What is the significance of blood in Dracula? What is its value to humans? To the vampire? Explore the literal and symbolic meanings of blood in the story.
Post your own observations, questions, and remarks. When you respond to this posting, DO NOT simply repeat the thoughts of your classmates. You can add something new to a previous comment. You can comment or critique a previous posting, but your main goal is to add something new to the discussion. Remember, try to include direct quotes as much as possible!
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In Dracula, blood is everything. It's the very life force that sustains both the humans and the vampires, may it be the constant pumping of the human heart or the stolen viscosity of the blood in the vampire. To humans, it is everything they need to live, and also everything that a vampire searches for. While it makes them live, it could also be a factor in their death- the mere having of blood makes them a target for a vampire feast. When Lucy is afflicted with the vampirism but hasn't been turned yet, the men surrounding her must do everything they can to save her, including siphoning their own life away into her. "No man knows till he experiences it, what it is to feel his own life-blood drawn away into the veins of the woman he loves." Dr. Seward remarks this as giving Lucy the very blood that pumps in his veins.
To the vampire, blood is the primary driving factor in their life. It is all they require to live and everything they need to survive.
The blood itself is a symbol of life. It sustains and fills each person or UnDead with the necessary force they need to live. Without it, there is no life (or un-life).
Dracula is all blood. Without blood Dracula wouldn't be the same, more like it wouldn't be anything. The whole book is surrounding blood and it's use for life and death. For the humans, as Hannah said is everything we need to have to live and for the vampires they crave blood, so they have to search for it, or they would't survive. Either way blood is a main priority for both humans and vampires. However, blood can be dangerous, as it is a cause for most deaths. Humans supply blood which is what the vampires need, so we become the source of their tracking. But, if all us humans were gone the vampires wouldn't have much to feed on, causing them deaths as well. Vampires basically envy the human for what they have, resulting in more deaths of humans.
In the book blood mostly symbolizes, (once again what Hannah said,) life. Blood can either make or break a person/vampire, it can be cruel or remarkable. It is a necessity for living and without blood none of us would have a life.
- Sorry Hannah for stealing some of your wordings! Everything i wanted to write you had already wrote so it was hard to rewrite. (:
I like that you both focus on the significance of blood for both humans and vampires. Those blood transfusion scenes were quite interesting, weren't they...they truly showcase how much the Victorians/world had yet to discover about medicine and blood transfusions. Do you think there is any significance into whom Dracula chooses to "take" blood from?
It's an interesting thought to roll around in your head a bit, but not much we can say about it. For one, we don't know all of Dracula's victims. The ones we do know of- Lucy and Mina- shows us that he seems to like women, which is understandable for a man who's been alone for so many years. It seemed to me like he took blood from Lucy because she was alone and easy to target, while with Mina it almost seemed like he took it out of spite. The men she was working with were trying to end Dracula, so he retaliated by poisoning the one woman they all loved (not always in a romantic sense).
Hopefully I don't rewrite anyone's previous comments but, to both vampires and human's, blood is life. Without blood humans would have no way to live and breathe. Vampires have to have blood because its a source of energy to them just like food is to humans. In the novel, the importance of blood is so Dracula can live. If Dracula was unable to get blood then Dracula would have died, just as if a human lost all their blood.
Dracula stresses the concept of blood being the symbol of life. Humans and vampires alike can't live without it. Blood is the thing that drives vampires - I know this is completely irrelevant - but a similar concept was revealed in Twilight: Eclipse when Rosalie said "...there's something you would want more than him, something you'll kill for; blood"
While it is very straightforward that blood plays a significant role in the novel Dracula; blood embodies a source of being for both humans and vampires. However in the beginning of chapter 3 (page 31 in my book), while talking to Jonathan Harker about Transylvanian history Dracula says, "Blood is too precious a thing in these days of dishonourable peace; and the glories of the great races are a tale that is told." By saying "Blood is too precious a thing in these days of dishonourable peace..." Dracula is discreetly describing how vampires and mankind coexist in a "peace" that is "dishonorable" due to the fact that vampires prey on humans. Also, Dracula relates blood to one's heritage by saying "...the glories of the great races..."
