Superstition In Bram Stoker's Dracula

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A large portion of the population base their entire lives and existence around the ideas discovered through science, doubting the supernatural or the possibility of higher life. What about the ideas science cannot prove or attest to? Sure, the Big Bang Theory is probable and could potentially explain how the universe came to be, but it does not disprove a God or much else for that matter. Along with this, many previously widely believed scientific discoveries have proven to be incorrect. Who is to say that current theories will not be found as complete bogus? In literary work Dracula, written by Bram Stoker, a lack of superstition and belief in the western side of England, as opposed to the more eastern Transylvania, is more damaging than beneficial. …show more content…
The citizens are much more likely to turn to science for understanding with their lack of religion. The main characters exhibit a deficiency of superstition causing Jonathan’s trip to Transylvania to be so peculiar. This would not be a problem unless there happened to be a supernatural vampire in the midst. As professor Glennis Byron in the Department of English at the University of Stirling excellently explains, “...science is variously interpreted as the source of the vampire hunters’ ability to defeat the Count, and the source of their helplessness and confusion in the face of supernatural foes” (Byron 2). Strictly speaking, the vampire hunters rely heavily on science, aiding them with communication and transport until confronted by supernatural enemies. The characters also need extreme convincing from Dr. Van Helsing, a man who has a lot of science under his belt while studying Count Dracula and the probability of the existence of vampires for many years, before they believe in the power Dracula has. Van Helsing explains, “A year ago which of us would have received such a possibility, in the midst of our scientific, matter-of-fact nineteenth century?” (Stoker 257). This essentially signifies that if a man went back one hundred years with something as elementary as a telegraph and showed it to the previous inhabitants of England, …show more content…
In Bram Stoker’s time, the many inventions mentioned were the latest technologies. There is much controversy as to why Stoker included these inventions while the widely believed idea is due to his lack of confidence in science. Carol A. Senf, professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, analyzes, “Stoker wanted to believe that science and technology could mitigate the dark areas of life, areas that he frequently presented in his overtly Gothic works”(Senf 4). His anxieties can be shown through the transfusions being unable to save Lucy along with a small mess up in the telegraph system stopping Seward from getting Van Helsing’s message and rescuing Lucy in time as well. The characters faced a dilemma where they had to give up their faith in logic and understanding to defeat Dracula. Ancient traditions and superstitions became a necessity to defeat the vampiric entities. Guns had no effect on Dracula while a hefty knife and a wooden stake took his life:”But, on the instant, came the sweep and flash of Jonathan’s great knife. I shrieked as I saw it shear through the throat; whilst at the same moment Mr. Morris’s Bowie knife plunged into the heart” (Stoker 410). Technology was doubtlessly helpful, but the unreliability paired with Dracula’s resistance to it caused these inventions to be less effective and merely time
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