“Dracula,” by Bram Stoker, must be the most abused book in literary history. Wikipedia summarizes the themes of Dracula in a pithy three categories: gender and sexuality, race, and disease.
I’m going to put my cards on the table up front. That’s an absurd assessment of “Dracula.” But it’s a great example of how mainstream and academic interpreters read their biases into Dracula.
In two parts, I’d like to offer my rationale for why I find many common interpretations of “Dracula” scandalous, and in so doing, I hope you’ll learn to embrace “Dracula” as a classic of Christian piety, as well as be inspired by Bram Stoker’s literary example of the importance of faith in a modern age.
Nineteenth century solicitor Jonathan Harker is sent to be a real estate agent for a noble in far Eastern Europe, a place he views as a “backwards” land of weird superstitions. The noble’s name is Dracula.
Harker ignores tons of warning signs and pleas to turn back from local peasantry because as a modern British subject, he is too sophisticated to believe such nonsense. It takes little time upon his arrival at Castle Dracula to realize he has become the prisoner of the wily Count. While Harker tries to figure out how to escape, Dracula travels to England, because -spoiler alert- he is a vampire looking for fresh hunting grounds!
Meanwhile…
In England, we get to know Mina Murray, Harker’s fiancé and a key character within the novel. She has a best friend named Lucy Westenra, a coquettish woman being courted by three men: American Cowboy Quincy P. Morris, British Aristocrat Arthur Holmwood, and psychologist, Dr. John Seward.
Dracula arrives and promptly begins to parasite Lucy, prompting Dr. Seward to call in Stoker’s greatest hero, the continental intellectual, Dr. Abraham Van Helsing. Van Helsing is the “Man Between Worlds,” who has embraced the new science, but honors the old religion. Yes, he’s a devout Catholic!
Van Helsing will lead this group of unprepared characters against the evil their modern Victorian presuppositions have unprepared them for, and he will do so by bringing Christ to bear upon His enemies!
Unable to prevent Lucy’s death, and with Mina in Dracula’s sights, this crew of Christian warriors must fight against Dracula and his crazed minion Renfield, by uprooting his presence around London and tracking him back to Transylvania to end him forever.
My description invokes many of the themes found throughout “Dracula.” Stoker published it in 1897. This is the high watermark of Modernity, before two World Wars would pop its bubble of unmitigated optimism.
The nineteenth century was an eclectic age. It had seen rapid industrialization, globalization, middle class commerce and scientific endeavors.
It was also the zenith of the British Empire, which venerated monarchy and nobility. At the same time, all these cultural changes created cracks in the hold Anglican Protestantism had on Britain. People were also exploring new avenues of spiritual conviction, some good and some bad.
Spiritism and the occult were prevalent, but so was a Catholic renaissance known as the Oxford Movement. And of course, in the aftermath of Darwin, many were replacing their faith entirely in favor of scientific materialism. So, while some of this eclecticism was positive, much of it was corrosive to the Christian faith. Addressing this concern is at the heart of Stoker’s work.
Old and New…
“Dracula” wear’s Stoker’s sympathies for both traditional and modern sensibilities on its sleeves, and it is an attempt at reconciling the two. Thus, Arthur Holmwood is an unironic exemplar of pure English nobility.
His status and resources are an invaluable aid throughout the story. Dr. Seward is a paragon of upward mobility as well as the enlightenment’s scientific idealism. In these two characters he has the “old” and the “new” working together.
Stoker joins these two domestic symbols by two foreigners, the exotic Quincy Morris, all the way from America’s western frontier, and the eccentric Danish intellectual, Dr. Van Helsing. The global diversity of this troupe is not a coincidence, reflecting Stoker’s cosmopolitan appreciation for the old world and the new.
The efforts of the British Empire has been shrinking the world for a long time. Even Harker’s extended prologue which opens the novel plays on the popular travelogue genre of the day.*
Go figure then that “Dracula” is an epistolary novel, which means the story is provided via letters, diaries, newspaper clippings, et cetera. And, of course, Dr. Seward delivers his narration via the technological marvel known as a phonograph. Mina consolidates each character’s story contribution using a new gizmo known as a typewriter!
Thus the novel itself is a meta appreciation of modern technology and storytelling. There are more important examples within the story, such as the use of cutting- edge medical blood transfusions to try to save Lucy.
Dr. Seward runs an insane asylum. Of course, psychology itself is a modern conceit- exploring the human mind via analysis and datum. And here we see, however much Stoker loves the modern, he sees its limits.
Stoker uses the admirable yet hubristic Dr. Seward as his proxy for the naivety of the “modern man” of his day. Dr. Seward may be thoroughly immured to “outdated superstitions,” but the novel upends his presumptions in due course.
Which brings us to the greatest theme of Stoker’s novel…
The book drips with Christian allusion, sentiment, and sacramentality. (I believe Sparknotes describes this book as “Christian propaganda.” How’s that for a ringing endorsement!)
In “Dracula” Stoker wants to say, “we should embrace modern progress and optimism, yet our greatest asset is still the wisdom and revelation of the past.” This is exemplified best in the great Champion of Stoker’s convictions: Dr. Van Helsing.
Van Helsing’s knowledge of modern science is not in contradiction to his devout Catholic piety. His ability to wield the advantages of science as well as the knowledge provided by his faith is his great strength.
Van Helsing is open minded and realistic, which means he is grounded enough to apply the proper solutions to the problems in front of him, whether they be medical or spiritual. As such, his common sense and piety demonstrate the limits of modernist triumphalism when battling the demonic.
No amount of technological or scientific progress will remove the battle against spiritual evil from our lives. We have no greater help than Christ and his Church.
So we see, Stoker opens the cultural pantry of his time and pulls his ingredients. The scene is a progressive age of science and technology that is skeptical of “superstition,” that’s a good base. Let’s use that superstition as the main villain! Occult investigation is popular, and Vampires are perennial favorites. Let’s go with that.
Catholicism is having a moment, that will add some interesting flavor. Exotic locals, check. Characters that represent the things I admire most, perfect. Mix that all together with a whole lot of Christian piety, and bake until cooked all the way through. That is how you get the novel, Dracula.
But Jacob! Where is all the lust and violence?! Where’s the sexuality, race and disease that Wikipedia referenced? Isn’t that what Dracula is all about? That, my friends, is what we will discuss in part two of this blog.
Jacob Klatte
Jacob Klatte is a graphic designer in La Crosse, WI. He has a BA in History and Political Science from Chaminade University, HI and a BS in Visual Communication from Viterbo University, WI. He served in the United States Marine Corps for about a decade. You can hear him every week discuss his favorite Christian pop-culture, comic references on The Voyage Podcast.