The psychological lens best portrays the overall theme of ​Dracula ​that good will always prevail against

evil in the end.​ ​Dinh 1

Julia Dinh

Ms. Schaner

AP Lang & Comp 1C

17 May 2018

Cloaked Psyche

Blood. Fangs. Pale skin. Coffins. Today, Dracula is still ​omnipresent​​ in pop culture;

whether it is Halloween costumes or scary movies, Dracula has become ​ubiquitous​​.

The novel in which Dracula, or more accurately Count Dracula, originates is considered a

literary classic. Even though Count Dracula is based upon a real person nicknamed “Vlad the

Impaler,” it is where the iconic persona known as Dracula emerged. When reading literature,

critical lenses are often used to interpret the selection being read. Critical lenses are literary

theories developed to analyze literature with a specific viewpoint in mind (“Literary Theories”).

That goes to say, critical lenses can be utilized for any piece of literature to decipher the context

and find comprehensive meaning. When analyzing the novel ​Dracula​, out of all of the lenses, the

psychological best helps to understand the characters’ behaviors from their actions and the theme

of the novel as well. The psychological lens best portrays the overall theme of ​Dracula ​that good

will always prevail against evil in the end. Although there are other lenses that focus better on

the underlying themes in the novel, they are second-rate in ​delineating​​ the dominant theme as

compared to the psychological lens.

Regarding critical lenses, the creation of the psychological lens was prompted by

Sigmund Freud’s psychological theories. The psychological lens is based upon theories he

curated in the twentieth century regarding human behaviors pertaining to the psyche. Human
 The psychological lens best portrays the overall theme of ​Dracula ​that good will always prevail against evil in the end.​ ​Dinh 2

behaviors such as subconscious aspirations, dreams, and sexual repression (“33. Critical

Strategies”). The sexual repression within ​Dracula​ is exhibited through the taboo of vampires’

sexual nature, it is the reason why Abraham Van Helsing, Jonathan Harker, and others find

Dracula as well as other vampires so evil. The Count is attacking women and biting their necks,

which is considered intimate and sexual in principle. It is also unwanted from the women, he is

stealing their blood and their life essence which is viewed to be equivalent to sexual assault.

Besides, though it is particularly wrong in the eyes of society, it seems as though a blood fetish

was a ​surreptitious​​ phenomenon. It was the idea of someone’s fluid that was so strange, yet

intriguing. In the novel, men offered to give Lucy their blood after she had been bit because it

would be their blood inside her body. It gave people a weird sense of sexual thrill now known as

arousal. In fact, ​Dracula​ was written in the Victorian Era, where most people desired sex but

could not bring themselves to admit it. Sexuality was a motive for the ​ignominy​​ against Dracula,

deeming him ​depraved​​ because of their own psyche making Dracula responsible for their

iniquitous thoughts. Near the end, Mina is forced to drink Dracula’s blood and starts displaying

signs of becoming a vampire. This represents a woman who has been forced to feed into

temptation and lost her innocence. Vampirism is associated with evil and that is why vampires

are also associated with sexuality.

On the other hand, some may argue that the feminist lens reveals particular aspects of the

novel that withhold the preconception of how women should behave, as the men in the book

believe they should. The feminist lens focuses on correcting male dominated subjects with a

female consciousness (“33. Critical Strategies”). Feminism is a theme that is loosely depicted in

the novel. With the absolute male dominance in the novel, the females are often treated as
 The psychological lens best portrays the overall theme of ​Dracula ​that good will always prevail against evil in the end.​ ​Dinh 3

damsels in distress. Mina, who is Jonathan Harker’s fianc​é​e, is constantly praised for her role as

a submissive woman. She portrays the epitome of the ideal woman at the time, the one who is

faithful to one man and not openly sexual — rather prim. Whenever she was spoken of she was

held in high regard, “She is one of God’s women, fashioned by His own hand to show us men

and other women that there is a heaven where we can enter, and that its light can be here on

earth. So true, so sweet, so noble, so little an egoist—and that, let me tell you, is much in this

age, so skeptical and selfish.” (Stoker 203). Van Helsing basically commends Mina for her

propriety​​. For, she is a temperate and austere woman. In contrast, Lucy is undoubtedly more

promiscuous, she is not tied down to one man. She appears to be comfortable with her sexuality.

In feminine archetypes, she would classify as the seductress because she had many suitors. The

same pertains to Dracula’s sisters, they are three amorous vampire women. Their demeanor is

clearly very seductive which makes them these wicked creatures. Since they were women who

were characterized as sexy, they were immediately rendered as vampires who are evil and sinful.

The more strait-laced the women were, the more they were venerated as celestial. Although this

lens explains the women’s view more in depth, it is far too limited and misses the main focus.

In addition, there are those who may vouch for the mythological lens as best fit for this

novel. The mythological lens is representative of myths that are constructed by humans in order

to make sense of things (“33. Critical Strategies”). They build systems of belief in order to

convince themselves of what they know and grasp it. Religion was very important in the time

period ​Dracula​ was written in. Religion is a subordinate theme in which the novel is rifed with.

Characters often made references to God and carried around crucifixes into order to rebuke

vampires. Harker describes, “She then rose and dried her eyes, taking a crucifix from her neck
 The psychological lens best portrays the overall theme of ​Dracula ​that good will always prevail against evil in the end.​ ​Dinh 4

and offered it to me.” (Stoker 9). This happens in the beginning and is just foreshadowing the

amount of times crucifixes and other religious articles are mentioned. Harker was handed a

crucifix in response to him telling an old woman he was off to see Count Dracula while he was

leaving the inn. Due to the supernatural nature of the book, the matter of death and afterlife is

revealed under the mythological lens,“Death had given back part of her beauty, for her brow and

cheeks had recovered some of their flowing lines; even her lips had lost their deadly pallor. It

was as if the blood, no longer needed for the working of the heart, had gone to make the

harshness of death as little rude as might be.” (Stoker 176). This shows Lucy transformation and

crossing over into the supernatural. This lens is very well focused on the details relating to the

mythological aspect of religion and the supernatural.

