The Defense Mechanisms In Bram Stoker's Dracula

Throughout everyday life, people feel threatened and overwhelmed as if they are going to collapse under the pressure of society. This feeling is called anxiety. According to Freud, the body has a way to deal with this anxiety from conflicts in life. Freud stated that the Ego employs a range of defense mechanisms that operate at an unconscious level to help ward off unacceptable drives and urges. Unfortunately, these drives and urges don’t disappear. Our body keeps these painful or socially undesirable thoughts and memories out of the conscious mind with defense mechanisms. Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a perfect example of Freud’s theory on defense mechanisms, because of the repressed feelings of desire and temptation present, normally very unusual

for the time period. The characters, each depending on their situation or surroundings, use defense mechanisms throughout the novel. By better understanding defense mechanisms, readers can have a better understanding of the character’s struggles, and can relate to them with their own experiences.
An excellent example for the Freudian analysis is Jonathan’s encounter with the Brides of Dracula, which launches Jonathan’s mind into a very complicated defense mechanism of reaction formation. The Brides make Jonathan feel “uneasy,” with a “wicked, burning” sexual desire, which transforms him into a subconscious state. While in this state between the conscious and unconscious, Jonathan remembers the Brides as “fiends” and “repulsive”. He describes them in such horrid language, because his Ego uses reaction formation as a way of protection to remove the memories of his temptation and lust towards the brides of Dracula. Jonathan’s use of reaction formation is shown by the language he uses to describe the brides, he is attracted to them, but is afraid of this attraction. Because of his morals, Jonathan is ashamed to admit that he wanted them to kiss him. After waking up, Jonathan tries to recall what had happened the night before, but he could only remember those “awful women, who were, who are, waiting to suck my blood.” He had such a traumatic experience with the vampire women that his mind has blocked out the memories of what had happened, causing his memories of the Brides to be repressed. Since this takes place in Victorian England, Jonathan’s encounter with the three sexy women was very inappropriate, so his Ego used the defense mechanism of repression to completely repress all memories of his sexual temptations, leaving him with only vague recollection that the women were awful. Basically, defense mechanisms are used here as a way of protecting Jonathan’s mind psychologically, and to prevent any “corruption” his mind was exposed to during the interaction with the three brides.
According to Freud, a defense mechanism is the unconscious mental process employed by the Ego to reduce anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality; several examples of these mechanisms are shown by Jonathan, as a result of his terrible encounters in Dracula’s castle. After Jonathan recovered from his “brain fever,” he tries to tell Mina about his “great shock”, but when he tried to “think of what” happened, it made his “head spin round” as his body’s attempt to block his memories from remembering the whole confrontation with Dracula as if it had never happened. Jonathan can’t “think of what” had happened, because his Ego has completely repressed all of the memories of his encounter with the Count as a way to protect him from such an inappropriate and scarring experience. Jonathan’s Ego is protecting him by having his mind repress the experience with Dracula to avoid another violent brain fever, and to avoid anything that will cause him anxiety and stress. Jonathan understands that he has recorded in his notebook the information about what caused his brain fever, but he does “not want to know it”, and insists that Mina “never lets” him know, unless “some solemn duty should come.” Jonathan’s choice to ignore the information in his notebook is a form of undoing, because he is choosing to repent what had happened, and just wants to get back to his normal life. The importance of Jonathan’s undoing, is that his mind is protecting him by making him atone for his recent events by choosing not to learn what had happened. In this case, repression and undoing is the defense mechanism that was set by his Ego, causing him to ignore what has happened to him, and also protecting him from having another brain fever.
Defense mechanisms can influence someone positively or negatively, depending on the character and the situation; in this case, the defense mechanism is keeping Renfield from becoming what he fears most, a vampire.

When Renfield was being questioned, he consistently said, “I don’t want any souls,” but while being asked if he “likes life, and wants life,” he agreed, but when he was asked, “how are we to get the life without getting the soul also,” he seemed very puzzled and full of excuses. Renfield was very specific that he “doesn’t want any souls,” but when the question came up that asked how can you get life without souls, he began denying and “put his fingers to his ears and shut his eyes.” The reason why he “put his fingers to his ears and shut his eyes” was because he does not want to face the fact that he is afraid of having souls and taking responsibility for them, which would make him a vampire. Even though Renfield is a zoophagous and craves the lives of the things he eats, he is afraid of becoming like Dracula, so he denies being like a vampire, and avoids any words that remind him of vampires. While being questioned by Van Helsing, Renfield has started saying, “Blow spiders! What’s the use of spiders? There isn’t any-thing in them to eat…, he stopped suddenly as though reminded of a forbidden topic,” this is the second time he has suddenly stopped at the word ‘drink’.” Stoker has intentionally made Renfield avoid using the word “drink,” and to talk of the “forbidden topic” because Renfield is afraid that he is becoming like a vampire. The pauses before the word “drink” is him using a defense mechanism of denial because he is failing to acknowledge the information, which would cause him anxiety knowing that he is becoming what he is most afraid of. Renfield’s mind is using a defense mechanism by making him avoid certain words like drink, and souls because he does not want become a vampire, and he is protecting himself from turning into

one.
In conclusion, Bram Stoker’s Dracula has many great examples of Defense mechanisms used among the characters. The characters not only used the defense mechanism for protection psychologically, but also to hide their feelings of lust and temptation. The coping mechanisms help many characters overcome their struggle, and rid their mind of any corruption that is inappropriate during the Victorian time period. The more we understand about the defense mechanism, we can form a connection with the characters and maybe be able to overcome our own struggles.