ENGLISH STUDIES DEGREE

FINAL UNDERGRADUATE DISSERTATION

The Articulation of British Social Anxieties in

Nineteenth-Century Gothic Literature: An Analysis of Bram
Stoker's Dracula

Alba Bultó Martí

Supervisor: José Ramón Prado Pérez

June – 2023/2024

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................ 3

2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK..................................................................................... 4

2.1. Gothic Literature........................................................................................................... 4

Gothic Literature in relation to Other Arts.....................................................................6

2.2. Historical Background...................................................................................................8

3. BRAM STOKER................................................................................................................ 10

3.1. Biographical Note....................................................................................................... 10

3.2. Dracula (1897).............................................................................................................10

4. ANALYSIS.......................................................................................................................... 12

5. CONCLUSION...................................................................................................................17

6. REFERENCES................................................................................................................... 19

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ABSTRACT

Bram Stoker's novel Dracula has left an enormous impact in the fin-de-siècle Gothic. This is due to the
themes and topics he deals with during the whole plot, portraying polemics such as reverse colonization,
xenophobia, and dehumanization in the form of a Gothic novel. These topics, nonetheless, were very current
during the Victorian era because of all the extreme changes that Britain was experiencing. These quick shifts
included events such as the Industrial Revolution, which caused migrations from Eastern Europe to the British
Isles, therefore creating a sense of anxiety and fear in Victorian society. In this dissertation, there will be a
contextualization of the nineteenth century, giving important facts about the Gothic Revival and all the
inspirations that surrounded it. In order to put this theory into practice, the analysis aims at finding the
aforementioned Victorian anxieties within Dracula, taking into consideration all characters' purposes in the plot,
as well as providing different examples to support all the topics in the novel. Finally, the results will be
summarized by providing a personal interpretation of the previous research section.

Keywords: Dracula, Gothic literature, Victorian anxiety, Dehumanization

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1. INTRODUCTION

During the Victorian era, nineteenth-century Britain and its society were undergoing
drastic shifts due to the rapid technological advancement that caused the event of
Industrialization, where all processes were automatically fastened. The Industrial Revolution
therefore brought terms such as consumerism and "globalization" to people's knowledge
(Jakubčo, 2022:13). As manufacturing increased production, foreigners started to migrate to
other countries to find better job opportunities. This phenomenon primarily caused the
Victorian phobia of reverse colonisation by the Orient. Within the Gothic genre, invasion
literature played an important role for centuries, since "colonial Britain suffered from
anxieties about hypothetical invasions by foreign powers." (14) This is because there are
certain aspects that strongly influenced how English society perceived the foreigners, and
how their brain processed such information, like the quick processes and the migrations.
Consequently, Industrialization brought fear and worry to the people rather than receiving
positive outcomes. Even some novelists such as Bram Stoker or Robert Louis Stevenson tried
to express these feelings in their words.

With the proliferation of vampire fiction over the years, the image of both the vampire
and the foreigner has evolved further. Such is the case of Dracula (1897), where many
elements and details regarding fear of invasion are noteworthy. In fact, Dracula's fame was
considerable, and modern vampire fiction still refers to him. The image of the monster and
the theme of dehumanization that accompanies the plot create an image of a villain worth
more in-depth analysis, as well as how it evokes fear and disgust in readers. Thus,
understanding the context that surrounds Queen Victoria's reign is key to evaluating the
strong attraction that vampire literature exerted on the public. This consequently possesses a
strong attraction to keep learning about such creatures by fully understanding the context that
surrounds Britain during the influences of Queen Victoria.

This dissertation, hence, aims to provide an analysis of Stoker's novel, taking into
consideration all historical and cultural factors that influenced Victorian society. This is
because of the fixed feelings Victorians had about foreigners, and therefore how they were
portrayed in the Gothic genre. Next, the main body of the paper consists of two sections: the
theoretical framework presents a definition of Gothic literature. This section also examines
the Victorian anxieties such as xenophobia, fear, disgust, dehumanization—motivated by
Industrialism and the constant changes that had an impact on all Gothic works during the

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Victorian era, whose main point was marked by dread. After providing the context, the
following section explores Bram Stoker's biography and his novel Dracula, also dealing with
the novel's legacy within vampire and horror literature and cinema, taking into consideration
Charles Bramesco's research on Vampire Movies (2018). This book is devoted to comparing
such a study with the original work itself, in order to compare the different subgenres that
emerged out of the original image of the Count.

