The Monsters We See Are Actually Our Reflections: How Simulacra in Bram Stoker’s Dracula Undermines the idea of Good VS Evil “The monster is not outside but within… ,” said John Paul Riquelme. Riquelme’s quote gives the impression that there are always two sides to every coin. Each individual is more than their outer appearance. Humans are an imperfect mixture of both good and bad. According to Jean Baudrillard, simulacrum or simulacra is essentially the representation of something or even a certain person.
In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Dracula himself can be seen as a simulacra for humanity because he represents the bad side of humanity while the human’s simulacra is a representation of both good and evil. This idea of what good and evil exactly is forever changing. There is no complete good just like there is no complete evil. The characters in Dracula support the idea that the lines are blurred when it comes to good versus evil. The breakdown of the characters is crucial in understanding the novel all together. The creative use of doubles help establish the idea that there is more to characters than just being good or being evil.
The use of doubles in Dracula further the idea of dualism of good and evil not just in ourselves but in society as a whole. From the beginning of Dracula the battle of good versus evil is presented. In chapter one, Harker is given a rosary to ward off evil after the villagers realize Harker was going to Castle Dracula. This first idea shows that the rosary and religion are the good that can battle evil. Another example is when the gang goes to London to place Holy wafers inside Dracula’s many coffins he brought from Transylvania.
The idea that Holy wafers, the cross, and holy water are the good that helps battle evil. In Dracula, the band of humans including Helsing, Harker, and others must be good because they are fighting to save human lives while Dracula is the evil of the novel because he causes death. There is a battle to win between humanity and the undead. Harker struggles to keep his sanity and find an escape from Dracula’s control from being a prisoner at Castle Dracula. Another battle is when Dracula converts both Lucy and Mina into vampires.
The humans including Van Helsing, Harker, Seward, Morris, and Holmwood fight to help the women keep their humanity. The lines of good and evil are blurred because an argument can be made that the humans can be just as evil as Dracula. According to Renfield, “The blood is the life” (Stoker 155). Dracula needs blood to sustain life. The humans want to kill Dracula because he is considered “evil. ” Drinking blood and converting someone into a vampire is not necessarily evil but killing definitely is evil. Lucy is one of the characters that fall into the blurred lines category of good and evil.
She teeters on the line of good when she is still human and drops into the evil category when she turns into a vampire. Her humanity fights evil to stay human. Her resiliency to stay human shows her human spirit of good. For Mina and Lucy, it took several attacks from Dracula in an attempt to change them. The degree of humans is portrayed in the novel when Stoker describes the violence used to slay vampires. In chapter 16, the description of how the humans finally kill Lucy could be considered evil. “Arthur placed the point over the heart, and as I looked I could see its dint in the white flesh.
Then he struck with all his might” (Stoker 223). The stake through the heart was not enough; the motion was continued. This excessive force can be seen as evil. “He looked like Thor as his untrembling arm rose and fell, driving deeper and deeper he mercy-bearing stake, whilst the blood from the pierced heart welled and spurted up around it” (Stoker 223). Throughout the entire novel, there is no scene as horrific as Lucy’s death including the scenes that involve Dracula. There is a reason or an excuse for everything. The humans believe that killing vampires will eventually save their souls.
Dracula drinks the blood of humans to stay alive. There’s no real justification for either. Good and evil is depicted in many different ways. For example, the battle of good versus evil is portrayed through the usage of light versus dark, day versus night and life versus death. Life is the light, the good, and death is the darkness, or evil. The humans represent life and when the humans become vampires they turn into death. Good and evil is supported by light versus darkness because in the novel nothing happens to any characters in the daytime but in the nighttime the bad takes place.
In Dracula, vampires sleep during the day and their “evil” is unleashed at night. For example, after Lucy is bitten in chapter 12, she is undisturbed during the day and during the night she is physically and psychologically changed. Doubles help demonstrate how Dracula is a simulacra for the evil side of humans while the humans portray both good and bad. The most prominent double that validate how Dracula is a representation of human evil and humans as the double edged sword is between Van Helsing and Dracula himself. Van Helsing is an illustrious doctor sent to take on Dracula.
Dracula is the evil while Van Helsing is the representative of all the good in the world. As an authoritative figure in the story, Van Helsing has a thirst for power among the other characters. He feels the need to always take the lead. Dracula is similar in this way, in he has a thirst for blood. His thirst for blood grants his authority over their personal choices and freedoms. For example in Chapter 23, Van Helsing takes control over Mina when he hypnotizes her to try and track Dracula’s movements. In this way, Van Helsing has complete control over Mina.
Dracula and Van Helsing use forms of mental manipulations to get what they want. Dracula has a direct mental connection to Mina. Their similarity is apparent when Van Helsing compared himself to Dracula. Van Helsing said, “our old fox is wily; oh! So wily and we must follow with wile. I too am wily and I think his mind in a little while” (Stoker 311). Dracula and Van Helsing are similar in which they both take and give blood. For example, in Chapter 10 Van Helsing gives Lucy a blood transfusion in an effort to save her. To become a vampire, a human not only has to give blood but take blood as well.
Lucy must have drank some of Dracula’s blood to become a vampire. In this way, Van Helsing and Dracula are one in the same. Both Van Helsing and Dracula’s anger can be held on the same magnitude. For example, in Chapter four Dracula’s anger is towards the three vampires seducing Harker. “As my eyes opened involuntarily I saw his strong hand grasp the slender neck of the fair woman and with giant’s power draw it back, the blue eyes transformed with fury, the white teeth champing with rage and the fair cheeks blazing red with passion” (Stoker 62).
Van Helsing’s anger is shown in chapter 10 after the gang realizes that Lucy was not getting better but worse. “Van Helsing raised his foot to stamp in anger, but his instinct of his life and all the long years of habit stood to him… ” (Stoker 143). The use of the words “mad men” also furthers the idea of Helsing’s similarity to Dracula In chapter 10, Van Helsing discussed Renfield (Dracula’s servant) as being a madman while Seward can say the same thing about Helsing himself.
Van Helsing says, “All men are mad in some way or the other; and inasmuch as you deal discreetly with your mad men… ” (Stoker 135). Dr. Seward called Van Helsing a mad man in Chapter 15. “I am loath to think it, and indeed it would be almost as great a marvel as the other to find that Van Helsing was mad… ” (Stoker 212) Throughout the novel, Dracula is seen as a blood-thirsty mad man. The comparison is hard to ignore. In various chapters of Dracula, both Dracula and Helsing do not wish to be disturbed. I trust you will forgive me, but I have much work to do in private this evening” (Stoker 57).
In Chapter 20, Helsing also has work to do in private. “He does not wish to be disturbed in the work, without cause” (Stoker 272). The representation of characters in Bram Stoker’s Dracula prove that in the world there is no clear evil or clear good. The lines are blurred. Dracula as a simulacra for humanity and the human’s battle with good and evil (within themselves) show that there is no pure good or bad. The side characters choose (good or bad) is based solely the decisions the individual makes.
