Upon reading the beginnings of Stoker\u2019s Dracula I was immediately surprised at the religious aspects discovered early within the book. Once Harker tells his landlord that he is headed to Count Dracula\u2019s castle the couple both begin to act anxious and seem to lean on God as a way to avoid any further conversation with Harker regarding the count.<\/p>\n
The first moment the reader sees this is when Stoker asks if they\u2019ve been to his castle, \u201cWhen I asked him if he knew Count Dracula, and could tell me anything of his castle, both he and his wife crossed themselves\u2026.simply refused to speak further\u201d (10). Rather than discuss the count it seems that the couple know something that Harker doesn\u2019t, to the point in which they feel inclined to make the sign of the cross it order to connect to God. In doing the sign of the cross the couple ask for protection of God which means that there is something unsafe regarding the count. Furthermore the fear surrounding the count\u2019s castle culminates when the Landlord\u2019s wife begs Stoker to not leave by stating, \u201cIt is the eve of St. George\u2019s Day. Do you not know that tonight, when the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things in the world will have full sway? Do you know where you are going, and what you are going to?\u201d (pg 11) To this Stoker admits that he is now feeling rather anxious, \u2018It was all very ridiculous, but I did not feel comfortable however\u2019 (11) but he must go to the count on business to attend too. Ultimately the woman then pulls out a crucifix to which Stoker thinks, \u201cAs an English churchman, I have been taught to regard such things as in some measure of idolatrous\u2026She saw, for I suppose, the doubt in my face, for she put it round my neck, and said, \u2018For your mother\u2019s sake\u2019 (11). Unbeknownst to Stoker, there seems to be something to fear surrounding the count to the point in which the woman finds it necessary to put the crucifix around his neck in order to keep him safe through the power of Christ.<\/p>\n
The doubt in which Stoker portrays can align with the Victorian ideas surrounding the \u201ccrisis of religious doubt\u201d upon the arrival of scientific studies such as Darwin, which denounced aspects of the bible. However, Stoker\u2019s doubt, is contrasted with the fervor in which the woman portrays over religion. Upon reading the chapter, \u201cCrisis of Faith\u201d within The Victorian Age, there seemed to be a mix of emotions regarding religion especially within the coming of the Modern. The woman portrays the influential Evangelical religion of Britain during the time whom George Eliot \u201cmaintained that an Evangelical sense of duty and ethics was essential as a social \u201cglue\u201d to prevent the disintegration of society in the absence of religious authority\u201d (1056). Thus upon the woman noticing the \u201cdoubt\u201d on Stroker\u2019s face she places the crucifix around his neck portraying the \u201csense of duty\u201d to which she felt necessary in order to save him from \u201cdisintegration\u201d.
\nYet Stoker\u2019s uncertainty surrounding the couple\u2019s fear and viewing the crucifix as \u201cidolatrous\u201d conflicts with his previous statement saying that he is a \u201cchurchman\u201d. Why then, if Stoker is a churchman, does he refuse to listen to the woman\u2019s warnings as well as his own uncertainties surrounding his journey to Count Dracula?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Upon reading the beginnings of Stoker\u2019s Dracula I was immediately surprised at the religious aspects discovered early within the book. Once Harker tells his landlord that he is headed to Count Dracula\u2019s castle the couple both begin to act anxious and seem to lean on God as a way to avoid any further conversation with … Continue reading An English Churchman Eh?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2615,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[123782,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2016-blog-post","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195","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\/2615"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}