The following section explores a thorough analysis of the novel Dracula by taking
into account the previous information provided, based on the principles of Gothic fiction and
the Victorian anxieties that promoted xenophobia amongst the people. Nonetheless, it feels
convenient to point out that the analysis is done in reverse, as the anxieties will be explained
previous to identifying them in Stoker's literary work.

All in all, Dracula deals with themes that are still present—such as xenophobia and
globalization—, since it has had a significant impact on social development for generations.
For this reason, it is necessary to be aware of the reason the work was written, the author's
influences, and the context that surrounded his life to do so.

2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

2.1. Gothic Literature

The first examples of Gothic fiction date back to the second half of the eighteenth
century, when Horace Walpole published The Castle of Otranto (1764), a book that combined
the realistic novel at the time with the mediaeval romantic tropes. The Gothic genre is known
for its ghostly, enigmatic, and frequently supernatural aspects. It centres on mystery and fear
because it frequently focuses on enigmatic and horrifying happenings that evoke a sense of
unease and terror, also exploring the depths of the human psyche, where they came upon the
possibility of both divine transcendence and devilish temptation. Furthermore, Gothicism
often includes figures that contribute to the prevalence of supernatural themes, such as
ghouls, vampires, or curses.

Gothic literature, like its antagonist Romanticism, also makes use of the theme of
nature. However, it is employed as a way of destruction, such as in Robert Louis Stevenson's
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886). This is because, in this novel, the
character of Mr. Hyde is the representation of the "immoral behaviour and the evil acts" (Ak

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Roy, 2023), which can be interpreted as the duality of both characters in one body, where Dr.
Jekyll is the rational side, whereas Mr. Hyde's nature is more powerful than the first one.
Compared to Dracula, it could be inferred that both villains have features in common.
Although the Count is not a result of a scientific experiment that split his personality, he and
Mr. Hyde represent supernatural entities whose purpose is to destroy either their nature or
what surrounds them, therefore exploring the darkest aspects of human nature.

What is more, Gothic works are also recognised for their gloomy and dark settings,
including abandoned houses, haunting castles, and desolate landscapes. In this instance,
Dracula constantly establishes himself in manors and castles where light is not frequently
used. The Gothic Revival brought a style of architecture that was also evident in the
mid-1700s, such as in the novel The Ruined Abbey in Radcliffe's The Romance of the Forest
(1791). This place is described with "lofty battlements, thickly enwreathed with ivy, were
half demolished [and] a Gothic gate, richly ornamented with fret-work, which opened into the
main body of the edifice, but which was now obstructed with brush-wood, remained entire."
(Radcliffe, 15)

Gothic Revival literature examines strong feelings like horror, lunacy, and fear,
always focusing on the main characters and their perceptions. Indeed, the protagonists often
undergo intense emotional upheaval or extreme psychological states in Gothicism. One
recurrent element is the existence of a villain, frequently one with a troubled history or
ulterior intentions. Furthermore, it explores forbidden topics including violence, sexuality,
and the paranormal. For instance, Dracula deals with taboos related to sexuality and its
repression by personifying it in the vampire's behaviour towards their victims, since "the only
way that Stoker shows Dracula creating new vampires is through a metaphorical semi-rape,
taking their blood against their will." (Butler, 2010:10) Furthermore, the brides of Dracula are
the perfect opposite to the Victorian woman, since they are described by Jonathan Harker as
"voluptuous" (Stoker, 34), creating an image of femme fatale in the opposition to Victorian
Puritanism.

The elements of nature that are used in Gothicism often consist of thorough
descriptions to emphasize the eerie tone of a scene in a chapter, or even to better describe the
dark atmosphere of certain places in a story. In Gothic literature, it is more important to
contextualize these situations through other arts could be related to dark fiction, such as
architecture and painting.

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Gothic Literature in relation to Other Arts

As can be seen in numerous novels such as Jane Eyre (1847) or The Picture of Dorian
Gray (1890), Gothic literature can be related to other arts in many different ways. This is
because it is of great importance to give extended descriptions of some places or objects that
appear in the plot to give the story a more realistic appearance. In this case, Gothic literature
often relates to architecture and painting.

