If only he were less awful, Dracula might have been half-decent. Originally published in 1897, Bram Stoker’s Dracula has become an incredibly well known and beloved classic. Throughout the novel, the title character is used to represent an inversion of typical Christian values, particularly the act of holy Communion. Throughout the novel, this repeated inversion and denial of common Christian beliefs and values is used to present Dracula, and anyone else who lacks Christian beliefs, as “evil,” as well as to promote the “goodness” of Christianity.
The activity that vampires are so well-known for is their penchant for drinking human blood. Dracula’s desire and need for the flesh and blood of humans is an “inversion” of the act of holy Communion. …show more content…
Dracula lives for the pleasures of the physical, which is suggested by his sustained immortality and the way it is sustained, as well as by the presence and sexual behavior of three beautiful female vampires. In their very first appearance in the novel, they approach Jonathan in a very sexual and suggestive manner. “There was a deliberate voluptuousness which was both thrilling and repulsive… Lower and lower went her head as the lips…fasten on my throat” (Stoker 42). Given the three female vampires’ initial interaction with Johnathan, it is not a stretch to believe that they all behave in a very similar, if not identical way with Count Dracula. Dracula himself also has a number of implicit sexual scenes with other characters. This powerful desire for physical pleasure and the physical body, once again, sharply contrasts with actual Christian values. In Christianity, the soul/spirit is one of, if not the most important part of a person. Dallas Willard, author of Renewing the Christian Mind: Essays, Interviews and Talks and numerous other books, says the following about a person’s soul: “’Your soul is not just something that lives on after your body dies. It's the most important thing about you. It is your life.’” (Soul Keeping: Caring 2). The soul is highly valued by Christians, though it is not a physical thing, and unlike Dracula, it is a “burden” they are willing to carry. The inversion of Christianity is used to present the Count as “evil,” and as such, to imply that men and women in the real world who lack Christian values are evil as
The activity that vampires are so well-known for is their penchant for drinking human blood. Dracula’s desire and need for the flesh and blood of humans is an “inversion” of the act of holy Communion. …show more content…
Dracula lives for the pleasures of the physical, which is suggested by his sustained immortality and the way it is sustained, as well as by the presence and sexual behavior of three beautiful female vampires. In their very first appearance in the novel, they approach Jonathan in a very sexual and suggestive manner. “There was a deliberate voluptuousness which was both thrilling and repulsive… Lower and lower went her head as the lips…fasten on my throat” (Stoker 42). Given the three female vampires’ initial interaction with Johnathan, it is not a stretch to believe that they all behave in a very similar, if not identical way with Count Dracula. Dracula himself also has a number of implicit sexual scenes with other characters. This powerful desire for physical pleasure and the physical body, once again, sharply contrasts with actual Christian values. In Christianity, the soul/spirit is one of, if not the most important part of a person. Dallas Willard, author of Renewing the Christian Mind: Essays, Interviews and Talks and numerous other books, says the following about a person’s soul: “’Your soul is not just something that lives on after your body dies. It's the most important thing about you. It is your life.’” (Soul Keeping: Caring 2). The soul is highly valued by Christians, though it is not a physical thing, and unlike Dracula, it is a “burden” they are willing to carry. The inversion of Christianity is used to present the Count as “evil,” and as such, to imply that men and women in the real world who lack Christian values are evil as