Natalie - could Dracula be speaking metaphorically here? What else could he mean by "blood"? Why would Dracula be calling his own kind dishonourable?
Hannah...keep going here with this line of thinking...
In the book, Dracula, blood plays a very significant role. It is what sustains life for both humans and vampires. Without blood neither would be able to survive. Humans need blood to function and to live. Vampires use blood as an energy source. This being said, blood can also lead to the downfall of a human. Because humans have blood it makes them walking targets for vampires. Blood can also lead to the downfall of a vampire, without it they would die just like a human would.
Blood is a symbol for life. Without it there wouldn't be life for vampires or humans.
I believe that Dracula is speaking metaphorically here. By saying, “blood is too precious a thing…” he could be referring to how it is a substance that keeps both humans and his kind alive. Also I think that Dracula is saying that his kind, as in vampires, is dishonorable. This is probably due to the fact that, Dracula does prey on humans and partially because he does know he and his kind is shun by God.
I feel like blood to a vampire is actually not everything.. They seem to treat it more like it's nothing. When they want nourishment they go and find anyone they can get it from, whether it be Lucy, a child, Mina, anyone. It doesn't seem to be a big deal to them that they're taking away a part of someone else as long as they get what they need to survive the after-life.
To humans however, blood is almost sacred. Lucy's life is saved many times over by men she loves with the gift of their blood from their veins to hers. From this they form a sort of bond.. Van Helsing explains to the men that it is a big deal. He didn't want just anyone to give a part of them for Lucy.
As most previous comments have said, i too think that in Dracula, blood means life. Vampire's and human's both need it to survive. With out it neither would be sufficed. But i believe that to humans its more. When Lucy's being given the transfusions, Van Helsing doesn't just take any person to give their blood. He chooses the people closest to her. This shows how its not only just blood that their giving, it's life through the heart of a loved one.
In Dracula, blood is essential to sustain life in both vampires and humans. Without blood neither could survive. Humans need blood in order to have nutrients and oxygen delivered to their body. Vampires need blood in order to sustain their vital powers, without it they would perish just like a human.
Kortney...hmmm...you've got me thinking here. Is blood all that important to the vampires in the novel? Hmmm..
Natalie...who does Dracula prey upon? All humans? And I don't think he's talking about blood blood, I think he's saying that in times of war, too many people (blood) are lost.
I agree with Kortney here. Vampires live their lives walking among a virtually endless buffet of their precious blood, and getting access to blood is an easy task. But to a human, blood is EVERYTHING. Blood gives life, but if their blood is wanted by a vampire, blood can also lead to their death.
Blood is the symbol of life and love in this book. Those who love Lucy gave their blood to give her life.. But while it symbolizes love, it reveals the total ignorance vampires have when it comes to loving another person. They simply don't care about love or what it means.
Though this may be off topic, I can't help to wonder why whenever Lucy has a blood transfusion, nothing ever goes wrong. What ever happened with matching blood types and such? Did they not know about that then?
Blood means so much in Dracula. First and most obviously it represents life and death. Its life for both normal humans and vampires and the lack of it will kill both humans and vampires. But in a more symbolic meaning, i think blood represents each persons soul. In another blog I made a parallel between Dracula and the Anti-Christ, Dracula represents the evil forces trying to steal your soul(blood). For each person Dracula gets he has a new henchmen, its more than just getting the blood to live, its about getting the blood to corrupt the currently living.
I must say, I disagree with Joe's blood/soul comparison. I don't think Dracula has the intentions of corrupting the living, I think vampires are selfish creatures more worried about the next meal than causing an uproar. I mean after all, if he was worried about causing trouble to the humans, there'd be hundreds of quickly multiplying vampires, leaving Dracula with a plethora of "henchmen."
Sorry for arguing though!(:
I too have to agree to disagree with Joe's comparison of blood and the soul. Maddie and I were early together talking about disagreeing with him at Taco Bell(haha). Dracula isn't being paralleled to the Anti-Christ and isn't trying to steal a soul and. He simply lusts to have a feast and to let others know that he now has control over that person even though they want them
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