It is important to mention that, although the Gothic initially emerged during the
fifteenth century in Europe, there was a Gothic revival during the end of the 18th and
throughout the 19th centuries as a way of escaping from the drawbacks that industrialization
brought to British society. Numerous currents emerged out of the Gothic Revival,
characterized by the return of a more natural and medieval-like style, that is "characterized as
a form of anti-modern dissent" (Fliegal, 2002:2), thence reflecting the artistic principles that
were common during the Middle Ages. As for architecture, there was an emergence of a
group called The Arts and Crafts Movement, which celebrated the art of individualism and
the exploration of natural and new materials as a protest against the dehumanization that the
Industrial Revolution brought in modern design. It is thought that the reason architecture
became of great importance when mixed with literature is due to the emergence of Victorian
medieval architecture, since "Gothic architecture was increasingly used by owners of
medieval manors or castles […] or by builders who wished to establish a link with the
medieval past, and hence with English antiquity." (Fliegal, 2)

Architecture has been used in several literary works to give visual and imaginary
context to what is being described and narrated. As González-Almodóvar pointed out, the
majority of Gothic fiction's settings, which typically feature empty, isolated landscapes such
as the remains of abandoned castles and mansions, aid to conjure this sense of horror
(2014:16). Gothic buildings are frequently used as settings for dramatic scenes, paranormal
activities, and the examination of human aspirations and fears in Gothic literature. In
Dracula, the description of these places plays an essential role in the development of the plot.
Throughout the novel, there are several descriptions of the settings, but in Chapter 2,
Jonathan Harker describes Dracula's Castle in Transylvania as a building "close to an old
chapel or church." (30) Similarly, in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, there are also careful
depictions of Thornfield Hall, often described by the main character as "silent as a church"
(180), "darksome" (177), and plenty of "large front chambers" (160). According to Lima

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(n.d., 79), there are frequent allusions to paintings and other works of art as well. Gothic
painting and literature have always shared a relationship between them, as they "blend and
balance their strengths" equally (Swaby, 2023). The landscapes, buildings, and sceneries are
frequently described in Gothic literature in a way that is similar to the visual components of
its paintings. The narrative's Gothic atmosphere is enhanced by the vivid and precise
descriptions of spooky castles, crumbling ruins, and gloomy landscapes. These descriptions
evoke the same feelings of foreboding and impressions that Gothic paintings try to elicit.

Apart from the aforementioned examples found in Jane Eyre, there is also a literary
phenomenon called ekphrasis in which writers use painting as the main theme in the plot. The
process of Industrialization brought a sense of discontent to the Victorians, as they believed
that it was necessary to react against the dehumanization that this event created, the Arts and
Crafts Movement strongly influenced the Gothic Revival. Within this Victorian
"medievalism", the movement of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood also emerged. Within this
artistic current, the paintings that are nowadays recognized are portraits of women with long
hair, often with medieval-like appearance and surrounded by natural landscapes. To
exemplify such features, some of the most famous paintings that are nowadays recognized
could be some of John Everett Millais's paintings, such as Mariana (1851) or Autumn Leaves
(1856). This can be related, however, to one of the main features of Gothic literature, which
was the description of dark settings, which could be portrayed as gloomy and old buildings.

Such an example can be found in Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, where
the main character stops ageing like his inert image on his own portrait, so he can remain
young and beautiful forever. It could be argued that the theme of immortality is also covered
in numerous Gothic works, as Dracula also deals with the theme of everlasting life in its own
way. However, not all descriptions are positive, since the novels aim to remind readers that
hypocrisy, eternal beauty, and youth can have their consequences. At the end of the book,
thus, "his painting had quite gone off" and seemed "to have lost something," (162) until
Dorian decides to destroy the picture and perish. The novel's main themes and narrative
structure heavily draw on the relationship between literature and painting, as Rogue noted
that this sequence is used by Wilde to demonstrate how art expresses thoughts and emotions
(2022).

In brief, there is a symbiotic link between Gothic literature, architecture, and painting,
with each medium motivating and influencing the others. Gothic literature benefits from the

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visual and atmospheric backdrop that Gothic architecture and painting offer, which heightens
the themes of mystery, terror, and the paranormal. The reason why Gothic architecture and
painting re-emerged is due to the search for solutions against the quick changes that
Industrialization brought with it, as well as the Victorian anxieties that resurfaced. Thus, the
following section will deal with these phenomena.

2.2. Historical Background

The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were partly marked by the constant changes
that Britain was experiencing. These social, cultural, and economic shifts marked a new era
in the country, as many events emerged in the British Isles. The Industrial Revolution made a
difference during the period between 1760 and 1840, bringing with it several irreversible
changes. With Industrialization, also came the constant increase in the European population,
which led to experimenting with new technologies and developing new machinery to produce
faster. Moreover, the Victorian era was also marked by social Puritanism and repression.

