The concept of good and evil is subjective. Good and evil is just as much of an illusion as a magic trick or a lack of reflection in a mirror. In Bram Stoker’s epistolary, Dracula, Count Dracula himself stands as the natural order of humanity that isn’t influenced by what is considered good or bad and challenges established rules and practices used to control society in religion, science, and moral law, through the interaction with his victims. Through Dracula, he exposes society’s denial to accept what it truly means to be human.
Dracula vs Moral Law
Growing up, we’re introduced to what is right and what is wrong; what is good and evil. In Dracula, Count Dracula, though cast in the light of what is considered evil and villainous, doesn’t act as evil as he is perceived to be by the townspeople. Just before Jonathan Harker, an estate agent who is sent to by his employer, Peter Hawkins, to consult the Count in a potential purchase, starts his coach ride toward Castle Dracula, the townspeople talk of him. Here, the people aren’t referring to Dracula, “they were evidently talking of me
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Dracula denounces science by not having anything that’s remotely unnatural or innovative. He displays his dislike for anything unnatural when he throws out the shaving glass that Jonathan was using to see himself shave with out the window (Stoker, B., 1995). The unnatural notion of being able to see oneself - not one’s true self - in a piece of glass is an illusion and a cruel trick to what is real and what isn’t. The fact that Dracula doesn’t have mirrors around the castle couldn’t merely be because he’s unable to see his reflection, but suggests that he doesn’t immerse himself in anything that isn’t reality. Mirrors are often associated with narcissism and the desire for artificial beauty. These are things that Dracula doesn’t concern himself with, but the rest of society around him does, consumed with something as sinful as