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How Does Bram Stoker Use Religion In Dracula

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Science and Religion: Dracula’s Contrast Religion has been practiced by many and continues to be a part of many households today. Individuals use it as a means of healing, meditations and a philosophy of life. In ancient times, it was the foremost practice for healing and protection against harm. As the modern era began to emerge, science began to present itself as a more reliable and highly sought after practice. People began to question religious practices and some even left it complete. In Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, the battle between science and religion comes up numerous times which presents the question of which is better. However, the novel was discreet in choosing sides especially being written during the Victorian era. With science …show more content…

During the Victorian Era, science was becoming advanced more than ever and especially in the medical field. The part in the novel that supported the scientific element was when Lucy was bed ridden and the men were constantly providing their blood for transfusions to help save Lucy. Within this statement arises irony that Lucy was bitten by a blood-thirsty vampire and in order to save her, a blood transfusion was performed. “As the transfusion went on, something like life seemed to come back to poor Lucy’s cheeks, and through Arthur’s growing pallor the joy of his face seemed absolutely to shine” Stoker wrote showing that the miracles of science can bring hope and work logically in a way that can prove results faster than religious ways (Stoker 176). With that being said, Seward performed the operation but did so in an unsanitary method; we know today’s medicinal practices hold the utmost standards of sanitization and regulations and when Lucy was given transfusions by numerous people, this potentially made it lethal for her and caused her to die quicker. Some can say that the scientific practices are indeed religion to some because of how some follow the principles of logic. Stoker wrote “Let me tell you, my friend, that there are things done today in electrical science which would have been deemed unholy by the very man who discovered electricity, who would themselves …show more content…

With Dracula and Van Helsing going head to head with their knowledge of each field, Dracula was vulnerable to the cunning minds of humans. Even though the numerous encounters of superstition and sorcery were present in the novel to persuade the reader of how powerful it can be against the ideas of science, Stoker was trying to prove that they both are key parts in living life but one will always be more superior than the other in their own respected categories. Lucy was harmed by a mystical being and the humans referred to scientific methods to try and save her but only resulted in delaying the process of transformation. Nonetheless, science was a key role in delaying the transformation process in order to determine what was actually wrong with Lucy. To this day, the battle between the ideas of religion and methods of science continue to draw out the worst in each other; schools, churches and even governments have set regulations as to when each shall be permitted in a setting so the it can be used at the proper times in the proper ways and also do so without harming or insulting others. As mentioned before, Stoker emphasizes they key roles of the two practices without desensitizing the other but showing how each can have its own qualitative

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