WHAT DOES BLOOD REPRESENT IN STOKER’S DRACULA?

WHAT DOES BLOOD REPRESENT IN STOKER’S DRACULA?

BY SYEDA S. RAZA

 

 Blood is a material substance that facilitates the restoration of life. In Gothic literature, blood represents genealogy, lineages, and procreation. The Gothic treatment of blood sometimes focuses on the purity and taintedness of blood, like in Bram Stoker’s Dracula to highlight contemporary societal anxieties.  In Gothic literature, blood holds dual functionality, it not only is a life giver but a life denier. This bifurcated ideology is often seen as a hallmark of the Gothic genre in which it is entirely possible for an action to be purely good and evil at the same time (Hughes). Stroker uses blood as the most blatant and powerful symbol in the novel. He presents blood as the most vital fluid for both humans and vampires, uses it to corrupt the religious beliefs of the people, and to show their sexual desires.

In Gothic literature, blood is the driving force which is essential for the vitality of both good and evil. In the novel, Victorian men as blood donors reflect strength and power as seen when Van Helsing appraises Holmwood’s constitution as “so young and strong of blood so pure that we need not ‘defibrinate’ it “(176). Blood, whose properties were still believed in this period to animate the body, needed to be pure in order to both cure illness and preserve health and thus were provided by these robust men. On the other hand, consuming blood gave vampires youthfulness and fortification in a more demonic way. When Jonathan Harker discovers Dracula sleeping in his tomb, he observes him ''looking as if his youth had been half restored '' (75).

The notion of blood as a life-giver is further extended by its religious connotations in Gothic literature. Here, Stroker tries to present “blood” as a Christian religious symbol. Christians consume sacred wafers and wine in the church that not only represents the body and blood of Christ but also to remember his sacrifice. In Dracula, when Renfield echo’s ''The blood is the life the blood is the life!'' (202) he essentially is referring to Christ’s blood and also the blood that he indirectly consumes by eating insects which in turn increases his power. Contrastingly, Stroker also links blood consumption which greed and corruption in Vampires. Being bitten by the vampires means union with the undead, shearing a person away from his faith. Thus it appears that the consumption of blood by vampires goes against the Christian theologies in Stokers Dracula.

Also, in Stoker’s Gothic fiction there are no bounds on sexuality. Stoker associates blood with the sexual desires of both men and women. We first see this when Jonathan Harker is surrounded by the Count's female companions in the castle. Despite his engagement and love for Mina, he admits that ''I felt in my heart a wicked, burning desire that they would kiss me with those red lips.'' Here, the red lips represent blood and the three female vampires present an image of predatory lovers. On the other hand, after the successful blood transfusion of Lucy by her fiancé, Lucy writes in the diary “Somehow Arthur feels very, very close to me… I seem to feel his presence warm about me” (182). Here again, Lucy’s reaction after the blood transfusion and the way someone reacts when they are sexually involved with someone is very identical. Not only this the vampire puncturing the skin and draining the blood can be seen as seduction, so is the fact victims are turned into the undead at night. Not only this, red cheeks were a Victorian symbol of sexual arousal, which appears often in the novel.

To me, Stoker uses blood to present the notion of “desire” for both the men and women which is often reflected in the Gothic literature. Here, Victorian men use blood as a sign to show strength and dominance to women. Whereas for women, blood represents significance and subversive desires. Specifically for women, vampirism gave voice to the culturally silenced angels of the house. However, blood also promised eternal youth as desired by both women and men.

Work cited

 Hughes, William, David Punter, and Andrew Smith. The Encyclopedia Of The Gothic. Print.