Parallel Between Vampirism And The Lower Class example essay topic

The Victorian men and women conveyed in Bram Stoker's Dracula are pure and virtuous members of the upper and middle class. However, hiding behind this composed and civilized conception of England lies a dark and turbulent underbelly. This underbelly is the lumpenproletariat, whom Karl Marx defined as 'the lowest and most degraded section of the proletariat; the 'down and outs' who make no contribution to the workers cause'. Victorian culture discriminated against these vagrants, who were seen not only as shiftless and immoral, but dangerous as well. Sex was taboo and purity was held sacred to the Victorian middle and upper class, but prostitution and sexually transmitted diseases ran rampant among the lumpenproletariat. The rich strive to be pious and good, but consider those of lower social standing to be less than human.

The reaction of the characters in Dracula to the evil of the vampires can be likened to the Victorian conception of the lower classes. They were seen as a hedonistic but powerful force, with the collective capacity to end the affluent citizen's way of life. In this sense, the novel can be viewed as a struggle to maintain upper-class Victorian traditions against the traditions of the lower class. This paper will examine the similarities between the vampires and the perception of the lower classes in regards to superstition, sexuality, inequality and the 'preying' of the lumpenproletariat on the respectable middle-class. It will also examine the signs evident in the novel of the Victorian mindset. Dracula is an aristocrat with a castle and noble title, but in reality he is more associated with the lumpen.

While trapped in Dracula's castle early in the novel, Jonathan discovers that he has no hired help, has been performing menial tasks such as bed-making and table setting in secret, and even acting as the horse-carriage driver. He slumbers in dirt, much like the homeless, and is nomadic for most of the book. The Count associates himself most clearly with the lumpenproletariat in the form of a horde of gypsies who 'attach themselves as a rule to some great noble' (49). They even do his bidding: 'The [gypsies] have given me these' (50) Dracula says of Jonathan's ill-fated letters. Dracula attempts to hide his lumpen nature and exude an aristocratic air, but in reality he, and vampirism in general, is much more closely associated with the lower classes. The delineation between the lower and middle-upper classes can also be seen clearly in both parties' attitudes towards superstition and science.

While the privileged classes are highly scientific and skeptical of superstition, the lower classes are just the opposite. Dr. Seward uses the phonograph machine, a cutting edge technology, to record his lengthy journal entries which include updates on his patient, Renfield, as well as the vampire problem. Dr. Seward and his advanced knowledge of science personify the attitude among the rich that science can explain all. He is scientific to the core, seeking a logical explanation for everything.

Van Helsing wonders at his naivety and lack of imagination when faced with something purely unscientific. 'Do you mean to tell me, friend John, that you have no suspicion as to what poor Lucy died of; not after all the hints given, not only by events, but by me?' (203). When he is confronted with the vampires, the situation rebukes Seward's principles of reason, eventually forcing him to accept the occult and superstition he had long denied. In contrast to the conservative scientific reasoning of Britain's privileged, the lower classes of Victorian England were superstitious to a fault. Evidence is offered when Mina and Lucy talk to old Mr. Swales about tombstones: 'You start on the assumption that all the poor... spirits, will have to take their tombstones with them on the Day of Judgment's ays Mina (75).

'Well, what else be they [sic] for?' Swales replies. The lower class occult fascination is firmly evidenced in Jonathan Harker's travels to Dracula's castle. He is given a crucifix by the woman working at the inn, and is repeatedly warned of the evil he journeys towards. Catholic superstition is demonstrated by Van Helsing and his use of the wafers and crucifixes in fighting the vampires. The Catholic population in England was increasing at the time, and these immigrants were predominantly lower class.

The fact that the vampires respond so strongly and superstitiously to these symbols of Catholicism showcases them as a representation of the lower classes. The rich in Victorian society, and even the upper-middle class, are in a highly privileged position. Being an affluent citizen affords them freedoms that the poor do not have. This is made evident throughout the novel, as one of the advantages the group has is their ability to bribe: 'This is a country where bribery can do anything, and [they] are well-supplied with money' (355). Money affords the group of men with abilities which far outweigh those of the poor.

Another parallel between vampirism and the lower class can be seen in the concept of the 'fall' from humanity to vampirism. This fall from grace can also be likened to falling from a privileged social class to a despised one. One descends from a realm of good into one of evil, into a horrible, inescapable existence. Mina fears this so much that she insists she be killed, like the men killed Lucy, should she transform fully and begin to take on characteristics of the vampire. The characteristics of vampirism are abhorred, and so too are those of the lumpenproletariat. One of the main tenets of the Victorian belief structure is their prudish outlook on sexuality.

