{"id":1073,"date":"2023-09-29T16:54:15","date_gmt":"2023-09-29T20:54:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/?p=1073"},"modified":"2023-09-29T16:54:15","modified_gmt":"2023-09-29T20:54:15","slug":"aristocrats-in-transylvania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/2023\/09\/29\/aristocrats-in-transylvania\/","title":{"rendered":"Aristocrats in Transylvania"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Franco Moretti\u2019s text \u201cA Capital Dracula\u201d, he argues Dracula is a representation of the evils of capitalism. He asserts that the nature of vampires, their sucking of blood, is symbolic of capitalism\u2019s ongoing desire for growth and accumulation. Dracula as a character is the personification of the evils of capitalism in how he seeks to dominate his victims as \u201caccumulation is inherent in his nature\u201d and strips them of their individual liberties (Moretti 432). Dracula does not necessarily find pleasure in \u201cspilling blood: he <\/span>needs<\/span><\/i> blood\u201d, insinuating that not only is capitalism fatal for those victims of its system, or fatal to those inflicted by the acts of the Count but there is a curse on the system itself (Moretti 431). Dracula, taken as a personification of this system, is compelled not only by desire but also an inherent need for blood and domination, thus a burden of his own to inflict pain on his victims which I think brings a different light to the conversation of capitalism that not only is the system fatal to lower-class folk but also to those that supposedly benefit from the system stripping them of their individual liberty as well. Dracula seems to then represent both sides of the effects of capitalism but also reveals one of the novel\u2019s messages about how capitalism is also detrimental to the upper class.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Furthermore, in his article, Moretti claims the increase in Van Helsing\u2019s speeches in the novel, with his \u201cperverse English\u201d and \u201cmangled\u201d dialect, is symbolic of when Dracula seems to have taken control of the situation and asserted his capitalistic and monopolistic agenda (Moretti 437). I think this claim reveals a theme of othering also present within the novel, rather than what Moretti claims to be a specific commentary of British capitalism, but an expression of fear of a different country\u2019s systems. The descriptions of Dracula\u2019s origins and his strangeness as an aristocrat reveal the othering Stoker evokes in portraying Dracula\u2019s character as an evil dominator over his victims, but also an odd aristocrat from Eastern Europe. During Jonathan Harker\u2019s initial meeting with the Count, his first impressions of the vampire are of his strange hospitality. Harker notes that the Count \u201chimself left my luggage inside\u201d and \u201cThe Count himself came forward and took off the cover of a dish, and I fell to at once on an excellent roast chicken\u201d (Stoker). The repetition of \u2018The Count himself\u2019 denotes Harker\u2019s confusion with the lack of presence of servants in the castle These behaviors are odd to Harker as a British aristocrat because, as Moretti argues, a defining feature of a noble is their servants (Moretti 431). The lack of servants is perceived as strange to Harker, as he continues to go about the castle \u201clook[ing] for a bell, so that [he] might let the servants know [he] had finished; but [he] could not find one\u201d (Stoker). The portrayal of the stately castle with an unconventional aristocrat as its inhabitant revealed to me that the commentary on capitalism could be attributed to the governing systems of other countries and their evils. In addition to the oddities of the Count as an aristocrat, Stoker further others the vampire through Dracula\u2019s own understanding of his differences from Harker in their initial encounters. The vampire notes that in Transylvania \u201cour ways are not your ways, and there shall be to you many strange things\u201d and catches himself when he falls into his \u201ccountry\u2019s habit of putting [the] patronymic first\u201d and calls Harker, Harker Jonathan by accident (Stoker). These small instances of the differences in the Count are introduced before there is any mention or indication that he is a vampire. The Count is characterized in the beginning chapters of the novel as an unconventional aristocrat from a strange land East of London and sets the tone of the novel of discomfort and fear towards the domineering noble from another part of the world fairly unfamiliar to those of England.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I agree with Moretti that given the majority of the novel is narrated by its British characters, the distinction to when Dracula\u2019s power grows and dominates the narrative can be represented by the increase in Van Helsing\u2019s speeches and his improper English. However, I took more from Moretti\u2019s point that the narrative is focused on emphasizing British Victorian culture in its distinctions between Dracula and the Harkers (Moretti 437). The narrative shift between when the Harkers dominate the story-telling versus Van Helsing is due in part to the novel\u2019s representation of the othering of Eastern European countries. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Franco Moretti\u2019s text \u201cA Capital Dracula\u201d, he argues Dracula is a representation of the evils of capitalism. He asserts that the nature of vampires, their sucking of blood, is symbolic of capitalism\u2019s ongoing desire for growth and accumulation. Dracula as a character is the personification of the evils of capitalism in how he seeks … Continue reading Aristocrats in Transylvania<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4878,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125361],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2023-blog-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4878"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1073\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}