Dracula: The Immigrant Vampire Who Just Wanted to Make Friends

In the late 19th century Victorians heavily feared the degeneration and fall of the British Empire. In Sally Ledger and Robert Luckhurst’s introduction to “Reading the ‘Fin De Siècle’” they write about the culture’s interest in stories with “exotic, imperial terrors” which was the worry that the British Empire would be taken over by foreigners (Leder and Lockhurst xvi). This fear is fully explored in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, where the character Count Dracula is a vampire from an exotic country who is believed to have emigrated to England and spread his vampiric disease. However, Carol A. Senf in her essay, “Dracula: The Unseen Face in the Mirror” Carol A. Senf writes about how the novel’s subjective perspective contributed to the negative view of Dracula and considers a more sympathetic retelling of the Count. I plan to use Carol A. Senf’s alternative analysis of Dracula to view and think about the Count as an immigrant. 

The characters in Dracula perceive the Count as morally evil which makes them create a negative view of him in the novel. Dracula is driven away from England by the other characters but Doctor Van Helsing tells them that still must go after him. When one of them questions this idea Van Helsing describes to them what he feels Dracula’s intentions are, 

“He find out the place of all the world most of promise for him. Then he deliberately set himself down to prepare for the task…He study new tongues. He learn new social life; new environment of old ways…the habit of a new land and a new people …His glimpse that he had, whet his appetite only and enkeen his desire” (Stoker 317).

The reasoning that Van Helsing gives why the Count found the place that had the most “promise for him” which in this case is England is implied to be sinister. This reasoning is given when Van Helsing warns that Dracula’s experience in England has, “whet his appetite” and he is theorizing that Dracula is not finished with the country and that as long as he has the chance to come back he is a danger to them. In this same scene, Dracula is also described as a “monster” and throughout the novel, he is given other unfavorable descriptions. In the chosen quote Van Helsing does not use condemning adjectives to describe Dracula but even in moments where Dracuala is not being compared to the devil there is an negative view that it meant to be reflected on the readers. 

In “Dracula: The Unseen Face in the Mirror” Senf scrutinizes the other characters in Dracula to prove that the view of the Count in the novel is subjective and reimagines a more sympathetic version of Dracula. In her essay, Senf writes that Dracula is never perceived in an objective way because he cannot speak for himself and the attributes he receives are instead dependent on characters who want to destroy him (Senf 424). Senf challenges the subjective view presented in Dracula by mentioning the other characters’ equally dubious actions and she writes how “It becomes difficult to determine whether he [Dracula] is a hideous bloodsucker…or a lonely sound figure who is haunted and persecuted” (Senf 424). These ideas help consider a more sympathetic view of Dracula in an eye-opening way since the narrative works so well against him. In their subjective view all the characters actions are justified even if the constantly question their own sanity and continue to commit crimes. In her essay Senf permits a sympathetic portrayal of Dracula because that’s what the other characters in the novel are given.

An additional sympathetic view of Dracula could reclaim him as an immigrant. If the aforementioned quote is analyzed with the subjective perspective Senf mentions, it is easier to understand why Van Helsing’s theory about Dracula’s evil reasoning behind his actions is posited as fact. Dracula does not get to explain his intentions so they remain unknown to readers. However, if Van Helsing’s words are removed from their condemning context the actions that Dracula commits are like those of immigrants. Similar to how the doctor describes Dracula, immigrants often desire to find a place that offers them the “most promise” and do what they can to adapt to the culture of their new country. Additionally, at the beginning of Dracula, before the Count is given an unfavorable view he discusses how a foreigner is “a stranger in a strange land, he is no one” and how he would be “content if I am like the rest, so that no man stops…in his speaking if he hear my words, ‘Ha, ha! a stranger!’” (Stoker 45). Dracula admits the fears that he has about his move to England. Similar to an immigrant the vampire fears being discriminated against because they are seen as different. This further contributes to the sympathetic lens of the Count since Stoker makes him a dynamic character who like the others can have fear. 

The negative perception of the Count in Dracula came from Stoker entertaining the idea of “reverse imperialism.” This fear that the England empire was going to be taken over by foreigners was a common occurrence during the end of the century. However this fear that is hypocritical since Britain colonized many other countries. So not only that the Victorians feel themselves to be superior to the countries they conquered since they only care if their country is taken over but that their fear of foreigners was due solely to their status as immigrants. When Dracula is taken out of his negative context he is able to reveal the immigrant’s side of this and share the very real fears that they had in a way that begins to consider their stories.