The Perversion and Triumph of Christian Ideas in Dracula

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Recommended: The importance of Van Helsing in the novel Dracula

Throughout the Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, one is presented with the presence of many Christian ideals and symbols throughout the text. Count Dracula’s appearance and actions seem to display the perversion of various Christian ideals and symbols and Dr. Van Helsing uses various Christian symbols to defeat Count Dracula. Given that Van Helsing and his posse are able to use the Christian imagery to drive Dracula back to Castle Dracula and eventually defeat him, Stoker might be suggesting that the power of the Christianity and the Christian God will always prevail in a match against evil and the devil.
In the Christian religion, the devil is the not-as-powerful antagonist of God. There are many ways in which Count Dracula could be observed as either a symbol or incarnate of the devil. First, one may take into account Dracula’s name. In Romanian, the language of the country of Dracula’s origin, the word “drac” means devil or evil person, this word can also be taken to mean dragon (En.bab.la). In the biblical book of Revelation, the devil is described as a dragon. The book of Revelation states “The giant dragon was thrown down out of heaven. (He is that old snake called the devil or Satan, who tricks the whole world.)” (New Century Version, Rev. 12:9). Furthermore, the pseudonym that Dracula assumes in England is an even more blatant reference to the devil. Whenever the men are attempting to find who the owner is of the property in Piccadilly, the men find that “the purchaser is a foreign nobleman, Count DeVille” (Stoker, n.p.). “DeVille” is a simply the word devil with the accents in the incorrect position on the word. Therefore, both of these names, by which Dracula is called, point to how he might represent the devil.
Dracula’...

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...r of God will always prevail over that of the devil or any perversion of Christian ideals. Given the names that Dracula has, his appearance, and his action, one could properly argue that he represents the same evil that the devil presents in Christianity. Furthermore, one is able to note that the actions that Van Helsing and the others perform are able to weaken Dracula so that he eventually is powerless against them. The use of these Christian objects allows them to rid the world of Dracula and perhaps implies that in the struggle between the Christian God and the devil, or possibly even good and evil, that God, or good, will always succeed.

Works Cited
New Century Version. Ed. Caroline Christina Brown, et al. Fort Worth: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2005. Print.
Stoker, Bram. Dracula. G Books, 1897. Kindle AZW File.
“Drac.” En.bab.la. Bab.la, n.d. Web. 3 May. 2014.

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