Although one might think that Bram Stoker is describing the British xenophobic attitudes of Victorian England, I believe the fear of an unknown future is what this is all about. This book was written at a time when there were some many new and emerging ideas and the birth of many of the sciences and philosophical thought took root in the Victorian era.
A crisis in faith ensued during this time. People were questioning organized religion and its role in their lives. When Darwin’s Theory of Evolution was printed and the discovery of the Neanderthal Man made the news, people started questioning the meaning of time, faith, spirituality and mysticism. Time was no longer linear, and people struggle with the biblical teachings that the universe was created in 7 days. If the bible is wrong, what is right?
Many began contemplating mysticism and the supernatural world. Although the Roman Catholic Church was not the predominant religion of England, and had shared a very turbulent history with Anglicism, all of the ritual and mysticism connected to catholicism captured wide interest. There was even a movement of people wanting to incorporate some of the rituals of Catholicism into the Anglican Church. The incense, chants, vestments, and sacred relics titillated and captured the attention of those questioning their own beliefs about life and death.
The bones of saints and martyrs buried in crypts beneath the floors of cathedrals. The body of a saint, contained in a glass case, undefiled by decomposition for hundreds of years. The vaults in small chapels within cathedrals, containing bishops and cardinals, and the faithful pray over them. The rise in interest in demonic possession and exorcism drew many into the realm of the supernatural. “The man was simply fastened by his hands, tied one over the other, to a spoke of the wheel. Between the inner hand and the wood was a crucifix, the set of beads on which it was fastened being around both wrists and wheel, and all kept fast by binding cords”. The Coast Guard, having determined the man had to have tied himself, forces the onlookers to know that something diabolical had to have happened. The log book supports this assumption.
This post reminds me of the blog post entitled “Christian Sectarianism in Dracula,” as I find yours to be similar in the exploration of Catholic myth and tradition that dominates the otherwise sterile Anglican faith. What I find interesting, however, is that you both ended up drawing different conclusions about the significance of said Catholic rites. In your post you seem to attribute the inclusion of Catholic symbolism to an inherent intrigue in the (seemingly) occult brought about by a crisis in faith. In the other blog post I mentioned, however, the inclusion is the result of a Protestant apology towards Catholicism and a call for unity among Christians in their fight against evil. The former interpretation rests in doubt and intrigue while the latter embraces spiritual unification, an interesting dichotomy.
I think a crisis of faith is a very interesting approach to the creation of myths of vampires and other such immortal beings. As you said, after Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, “people struggle with the biblical teachings that the universe was created in 7 days. If the bible is wrong, what is right?” One thing that Christianity offers is a relief from the fear of death as there is the promise of immortal life in heaven for the true believer. In a period of doubt, something else would be required to calm the fear of death, such as a belief in immortal beings like vampires. While their blood sucking and murderous tendencies may be horrifying, knowing that even without a God, there may be some way to live forever may have been enough to calm people. The touch of the crucifix may call Dracula back from his blood lust after Jonathan cuts himself in the Count’s presence as a symbol that there is true redemption in religion and faith (33).
I appreciate this post because it provides us an explanation for a more obvious, but less-discussed topics in this book: religion and science. I agree with the interpretation provided here–that society ran amuck towards the turn of the nineteenth century. The rise of science and its’ conflict with religion proved a highly contentious issue as so much between the two conflicted. As a result of this, two separate camps emerged: one science-focused and one religion-focused. In order to compete against the rise of science, those who followed separate religions had to unit on some issues. This is especially apparent in Dracula, when Jonathan finds security in the idolatrous crucifix. Throughout the novel these signs of religious intermixing are frequent, highlighting the cohesion needed to beat something unholy.