The Influence Of Immigrants In Count Dracula, By Bram Stoker

When analyzing the novel and the description of Count Dracula and Transylvania, Stoker clearly used this novel to present the xenophobic views of the Victorian period. Bram Stoker uses his novel Dracula to argue that immigrants threaten society and to illustrate his fear and mistrust of the unknown, revealing his true feelings and xenophobia.

Bram Stoker's Dracula serves as a reflection of the author's personal feelings towards immigrants, with the character Count Dracula symbolizing his xenophobic views. According to Patricia McKee, Stoker's novel was influenced by the anxieties of the time period regarding the influx of immigrants into Britain and the perceived threat they posed to the social order. In her article “Racialization, Capitalism,

According to Stephen D. Arata, the novel is a manifestation of the anxieties of reverse colonization, a phenomenon in which colonized nations become the colonizers (Arata 621). In Dracula, Stoker portrays Count Dracula as a foreign invader who seeks to colonize England and impose his will on the people. This is evident in the following quote from the novel: "I long to go through the crowded streets of your mighty London, to be in the midst of the whirl and rush of humanity, to share its life, its change, its death, and all that makes it what it is." (Stoker 25) This quote highlights the Count's desire to take over London, suggesting that he is a threat to society and the English way of life. Arata argues that Stoker's portrayal of Dracula as a foreigner who seeks to colonize England reflects the anxieties of the Victorian era, a time when the British Empire was at its peak and fears of losing control to foreign powers were rampant (Arata 621). Moreover, Arata asserts that Stoker's depiction of Dracula as an "orientalized" other reinforces his fear and mistrust of foreigners. Arata states, "Dracula's otherness, in fact, depends on a complex network of orientalist stereotypes, which depict him as both effete and lascivious, cunning and superstitious, all at once" (Arata 623). This demonstrates how Stoker

In his article, Mathews argues that Stoker's novel reflects the racial tensions and anxieties of the Victorian era. Mathews states, "Stoker clearly suggests that the vampire is a product of Eastern and non-Western cultures, and is essentially a non-Western entity who has invaded the West." (Mathews 86) This reflects the idea that Stoker saw immigrants as a threat to Western culture, as they brought with them their foreign customs and beliefs that differed from the values of the Western world. Furthermore, Stoker uses the character of Count Dracula to highlight the dangers of allowing the "inferior East" to infiltrate the "civilized" West. As Mathews explains, "Stoker… links the vampire to the East and the colonized subject who threatens to destabilize and subvert the dominant Western discourse" (Mathews 86). This reveals Stoker's fear of the East as a source of contamination, spreading its toxic ideas to the pure and superior Western society. The novel itself also includes a quote that supports this idea. The quote states, "This was the being I was helping to transfer to London, where, perhaps, for centuries to come he might, amongst its teeming millions, satiate his lust for blood, and create a new and ever-widening circle of semi-demons to batten on the helpless" (Stoker 75-76). This passage shows that Dracula's move to London represents a dangerous threat to