Bram Stoker's Dracula: A Struggle to Maintain Victorian Upper and Middle Class

The Victorian men and women conveyed in Bram Stoker's Dracula are pure and virtuous members of the upper and middle class. However, hiding behind this composed and civilized conception of England lies a dark and turbulent underbelly. This underbelly is the lumpenproletariat, whom Karl Marx defined as "the lowest and most degraded section of the proletariat; the 'down and outs' who make no contribution to the workers cause". Victorian culture discriminated against these vagrants, who were seen not only as shiftless and immoral, but dangerous as well. Sex was taboo and purity was held sacred to the Victorian middle and upper class, but prostitution and sexually transmitted diseases ran rampant among the lumpenproletariat. The rich strive to be pious and good, but consider those of lower social standing to be less than human. The reaction of the characters in Dracula to the evil of the vampires can be likened to the Victorian conception of the lower classes. They were seen as a hedonistic but powerful force, with the collective capacity to end the affluent citizen's way of life. In this sense, the novel can be viewed as a struggle to maintain upper-class Victorian traditions against the traditions of the lower class. This paper will examine the similarities between the vampires and the perception of the lower classes in regards to superstition, sexuality, inequality and the "preying" of the lumpenproletariat on the respectable middle-class. It will also examine the signs evident in the novel of the Victorian mindset.

Dracula is an aristocrat with a castle and noble title, but in reality he is more associated with the lumpen. While trapped in Dracula's castle early in the novel, Jonathan discovers that he has no hired help, has been performing menial tasks such as bed-making and table setting in secret, and even acting as the horse-carriage driver. He slumbers in dirt, much like the homeless, and is nomadic for most of the book. The Count associates himself most clearly with the lumpenproletariat in the form of a horde of gypsies who "attach themselves as a rule to some great noble"(49). They even do his bidding: "The [gypsies] have given me these"(50) Dracula says of Jonathan's ill-fated letters. Dracula attempts to hide his lumpen nature and exude an aristocratic air, but in reality he, and vampirism in general, is much more closely associated with the lower classes.

The delineation between the lower and middle-upper classes can also be seen clearly in both parties' attitudes towards superstition and science. While the privileged classes are highly scientific and skeptical of superstition, the lower classes are just the opposite. Dr. Seward uses the phonograph machine, a cutting edge technology, to record his lengthy journal entries which include updates on his patient, Renfield, as well as the vampire problem. Dr. Seward and his advanced knowledge of science personify the attitude among the rich that science can explain all. He is scientific to the core, seeking a logical explanation for everything. Van Helsing wonders at his naivety and lack of imagination when faced with something purely unscientific. "Do you mean to tell me, friend John, that you have no suspicion as to what poor Lucy died of; not after all the hints given, not only by events, but by me?"(203). When he is confronted with the vampires, the situation rebukes Seward's principles of reason, eventually forcing him to accept the occult and superstition he had long denied. In contrast to the conservative scientific reasoning of Britain's privileged, the lower classes of Victorian England were superstitious to a fault. Evidence is offered when Mina and Lucy talk to old Mr. Swales about tombstones: "You start on the assumption that all the poor... spirits, will have to take their tombstones with them on the Day of Judgment" says Mina (75). "Well, what else be they tombsteans[sic] for?" Swales replies. The lower class occult fascination is firmly evidenced in Jonathan Harker's travels to Dracula's castle. He is given a crucifix by the woman working at the inn, and is repeatedly warned of the evil he journeys towards. Catholic superstition is demonstrated by Van Helsing and his use of the wafers and crucifixes in fighting the vampires. The Catholic population in England was increasing at the time, and these immigrants were predominantly lower class. The fact that the vampires respond so strongly and superstitiously to these symbols of Catholicism showcases them as a representation of the lower classes.

The rich in Victorian society, and even the upper-middle class, are in a highly privileged position. Being an affluent citizen affords them freedoms that the poor do not have. This is made evident throughout the novel, as one of the advantages the group has is their ability to bribe: "This is a country where bribery can do anything, and [they] are well-supplied with money" (355). Money affords the group of men with abilities which far outweigh those of the poor. Another parallel between vampirism and the lower class can be seen in the concept of the "fall" from humanity to vampirism. This fall from grace can also be likened to falling from a privileged social class to a despised one. One descends from a realm of good into one of evil, into a horrible, inescapable existence. Mina fears this so much that she insists she be killed, like the men killed Lucy, should she transform fully and begin to take on characteristics of the vampire. The characteristics of vampirism are abhorred, and so too are those of the lumpenproletariat.

One of the main tenets of the Victorian belief structure is their prudish outlook on sexuality. In contrast, the lower classes are quite bawdy about this taboo subject, and prostitution is rampant. Both these sides can be clearly seen in the two pages where the undead Lucy, her fiancйe, former suitors, and Van Helsing finally meet. Throughout the book Lucy is hailed as a miracle among women, a being of pure good. Indeed, three of the men had proposed, as Lucy explains in her letter to Mina: "I needn't tell you of number three, need I?"(68). All the men present have grown to love her as the very pinnacle of female perfection, perfect in grace, disposition and kindness. Her vampire form is one entirely different from this concept. "We recognized the features of Lucy...but yet how changed. The sweetness was turned to adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous wantonness," Dr. Seward recounts in his diary (255). The word 'wantonness' suggests that Lucy has become immoral and undisciplined. She has become a creature as unlike the former Lucy as is imaginable. The strict line of acceptable sexuality at the time included