The aforementioned Pre-Raphaelites, who also inspired numerous Gothic works, are
believed to have arisen out of the protests against the industrial processes that were making
society a more machine-like world, as well as against Victorian social repression and
conservatism. Along with the substitution of man-labour by modern machines, society started
to experience feelings of fear and anxiety about the unknown, which were also promoted by
the fact that it brought migrations from Eastern Europe to Great Britain. This is because
millions of Jews that came from the East—mostly from Russia and Ukraine—moved to the
British islands to find better opportunities.

Victorian society likely suffered from anxiety due to the fear of a "reverse
colonization" by the Eastern that migrated to Britain. These new arrivals brought new
perceptions to the British, therefore elaborating new ways of literature to express their stress,
as xenophobia started to increase due to the increased worldwide movement and the
isolationism that the British Isles experienced. To prove this fact, Jakubčo quotes the novelist
Peter Ackroyd, saying that "it provoked tremendous exhaustion, tremulousness, and fear."
(qtd. in Jakubčo, 2019:323). For this reason, some new Gothic genres such as invasion
literature emerged during that time. According to Nuttall (2012), this genre "was based
around a single main theme: the invasion of a country," no matter whether they succeeded or

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not. The fear Victorians had towards the foreigners, therefore, was primarily motivated by the
weakening of the British Empire, as well as their feeling of isolation.

Looking a few centuries back, most of the literature in the Gothic Revival was
encouraged and motivated by two essential concepts: imperialism and colonialism. Regarding
Jakubčo, the idea that the British had of imperialism could be defined as the fact of being
conquered by a 'superior' could lead to 'order' (14), which means that the idea of being
reversely colonized by the Oriental became a source of social anxiety and fear. Thus, within
the genre of invasion literature, Orientalism was a depiction of the Eastern world (Orient)
from the Western perspective, considering a clear separation between the West, reckoned as
rational and modern, and the East, often defined as backward and inferior. Even though
Dracula comes from Romania—not exactly an oriental country from the far East, but a
foreign, unknown country—, it can be interpreted this way in Bram Stoker's Dracula, where
a vampire moves from Eastern Europe to England to "invade" the British. For instance, this is
mentioned at the beginning of the novel, when Jonathan Harker "[leaves] the West and
[enters] the East" (1), assuming that the values and manners inferior to those of the British.

Due to the cyclical re-emerging of Gothic during the nineteenth century, Orientalism
became famous as the Gothic villains that were portrayed evoked "fear and disgust in the
audience" (15), i.e., readers feared the antagonists as they saw their major threat reflected in
the shape of human-like creatures. This is because the image of the Eastern Europeans
appears manipulated by the media to represent foreigners in the form of monsters with
supernatural powers, following the fin-de-siècle Gothic ideals, and Dracula in particular.
Additionally, other English works that employ this technique include George du Maurier
Trilby (1894) and Richard Marsh's The Beetle: A Mystery (1897), where the villains are
portrayed or compared to insects or animals (a spider and a beetle) to manipulate the
protagonists. In all examples, the villains can change their form into animal-like creatures,
which represents a huge fear in Victorian society.

The previously mentioned animalistic dehumanization works as the metamorphosis of

humans and animals, whereas mechanistic dehumanization was defined by Fred Botting as
"the threatening shapes of increasingly dehumanized environments, machinic doubles and
violent, psychotic fragmentation" (qtd. in Bolton, 2014:1), such as in Dracula, where it can
be seen in the blood transfusions, seen during Lucy's transformation, and the phonograph
used by Van Helsing and Dr. Seward.

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 All things considered, after discussing the main social anxieties, fears, and inner
threats that the Industrial Revolution and Victorian ideals brought to the country, the
following section will introduce the literary work that will be analysed. In the end, literature
served as a vehicle for examining and expressing the anxieties and tensions that Gothic
Revival writers used to express their worries and unsettling flaws through fictitious stories
that portrayed monsters and creatures that could manipulate both the exterior and themselves.

3. BRAM STOKER

3.1. Biographical Note

Bram Stoker was born in Clontarf, County Dublin, Ireland, on November 8th, 1847.
He was the third child of the Stoker's seven children. During the first seven years of his
childhood, he spent most of his time bedridden due to some sicknesses that weakened him.
However, his mother Charlotte spent these years telling him horror stories and folkloric Irish
tales to entertain him. Later on, when he turned 17, he enrolled in Trinity College, also
becoming an athletic student despite experiencing such illnesses. After that, in 1870, he
received a Bachelor of Arts degree and also gained various merits as a student at university.

