What is a monster? Some think that it’s a big scary thing that needs to get taken down by the good guys in order to save the day. Others think it’s the guy under the bed, in the closet, or conspicuously lurking as a pile of clothes. The truth of the matter is that a monster is what people at the time dictate is a monster, so media and stories reflect that telling. According to the Longman Anthology the British had a lot to fear and call ‘monstrous’. This shows through the various parts of Dracula demonstrating the many fears of Victorian England.
One facet of this was undoubtedly the idea of the New Woman, that idea exemplified by the way Lucy was portrayed in the novel. Introduced to us talking about the multiple suitors she was immediately painted as different from females in other novels, having her pick her future husband is unlike how women acted previously even within the books we read in class. Lady Audley was asked by Michael to be his wife, so the fact that Lucy immediately is put in this position is one of strangeness that the Victorian audience wasn’t used to in their literature.
Another is the complication of science and religion, throughout the novel it is pointed to that the modern trappings/advancements of culture have nothing against the superstitions of yore. Dracula is a supposedly ancient monster immune to our modern arms and weapons. A fear that must have popped up in the minds of Victorians reading this, which would be something along the lines of “Modern technology is nice, but what if it’s all ineffective against evil?”. This is where the whole religion part comes in, Van Helsing (coolest fucking name ever in literature don’t come at me) a sort of scientist when it comes to the act of vampire murder. He has all the tools at his discretion where he uses religious artifacts to beat Dracula u
ltimately.