Dracula By Bram Stoker: Theme Of Good And Evil

Lacey Schooler

Dr. Michelle Buchberger

English 112

4 June, 2023

Vampires VS Humans

Thinking humans and vampires could ever coexist was a mistake. Vampires have the most ill intentions with humans wanting to turn them into human-killing, blood-sucking vampires; while humans try to end the vampires so they can’t cause harm to anyone else. This is a clear competition between good and evil. We can see the theme of good and evil in many TV films, art, books, and plays. One book that portrays the theme of good and evil is Bram Stoker’s 1897 Dracula. This is shown through events that have occurred throughout the story and through the actions the characters carry out. Many symbols are also brought into the limelight of the story that accumulates to

Blood is first mentioned in chapter three when Dracula brings up his ancestry but makes a very special statement, “Blood is too precious a thing in these days of dishonorable peace; and the glories of the great races are as a tale that is told” (Stoker 20). Dracula is reminiscing about his family tree by connecting blood to one’s ancestry. He also brings up that the great wars between the races have diminished, but Dracula thinks they should be brought back. This could be perceived in different ways but this could be a clear hint towards an upcoming war versus good and evil later on in the story that could transpire. The next time we see blood mentioned in a great quantity is when Lucy gets mysteriously sick with heart failure. Lucy’s heart failure causes her to look very pale and seem almost drained of blood. We find out that Lucy will need multiple blood transfusions to make her look and feel better. During the transfusion, when blood is being pumped back into Lucy’s body, it seems as though she is coming back to life from receiving the blood, “As the transfusion went on something like life seemed to come back to poor Lucy’s cheeks . . .” (Stoker 55). This ultimately shows that Lucy’s body enjoys blood and sooner or later will become a creature of the night just to get more in her

It’s most common to see in Eastern Europe, which is where Bram Stoker’s 1897 Dracula is based. We see garlic being used to keep Dracula away from Lucy at night while she was sick. Dr. Van Helsing gave Lucy garlic flowers, a garlic wreath, and is seen decking the room with garlic. One night while Dr. Seward was watching over Lucy, he noticed that she started moving around uneasily, “I sat down by her, and presently she moved uneasily. At the same moment there came a sort of dull flapping or buffeting at the window. I went over to it softly, and peeped out by the corner of the blind . . . I could see that the noise was made by a great bat . . . and every now and again struck the window with its wings” (Stoker 69). This bat was Dracula trying to get into Lucy’s room while she slept to do something to her but couldn’t get in because of the garlic surrounding the room. During the bat flapping on the window we see Lucy taking the garlic wreath from around her neck, hastily dr. Seward puts it back on her and then she awoke. We see garlic being used again after Arthur, Dr. Seward, and Quincy killed Lucy after discovering she was an undead, “The Professor and I sawed off the top of the stake, leaving the point of it in the body. Then we cut off the head and filled the mouth with garlic” (Stoker 91). The garlic in Lucy’s mouth is a precaution to make sure she does not come back to life and hurt any more