“Why, I myself am an instance of a man who had a strange belief. Indeed, it was no wonder that my friends were alarmed, and insisted on my being put under control. I used to fancy that life was a positive and perpetual entity, and that by consuming a multitude of living things, no matter how low int he scale of creation, one might indefinitely prolong life. At times I held the belief so strongly that I actually tried to take human life. The doctor her will bear me out that on one occasion I tried to kill him for the purpose of strengthening my vital powers by the assimilation with my own body of his life through the medium of his blood – relying of course, upon the Scriptural phrase, “For the blood is the life.” Though, indeed, the vendor of a certain nostrum has vulgarized the truism to the very point of contempt.”
Stoker, Bram. Dracula. Vintage: London, 2007. p.259
This extract is taken from a scene in Dr Seward’s diary when Mina Harker enters Renfield’s cell. Renfield is an inmate of Sewards Lunatic Asylum (a frequent location in Gothic novels) and regularly displays what the reader and the characters take to be insane behaviour. It is clear that Renfield is, or has been, visited throughout the novel by Dracula. Renfield often refers to him as ‘Master’ showing complete submission to the demonic predator.
Dracula chooses Renfield as a servant rather than prey. This is an important distinction as it suggests that the prey has to be of sound mind in order to be a fit ‘meal’ for the vampire. It also suggests that Dracula chooses his prey to be female as opposed to male. This suggests that there is something sexual about the attack. Not that that is a new idea; the act of vampirism has been heavily sexualised over time through literature and media.
Renfield is an interesting character as even though he is a deranged inmate, there is an absurd logic to his actions. Renfield is obsessed with consuming bodies, particularly the bodies of flies. Renfield then progresses to consuming spiders which, in turn, have consumed flies. The bodies become larger as Renfield progresses up the food-chain. This draws a parallel with Dracula. Dracula is obsessed with consuming the bodies of humans which have consumed the bodies of many animals over the years. Renfield is a type of vampire though he prefers to consume the whole rather than feeding off the body slowly over a number of nights.
Renfield’s idea that “the blood is the life” (p.259) gives the reader a little insight as to why Dracula might want to consume the blood of humans. Hitherto, Dracula’s actions have just been a given. He attacks and he is not-human, his reasoning seems irrelevant as humans are generally apportioned rationality. Animals etc. are just victims of instinct and evolution. Renfield, similarly, is not afforded rationality until very late in the novel. The idea that even a madman can have a sense of reality and intellect suggests that perhaps demons can reason and plot also, making them infinitely more dangerous: once they can claim to rationality they might incur a level of sympathy from their victims, leaving their victims even more vulnerable than they were before.
Although Renfield is not a main character in the story, a careful study of his behaviours and speech betray a lot about the psyche of vampires and the baser side of nature providing fruitful material for alternative essays.
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