It was after the end of his Civil Service career that the actor Henry Irving convinced
him to take over the Lyceum Theatre in London in 1879. It is important to note that he met
his friend Irving while he was working on the Dublin Evening Mail, which was co-owned by
Carmilla's author Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu. This story was considered one of the
first vampire stories ever written, and probably one of the many inspirations that Bram Stoker
took to write his best-known work, Dracula (1897). The first one he wrote was The Snake's
Pass (1890), a romantic, suspenseful novel set in Ireland. After he passed away in 1912, his
legacy continued by making numerous films related to Dracula, such as 1914's film
Nosferatu, co-produced by her widow Florence Stoker.

3.2. Dracula (1897)

Bram Stoker's Dracula, published in 1897, is a timeless masterpiece that has

captivated readers for over two centuries. The book is well-known for having aspects of
invasion literature, as it portrays a creature from the East migrating to England. Being a
vampire who feeds on human blood, Dracula has become a legendary figure in horror

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literature and has been the subject of multiple stage, cinema, and television adaptations.
Considering this well-known work, it is believed that the novel took at least seven years to
complete, including the research Stoker made when he came across Emily Gerard's travel
book, The Land Beyond the Forest (1888), which had a great influence on him.

Dracula, although a couple of centuries old and expressing the "Victorian fear of
invasion" (Lamara, 2018), is still recognized as an innovative and important work nowadays,
due to its "compelling narrative, iconic characters, and innovative storytelling techniques"
(DE Stories, 2023), as it continues inspiring the new readers and the further generations of
writers to keep exploring the depths of human traumas and fears, and the supernatural topics
that best characterize it. As Lamara observed, "This is one of the main reasons behind the
everlasting appeal of the vampire. Stoker's vampire is both ancient and modern, reflecting
issues that are, sadly, still relevant today in a world that feels threatened by 'Otherness'."

Even though Count Dracula is the most famous vampire, he was not the first; indeed,
the aforementioned Carmilla, which centres on a female human-eater who solely preys on
lonely young women, is thought to have served as partial inspiration for the Count. Apart
from that, Bürger's 1773 poem Lenore also became a great inspiration for Stoker, as he added
a sentence in the novel to refer to Bürger, which is: "'Denn die Todten reiten Schnell.' ("For
the dead travel fast.")" (Stoker, 17).

Furthermore, John Polidori's The Vampyre introduced us to the modern stereotype of

vampires—that is, old, aristocratic men. It is known that the initial title was The Dead
Un-Dead. It was when he found the Magleno-Romanian word draco (devil or dragon) that he
changed his mind. He was also inspired by Vlad III Dracul, or Vlad the Impaler, known as
one of the most significant kings in Wallachian history. This historical figure is mostly
famous for committing atrocities to his enemies, staking them in the ground and leaving them
to die. Due to this bloody backstory, he became an inspiration for the main character's name.
Additionally, the name Count Vampyre was Stoker's original plan for his character, but due to
Prince Vlad III, the term Dracul caught his attention. An official sequel was published in
2009 by Dacre Stoker after taking his great-grand-uncle notes, titled Dracula the Un-Dead.
The story takes place twenty-five years after the events that happen in the original novel to
conclude the story with the Count. Apart from that, a few years ago, Dacre himself also used
some notes from his great-grand-uncle to write the prequel of the original plot, named Dracul
(2018).

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 In the following section, all the given information will be proven through an
examination of Dracula's representations of fear, along with other themes that Victorians
dealt with during that era, such as the fear of unknown phenomena along with its rejections
towards the new cultures.

4. ANALYSIS

This section will put the theory of Victorian anxiety and xenophobia covered in the
previous sections into practice. Starting with the most distinctive quality of the villains, the
section focuses on the elements that Dracula covers throughout the different stages of the
novel. Since this study addresses several topics that were mentioned in earlier pages, it seems
appropriate to summarise the novel briefly to make some of the themes that are discussed
later on clear.

