A little back background, here.
I was reading a post (I think it was on the National Catholic Register) that mentioned that the latest Twilight flick (to call it a film is stretching it) was somewhat pro-life. One of the commenters on that article said she could never romanticize vampires after reading Bram Stoker's Dracula. Having never read it, I decided to see if I could find it on-line...I did at Literature.org. So I started it Sunday and finished it this morning.
I went through four years of honors level classes in high school and four years of college and never read Dracula. What a shame. I loved it. I loved it because it made me think. It is profoundly theological in its treatment of good and evil. It is profoundly social in it treatment of women. I can see why, unfortunately, it is not recommended fair for youngsters today.
I have a great many thoughts on the book, but this entry will focus on the character of the Vampire. There are six vampires that make an appearance is the text. All, save one, Dracula, have a similar characteristic: as they satiate their blood-lust, they become more and more beautiful. Stoker describes Lucy, who as she was dying, lost her beauty, but it seemed to regain itself after her death...only to be more pronounced when the vampire-Lucy was feeding on flesh: her lips become "voluptuous". Stoker describes the three female vampires that Jonathan Harker meets in the Castle Dracula as stunningly beautiful. None of these characters, however, can be romanticized: they exist to prey on the living, to feast on their blood, to kill them. They (well, at least Lucy does) entice young, innocent children into their confidence, and then prey on them. All of these female vampires had a more sensual, lusty beauty about them, as if to entice men into their snares. This is exactly what almost happened to Professor Van Helsing in the chapel of Castle Dracula: he was ensnared by the feminine beauty of the vampires, thinking that instead of destroying them, he should be protecting them. Had he delayed much longer, they would have been awoken by the sunset, and would have overpowered him.
While Dracula is not, shall we say, attractive, he is cunning, and like all evil, selfish and self-centered. This, I think, is the hallmark of evil. Consider the thought that Professor Van Helsing must put into Arthur before the confrontation with vampire-Lucy. In order to free Lucy, to allow her soul to fly into Heaven, Arthur must risk something. The thought is a self-less thought. Indeed, this is what makes the main, good characters good: their mission is to destroy Dracula in order to save Mina, but also to save others from falling into the same end. Theirs is a mission of self-sacrifice: they know that their fight risks death. Dracula's is a mission of self-indulgence: he knows that he will exist with or without his feasting on the blood of mortals, but he does so to keep him strong and powerful.
Reflecting on this then, we are shown the personification of evil in the characters of the vampires, Dracula first and foremost among them.
