Love, it is the very basis of our humanity. Love unites us and lets us feel for more than just our own sakes. Without love, without sympathy, without the care for others, what are we but machines built into societies framework. It is our love, our passions, our emotions that keep us grounded, that keep us who we are when everything around us crumbles. In Stokers Dracula we see many examples of this humanity, this love, in various characters throughout the book, even the ones that we as readers think cannot possibly have the ability to love or to be humane. Dracula and the people he turns, his offspring, still possess this level of humanity within them, this certain kind of love hidden behind their vampire sides. We see it in characters like Dracula himself, Lucy, and even in Mina before she was fully turned. Their souls might be blackened by this curse that have befallen them but their hearts still fight for this love they still yearn for. Stoker allows us these hidden glimpses of humanity so that we, as readers, can ponder the significance of these moments. Through Dracula we see first hand the power of humanity.
Dracula is described to us from the very beginning as this tall, dreadful man with pale white skin and lips as red as blood. His touch is as cold as ice and his eyes fill Harker with this overwhelming repulsive feeling that he could not really describe at first. Throughout the chapters, again and again, we see examples of Dracula’s inhumane nature. We have many instances where Stoker persuades us of the evils Dracula can commit. But right when we are on the edge of our seats we see a glimpse of Dracula’s humanity. When Harker listens in on the conversation between Dracula and the three maidens, the reader catches something not seen before. Dracula says to the three maiden after being accused of never loving “Yes, I too can love; you yourselves can tell it from the past. Is it not so?” (Stoker 41). This is the first and only time Dracula verbally reveals the love he once had in the past. It is astonishing to us as readers to see these words written out. Forty pages before we have been told how evil this monster is and yet now we see the humanity that bangs on the bars of corruption begging to be realized. Then it hits us wholly, Dracula may be this beast with powers like none other but he still yearns to be loved like anyone else. This basic human desire is what reveals a large part about Dracula, those unsaid words that can only be read between the lines. Seeing that he has loved before, imagining his pale face express sorrow as he explains his past love, tells us that Dracula is doing things for a reason. Why did he invite Harker to his castle? Why is he moving to England? Why Lucy as his first real offspring? Why let Harker live? The answer to each brings us closer to knowing that Dracula is trying to fill a void. This curse, forced upon him long ago, has made him secluded and alone. He cannot help what he is but he can also no longer live in the shadows alone in an empty castle. Like us all, the mighty Count Dracula, behind his black armor, just wants to be loved.
The next instance we see of this hidden humanity is in Lucy during her final hours. Once Van Helsing has tracker Lucy down and has caught her in the act of kidnapping a child, Stoker gives us yet another glimpse into the heart of a vampire. He describes Lucy holding the child saying “With a careless motion she flung to the ground, callous as a devil, the child that up to now she had clutched strenuously to her breast” (Stoker 190). It is right here when we see it, the real Lucy buried behind such a twisted version of herself. This act of affection shows us that Lucy probably cared for kids or even wanted some of her own. It shows us the deep maternal instinct, this natural love for kids, that still resides within Lucy. This is Lucy’s own type of love, it is the same as Dracula’s but affirmed through kids. We see that her humanity and her love cannot be hidden because there is no way for her to suppress such feelings. Her humanity may not always shine but at this very instance, for just a second, Lucy is human again, she was a woman, a mother, feeling the warm embrace of a child, a child she probably wished was her own, sorrowed over the monster she knew she had become. A vampire would not feel as such, they would not care for such weak fragile things. On page 194 we see further proof of this as Arthur drives in the stake into Lucy’s heart, ultimately killing the beast that resides within her along with Lucy herself. Stoker describes her saying “There in the coffin lay no longer the foul thing that we had so dreaded and grown to hate the work of her destruction, but Lucy as we had seen her in life, with her face of unequalled sweetness and purity”(Stoker 194). It is almost as if Stoker is showing us that Lucy still had her humane side, it was just hidden behind the twisted corruption of that wicked curse.
Finally we come to Dracula’s last victim, Mina. Although Mina never actually turned into a full vampire like Lucy or Dracula, we still saw a different perspective on these black hearted vampires we have come to know. Mina gives us this inside look from the other side that we have not seen before. Usually Dracula is described as this hell spawn with fiery eyes and an ugly complexion only feeding on the innocent for his evil ways, but Mina is the first to finally see the truth. Stoker explains how Mina, after knowing what she is, sympathizes with Dracula instead of hating him for what he has done. She says “That poor soul who is wrought all this misery is the saddest case of all… You must be pitiful to him too.. Just think one day I too may need such pity.. and that some other like you may deny it to me” (Stoker 269). Mina knows he is nothing more than a victim, like her, and that he does what he needs to do to survive. He is a victim of his own circumstance and somewhere deep inside Mina knows that Dracula was once too a human just like everyone else. She feels his humanity somewhere deep inside and connects with him on a spiritual level. Mina is our conduit into what it is like to be a creature of the night. We see, through her caring and her love, that humanity is not lost within the change into such a thing, it is just unseen by those who only see the blood sucking creatures they are.
The last question we must ask ourselves as readers is the what in this scenario. What is the reason Stoker had for writing his book and his characters in such a way? For me I think it was that during those times we saw an influx of immigrants into England. Obviously these immigrants came to prosper, expand, and make families of their own. I could easily see a problem with someone of a foreign nature falling in love or wanting to be with an English woman. This idea that these foreigners not only invaded their land but also took their woman could have influenced Stoker’s writings. Especially since it was looked down upon for having relations with these invaders. Dracula depicts the foreigner who continuously tries to steal peoples women but is only a victim of his own circumstance. He cannot help being a foreigner but he still searches for love. Lucy depicts a pure bread English woman who has fallen in love with a foreigner so now people view her as dirty or loose when all she really wants is love and her children. Mina represents a more progressive viewpoint on the matter giving a reflection on the people of England who thought it was not so bad for the two to mix. Stokers book, Dracula, has influenced society for decades. I’m sure that seeking the humanity in these vampires was only one way Stoker raised topics that occurred during his time. All in all, though, we can all agree that humanity, or more specifically the love we all share, will always outshine the evils of the world in the end.