Marxism And Dracula

The use of religious symbols by characters to win against Dracula reflect Karl Marx’s interpretation of religion. To begin with, Marx has built some of his ideas on the concepts that have appeared in the Enlightenment era adding his own criticism. For instance, he takes the idea of development and build it on the progress of society. In the chapter entitled “Marx” in Sophie’s World: A Novel about the History of Philosophy by Gaarder (327) and in the chapter entitled “Marxist Criticism” in Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory by Both Barry (157-158) it is stated that Marx sees that the simplest form of a society is made of a base and a superstructure. The base consists of material, economic, and social factors whereas

In Dracula, the society and characters are influenced by religion. For example, the people of Transylvania believe in the superstitions of the eve of St George’s Day and use the holy symbol crucifix to protect themselves (6). Here, the influence of religion on the people is positive as it comforts them. However, in reference to Marx, sometimes the influence can be negative. In his “Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Law: Introduction,” Marx says, “Religious distress is at the same time the expression of real distress and also the protest against real distress. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of spiritless conditions. It is the opium of the people” (175). The key word among all of these paradoxes is “opium”. In accordance to Boer, Marx uses the opium because it has two connotations, a positive and a negative one. To illustrate, in the nineteenth century the opium has been used as a cheap medicine for different illnesses in Europe. Today on the other hand, opium is connected with drugs (3). This indicates that religion can influence society positively or

One of the strongest aspects of Marxism theory is the powerful social class vs. the marginalized one. Hence, as mentioned in Barry’s chapter, there has been a “struggle for power between different social classes” (157). There are two ways to interpret this in the novel. To start with, the East presented by Dracula and superstitions want to take over the West presented by the men and Christianity. This is seen when Dracula moves from the East to the West in the sixth and seventh chapter of the novel. Dracula is the superstitions that people in Transylvania are afraid of, and therefore he brings this superstitions and fear to the men and women in the West. In accordance to that, the Catholics and Protestants tend to get rid of Dracula confessing that superstitions and vampires are real. The second interpretation is that the more powerful Catholicism presented by Van Helsing tries to take over both Protestantism presented by Harker and superstitions presented by Dr. Seward. First, Van Helsing tries to makes the men believe in Catholicism by showing them the holy essence of the Host and the crucifix and the symbols’ ability to prevent Lucy from leaving the tomb (Stoker 174). Van Helsing succeeds which is seen when Harker no longer doubts what Van Helsing says, and follows him without objections. For example, when Quincey Morris suggests finding a locksmith to get into the