Dracula: Barrier of Sanity vs. Insanity Essay

The setting of Bram Stoker’s Dracula is in the late nineteenth-century London, where the flourishing of technology is replacing people’s belief of the old superstitious ways. The characters in this novel experience contacts with the supernatural beings that is unable to be proven even by the most advanced technology at the time, which leads them to doubt their own sanity. However, the progression of the novel proves that peace is restored into the characters’ lives after their doubts and confusions about what is reality and who is really mad. Ultimately, the categorization of the sane against the mad is unnecessary since the distinguishing factors shown in the novel are ambiguous. Subsequently, no characters can truly be justified with being labelled as one type over the other. While certain characters in the novel, most notably Renfield, are placed in mental asylums for displaying mad or unstable behaviours, it does not qualify them to be categorized as mad sinc e the non-institutionalized characters undergoes irregular and unstable behaviours as well. These characters must go through their own forms of insanity to access the entirety of the truth that Dracula brings upon them, and thus they behave in ways similar to what is considered to be insane. The alternative reality Dracula brings into the logical and civilized London society can only be accessed by the characters through their own forms of insanity. Insanity is a psychological state of the mind being deranged and arousing irregular thoughts or actions (Barber 505). Sleepwalking is a form of psychological disorder resulting from troubled thoughts (Anitei). It is also thought to be a method of interacting with spirits from other realms (Anitei). During Lucy’s sleepwalking experiences, â€Å"her intention†¦disappears†¦for as soon as her will [thwarts] in any physical way† (Stoker 93). This shows that she only expresses her intention of meeting Dracula through an unnatural method. Similarly, when Jonathan â€Å"has had some fearful shock†¦Ã¢â‚¬  ( Stoker 108) from his experience in the castle with Dracula, he can only speak about it through nonsensical and insane ways to the sisters that took him in because not all of reality can be understood with logic and reasoning. Even Mina, whom â€Å"the good God fashioned† (Stoker 253) himself, still only connects with Dracula through abnormal behaviours shown by the quote: â€Å"She [has] risen, as if impulsively†¦and [raises] both hands, palms upwards, as if lifting a weight† (Stoker 374). All these characters acknowledge the existence to vampirism and Dracula’s powers through irregular behaviours, which shows that it is within human nature to use insanity as a form of psychological relief from the difficult reality. Asides from accepting the threats that Dracula presents, the characters continue to behave in characteristic commonly deemed as insane such as being emotionally unstable, and odd. Quincy Morris, who is known for his logical leadership skills, for he â€Å"has always been the one to arrange the plan of action† (Stoker 331), expresses passionate outbreaks when his mind is unable to tolerate the displeasing reality. He loses self-control and cries to his companions that â€Å"[He] shall not wait for any opportunity. When [he] see that box [of dirt he] shall destroy the monster, though†¦[he] is to be wiped out for the next moment (Stoker 356). Jonathan shows similar behaviour when he pities himself for living such an unfortunate fate of having a wife that is contaminated with â€Å"the vampire’s baptism of blood† (Stoker 350). He loses his pride in front of his friends and â€Å"[flings] himself on his knees beside her†¦and [hides] his face in the folds of her dress† (Stoker 355). He even openly admits that â€Å"[his] emotion [is] too great for even the relief of tears† (Stoker 355). Being unable to contain emotion is equivalent to admitting defeat to manhood and dignity, which men place at high values at the time. The fact alone that Jonathan freely gives up on these qualities by exposing his emotionally unstable behaviour irregular, so being irregular as well as unstable shows that he can be qualified for being insane. Lastly, the character Van Helsing, who is the wisest among the pack of friends, also â€Å"[gives] away to a regular fit of hysterics† (Stoker 186) when staying calm and logical is not satisfying enough to express his current situation. If even the wisest man can act unstable, then it shows that the average, sane, citizens habiting in Britain can also lose self-control, and act insane at times. At the same time, the less mentally stable characters are able to demonstrate philosophical thoughts and reasoning, very similar to the other educated and non-institutionalized characters. This is most notable for the character Renfield, who is a patient at the mental asylum operated by Jack Seward. Renfield is able to speak with proper reasoning when he chooses to, and descriptio ns regarding Renfield often results in the use of paradox or other forms of contrast. When Renfield feels there is the need, he will engage in proper conversations regarding theories and historical allusions. During the time that he is persuading his doctor, Seward, to release him from the asylum because he feels that he is a endangering