The Use Of Religion In Dracula By Bram Stoker

Religion has always been a significant part of the human race in almost every culture, whether you have faith in one of many belief systems or not, it’s very essential to the boundaries set on what we are told to believe is good and bad, moral and immoral, and it continues to push that ideal to this day in many different forms; in writing, there of course are the religious texts used for each belief to set their own boundaries, but these beliefs can be useful in any form of writing beside from the most obvious, the novel Dracula, written by Bram Stoker, is no exception. The use of religious items in the novel is used to further enforce the constant idea of good overpowering evil. Throughout the book, the characters use religious items present

One of the many examples of this usage is when the protagonists of the story were up against the vampiric form of Lucy, where they then had to repel her from attacking any of the crew; “She was leaping for them, when Van Helsing sprang forward and held between them his little golden crucifix. She recoiled from it, and, with a suddenly distorted face, full of rage, dashed past him as if to enter the tomb (Stoker 342-3).” This shows the extent of power the crucifix has against vampires, for it’s too dangerous for them to near, they must avoid this vessel of faith. The use of crucifixes in the novel has a direct connection to the Catholic religion, where in Catholicism, the crucifix is a symbol of the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for humanity’s sins, with the cross representing his death, while the figure of Christ on the cross represents said sacrifice (Britannica); and with the use of the crucifix in the novel, it symbolizes the power of Christ's sacrifice and the strength that faith can attain in repelling

In Dracula, the communion wafer has the ability to seal off tombs of the dead, negating entrance for any undead to reside in as long as the wafer is lined along the crevices of the tomb, it’s showcased by Dr. Van Helsing when he sealed up the tomb of Lucy, who was infected by the vampirism set upon her by Dracula; “He crumbled the wafer up fine and worked it into the mass between his hands. This he then took, and rolling it into thin strips, began to lay them into the crevices between the door and its setting in the tomb (Stoker