Mythology/folklore Tension between the East and the West Bram Stoker’s most interesting theme in Dracula is the conflict between known Western culture and the unknown Eastern world. In the very beginning of the book, Jonathan Harker tells us “the impression I had was of leaving the West and entering the East” (9). It is from this early point that the separation between the East and West is set up and throughout Dracula this theme builds. It is this conflict between East and West that dominates
the human reaction (such as terror or horror) to a threatened loss of meaning when confronted by the loss of distinction between the subject and the object: the moment at which the subject (the Cartesian “I”) is confronted by the object (such as ‘a wound with blood or pus’ (Kristeva, 1980 p.3), the sickened or horrified emotion which arises is because of the lack of division between the two; thus, the abject arises when confronting the self/other divide becomes problematic. The exploration of societal
Dracula, if you did not know was written in the Victorian Era (1837-1901) which was when the feminine gene was represented as weak and irrelevant, and required the control of a stable and powerful male. A Victorian woman had only two options in this era. The first option was to either be a virgin which symbolized that she was a positive role model of purity and innocence. The