Considering how thoroughly we’ve covered the topics of blood, female sexuality, and fears surrounding the east, it’s been rather difficult finding a topic that hasn’t had a wooden stake driven through it. But what about Renfield, the lunatic with an insatiable appetite? He’s been a character of growing importance as his connection to Dracula becomes revealed, allowing the protagonists to gain an insight into the psychological aspect of vampirism as well as offering clues as to Dracula’s whereabouts.
Although Renfield’s zoophagous tendencies are observed early on, it isn’t until later that Dr. Seward begins to connect his behavior to Dracula as more than just a coincidence. Renfield repeatedly shouts about a “master,” and his temperment changes with the comings and goings of Dracula to England. His psychosis strangely subsides, to which Dr. Seward remarks “that his instinct is satisfied as to the vampire’s ultimate triumph,” surely a reference to Dracula’s success in converting Lucy. (240)
More importantly, I believe it’s worth exploring Dr. Seward’s diagnosis of zoophagy as it pertains to the novels portrayal of male vs. female vampires. Personally, one of my favorite scenes involves the revelation that Renfield “gave many flies to one spider and many spiders to one bird, and then wanted a cat to eat the many birds.” Beyond the disturbing imagery of a man who spends his time collecting flies and spiders (although too similar to myself, thankfully I’m not in an insane asylum) his method of sustaining his own life via blood can be considered more primitive and repulsive than even Dracula and the other vampires methods. Admittedly I had to skip ahead in the novel for mentions of Renfield until I found evidence of my claim, but I believe it fits quite well in this theory.
(SPOILERS)
Renfield admits later in the novel that Dracula often came to him and “promised things … he used to send in the flies … and big moths.” (298) Up until this point, Dracula has only converted women into vampires, not a single male is known other than himself. Yet still Dracula has this follower who is a man and longs for immortality. Rather than bite him and bring him into his harem of super-sexual vampire seductresses, Dracula seems to use Renfield as a pawn, possibly to get close to Lucy and Mina. In effect, Dracula humiliates Renfield by making him eat vermin. The poor guy is literally told to eat what most people consider disgusting pests to gain the same life-sustaining effects of blood drinking without the sexualization due to him not being a woman. This further supports our class discussions regarding the claim that the novel’s predominant theme is around the fear of expressed female sexuality.
Not only does Renfield get the short end of the stake, but he also gets killed during one of our recent readings. When Renfield noticed that Mina was incredibly pale and made an observation that her blood “had all seemed to run out and realized that [Dracula] had been taking the life out of her” (299). When Dracula visited Renfield that night, the insane patient “saw the mist stealing in, and [he] grabbed it tight [but the vampire’s eyes] burned into him [and the Count] flung [him] down” (299). As a result, Renfield is gravely injured. Not only does Renfield become a pawn of Dracula and consumes other organisms in an effort to gain strength, but his life is cut short by his own master in a brutish manner. His death, which lacked any support of salvation from the other men (unlike Lucy Westernra) shows that Renfield really did get the short end of the stake.