Quotation:
“Of one thing only am I certain: that it is no use making my ideas known to the Count. He knows well that I am imprisoned; and as he has done it himself, and has doubtless his own motives for it, he would only deceive me if I trusted him fully with the facts. So far as I can see, my only plan will be to keep my knowledge and my fears to myself, and my eyes open. I am, I know, either being deceived, like a baby, by my own fears, or else I am in desperate straits; and if the latter be so, I need, and shall need, all my brains to get through.” (32)
Comment:
This quote highlights one of the most horrific moments of monster stories for me, which is when the main character realizes the danger they’re in with no one to help them except themself. Based on Cohen’s first thesis, which is that the monster’s body is a cultural one, I see Jonathan’s realization as mirroring the fears of Victorian readers. At this point, I’m still uncertain what fear Count Dracula himself represents, but it’s clear that readers didn’t want to be trapped in that situation, most likely in the figurative sense. In thinking back to The Beetle, which was released around the same time as Dracula, I know that a lot of Victorian people had a fear of foreign cultures. I think it’s possible that Dracula stems from the same fear, but was simply illustrated using the more abstract form of vampires. This form, I believe, is what made Dracula more well-known than its competitor because it didn’t choose an existing culture to be feared, which made its fear more relatable to a wider audience over time.
Question:
What cultural fear was Stoker actually drawing from when he wrote Dracula?
