cThroughout the novel, scientific techniques used to combat the vampiric onslaught only prove to be

semi-effective. After Lucy is bitten she becomes very ill and seems to be nearing death for days. Van
Helsing decides it is necessary to perform an operation saying, "'My friend John and I have consulted;
and we are about to perform what we call transfusion of blood - to transfer from full veins of one to the
empty veins which pine for him (166).'" This transfusion seems to work, but only for a few hours as Lucy
gets steadily worse, eventually dying. The decision is made to perform an autopsy, but Van Helsing
protests asking, "'But why do it at all? The girl is dead. Why mutilate her poor body without need
(225)?'" It is clear that the scientific examinations into this phenomenon would prove to be futile.
Towards the end of the novel, the Crew of Light is amazed that they are even considering the idea of
vampirism.

Mina writes, "'A year ago which of us would have received such a possibility, in the midst of our
scientific, skeptical, matter-of-fact nineteenth century (327)?'" The characters finally come to realize the
importance of both religion and superstition in their lives."

"However, the scientists' ultimate faith in the scientific method limits them in their pursuit of Dracula.
Van Helsing recognizes that scientists lack an open mind in mystical events such as Dracula's ability to
materialize and dematerialize at will as good scientists are limited by their belief that what their limited
senses notice are what constitute reality. The characters initially resist the possibility that vampires exist
as they are limited by their interpretation of their observations."

Bram Stoker's "Dracula" is a gothic tale of Western civilization's struggle against a deadly being. In order
to combat Dracula, a band of mismatched characters collaborate in their efforts to save humankind
from the fatalities that could occur at the will of a foreign vampire. This paper shows that by using the
scientific method, these characters are able to defeat the deadly vampire as he lacks their scientific
ability. In "Dracula", scientific advancement acts as a positive force in the fight against the vampire as
Dracula lacks the scientists' objectivity which everyone has the capabilities to acquire.

rational and irrational forms of knowledge.

Stoker͛s Dracula, on the other hand, gives a more complex view of imperialism by showing that the
dissemination and use of information can break down the barrier between the colonizer and the
colonized. Stoker accomplishes this by showing that things perceived to be rational forms of knowledge
the British characters possess, such as books and schooling, can actually make them more vulnerable to
their enemy. Dracula studies English books, laws, and customs so that he may permeate into London
and pose as an Englishman. because Dracula can use the British forms of knowledge against them.

Stoker also calls into question the idea that (what the contemporary English reader would consider)
rational types of information are superior to knowledge of superstition and folklore. The British
characters͛ tendencies towards practical rationality make it more difficult for them to understand their
enemy. When Jonathon Harker visits Dracula͛s castle and first begins to suspect the Count͛s sinister
intentions, he doubts his own perceptions, forcing himself to focus on facts rather than intuition
(Dracula 61). As a result, it takes him longer to understand Dracula͛s true identity as a
vampire. Similarly, Dr. Seward͛s stalwart reliance on logic and empirical knowledge makes him reluctant
to accept the ͞abstract truth͟ of the vampire͛s possession of Lucy, so that Van Helsing has to devise a
method of proof more consistent with the scientific method he trusts. Stoker further illustrates the
vulnerability of empirical knowledge when the Count destroys the manuscripts and phonographs Mina
creates to design a plot against Dracula. All of the European characters͛ diligent journaling goes to ruin
when the papers are burned because that knowledge cannot live on beyond the words recorded on the
page. The history of Dracula͛s life also reveals the corruptibility of scientific knowledge, as it is through
the mastery of academic studies that Dracula learned to develop vampires as a ͞new order of beings͟
(Dracula 342). These elements of the novel demonstrate the inherent weaknesses in the empirical,
scientific, and academic forms of learning and information privileged in western society. Rather, it is
superstition and folklore that serve as the highest forms of knowledge because they provide the
strongest weapons for the European characters to defeat their enemy. Hypnotizing of Mina, a process
which would have been considered mystical by most contemporary readers, allows the group to track
Dracula͛s whereabouts as he travels back to Transylvania. Van Helsing͛s reliance on folkloric traditions
and customs becomes the key element in his ability to destroy the vampires. Without the knowledge he
gains about how to use the host, garlic, stakes, and the cross, the group would not have been able to
destroy the vampiric Lucy, and more importantly, would never have managed to kill Dracul

Stoker͛s emphasis on the importance of multiple types of information, even those commonly perceived
as irrational, relates to the larger theme of imperialism in Dracula. Stoker uses tradition and superstition
to disprove the notion that the increasing scientific advancements made in the late 19th century would
render Britain invincible to the types of threats that imperialism creates. This idea is expressed in Van
Helsing͛s words:

͞Tradition and superstition͙are everything͙a year ago

which of us would have received such a possibility
[of vampires], in the midst of our scientific, matter-of-fact
nineteenth century?...Let me tell you, he [the vampire] is
known everywhere that men have been. In old Greece, in
old Rome͙he have followed the wake of the Slav,
the Saxon, the Magyar͟ (Dracula 278).
Here, the vampire becomes a symbol for the inevitable threat to the power of great empires. Dracula
shows that Britain, as a contemporary imperial power, is no less susceptible to an external threat like
the vampire than the classical empires of Greece and Rome that preceded it. The novel also illustrates
that scientific knowledge alone is not enough to thwart such an enemy.

By avoiding an overly simplistic connection between natives and magic and Europeans and science,
Stoker forces the reader to consider a difficult question: if rationality and information does not
distinguish the British from the ͞other,͟ then what does? While we may not be able to definitively
characterize Stoker as a pro- or anti-imperialist based on the role he gives these types of information in
Dracula, his novel shows how information can blur the distinction between Europeans and the ͞other.͟

Believe me yet a little, friend John. If you trust me

not, then I must tell what I think, and that is not perhaps
well.

Will you not

have faith in me?

241

I feel like a
novice lumbering through a bog in a midst, jumping from one
tussock to another in the mere blind effort to move on
without knowing where I am going.͟
Dracula
by Bram Stoker
279

͞That is a good image,͟ he said. ͞Well, I shall tell you. My

thesis is this, I want you to believe.͟
͞To believe what?͟
͞To believe in things that you cannot. Let me illustrate. I
heard once of an American who so defined faith, ͚that faculty
which enables us to believe things which we know to be
untrue.͛ For one, I follow that man. He meant that we shall
have an open mind, and not let a little bit of truth check the
rush of the big truth, like a small rock does a railway truck.
We get the small truth first. Good! We keep him, and we
value him, but all the same we must not let him think himself
all the truth in the universe.

We have on our side power of

combination, a power denied to the vampire kind, we have
sources of science, we are free to act and think

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c

http://www.novelguide.com/dracula/toptenquotes.html

http://www.paperstarter.com/dracula.htm

http://www.shmoop.com/dracula/technology-modernization-quotes.html

Only together can religion and science beat vampiricism. (use lara͛s tab)