{"id":939,"date":"2023-09-17T14:28:20","date_gmt":"2023-09-17T18:28:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/?p=939"},"modified":"2023-09-17T14:28:20","modified_gmt":"2023-09-17T18:28:20","slug":"dracula-and-xenophobia-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/2023\/09\/17\/dracula-and-xenophobia-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Dracula and Xenophobia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dracula <\/span><\/i>is a fascinating case study of late Victorian England\u2019s negative attitudes toward immigrants. The fin de si\u00e8cle was a tumultuous and uncertain time for English society as a whole and was marked by changes that were seen as frightening, unwelcome and overwhelming. This led many to resist change in various forms, including immigration of people from other countries, due to fears about England becoming tainted or corrupted by foreign influence. This was accompanied by the Social Darwinist movement, which used Darwin\u2019s studies of evolution in birds to justify treating non-white and non-English people with contempt and disgust. In <\/span>Dracula, <\/span><\/i>Bram Stoker encapsulates and reflects the many anxieties surrounding foreign immigration and influence, especially through the character of Dracula. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The idea that immigrants could corrupt England and force it backward in time is evident from the very first chapter. When Jonathan Harker first arrives in Eastern Europe and informs people there of his eventual destination, they desperately try to convince him to turn around and leave. An older woman begs him not to leave, or at least to go on a different night, and when she realizes she can\u2019t convince him, she gives him a protective charm. Instead of listening to her, however, Jonathan brushes off her concerns as \u201cvery ridiculous\u201d and says she was making him \u201cnot feel comfortable\u201d (4). The use of the phrase \u201cvery ridiculous\u201d suggests that Jonathan considers himself superior to the people whose country he is in simply because he is British and there on \u201cimportant business\u201d (4). Additionally, Jonathan\u2019s complaint that the lady who was desperately trying to help him was making him uncomfortable further conveys his sense of superiority over others simply because he is British. He seems to think that these people are \u201cbackwards\u201d and too superstitious to bother listening to them. Furthermore, when Jonathan arrives at Dracula\u2019s castle, he quotes Dracula saying \u201cI rejoice also that there is a chapel of old times. We Transylvanian nobles love not to think that our bones may lie amongst the common dead\u201d (20). Jonathan\u2019s modern, young, and well-furnished lifestyle is instantly contrasted with old Dracula\u2019s preoccupation with history and death, shown by his reference to \u201ca chapel of old times\u201d and where his family\u2019s \u201cbones\u201d will lie. This serves to reflect the English sentiment of the time that they were more modern and therefore more \u201cadvanced\u201d than other societies, due to the widespread trend of the development of new technologies that were propelling their country forward, while leaving others behind.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Not only is the \u201cmodern\u201d Jonathan contrasted with the ancient foreigner Dracula, but Stoker also adds a more sinister aspect to this contrast with the implication that foreigners might attempt to corrupt England and drag it into the past or destroy it forever. For example, Jonathan discovers early on that Dracula\u2019s castle is \u201ca veritable prison\u201d and that he is \u201ca prisoner\u201d (22). This use of the words \u2018prison\u2019 and \u2018prisoner\u2019 preys on the fears of English people at the time to suggest that foreigners might want to \u2018trap\u2019 or \u2018imprison\u2019 England\u2019s progress and modernity, as well as its people. Furthermore, the novel opens with the premise that Dracula requires assistance from Jonathan to move from Transylvania to England, but he is later discovered to be a blood-sucking monster. This is accompanied by a scene in which he is caught feeding off Lucy. Stoker describes this scene as follows: \u201cThere was undoubtedly something, long and black, bending over the half-reclining white figure. I called in fright, \u201cLucy! Lucy!\u201d and something raised a head, and from where I <\/span>was I could see a white face and red, gleaming eyes.\u201d The use of the imagery of \u201chalf-reclining white figure\u201d contrasted with \u201csomething long and black\u201d suggests a corruption of someone who is \u201cwhite\u201d and \u201cpure\u201d with something that is \u201cblack\u201d and \u201cimpure.\u201d The implications of this contrast are numerous, but in this context, the imagery serves to reinforce the message of an evil foreigner who is determined to come to England to spread corruption and evil. In this way, then, Stoker\u2019s <\/span>Dracula <\/span><\/i>successfully and memorably reflects the anxieties of the time concerning foreigners.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dracula is a fascinating case study of late Victorian England\u2019s negative attitudes toward immigrants. The fin de si\u00e8cle was a tumultuous and uncertain time for English society as a whole and was marked by changes that were seen as frightening, unwelcome and overwhelming. This led many to resist change in various forms, including immigration of … Continue reading Dracula and Xenophobia<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4982,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125361],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-939","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\/939","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\/4982"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}