Orientalism

Throughout the novel, Stoker portrays Dracula as an unassimilable outsider who disrupts traditional gender roles, sexual mores and religious norms in Victorian England. He preys on vulnerable women while challenging accepted paradigms of masculinity. As Arata explains, “Dracula… transgresses categories--whether racial or sexual--of difference established by English society in order to preserve itself from 'infection' from outside forces.” By displaying his power over characters such as Mina Harker through hypnotism and seduction, he threatens to undermine English civilization along with its cherished values like heterosexual monogamy and male authority figures. Furthermore, Stoker also seeks to define the West in positive terms while depicting the East as backwards and primitive through various stereotypical characterizations such as Renfield—a man who eats bugs while proclaiming loyalty to Dracula—and Van Helsing—an inquisitive Dutch doctor who ultimately saves England from destruction at the hands of vampires with science-based solutions like garlic flowers and special crosses made out of sacred materials (wood). In this way, it becomes clear that Stoker presents a dichotomy between East vs West: one side (Eastern) embodies all things evil and otherworldly whereas on the other side (Western) lies progressivism backed up by reason and modernity. This division reinforces how vampire stories are often used for imperialist purposes since they tend to favor western ideas over eastern ideologies in order for thematic unity within larger narratives about good vs evil or us vs them mentality found within imperialistic societies throughout history . In sum, Stephen Arata's article suggests that Bram Stoker's novel "Dracula" reflects western anxieties surrounding reverse colonization or infection by exotic eastern forces during late 19th century British rule in Europe. Through his use of characters like Van Helsing embodying rational science versus Renfield representing irrational superstition alongside depictions relating sexuality , gender roles , religion etc ,Stoker creates a dichotomous view where Easterners are seen as primitive uncivilized people compared to their progressive Western counterparts .

Sample Solution

    Stephen Arata’s article, “The Occidental Tourist: Dracula and the Anxiety of Reverse Colonization,” argues that Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula is a representation of Western fear of the Eastern world. According to Arata, the novel is a manifestation of “the idea that [the West] is being colonized by an alien force from without which threatens to corrupt its values and traditions.” The Count himself serves as an embodiment of this anxiety; he represents what can happen when the exotic East intrudes upon Western culture.