Nevertheless, to truly assess main details from the novel one must draw on the

psychological lens. As stated, the psychological lens represents human behaviors such as

subconscious aspirations, dreams, and sexual repression (“33. Critical Strategies”). These themes

will eventually bring us to the main theme and add up. The relation to dreams is represented

when those are usually bitten in their sleep. When Harker arrived at the castle, he was given a

warning not to fall asleep anywhere else in the castle besides the bedroom. Harker fell asleep in

another room and almost was killed by the three sisters of Dracula. Since they were called the

sisters, it furthered their sexuality to incest. These three decadent women prey upon human men

like Jonathan for example. As Jonathan was getting attacked he thinks, ​“There was a deliberate

voluptuousness which was both thrilling and repulsive, as she arched her neck she actually licked

her lips like an animal, the moonlight the moisture shining on the scarlet lips and red tongue as it

lapped the white sharp teeth. Lower and lower went her head as the lips went below the range of
 The psychological lens best portrays the overall theme of ​Dracula ​that good will always prevail against evil in the end.​ ​Dinh 5

my mouth and chin and seemed about to fasten on my throat.” (Stoker 43-44). Harker was

back-and-forth with his subconscious, he was intrigued at her beauty yet disgusted by the nature

of it all. As she chokes him and he is starting to lose consciousness he decides to accept it, which

plays into the fact he may have like it and secretly desired to be bitten. ​Dracula targets Lucy

because she sleepwalks, making her an easy target to lure her out of bed. Those who are sleeping

are not conscious and thus, cannot defend themselves. It can also be tied to subconscious

aspirations because some of them may have a secret desire to be bitten, so in their dream they

walk up out of their bed in order to get bit. It was believed that dreams represented

subconsciously what one is truly yearning for and since biting represents something that is

intimate in nature, some may have had sexual desire but kept it repressed because pleasure was

wrong. This brings us back to why Van Helsing viewed Dracula as a malicious being. He may

have desired to be bitten and was confused because he was taught sexuality is a sin. Dracula was

a walking symbol for sin and gave him urges. Urges were evil as well.

Moreover, the psychological lens really ties in ​paltry​​ details from smaller themes into a

large-scale theme. In the other lenses, themes such as sexuality, religion, subconscious desire,

and women prejudices all are mentioned but are too constricted within those lenses and

misconstrue the theme. These themes ultimately tie back into the main purpose and they are

connected through the psychological lens that explains how they are melded. The feminist lens

goes more into the women of the novel and their objectification, how they are expected to be

chaste and the women who are more comfortable with showing off are made out to be wicked.

The mythological lens opens up about religion and how religion is represented. These lenses

have no way of interconnecting for they are too restricted. The psychological has been able to
 The psychological lens best portrays the overall theme of ​Dracula t​ hat good will always prevail against evil in the end.​ ​Dinh 6

glean​​ points that the feminist and mythological did but tie them to a defined theme because it is

plenary​​ rather than confined.

Therefore, it seems that the psychological lens is too important to neglect. The other

lenses such as feminist and mythological are far too narrowly focused on a certain aspect to truly

capture all the details and ends up making for a brief interpretation of the novel. The

psychological lens displays the aggression toward Dracula and other vampires because they

typify sexual behavior. Especially unwanted sexual behavior and the stealing of lives. The

feminist lens shows how the men expected the women to be. The wanted docile women who

were faithful and godly, and women who were more promiscuous were of course fawned upon

but not as highly respected. The feminist lens is efficient in showing the archetypes of the

women within the novel, but they are not the main focus of the novel, rather the minor theme.

The feminist lens is far too narrow to be utilized for the entire story. It really captures in essence

one aspect within the multitudes of them. Same applies to the mythological lens. Although the

mythological portrays religion as well as death and afterlife well, it still is a small component in

the big picture. These two lenses are too restricted therefore are inadequate to depict the big

theme. Psychological connects to many behaviors and thoughts of the characters and ultimately

brings them to reasoning that fits back with the main theme of good will always prevail against

evil. Dracula, who represented evil, died in the theme of good will always prevail against evil.

Though, there is a deeper meaning than just that. Sexuality is seen as sinful and repressing urges

would let the “good” prevail. Dracula was a sex symbol of the time period and therefore they

sought to kill him - along with killing him kill the temptation he brought with him.
 The psychological lens best portrays the overall theme of ​Dracula t​ hat good will always prevail against evil in the end.​ ​Dinh 7

Works Cited

Meyer, Michael. “33. Critical Strategies for Reading.” ​The Compact Bedford Introduction to

Literature​. Ed. Michael Meyer. New York: Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press, 1997.

1401-1420. Print.

“Psychoanalytical.” ​Dracula​, Weebly. Web. Accessed 15 May 2018.

castledracula.weebly.com/psychoanalytical.html.

Red Mountain High School Staff. “Literary Theories: A Sampling of Critical Lenses.” ​Red

Mountain High School​, Mesa Public Schools,

www.mpsaz.org/rmhs/staff/rkcupryk/aa_jr/files/microsoft_word_-_literary_theories.pdf+.

Stoker, Bram, and Brooke Allen. ​Dracula​. New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 2003. Print.

Tighe, Jennifer. “Dracula in Criticism.” ​Bloomsbury Literary Studies,​ Bloomsbury. Web.

Accessed 15 May 2018.

bloomsburyliterarystudies.typepad.com/continuum-literary-studie/2012/11/dracula-in-crit

icism.html.