Mental Illness In Bram Stoker's Dracula

Often times when we think of someone who is considered mad, we generally tend to picture something from the movies, in a white padded room in a straight jacket, laughing maniacally. But there is so much more to it than that, there are many different types of mental illnesses, some more severe than others. With the story Dracula, there seems to be a connection to the characters madness and Dracula himself. He seems to be the root of all their issues, whether purposeful or not. While reading the story Dracula, I began to notice a trend of sorts, a trend that affected most, if not all, of the characters. This trend is a gradual fall into insanity, oftentimes with the character realizing that it is actually happening and are powerless to stop it. In the beginning of the story we follow Harker’s descent while at Dracula’s castle. “When I found out that I was a prisoner a sort of wild feeling came over me.”(34), this is sort of the beginning of when he starts his plummet into madness. His start comes at the hands of Dracula himself when Harker discovers that all the doors in the castle are locked and the only escape route is through the window. As with anyone, being trapped in a

Through Mina’s point of view is how we discover that Lucy has begun to sleepwalk at nights. Later on we discover that this is caused by Dracula so he can drink her blood and her his so she would eventually turn into a vampire like him. Sleepwalking is often linked with illnesses such as depression and anxiety. Mina describes that after they discovered the body of the man strapped to the wheel of the ship, that they were both restless but mainly Lucy. This restlessness could be from the anxiety they both felt after the discovery. After that day Mina finds Lucy at the East Cliff with Dracula, “..and something raised a head, and from where I was I could see a white face and red, gleaming