Technology in Dracula

In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, one can argue that because of the characterization of new-age characters, such as the Harker’s and John Seward, and old-age characters, such as Van Helsing and Count Dracula, Bram Stoker showed how technology can make people overlook what is occurring, whereas older means, such as superstition and religion, can hold people back in modernizing.

            Before we jump into any conclusions on what technology holds for characters, we must first analyze what technology brings to the table. According to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, technology can be defined as the practical application of knowledge especially in a particular area. Technology, being a “practical application”, can relate to the motto: use it or lose it. If you do not keep practicing or using technology, your skills in technology will worsen over time; for example, a college student using a laptop or writing with a pen during the fall semester for hours a week may finish the summer losing an apprehension of what shortcuts do what and how it truly feels to hold a pen. However, in an article titled “Technology, Wealth and Modern Management” by Slavko Dolinšek and Peter Štrukelj, both employees at the University of Primorska in Slovenia, Rias J. van Wyk, Director of Technoscan Centre in Minneapolis, Minnesota states that technology “is the source of many benefits and most of our wealth…On the other hand it is disturbingly disruptive”. He also goes on to state that “our understanding of technology is poorly structured” (Dolinšek, and Štrukelj 29-30). Although technology can benefit us, it can also harm us. If we do not get a full, complete grasp of what has been developed, then we cannot improve ourselves. In Dracula, Bram Stoker does a fantastic job of showing us how it is beneficial and destructive, beneficial by saving time, yet destructive by distracting attention from the main goals.

            Previously noted, technology can be a good thing, and within the characters of the Harker’s and Dr. John Seward, this beneficial aspect of their lives is recognized within communication and medical reasons, despite its prevalence in blinding them, which we will get to after. This talking is related to Dr. John Seward’s use of the phonograph to record his daily findings in himself, his patient Renfield, his lovely friend Lucy, and his daily activities. He even uses it to help his insomnia and his inability to eat when he states, “Cannot eat, cannot rest, so diary instead…the only cure for this sort of thing is work, I went down amongst the patients” (Stoker 93). This reliance on his form of technology and communication to himself helps him keep his mind under control, and it helps him record his thoughts on his patients easily.

 Stoker does not only use this means of personal benefit in only Dr. Seward, but he also uses it with the beautiful Mina Harker. In a letter to Lucy Westenra, arguably Mina’s best friend, Mina states she is using the typewriter, the mid-1800s development that encouraged writing, to help Johnathan in his studies, and she is “practicing very hard” (86). Her use of technology is for the loves of her life. This shows the advancement of technology at that time period and how it was useful in communicating to people.

With the rest of the paper, I will take an approach and further my investigating on the characters and the prevalence of technology within the theme of how it blinds others and creates openings for some. Like Mrs. Grover said, this is a rough rough draft. My two mini-claims were the ones about technology in general and the characters John Seward and Mina Harker. Please, help me!

Works Cited

Dolinšek, Slavko, and Peter Štrukelj. "Managing Global Transitions." Managing Global

Transitions. 10.1 (2012): 29-49. Web. 18 Nov. 2012. <http://www.fm-kp.si/zalozba/ISSN/1581-

Stoker, Bram. Dracula. Broadview. Peterborough: Broadview Press Ltd., 1998. Print.