Reverse Colonization in Dracula by Bram Stoker

Reverse colonization has been around since the Victorian era, and it has brought fear to people ever since. The British were terrified of what the colonies would bring to them. They were scared of the primitive forces outside of their civilized world. Another type of reverse colonization was invasion of literature. One product of this invasion was a famous novel of a vampire staining England and its culture of vampirism. In this novel, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the creature Dracula symbolizes the threat of reverse colonization by invading England.

Reverse colonization was seen as a threat for ages, and this is seen in literature. With the British, they thought of the foreign creatures or cultures invading their way of life as “...diseased, criminal, and primitive” (Dager 2). They saw a threat in what the colonies would bring over, which is seen in Dracula. In this novel, the main characters are terrified of what strange ,primitive culture he is bringing, especially his effect on the girls, who in this book symbolize the idea of the New Woman. Reversed colonization perspectives “...focus on the spectacle of the primitive. This both repels and captivates their proximity to elemental instincts and energy dissipated by modern life which makes them dangerous, but also attractive” (James-Dickson). The vampire is a primitive and strange creature, and these characters and the reader are both terrified by this monster, as well as interested in it. Reverse colonization is seen in history and literature.

Dracula symbolizes reverse colonization when he and vampirism attack the women and their natural instincts. When Lucy was transformed to a vampire, she started to attack children. Lucy was cornered once by the “vampire hunters,” and “The sweetness was turned to adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous wantonness….With a careless motion, she flung to the ground, callous as a devil, the child that up to now she had clutched strenuously to her breast, growling over it as a dog growls over a bone...when she advanced to him with outstretched arms and a wanton smile he fell back and hid his face in his hands.She still advanced, however, and with a languorous, voluptuous grace, said:- ‘Come to me, Arthur. Leave these others and come to me. My arms are hungry for you. Come, and we can rest together. Come, my husband, come!” (Stoker 180-181). Lucy in this case stands for vampirism, and she is betraying the ideas of a woman. Her motherly instinct should be to care and nurture for the kid, but she keeps the kid almost like it’s a treat or snack for later. This vampirism is colonizing the motherly nurturing that is seen and expected in women at this time. When Dracula goes for Mina and forces her to drink his blood, he states that Mina “...their best beloved one, [is] now to me, flesh of my flesh; blood of my blood; kin of my kin…” (Stoker 247). Dracula is invading England by overtaking Mina, who he claims to be their most beloved woman. Vampirism is seen as a symbol for reverse colonization when it overtakes the females in the novel.

Dracula acts as a symbol for reverse colonization when he fluctuates the gender norms in the novel. When Lucy was attacking the children and was caught, her “...eyes [were] unclean and full of hell-fire, instead of the pure, gentle orbs we knew. At that moment the remnant of my love passed into hate and loathing…”(Stoker 181). Women are seen as more gentle humans than men, but when the stain of vampirism spreads to Lucy, she is shown as an aggressive beast instead of a nurturing woman. At the time when Dracula had been forcing Mina to drink his blood, the group of vampire hunters barged in and saved Mina. When Dr. Seward was telling Jonathan what happened, it interested him to see “...whilst the face of white set passion worked convulsively over the bowed head, the hands tenderly and lovingly stroked the ruffled hair”(Stoker 244). While Dracula was forcing Mina to drink his blood, he was acting as a nurturing mother by stroking her head lovingly. Vampirism was also attacking the culture here, because women were seen as nurturing and caring at the time, while men did the work and were tough.