The Thematic Purpose of Horror in Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”

Excerpts from the Paper

The Thematic Purpose of Horror in Bram Stoker’s "Dracula"
This literary study will analyze the theme of horror as the alter ego of Victorian moral norms in the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. The restrictive sexuality of the Victorian era reflects a historical period in which the dark side of human nature was avoided to preserve a sense of self-confidence throughout the British Empire. Stoker introduces the vampire as the alter ego through the horror of sexual deviancy, bloodsucking, and the anxiety of fear that it countermands in an ultra-moral British society. By examining the thematic and image based aspects of horror through Dracula, the threat to Victorian social morality via hiding sexuality and the darker side of human nature will be...

..... century, Stoker reminds that Van Helsing’s use of blood transfusions and other medical solutions are powerless against the vampire and his female victims. Furthermore, Stoker challenges the moral restrictions on female sexuality via the horror of seeing three “wives” of Dracula try and seduce and then kill Harker. The horror of Mina actually enjoying the fangs of Dracula bloodletting her throat, provide horrific imagery that reveals the erotic pleasure she gets from these nightly visits. These thematic and image-based aspects of horror define how Stoker’s novel undermined the accepted moral and societal institutions so prevalent in late 19th century British society.
Works Cited:
Stoker, Bram. Dracula. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.