Dracula: Context (OCR A Level English Literature)

Dracula: Context

Context should inform, but should never dominate, your reading of the text. Any comments on context must consider the significance and influence of the contexts in which the text was written and received. When exploring context for Dracula, you should consider primarily the literary context, and then include any other relevant contexts as appropriate to the question. Each of the topics below link directly to the key themes and ideas in Dracula:

• Literary context

• Social context

• Historical context

Literary context

When considering a novel’s literary context, it is important to explore the form and genre it is written in, as well as anything the novel might do that defies the expectations of a particular genre. Dracula is considered an excellent example of Gothic fiction. The section below will explore Gothic fiction in relation to the novel in more detail.

Gothic fiction

Gothic literature is a genre that emerged in the late 18th century and, many argue, began with the publication of ‘The Castle of Otrantro’ by Horace Walpole in 1764. This novel is considered the first Gothic novel, which introduced many of the genre’s key elements. 

• Some of the Gothic genre’s key elements include:

  • Gloomy settings such as ruins and religious buildings like churches and abbeys

  • Mysterious and supernatural occurrences

  • Omens and curses

  • Emotional distress such as nightmares and feverish dreams

  • Death and decay

  • Madness/possession

  • A villain or a supernatural being that is unknown

• Dracula, which is set in the late 19th century, contains many elements from Gothic fiction such as the setting:

  • It starts in an old Transylvanian castle with a mysterious count whose appearance and mannerisms are not completely familiar

  • The castle also adopts many elements from Gothic fiction, such as its remote location with its dark passages and locked rooms

• The narrative then moves to a familiar place, England, but places the count, who threatens to destroy the civilised world, at the centre:

  • Whitby Abbey is a key setting in which events unfold and it fits into the gothic genre due to its history and condition

• Stoker creates an atmosphere of fear, dread and unease throughout the novel:

  • He uses dense fog to obscure characters’ views

  • He also uses animal imagery, such as bats and wolves, to create a sense of dread and unease and to enhance the eerie atmosphere

  • By doing this, he turns places that are familiar into dangerous settings

• Supernatural elements are also adopted in Dracula:

  • Count Dracula himself is a vampire, which is a supernatural creature that feeds on the blood of the living

  • The three female vampires also go against the natural order of things and the societal expectations of the 19th century, making them something to be feared and loathed

  • Dracula also has powers that enable him to shapeshift into animals and dense fog, which disarms characters around him

• The novel deals with psychological tension and fear through the characters’ encounters with Dracula and other supernatural beings: 

  • The psychological impact of encountering something that is unfamiliar and unknown is central to the story and can be seen through characters such as Jonathan Harker and Arthur Holmwood

• Stoker also deals with romantic and erotic elements in Dracula:

  • The interactions between the vampire and his victims are intimate and touch on the idea of seduction and pleasure, which were generally taboos in Victorian England

  • It also deals with the idea of the fallen woman through the character of Lucy and how her weakness leads to her downfall

• Isolation and helplessness is also a prevalent idea in both Gothic fiction and Dracula:

  • Many of the characters from Harker to Lucy and Mina experience an acute sense of loneliness and helplessness in the face of unnatural threats

• Good vs evil is a recurring theme in Gothic literature and in Dracula it is evident through the characters of Van Helsing and Dracula

Social context

A novel’s social context can be thought of as the social and political environment in which it was written, and the social and political environment in which it is understood. Stoker explores the anxieties of Victorian England and his influences include science, religion and the fear of invasion from the “other”, so these are the two aspects of social context explored in more detail below.

Science and religion

• Published in the last decade of the 19th century, Dracula reflected the intellectual and cultural debates surrounding science and religion during that time:

  • One of the main conflicts in the novel is the clash between rational and scientific views, which are represented by characters such as Dr Seward, and the traditional, religious views that Van Helsing uses to destroy Dracula

• At the time the novel was written, religion was being overlooked in favour of science and medicine:

  • However, religion is depicted as a source of strength against Dracula and the forces of evil

  • From the very beginning of the novel, characters use religious symbols and prayers to protect themselves against supernatural beings

  • Stoker is suggesting that faith and religion can provide a sense of security and hope when faced with something unknown and unnatural

• Darwin’s Theory of Evolution was published decades earlier and society was beginning to question traditional religious doctrine:

  • Stoker attempts to highlight the limits of science through the characters of Van Helsing and Dr Seward, who fail to save Lucy using scientific methods

  • This message highlights the idea that science alone may not have all the answers and that old practices and beliefs should not be completely dismissed

• While science was a big focus during the 19th century, there was a resurgence of interest in the occult and the supernatural:

  • This may have reflected the crisis of faith that was taking place during that time

  • The characters of Dracula and Van Helsing represent these conflicts and clashes as they both represent good vs evil

Fear of invasion from the “other”

• During the 19th century, the British Empire was one of the largest superpowers and a formidable empire that consisted of countries such as Canada, India, Australia and New Zealand:

  • The British Empire was therefore determined to maintain its power and status in the world

• The sheer size of the empire meant that people feared invasion from outsiders that could weaken or diminish its stronghold in the world:

  • Stoker’s Dracula is a reflection of those fears

  • The image of the vampire as the “stranger” who has infiltrated civilised Western society is a reflection of the fears of that time

• Stoker also uses the character of Dracula as a means to threaten England’s spiritual identity:

  • Christianity was the only significant religion in Victorian England and Victorians were afraid that a foreigner would infiltrate and destroy their core beliefs

  • In Dracula’s case, he brought godlessness and evil with him and was a threat to Victorians’ morality

• Dracula also represents a cultural “otherness” as he spends time familiarising himself with English culture and norms in order to infiltrate and prey on the society:

  • When he arrives in England, he metaphorically invades England via his attack on Lucy Westenra

  • She is a representation of England and its morals, so when she is attacked, those morals are attacked

  • As a result, when Lucy begins to change, she becomes a part of the “other” and becomes less like her old self, thus reflecting society's fears of invasion

Historical context

Whilst background knowledge of the historical context in which a text was written and received is useful, any reference to historical context should be made judiciously and linked carefully to the themes in the novel and the focus of the exam question. Below you will find some comments about historical context relevant to the key themes and ideas in the novel.

• Abraham Stoker was born in Ireland in 1847

• According to Stoker’s son, his inspiration for Dracula came from a particularly disturbing dream about a “vampire king emerging from the dead”

• Stoker used Whitby as the setting for some of the key events that unfold in the novel and it is now considered the “birthplace of Dracula”:

  • He was recommended to visit Whitby by a friend

  • Some of the stories that Stoker incorporated into the novel were stories that he had been told during his stay at Whitby

  • These include the story of the Russian boat that became shipwrecked off the coast of Whitby

• It is also worth noting that Stoker borrowed a book from the local library in Whitby:

  • In this book, there was mention of a 15th-century prince by the name of Vlad Tepes

  • Stoker may have taken some of this as inspiration for his villain in Dracula