Dracula: A degenerate and a threat
What is Dracula? Is he a monster, a villain, an illness, a disease or an immigrant? Whichever way Dracula is looked at, he is a symbol for what we most fear. In Dracula, Bram Stoker utilises late Victorian era anxieties and uses the character of Dracula as a symbol for threats regarding imperialism. When it came for me to do my research into degeneration, two theorists lead the way; Max Nordau and Cesare Lombroso. I decided to continue my research by looking at Nordau's work; particularly his book simply titled Degeneration. The study of degeneration and imperialism go hand in hand together, so I felt it necessary to focus equally on the two. Nordau's book starts with him investigating …show more content…
associated with evil; bats, wolves et cetera. Whilst in Transylvania, it becomes apparant to Harker that Dracula has a “quiet smile, with the sharp, canine teeth lying over the red under-lip” (Stoker 37). Harker was suspicious of the Count straight away and he was shaken when he sees the Count scale the walls of his castle. "What I saw was the Count’s head coming out from the window. . . . I was at first interested and somewhat amused. . . . But my very feelings changed to repulsion and terror when I saw the whole man slowly emerge from the window and begin to crawl down the castle wall . . . just as a lizard moves along a wall. What manner of man is this, or what manner of creature is it in the resemblance of a man? (Stoker …show more content…
He's more animal than human; being able to transform into a predator, and ultimately a degenerate and a criminal. He's a cannibal that absorbs peoples souls and energies and his lack of morality even more threatening. There's nothing more frightening than a monster without a conscience. He is a disease, infecting people with a virus that has no known cure. A virus that doesn't kill you, but instead makes you immortal with a reliance on blood; a curse. When Dracula bites someone, his own defects are transferred to the victim i.e.
What is Dracula? Is he a monster, a villain, an illness, a disease or an immigrant? Whichever way Dracula is looked at, he is a symbol for what we most fear. In Dracula, Bram Stoker utilises late Victorian era anxieties and uses the character of Dracula as a symbol for threats regarding imperialism. When it came for me to do my research into degeneration, two theorists lead the way; Max Nordau and Cesare Lombroso. I decided to continue my research by looking at Nordau's work; particularly his book simply titled Degeneration. The study of degeneration and imperialism go hand in hand together, so I felt it necessary to focus equally on the two. Nordau's book starts with him investigating …show more content…
associated with evil; bats, wolves et cetera. Whilst in Transylvania, it becomes apparant to Harker that Dracula has a “quiet smile, with the sharp, canine teeth lying over the red under-lip” (Stoker 37). Harker was suspicious of the Count straight away and he was shaken when he sees the Count scale the walls of his castle. "What I saw was the Count’s head coming out from the window. . . . I was at first interested and somewhat amused. . . . But my very feelings changed to repulsion and terror when I saw the whole man slowly emerge from the window and begin to crawl down the castle wall . . . just as a lizard moves along a wall. What manner of man is this, or what manner of creature is it in the resemblance of a man? (Stoker …show more content…
He's more animal than human; being able to transform into a predator, and ultimately a degenerate and a criminal. He's a cannibal that absorbs peoples souls and energies and his lack of morality even more threatening. There's nothing more frightening than a monster without a conscience. He is a disease, infecting people with a virus that has no known cure. A virus that doesn't kill you, but instead makes you immortal with a reliance on blood; a curse. When Dracula bites someone, his own defects are transferred to the victim i.e.