Bram Stoker’s Dracula as Saviour: Nietzschean Reading

Abstract

SummaryBram Stoker’s Count Dracula is traditionally and popularly regarded as the villain of Stoker’s classic 1898 novel. Drawing on Nietzsche’s theories on power and morality, as well as on existing theories on late-Victorian England and on the novel itself, this article argues that the famous Count emerges ironically as the novel’s tragic hero. In particular, the preoccupation with appearance and boundaries that in part characterised late-Victorian England will be outlined with reference to Ronald Pearsall’s The Worm in the Bud ([1969]2003) and Prescott and Giorgio’s (2005) research on Dracula, which situates the novel within the late-Victorian climate of anxiety and power.In this process, credence is given to Nietzsche’s theory that morality is a construct borne from humanity’s will to power and not a natural, historic given. As such, judgements formulated around this construct need to be carefully scrutinised and their value questioned. In the same vein, characters cast as either villainous or heroic within this constructed framework must be re-evaluated. Thus, the proposed article re-evaluates conventional ways of thinking with regards to power and morality, and focuses on how transgression can represent a meaningful challenge to a repressive, hypocritical status quo.