Dracula is considered a polylogic epistolary novel, as the 27 chapters compile many

documents throughout the novel—either letters, journals, or diaries—mainly narrated by
Jonathan and Mina Harker, Dr Seward, and Lucy Westenra. It tells the story of an English
lawyer called Jonathan Harker, who travels to Dracula's Castle in Transylvania after being
sent there by his employer to finalize a real estate transaction with the Count. Despite
Dracula's hospitality, Mr. Harker discovers the Count's vampiric powers and tries to escape
the castle. While the protagonist is captured by three female vampires, Dracula has already
started his journey to London to infect the whole country with vampirism. Finally, the plot
ends with the collaboration of Mina Harker with a group of men, composed of Jonathan
Harker, Quincey Morris, Van Helsing, and Lord Godalming, aiming to kill the vampire to end
his attempt at invasion. This work also brings some new concepts within techno-fiction, such
as blood transfusions and the phonograph. First, Van Helsing explains the transfusion as
"[the] transfer from full veins of one to the empty veins" (115). Moreover, the phonograph or
the telegrams are used mainly by Van Helsing or Dr. Seward, which are mentioned for the
first time in chapter 5. To prove the innovation of the phonograph, there is a conversation
between Mina Harker and Dr. Seward in which she "feel[s] quite excited over it" (207),
confirming the innovation of such an object in that time.

As aforementioned, this Gothic work can be related to architecture, quoting numerous

settings throughout the novel, such as Harker's description of Dracula's Castle, claiming it
looks like "a veritable prison" (25). Moreover, there is also an example of a painting in

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Dracula, when Lucy says she is lying "like Ophelia in the play" (125), which could be also
compared with Millais's painting Ophelia (1852), clearly relating the Pre-Raphaelites to the
novel.

The concept of dehumanization that is covered in the novel can be summarised in one
sentence, which is the image of the Count as a non-human breathing creature. On the one
hand, Dracula is portrayed throughout the novel as a being with the ability to transform
himself into other living things to represent his evil nature as a villain. This is explained in
different sections of the story, such as the moment when Van Helsing claims "he can
transform himself to wolf" (225), emphasizing the concept of animalistic dehumanization that
was discussed earlier in this paper. Nonetheless, although it is not until close to the end that
the Professor mentions the fact that he transforms into this specific animal, Dracula is
described as having "long, sharp, canine teeth" (15) that are "pointed like an animal's" (162).
One could read the fact that Stoker was attempting to convey the Count's inhumane qualities.
Moreover, apart from these transformations into a wolf, there are identified other elements in
the novel that are employed to refer to the antagonist. In other words, rather than being
referred to as a person, Dracula is perceived as a "monster," "creature," or "the devil" (47-48).

There is another way to interpret such transformations, as most importantly, the

reason Dracula is travelling to England is not primarily due to his "lust for blood" (47), but
also because he wants to be an Englishman. English manners, principally during the 18th
century and onwards—a model of conduct and behaviour associated with Victorian values—,
were considered an important behaviour for the British. The main cause why politeness
played an essential role in English society was due to the changes the country was
experiencing, such as the Industrial Revolution and its consequences. Therefore, it could be
interpreted that Dracula invites Jonathan Harker to stay at his Transylvanian castle so that he
can imitate his manners and learn nearly everything about Englishmen: "You speak
excellently" (19). This bloodlust fuels the fear of invasion and racial hybridization that would
end the rational world, since blood is always related to nationality and purity. English blood
could be a symbol of Dracula's aims, since he nourishes himself with Victorians, whereas he
replaces such liquid with his foreignness that, according to him, will not be recognized in
another country. This way, the Count is not only considered a threat as a man-eater creature,
but as a colonizer whose purpose is to destroy a declining civilization. It is also noteworthy
that, to reinforce the previous viewpoint, Dracula is already cognizant of his status as a
nobleman, which would render him a stranger in a foreign land in any case:

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 That is not enough for me. Here I am noble. I am a boyar. The common people
know me, and I am master. But a stranger in a strange land, he is no one. Men
know him not, and to know not is to care not for. I am content if I am like the
rest, so that no man stops if he sees me, or pauses in his speaking if he hears my
words, 'Ha, ha! A stranger!' I have been so long master that I would be master
still, or at least that none other should be master of me. (19)

The Count is proud of his status and heritage, but he also thinks that being from a
foreign country is a burden. This made Victorian readers think about a stranger who might be
coming into the country and should be told about it according to moral rules.

