner’ through the characterisation of Count Dracula and Professor Van Helsing, who are the two main outsiders in the novel. Dracula, being a supernatural creature, is of Transylvanian descent which makes him such a poignant character. On the other hand, Van Helsing is a Roman Catholic, and is of a Dutch background, which also highlights him as a foreigner within ‘Dracula.’ In this essay I will explore how these two characters are represented and the intention behind the idea of ‘foreigner.’

    Read More

  • Power and Control in Dracula

    1801 Words  | 4 Pages

    It would appear that the most likely of these choices stated before is that God is unable to save the innocent. However, this is not to say that God is powerless. God maintains power over Dracula in several ways: Holy items, such as the crucifix, holy water, and holy wafers repel Dracula. The first time we see Dracula’s reaction is when Jonathan Harker is shaving. Dracula walks up behind Jonathan Harker and sees the crucifix. He is forced to stop looking at the crucifix and he (Dracula) say’s that "our ways are different than that of your England" and "you should not put your faith in such objects of deceit". We see, as Harker does that Dracula has a hatred of God.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Dracula In Stoker's Dracula

    1456 Words  | 3 Pages

    First off, in Stoker’s Dracula the reader’s suspension of disbelief is lower as compared to folklore tales. He is a tall creepy old person when first revealed, but later on in the novel he is shown to be more sinister. This creates a sense of mystery and confusion. Another reason is that he is a well developed antagonist. Often times he outsmarts the main characters creating a sense of suspense and irony because the readers know what is going to happen but the characters do not. But the most important reason of them all is the fact that Count Dracula takes elements from folklore and builds upon it. Stoker uses classic folklore to create a foundation for Dracula, for example; Dracula’s powers give him the ability to live forever, or shapeshift into other creatures as well. They also give him weaknesses such as: holy objects and daylight which mitigates his powers. These powers regularly add to the mysterious tone in the book. Count Dracula climbing down the castle wall upside down or moving slowly across a yard as a cloud of vapor makes the reader question what is happening. He has the ability to control the weather and animals as well. Stoker gives him powers from legend to make him a formidable force in the story. Although his appearance is unpleasant, he is quite the seductive character. He uses this to his advantage when trying to turn Mina and Lucy into vampires. Dracula preys on ‘weaker’ beings in a hierarchical system where he feasts on the women and once the women have turned to vampires, they feed on children. He can also use telepathy to tell where other vampires are, however, this works against him in the final chase of the book. In short his powers are unique and interesting and help to make the Count a powerful

    Read More

  • Stoker's Use Of Religion In Dracula

    753 Words  | 2 Pages

    Stoker uses religion to showcase the good while having Dracula represent the bad. Throughout the chapters Stoker constantly uses Christian icons against Dracula. He commonly uses a crucifix and has shown communion wafers. The first case of showing religion is at the very beginning of the novel. Johnathan Harker is on his way to Dracula’s castle and he is saying goodbye to an old lady. She hands him a crucifix and demands he wear it for it will protect him. Even before being introduced to Dracula, Stoker has already begun to showcase religion. By having the old lady give Harker the crucifix it immediately puts Dracula on the opposite side as an evil figure. This is shown in the entry that Harker makes in his journal, “Whether it is the old lady’s fear, or the many ghostly tradition of this place, or the crucifix itself, I do not know, but I am not feeling nearly as easy in my as usual.”(13) Even though Harker doesn’t believe in Catholic

    Read More

  • Dracula As an Outsider

    1931 Words  | 4 Pages

    Dracula, as it was written by Bram Stoker, presents to us possibly the most infamous monster in all of literature. Count Dracula, as a fictional character, has come to symbolize the periphery between the majority and being an outsider to that group. Dracula’s appeal throughout the years and genres no doubt stems from his sense of romanticism and monster. Reader’s no doubt are attracted to his “bad-boy” sensibilities, which provide an attraction into the novel. Looking first at his appearance, personality, and behaviour at the beginning of the novel, we can easily see Dracula’s blurred outsider status, as he occupies the boundaries of human and monster. Related to this is Dracula’s geographic sense of outsider. For all intents and purposes, Dracula is an immigrant to England, thus placing him further into the realm of outsider. To look at Bram Stoker’s Dracula as solely a monster in the most violent sense of his actions would to be look at a sole aspect of his character, and so we must look at how he interacts with the outside world to genuinely understand him.

    Read More

  • Dracula Compare And Contrast Essay

    1272 Words  | 3 Pages

    Over the years people have given new out looks on the original vampire, Dracula. He was a tall non-attractive looking man who would never come out during the day. Hollywood however has made new vampire stories such as Twilight, True Blood, and The Vampire Diaries/The Originals that have new ideas of a vampire. These novels/books all have differences, but some still have key characteristics of the original vampire.

