Untitled Essay Research Paper Sociopolitical Philosophy in

Untitled Essay, Research Paper

Sociopolitical Philosophy in the Works of Stoker and Yeats

Around the turn of this century there was widespread fear

throughout Europe, and especially Ireland, of the consequences of the race

mixing that was occurring and the rise of the lower classes over the

aristocracies in control. In Ireland, the Protestants who were in control

of the country began to fear the rise of the Catholics, which threatened

their land and political power. Two Irish authors of the period, Bram Stoker

and William Butler Yeats, offer their views on this “problem” in

their works of fiction. These include Stoker’s Dracula and Yeats’

On Baile’s Strand and The Only Jealousy of Emer, and these works show

the authors’ differences in ideas on how to deal with this threat to

civilization. Stoker feels that triumph over this threat can only be achieved

by the defeat of these “demonic” forces through modernity, while

Yeats believes that only by facing the violent and demonic forces and emerging

from them could Ireland return to its ancient and traditional roots and find

its place in society.

The vampire was a common metaphor used by many authors

in an attempt to portray the rising lower class and foreign influence as

evil and harmful to modern civilization. The Irish Protestant author Sheridan

Le Fanu uses vampires to represent the Catholic uprising in Ireland in his

story Carmilla. Like much of gothic fiction, Carmilla is about the mixing

of blood and the harm that results from it. When vampires strike, they are

tainting the blood of the pure and innocent, causing them to degenerate into

undead savages who will take over and colonize until their race makes up

the condition of the whole world. This was the fear the Protestants had of

the rising Catholic class. They were seen as a lowly people and the fear

was that they too would colonize and degenerate Ireland, and perhaps the

rest of Europe, back into a primitive land of savages. This fear of the breakdown

of civilization by dark forces is also what Dracula is about.

In Dracula, Stoker sets up the heroes and victors of the

novel as civilized people, while the foreign villain is ancient and demonic.

The book begins with the journal of Jonathan Harker, a stenographer from

London who is sent to Transylvania to close a land deal with the mysterious

Count Dracula.

From what is written in the journal, it is clear that

Jonathan is very civilized, logical and organized. His journal is written

in shorthand, which is a sign of modernity and efficiency. He is a stenographer,

which means he is well versed in the legal system, also a sign of a civilized

person. Harker also mentions that he had visited the British Museum and library

in preparation for his trip to this strange land, once again showing that

he is well-organized resourceful. Stoker makes sure to give the reader this

impression of his protagonist as a rational individual because it is he who

will later combat the savage forces with common sense and logic.

Harker’s detailed account of his journey into

Transylvania shows the contrast between the West and the East. As he travels

farther east, the land becomes more primitive and wild. As he writes in his

journal, “I had to sit in the carriage for more than an hour before

we began to move. It seems to me that the further East you go the more unpunctual

are the trains. What ought they to be in China.” (9). Here the reader

sees that as Jonathan goes east, technology begins to break down a bit and

things are a lot less orderly. Jonathan also finds that he is beginning to

lose command over the language, as he writes, “They were evidently talking

of me, and some of the people who were sitting on the bench outside the door.

. . came and listened, and then looked at me, most of them pityingly. I could

hear a lot of words often repeated, queer words, for there were many

nationalities in the crowd” (13). Harker’s inability to understand

the language is one of the ways in which he loses control as he travels east.

Back in the modern world of the West, even in foreign countries, Jonathan

can understand what is being spoken and therefore has a sense of control

over his situation. In the East, however, he has lost this control. If he

were able to understand what the people are saying, he might realize the

danger that lay ahead of him in Transylvania before it is too late, but because

of the Eastern dialect, he is oblivious to the warnings.

When Jonathan reaches his eastern most destination, Count

Dracula’s castle, he soon realizes that he has lost all control of his

situation. He writes, “I am not in heart to describe beauty, for when

I had seen the view I explored further; doors, doors, doors everywhere, and

all locked and bolted. In no place save from the windows in the castle walls

is

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