On the other hand, the other examples to identify in the novel are both the
transformations of Lucy Westenra and Mina Harker, as well as the character of Renfield.
Lucy—the first victim in the novel—is portrayed as a dehumanized woman who oscillates
between vampirism and human nature before passing away. In Mina's journal, she admits
Lucy is having schizophrenic episodes and even "walking in her sleep" (67), or when
Jonathan Harker realizes he is becoming hypnotized and starts to struggle "to awake to some
call of [his] instincts" (40).

These symptoms were feared by Victorians, since in the end, it was a representation of
a declining humanity. This dehumanization caused by a supernatural creature appears
throughout the novel as the Victorian fear of losing their English identity. Another instance
would be when Mina is suffering from vampirism, as she is starting to share qualities with the
Count, since "her teeth are sharper, and at times her eyes are harder" (302). Second, the
psychiatric patient Renfield, who is also under the psychic influence of Dracula, even loses
his human identity to become a "zoophagous (life-eating) maniac" (66). Even though his
appearance throughout the novel is briefer than the rest of the characters, it might seem that it
is the best example to portray Dracula's influence upon Victorian psyche.

All in all, dehumanization was feared by society due to all the consequences that it
brings with itself, such as the fear of unknown situations, or the new stimuli. Such
unexpected events often bring new issues to society, as Stoker portrayed them also in the
novel. Lovecraft believed that "the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown"
(qtd. in Jakubčo, 29). This is because cognitive functions are in the dark when faced with
uncertainty. The character of Dracula himself is the representation of the new citizens in
Britain, i.e., unknown manners that come from other places. During the 19th century,
Victorians believed that the non-English society would collapse in the country. Considering

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Dracula's context, it could be argued that the group of English-speaking people who reunite
to kill the vampire—Mina and Jonathan Harker, Van Helsing, Dr. Seward, and Quincey
Morris—are the representatives of the Victorian era who get rid of the unknown and evil
entity that was invading them. At the end of the story, when the Count perishes, it could be
interpreted as the Victorians freeing the creature from his evil curse—not being English.

Although this English group gathers all the characters above, it is essential to note that
Quincey Morris, one of Lucy's suitors, was originally from Texas, United States. To
contextualize such an event, the decline of the British Empire brought the rise of other forces,
such as America as one of the strongest potential countries. As aforementioned, since Mr.
Morris is the only American character in the novel, Dr. Seward remarks on his strength
during Lucy's death, claiming that "if America can go on breeding men like that, she will be a
power in the world, indeed" (163). Although the US could also be interpreted as a menace for
Britain, the plot eases this fact, since Quincey Morris perishes at the end of the novel when
sacrificing the vampire. Therefore, it could be considered that his death is a way of killing
two threats for Britain—East and the US. On the contrary, none of the Victorian characters
die, probably reinforcing the idea of the British Empire as a strong power that will remain in
history. However, the last chapter of the novel narrates how Mina and Jonathan's son is
named Quincey in honour of his friend, symbolizing the American Empire.

Moreover, due to the decline of the British Empire, other anxieties appeared, like
"reverse colonization", which is represented by Dracula's journey and settlement in England.
According to Jakubčo, the villain takes advantage of the weakening borders of Britain and its
collapsed society to cross boundaries penetrate its nucleus, and infect it with his vampirism,
i.e., his foreignness (39). The representation of vampire's arrival in the country is represented
by a storm, an element of nature that is described in chapter seven as "fearful, as it boom[s]
loudly among the chimney pots" (82). When Dracula arrives by boat during the storm, a
sailor refers to him as "a tall, thin man, with a beaky nose and black moustache and pointed
beard" (162). Taking into account this description, some physical features can also be
identified in the Jewish community, which is the main ethnic group that migrated to the West
during the 19th century, as mentioned earlier. Hence, Dracula aims at assessing the vampire's
entity, since readers cannot clearly figure out the identity boundaries this character has,
consequently leaving a sense of dread in them.

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 What is more, during Dracula's journey to Britain, he brings a few boxes filled with
earth with him, breaching the boundaries by carrying bags that are "in soil barren of holy
memories" (226). These boxes full of Transylvanian earth could be interpreted as Dracula's
roots, due to the fact that his powers are removed once he does not have this fundamental part
with him. This metaphor serves as a helpful reminder to readers that immigrants must leave
behind all of their cultural baggage to relocate and start over in a foreign country. However,
Stoker presents immigrants as a form of decayed antagonist that becomes a national threat.
The most obvious example of this menace due to the vampiric hypnotism, symbolizing the
reverse colonization started by an immigrant, slave Renfield, who calls him "lord and master"
(147, 253, 262), depicting the future image of the British population under the hypnotic
control unless vampires are defeated. To sum up, Dracula is the personification of all the
immigrants that came to England during the Industrial Revolution, also symbolizing the
leech. This term is used to compare it with the vampire because of the characteristics they
share, such as feeding out of blood. Nonetheless, it was also employed to refer to the
immigrants and refugees that came to Britain during the 19th century hastily, as Victorians
compared them with these creatures that nourish themselves with other's energy.

