Throughout the history of the intersections between vampirism and Christianity have existed certain values surrounding the two, as various implications and allegories to religious belief and image have long coincided with the combination of the topics. Within Bram Stoker’s Dracula, expanding upon both positive and negative examples relating to Christian ideals.
In many instances within the text, vampirism and Dracula himself are seen as being an antithesis to what may be considered to be holy or pure, but instead, invoking every quality that a rather pious practitioner of Christianity may believe you should not be; sensual, infected, and the embodiment of sin. However, the humans within the story are the near opposite in this context, as they are viewed overall as pious and faithful, overall representing the ideal of purity, or goodness. The power of the divine, or in this specific instance, is the only way to absolve the world of sin, with Catholic and Christian traditions performed as means of protection, biblical and scriptural quotations creating an underlying subtext of positive connotations, and even a character succumbing, with injuries mirroring the very Christological wound. Though, the myth of the vampire can also be seen as coinciding with Christian belief as well, rooting in faith itself. To illustrate, much importance of blood is placed upon both the folklore of vampirism and Christianity itself. Ancestral blood lust, sacrificial rites involving the consumption of blood, offerings to deities and gods out of repentance or of thanks, and it acting as a gift from God, our life-force; all have the ability to connect with one another. Being staked at the heart can even be seen as an allegory of the crucifixion, being done in the name of the divine even. Dracula himself may even act as a manifestation of Christian piety, despite simultaneously acting as the pure antithesis of the faith, as the novel seems to suggest.
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