Psychoanalytical Analysis of Bram Stokers Dracula

Carlos Dena Honors English 11 5/20/13 Critical Analysis on Dracula With several illicit subjects listed throughout Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the book becomes a playground for psychoanalysts. Whether it be to see a subjects as simple as the conscious take over a character, or a character’s surroundings corrupting its victims, Dracula intrigues in more ways than just its vampiristic features. The following is a psychoanalytic study with a focus on vampirism imitating sexual practice and drug usage today while shining a light on the complex psychology of characters, and how even the author can influence the course of its story. Key Principle #1: Human activity is not reducible to conscious intent. The complexity of the human mind has always†¦show more content†¦Here, Harker has fallen victim to the vampire’s lustful attraction. This also demonstrates an undertone of eroticism within the story since the three vampires â€Å"get much closer to Jonathan Harker than proper Victorian ladies should† (Pikula 291). Harker also seems to develop signs of paranoia. An early sign of this paranoia is when Harker accepts the rosary from the old lady at the inn before he continued on with his journey. He did not know how to react to this, stating in his journal that â€Å"as an English churchman, I have been taught to regard such things as in some measure idolatrous† This shows the opening signs of paranoia, having neurotic ideas. He does not accept that he is the one going against his views, he instead decides to pin it on the old lady for being so kind in her offer. As he stays in Draculaâ €™s castle, Harker begins to feel trapped, as well stated on page 27. He fights this feeling in many ways. One that stands out though is his method of writing the letters he’s allowed to write by Count Dracula. He keeps them short and concise, for fear that the Count may read them. This demonstrates a fear of being watched, and can also be accounted for as paranoia. Key Principle #5: Characters in texts may also have a complex psychology. Another character worth analyzing is Renfield. Curiously enough, Renfield’s Syndrome was a term coined by psychologist Herschel