Engaging With Research on Sin in Dracula
Book Citation on Research Topic:
Clements, Susannah. Vampire Defanged, The: How the Embodiment of Evil Became a Romantic Hero. United States, Baker Publishing Group, 2011.
The Version of Dracula used, Cited:
Stoker, Bram. “Dracula.” Apple Books, Public Domain, 26 May 1897,
books.apple.com/us/book/dracula/id395541616.
The book I found to expand on my research topic is called Vampire Defanged by Susannah Clements. I will be focusing specifically on chapter 2, Bram Stoker’s Dracula: Sin and the Power of the Cross, which is related to my research topic as I will be talking about how sin is a component of masculinity as a mode for evil in Dracula in my research paper.
The first key idea in this chapter is how the power of the cross is often overlooked when reading Dracula due to the fact that readers often lump in the crucifix as, “the symbol in with the creepy castle and how the howling of wolves as features of the Gothic genre intended to build suspense or create a supernatural ambiance” (Clements 14). At the beginning of the novel, Harker even overlooks the power of the crucifix as he is skeptical but once he realizes that he has become a prisoner in Dracula’s castle, he grows to become grateful for the crucifix that a woman handed him, as it brings him comfort and strength. Dracula, the vampire, comes to represent all of the forces of evil that the crucifix must defeat. This explains how Dracula is more than just evil, as the crucifix puts evil into a spiritual context, Dracula comes to represent sin. This is similar to my own research due to the fact that I will be exploring sin as a component of evil, however, they look into the religious aspects which is a key idea in the novel, while I will be exploring how Dracula is a representation of sin through masculinity. I will also explore sin as a theme throughout Dracula, rather than how Dracula represents sin. I found this idea in the chapter important to my own research because it explores the religious aspects of sin, while I will be exploring the masculine aspects of sin as a component of evil as a whole in the novel.
Another key idea in this chapter emphasizes the importance of fangs in the novel and how it also represents sin. An example of this can be seen in Dracula when the coachman is described as having “sharp-looking teeth” (Stoker 18). This topic in the chapter basically goes into the significance of physical appearance in Dracula and how that ties into sin. Clements explores this idea more by bringing up how in modern-day vampires such as Edward in Twilight, the vampire is constantly compared to an angel, however in Dracula, the vampire’s physical appearance, “points towards the vampire’s significance as a representation of sin… more than simply his appearance, his behavior with Harker sets up the emphasis on sin which is further developed in the remainder of the novel” (17,18). This is important in my own research as I will be discussing the masculine aspects of sin and how appearance and behavior are both important aspects of how masculinity is used to represent sin in the novel. The key ideas that Clements also goes into regarding appearance as sin in Dracula are wrath, gluttony, envy, greed, pride, and sloth. These are all characteristics that represent sin in the novel and I will be expanding on how these are all also components of masculinity as sin in Dracula. This inspired my own work because it goes into the significance of appearance and behavior as representations of sin and it helped me move forward with the idea of masculinity as an evil being the underlying theme behind sin in the novel.
The last key idea from this chapter that will help me expand on my own research is the idea of sin’s victims in the novel. Clements explores this idea through Lucy explaining how it is possible that Dracula chose her as a victim due to the fact that she was the most promiscuous and self-oriented female in the novel. This is something that was looked down upon in females around the Victorian era. To me, this helped explore how patriarchy is sinful in itself as Dracula in the novel takes it upon himself to end the life of a woman whose values are not traditional. However, Lucy is eventually freed from the vampire curse later in the novel. This idea is important because it explains how vampirism is not only a representation of sin and evil, but it is often overlooked that vampirism also has a spiritual significance in the novel as it is used for theological reflection (Clements 24). I found this idea Clements presented significant because it explores the symbol of a vampire being a mode in the novel that is used to reflect on theological questions by looking at the victims of sin in the novel. This will help me expand on my own research by allowing me to compare the idea that the victims of sin are really the victims of masculinity in the novel. In my research, I will explain how victims of sin are also the victims of patriarchy which is how masculinity is used to represent sin in Dracula. In addition to this, Clements’s research inspired my own work by allowing me to explore the idea of how masculinity is used as a representation of evil in the novel and how that idea is used to explore theological ideas.
