Within the essay, “The Eternal Fight between Good and Evil,” the author discusses Bram Stoker’s story of good versus evil within Dracula. The author says, however, that the novel is not a universal example of good and evil because it showcases specific examples such as Christian symbolism. It makes sense to stress the scandalous parts of the story in order to provoke shock and get attention. During the time period when Dracula was written, the Victorian era, people were quite conservative. The novel was out of the ordinary for the Victorian audience and religion was still important to them. I agree that Bram Stoker focused on aspects of Christianity and sexuality within Dracula. I was left with this interpretation upon reading the novel.
There are countless instances in which Stoker incorporates Christian symbolism. The host is the most used literal object of
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To Victorians, the characters and actions within Dracula were very scandalous. For example, the exchange of blood. During this time period, the exchange of blood was seen as an intimate task between two people. In the beginning of the novel, Lucy Westenra is a victim of Dracula as he regularly consumed her blood. It was decided that Lucy wasn’t doing very well and she needed a blood transfusion. The first donor was Arthur Holmwood, Lucy’s fiancé. This, of course, was seen as normal. As fate would have it, she would need another one and Arthur is unable to donate. So, Quincey Morris volunteers. This exchange between these two would’ve been seen as an inappropriate act. Also, vampire attacks are described as “kisses” rather than “bites” which adds intimacy to the novel. Jonathan Harker even has an encounter with three of Dracula’s beautiful women and thinks that they wanted to drink his blood. Many actions within the novel are viewed as rather intimate in the Victorian Era, which is not how we would usually view