Dracula: the dichotomy between characters and their historical contexts

Abstract

A piece of literature is an important way to have a grasp on the values that a society deems as virtuous or wicked. This research aims to analyse the allegories to the social implications of 19th century colonialism present in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. As a horror piece of art, the book displays elements, characters, and situations that can be perceived as an allegory and commentary regarding the British Empire's anxieties and fears. In this text, the characters are representative of the fear of immigration, what British society would consider deviant behavior and moral corruption, the constant seeking of progress, and expansionism. By using elements of postcolonial studies and the new historical criticism, this paper is a fruit of research regarding historical and dialectical analysis of the social context that gave birth to the fears presented on the pages of the novel and how they are portrayed throughout the corpus.