them, he uses proper persuasive strategy to express his goal. He first recognizes that his target audience is not Seward alone, since his friends Morris, Lord Godalming, and Van Helsing are also present. He immediate decides to appeal to his audiences’ pathos by praising their honour and background. He alludes to the Declaration of Independence and the Monroe Doctrine of the United States when he compliments to Morris that â€Å"the power of the Treaty may yet prove a vast engine of enlargement, when the Monroe doctrine takes its true place as a political fable† (Stoker 263). Being the madman that he is labelled as, he proves to have a vast amount of knowledge by referring to information from outside of his home country. Following the statement, seeing that it is not enough to win over his audience, Renfield attempts to appeal to their logos by expressing a philosophical statement that â€Å"when an individual has revolutionised therapeutically†¦conventional forms are unfitting, since they would seem to limit him to one of a class† (Stoker 263). This type of behaviour with strategic and logical response is certainly uncommon for individuals deemed as insane, so it ironically questions the sanity of the people who brought him to the asylum in the first place. In addition, when describing the character Renfield, Stoker often uses contrasting devices to heighten the true quality of this character. After Renfield’s attempt to persuade them, Morris comments with the use of paradox that â€Å"[Renfield] is about the sanest lunatic [he] ever [sees]† (Stoker 267). Also, even Seward is astonished by Renfield’s impressive behaviour that â€Å"[he] at once [makes] the introduction† (Stoker 262) for Renfield and his friends, addressing Renfield as â€Å"Mr. Renfield† (Stoker 262). This can be contrasted to an earlier diary entry made by Seward when he refers to Renfield as â€Å"R.M. Renfield, aetat 59† (Stoker 65), showing that Renfield is nothing other than a subject of study to the doctor. This shows that Renfield is capable of both expressing himself freely as well as with proper manner, and that he changes between the two at will to fit the situations he occurs in. This puts the appropriateness his treatment in question, since his behaviour contradicts the way he is expected to behave. Overall, Renfield’s behaviour can be concluded with Seward’s alliterative paradox that â€Å"there is a method in his madness† (Stoker 74). With this in mind, the parallel between the sane and insane characters can be seen through the similarities between Renfield and Seward. Seward is known for his unique diary keeping style of recording his oral recounts of daily events on a phonograph. He does so because â€Å"to write with a pen is irksome to [him]† (Stoker 365), since he likes to make sure every detail is being recorded without the troubles of having muscles cramps. It is Seward himself that recognizes this similarity between his patient Renfield and himself: â€Å"He [closes] [his] daily account most accurately† (Stoker 76). Also, both of these characters display strong faith towards people they trust despite external influences. Renfield shows strong devotion and loyalty towards Dracula because of his belief that Dracula is able to fulfill his desire of consuming lives. He recognizes that Dracula is harmful in nature, but still remains loyal to him. At the same time, Dr. Seward keeps a blind faith towards his old friend Van Helsing purely because he trusts the professor’s wisdom from his experiences. At times, Van Helsing’s conclusions are too abstract for Seward to comprehend, but he never fails to obey and aid him to the best of his abilities. The nature of these two characters’ relationship intently sets them to have contrasting sanity levels, however the similarities between their habits and attitudes contradicts this, which shows that the state of sanity cannot be accurately placed upon an individual even despite their occupation. Through the supernatural experiences through course of the novel, Seward comes to the conclusion that: â€Å"[he] sometimes think [they] must be all mad and that [they] shall wake to sanity in strait waistcoats† (Stoker 295). Being the scientist that Seward is, the most significant character change he undergoes is that he opens up his mind and learns to accept new things. The significance of his conclusion is that the sanity of people is not always what others think it should be. He does not deny the possibility that he can, in fact, be mad, just as how Renfield is able to calmly declare his perfect sanity: â€Å"I am no lunatic in a mad fit, but a sane man fighting for his soul† (Stoker 266). The confusion of how Seward is the psychologist and how Renfield is his patient is again aroused, which shows that these characters does not fit the one state of sanity labelled on them. All the characters are able to demonstrate traits of being mentally unstable as well as being reasonable and logical. The barrier between sanity and madness is then blurred as the sane and mad behave in very similar ways and shows that same attitude towards their interests. Since â€Å"all men are mad in some way or other† (Stoker 128), it becomes unreasonable and unnecessary to strictly place an individual under either one of these categories. 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