How Does a Marxist Reading of Dracula Open Up Meaning?

Unremarkable though it may seem, to affirm the obvious truism that Bram Stoker’s Dracula originates from a century that historians often describe as the most significant in terms of revolutionary ideology, whilst wishing to avoid the clichéd view held, it is undeniable that the more one delves into the depths of this novel the greater wealth of meaning demonstrates significant correlation with Marxist ideology. The 19th Century saw the emergence of revolutionary socialist Karl Marx, who himself used the vampire metaphor to describe the capitalist system as ‘dead labour which, vampire like, lives only by sucking living labour’. Through Stoker’s opulent use of narrative structure, use of setting and imagery, this novel presents a multiple of different readings, which supports Marxist ideologies, opening up the ideas of a class struggle - with the Western bourgeoisie defending themselves against a threat on their capital from the feudal East, the idea of exploitation of the working class, aspiration to move further up on the capitalist system, the concept of false consciousness and the idea of freewill. The fragmented epistolary structure of the narrative adds to the feel of two systems dominating the narrative, the feudal East and the capitalist West being pitted against each other in a brutal fight for survival. The Western capitalists, which are represented through Van Helsig and the crew of light, and is further reiterated through their titles ‘Doctor’ Van Helsig, ‘Doctor’ Seward, Jonathan Harker, the ‘solicitor’, and Quincy Morris, who is described as ‘well educated’ tell Dracula primarily through a collection of diary entries, letters and telegrams. However, feudal lord Dracula is never given a voice himself. Dracula is, as Karl Marx describes, a form of capital which sucks the life from the proletariat working class. Stoker’s use of setting, establishes two differing societies, each representing part of the capitalist system. Stoker establishes a