It is interesting to reflect on the resources the Victorians used to disarm Dracula, since
all of them were related to Christianism. As it was mentioned earlier, the reign of Queen
Victoria was mainly characterized by being Puritan, whereas in Romania, the main religion
was the Orthodox. Thus, the "crucifix" and the "Host" (24, 198) are used as a symbol of
Western superiority during the Victorian era, which was considered the most modern society
at that time. The crucifix, nevertheless, is given by one of the Slovaks that Jonathan finds
during his Journey to Transylvania, claiming simultaneously that they are "more barbarian
than the rest" and remind him of "some old Oriental band of brigands" (3, 4) although they
tried to warn him the dangers that lie in wait. The term "barbarian" is used to represent the
fear of Victorians towards the immigrants, as xenophobia was an increasing feeling amongst
the British. Moreover, globalization favoured this discrimination towards foreigners because
of the pure and influential aspect of Britain. This is the reason why Mina Harker and her
companions are considered the opposite of Count Dracula, being the representation of the
Victorian era, for all her modernity and natural beauty.

Lastly, comparing the original Dracula to the research that Charles Bramesco released
in his book Vampire Movies (2018), where he provides a list of different vampire genres that

16
emerged out of Stoker's novel, comparing Dracula with the debonair vampire (Vampirus
Domesticus). This type of vampire is known for being savage and bloody, and the natural
representation of the devil, with no remorse towards any of his victims. Its best
cinematographic representation, although not faithful to the original story, would be Ford
Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula (1993). Such adaptation gives a more romantic tone to the
story between the Count and Mina Harker. Thus, the debonair vampire that is portrayed is
characterized by its bloody and eerie ambiance.

From one's point of view, it could be argued that the character of Dracula, although
being depicted as an evil entity with no compassion, is just a miscomprehended figure who
wants to fit in society, doing as much as possible to become as English as any of the Victorian
characters described in the novel (Jonathan Harker, Lord Godalming, Mina Murray, etc.).
Purity, politeness, and acceptance are the Count's aims initially. However, it is believed that
his bloodlust is his last plan, having to hypnotize and devour the Victorians to be accepted by
sucking their identity. Therefore, Dracula's portrait could also be interpreted as the only way
to have a place in this new country, where he does not have any kind of status or
recognizance.

5. CONCLUSION

The dissertation examines the different social and cultural events that Britain
experienced during the nineteenth century, since globalization, the fear of reverse
colonization, and xenophobia are some of the topics covered in Dracula. This paper aimed to
show that although this novel is considered a classic with supernatural elements, it also
covers numerous historical and cultural aspects.

The first section aimed at providing an overview of the major influences in

fin-de-siècle Gothic in literature, also considering other arts that dominated during the
Victorian period, and examining the way they related to one another. In order to better
understand Victorian worries and how they contributed to xenophobic actions against
immigrants, this dissertation explains the primary causes and provides specific examples. The
second section deals with common aspects such as foreignness, hypnotism, and the evil
nature of the villain. In the analysis, it is found that the image of Dracula represents several
fears altogether in the personification of an evil creature. Such anxieties represent mainly the
aspects that could be found in the novel, like the xenophobia towards the villain, the fear of

17
becoming dehumanized due to hypnotism, as well as the reverse invasion that the previous
concept could have caused. While the East was labelled as backward and old-styled, its
representation within the novel Dracula can give a wide range of clues of the way Victorians
perceived the immigrants, giving them monstrous and supernatural forms so as to express the
British fear towards them.

For further research, it would be interesting to keep examining these Victorian fears
in other novels from the Gothic Revival in order to find other similarities with the historical
context in the words of other writers. In this case, this paper could be lengthened by
researching the image of the monster and the eerie background in Robert Louis Stevenson's
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which shared several similarities with Bram Stoker's novel in terms
of the villain's purposes. To sum up, the research did a remarkable job of identifying these
fears in Bram Stoker's well-known book, providing specific examples from the text, and
identifying themes that turned both unsettling and captivating.

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