In contrast, the lower classes are quite bawdy about this taboo subject, and prostitution is rampant. Both these sides can be clearly seen in the two pages where the undead Lucy, her fianc " ee, former suitors, and Van Helsing finally meet. Throughout the book Lucy is hailed as a miracle among women, a being of pure good. Indeed, three of the men had proposed, as Lucy explains in her letter to Mina: 'I needn't tell you of number three, need I?' (68). All the men present have grown to love her as the very pinnacle of female perfection, perfect in grace, disposition and kindness.

Her vampire form is one entirely different from this concept. 'We recognized the features of Lucy... but yet how changed. The sweetness was turned to adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous wantonness,' Dr. Seward recounts in his diary (255). The word 'wantonness's ugg ests that Lucy has become immoral and undisciplined. She has become a creature as unlike the former Lucy as is imaginable. The strict line of acceptable sexuality at the time included only three real categories: virgin, married woman, or harlot.

Lucy has obviously become the latter. The men, who are merely a representation of the Victorian outlook, are horrified by this change in Lucy. Yet even their stiff manners and upbringing cannot save them from wanting this undead thing in a violent and sinful way. Although heavily bridled by the constraints of their culture, the men lust after her. Indeed, it is all the men can do to keep Arthur from the ruination of his own soul in her arms. 'She advanced... and with a languorous, voluptuous grace, said: 'Come to me Arthur.

Leave these others and come to me' (256). The use of the word languorous in the quote suggests a dreamy mood, and voluptuous can be defined as unrestrained sensual desires. Victorian culture relied on the restraint of these sexual or 'baser' desires, and a woman exhibiting these at all would be viewed as evil. The 'dreamy mood' that languorous implies shows that Lucy is putting him under her hypnotic spell.

Knowing full well the power of her evil, he would still have been pulled to her by his lust had Van Helsing not interceded with the cross. This struggle between prudery and hedonism defines sexuality in the Victorian era, as well as the sexuality that is portrayed in this book. This section of the novel in particular, as well as the one wherein Jonathan meets the vampire harlots, can be seen purely as an expression of this struggle. It can be noted that every occasion in the novel where women appear as vampires carries heavy sexual undertones. Victorian culture forbade women to enjoy or want sex, and females that seem so willing are horrifyingly erotic to men.

The prostitution business flourished in the Victorian era for this reason, and sexually transmitted diseases also flourished. Vampirism's spread can be likened to the spread of these diseases in England through the prostitutes and their often patrons. A sexually transmitted disease includes a strong element of sin, and cures are impossible in this era of limited medical sophistication. Like the forehead mark that signals the sin on Mina's soul, these diseases would be an ever-present reminder. The parallels drawn between lower-class women and vampire women, as well as the two groups' outlook on sexuality, are readily apparent. The outlook of the lower classes and vampires in regards to sexuality can be paralleled, and so too can the idea of predator and prey so obvious in Dracula.

Dracula was a nomad that preyed on people, while the homeless poor are nomads that prey on the middle and upper classes. These homeless poor include beggars, criminals and madmen, all of whom rely on the productive upper classes for their livelihood. The madman Renfield in the novel goes one step farther than the other homeless- he is actually in league with the forces of vampirism, and calls Dracula master. Dracula can control animals, and seems to be a predatory animal himself, with his 'long and pointed' (305) teeth and his thirst for blood. It is an understood fact that the poor have often been compared with animals, and the living situations of these and poor 'animals' are similarly den-like. Both live in 'small and close' places, with 'stagnant and foul' air (111).

Vampires and the poor are projected as animal-like, and both prey on others. Since the vampires in Dracula can be seen as a representation of the lower class, we can draw some assumptions. If one draws this parallel to its logical conclusion, the battle with the vampires, it can be seen that in the end the lower class and their perceived values are soundly defeated by the righteous ruling class, and the threat is expelled from Britain. However, this ruling class does not come out of the battle unscathed, and the Victorian tradition is mostly lost. By reading Dracula as a battle to maintain Victorian tradition, one can more fully understand the actions of the characters. Their prudishness, Seward's scientific adherence to logic, and the idea of the fall from grace take on a new meaning in the light of such an understanding.

Just as the characters in Dracula cling to their humanity, so too do they cling to their upper-class values in the face of the lower class.

Bibliography

Stoker, Bram. Dracula. England: Peng iun, 2003. dean:' Lumpenproletariat'. Oxford English Dictionary. web.