Semi-Daily Scribbles

Fantasy and Science Fiction: The Human Mind, Our Modern World – Coursera Assignment 3
Dracula

The fear of “the other,” or a mistrust of people, places, and customs of a foreign nature, is a thread that runs throughout “Dracula.” In the 19th century, a woman or man deemed to possess a questionable physiognomy would have had a tough time gaining the trust of Professor Van Helsing and his vampire slaying colleagues. Although the nefarious Count that must be vanquished is from exotic, faraway Transylvania, it would seem that anyone with a flat, narrow forehead would have been placed on the Bloodsucker Watch List.

The brain science of phrenology (1) had many proponents within and without the scientific community when “Dracula” was first published in 1897. Phrenology attempted to associate specific character traits with distinct regions of the brain. The skull was believed to fit over the brain, like a plaster mold, allowing one to see areas of intellectual aptitude and deficiency based on bumps and ridges along the cranium.

Practitioners of phrenology claimed to identify predilections or personality flaws by employing this method, and complimentary studies of human anatomy sprang up and dovetailed to create a rather colorful psychological diagnostic tool. A passage from Mina Harker’s journal dated 25 September (2) is the finest example found in “Dracula” of assessing a person’s character using phrenological evidence. A conversation between Jonathan Harker and Van Helsing documented in Harker’s journal dated 26 September echoes Mina’s observations (3).

By defining a standard of moral perfection using one’s physical attributes as criteria, phrenology bolstered generalizations, stereotypes, and the rejection of the unfamiliar. It also enforced a rigid code of what is considered beautiful and truthful. Bram Stoker created his characters to abide by this black-and-white worldview, and the underlying message of the dark, exotic, unknown being untrustworthy is still resonant in the 21st century.

Works cited:

(1) Head Masters: Phrenology, Secular Education, and Nineteenth-Century Social Thought by Stephen Tomlinson

(2) Dracula, Bram Stoker
I rose and bowed, and he came towards me, a man of medium weight, strongly built, with his shoulders set back over a broad, deep chest and a neck well balanced on the trunk as the head is on the neck. The poise of the head strikes me at once as indicative of thought and power. The head is noble, well-sized, broad, and large behind the ears. The face, clean-shaven, shows a hard, square chin, a large resolute, mobile mouth, a good-sized nose, rather straight, but with quick, sensitive nostrils, that seem to broaden as the big bushy brows come down and the mouth tightens. The forehead is broad and fine, rising at first almost straight and then sloping back above two bumps or ridges wide apart, such a forehead that the reddish hair cannot possibly tumble over it, but falls naturally back and to the sides. Big, dark blue eyes are set widely apart, and are quick and tender or stern with the man’s moods.

(3) Dracula, Bram Stoker
The groove ceased to avail me, and I mistrusted myself. Doctor, you don’t know what it is to doubt everything, even yourself. No, you don’t, you couldn’t with eyebrows like yours.

He seemed pleased, and laughed as he said, So! You are a physiognomist. I learn more here with each hour.