Dracula

Dracula

1. In the Victorian Society, religious objects and practices- such as performing the sign of the cross and the crucifix- tend to be around during danger in Bram Stoker's Dracula.

   • Catholicism played a huge role in Dracula; the sign of the cross was practiced whenever someone was in a bad place.
     • "When I asked him if he knew Count Dracula, and could tell me anything of his castle, both he and his wife crossed themselves, and, saying that they knew nothing at all, simply refused to speak further" (8).
     • These were certainly of an odd and varied kind, but each was given in simple good faith, with a kindly word, and a blessing, and that same strange mixture of fear-meaning movements which I had seen outside the hotel at Bistritz-- the sign of the cross and the guard against the evil eye" (13).
     • "When we started, the crowd round the inn door, which had by this time swelled to a considerable size, all made the sign of the cross and pointed two fingers towards me."(14).
   • Throughout Dracula, the crucifix was a vital object to have while in danger.
     • "Keep this near your heart'- as he spoke he lifted a little silver crucifix and held it out to me" (266).
     • "She then rose and dried her eyes, and taking the crucifix from her neck offered it to me" (7).
     • "What meant the giving of the crucifix, of the garlic, of the wild rose of the mountain ash?" (23).