In one of our last discussions, the topic of antisemitism in Dracula came up, specifically related to the Count’s appearance, so something that I’ve been thinking about is what he actually looks like. Since this story has been told countless times through film adaptations, when I was introduced to Dracula in the book, I already thought I had an idea of what he looked like, so I didn’t pay much attention to his descriptions. Therefore, after hearing what other people said, I had to go back and really try to understand how Stoker presents his title character. I was surprised by how differently he is portrayed in this novel versus other adaptations. I honestly feel like the film portrayals of Dracula are actually more derogatory than in the book. I’m not trying to say that Dracula isn’t antisemitic because it’s clear that elements of the vampire legend, like being repelled by Christian relics and symbology, represent people’s prejudices towards the Jewish faith, but I just don’t see how Dracula’s appearance relates to this in any major way. The only one of Dracula’s features that is stereotypically Jewish is his “aquiline nose,” but I personally don’t see how he is depicted as a caricature of a Jewish man.