    Read More

  • Role Of Religion In Dracula

    1116 Words  | 3 Pages

    Consequently, the characters depend on the concept of God and religious objects to protect themselves from Dracula. The book promotes the idea of religion being pure while the supernatural is dangerous and unclean. Stoker demonstrates this in the novel when Van Helsing placed the holy “wafer on Mina’s forehead,” and the religious object continuously “burned into her flesh” (Stoker). As a vampire, Mina represents uncleanliness while religion is symbolic for purity. The use of the religious object displays a protective mechanism that sets a tone in the novel, deterring characters from neglecting their religious beliefs. Even though the action representing God and Christianity seems to put the idea of religion and faith in an unfavorable light, the characters still worship and look to God for guidance during the novel in various ways. All the individuals often pray, even when Mina was burned the “incident [did] not shake her faith” and devotion to God (Sanders 92). This shows how the characters depend on God and religion, even in situations where lack of faith had consequences as seen in characters such as Mina. The most important inclination to maintain religious belief was to resist and defeat the wrath of vampires, and this was demonstrated by Stoker by the use of religious

    Read More

  • Dracula - Symbolism Of Blood

    1227 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Bram Stoker's Dracula, the most blatant and powerful symbol is blood. He takes the blood that means so much to the believers of this legend and has it represent more than even they could imagine. Blood is the main object associated with vampires and vampirism. From a mythical standpoint, it is the basis of life for the vampires as they feed off of the blood of young, vibrant souls. From a more scientific standpoint blood is what would drip out of the corpse's mouth when family members would dig up their dead kin to check for the dreaded disease. Stoker takes the significance of this symbol and puts his own unique twist to the meaning of blood. He combines the traditional folklore of vampirism and the immense sexual undertones of the Victorian era to create a simply horrific tale which completely confuses the emotions of his readers. Stoker knew bloods importance in vampire history and used the overwhelming symbolism to convey his own personal lust and sexual obsessions. The scenes where Lucy is receiving transfusions; first from Holmwood, then from Seward, and the unforgettable vampire baptism between Dracula and Mina all have these very erotic, sexual feelings associated with them. What makes these so powerful is the combination of violence and sex. As a reader, you know that what Dracula is doing are horrific and wrong, but because they are so sexually described and associated you think you should enjoy them, but you can't. This is the confusion which stoker implements into his readers minds, especially ones of the Victorian era. This is why stoker used blood as the most important symbol in the novel; to create an intense horror that was not just in the words of the book, but in the minds of the reader.

    Read More

  • Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Bram Stoker’s Dracula

    1804 Words  | 4 Pages

    ... although his downfall comes because he has limitations, such as, “his power ceases, as does that of all evil things, at the coming of the day.”… “Then there are things which so afflict him that he has no power, as the garlic that we know of, and as for things sacred, my crucifix…” These reassure one that there is a means to destroy Dracula.

    Read More

  • An Analysis of Bram Stoker's Dracula

    879 Words  | 2 Pages

    Bram Stoker’s Dracula is the story about how the small company of men and a woman lead by Professor Abraham Van Helsing combats against Count Dracula, who moves from Transylvania to England in order to manipulate people as “foul things of the night like him, without heart or conscience, preying on the bodies and the souls of those [they] love best” (223). Stoker employs an epistolary format in this novel and nowadays, Dracula becomes one of popular literary works representing epistolary novels written in the nineteenth century. The term “epistolary novels” refers to the novels composed of different types of documents, such as journals, letters, newspaper clippings and so forth. One of the effects created by using an epistolary format is providing the characters’ inner state throughout the story, which “focuse[s] on a broader exploration of the insights that made up the conscious self by and [the broader context]” (Ştefan 73). Consequently, Stoker’s use of fragmentary narratives delivers the main characters’ emotions and thoughts in more picturesque ways. In Dracula, the epistolary format of the novel increases terror and suspense, which derived from tension when the story alters after alluding characters’ insecure future and immense power of Dracula affecting not only the main characters, but the third parties who are irrelevant to them.

    Read More

  • A Comparison Of Bram Stoker's Dracula And Dracula

    1013 Words  | 3 Pages

    From Transylvania to Hollywood, vampires have transformed from unfamiliar, mysterious personalities to one of the most dominant monsters in the horror genre today. Vampires are one of the oldest and most noted creatures in mythology, with many variations of them around the world. Although the most famous version is Bram Stoker’s Dracula, many variants have come before and after telling of the same legend with their own added ideas and modifications to relate to their cultures. Today, there is a multitude of literary and film works that convey and resurface peoples’ fear of vampires. As gothic works like Dracula, by Bram Stoker and Scooby-Doo! and the Legend of the Vampire directed by Scott Jeralds share certain traits reflective of the genre;

    Read More

  • Dracula Comparison Essay

    1036 Words  | 3 Pages

    Dracula, the 1931 film directed by Tod Browning is loosely based upon the novel of the same name. Therefore both share similar characteristics but are distinct. The differences between the novel and film occur due to the cinematic choices made as well as the fact that the film is based off of not only the novel Dracula but also the 1924 play Dracula. One major decision made by Browning was to alter the role of Johnathan Harker. In the novel Johnathan is the solicitor who meets with Dracula in Transylvania and narrowly escapes the “veritable prison” and is a changed man due to his experiences there (25). On the other hand, in the film Johnathan never visits Transylvania. Renfield is the one who does so instead. That provides Renfield with a

    Read More

More about Religion In Dracula Essay

Open Document