Blog Post #5: Psychological Analysis on Dracula

Bram Stoker’s Dracula has changed the perspective of a horror classic to many people. Although many films, books, and other mediums in the horror genre use external factors to scare audiences, Dracula also uses internal factors that effectively terrified audiences. What also makes Stoker’s story different is the perception of psychology during the Victorian Era, especially since it is when Stoker wrote Dracula. Since psychology is the internal factor, it is prevalent in Dracula. Throughout the story, Jonathan Harker visits Dracula’s castle, and the longer he stays the more anxious he becomes. This is caused by Dracula psychologically manipulating him. He uses fears that affect Harker’s way of thinking, such as using Harker’s confusion of Dracula and his intentions to freak him out. Harker becoming almost mad towards the end of his stay makes audiences uneasy because Harker no longer has no control over his own mind. Toxic masculinity is also shown here because hysteria, which during the Victorian Era was considered a mental illness for women. Hysteria is a mental illness that makes a person have an excess amount of emotion that is out of control. Harker having these moments of hysteria demonstrates Stoker’s interpretation as weakness. Even the other characters, who are not with Dracula, become manipulated at some point. I will be using Google Scholar as well as the University of California of Santa Cruz library to expand more on my research. I will also be analyzing Bram Stoker’s Dracula to figure out how the author interpreted psychology during the Victorian Era.