Dracula Modernity Quotes

Do you not think that there are things which you cannot understand, and yet which are; that some people see things that others cannot? But there are things old and new which must not be contemplate by men’s eyes, because they know – or think they know – some things which other men have told them. Ah, it is the fault of our science that it wants to explain all; and if it explain not, then it says there is nothing to explain.

– Bram Stoker

Dracula, Chapter 14. Van Helsing criticizes the rational man of science Seward for being too narrow and prejudiced in his efforts to diagnose Lucy. Seward does not believe in vampires as there is no proof. Van Helsing on the other hand has an open mind and values the knowlege of the new and the old world. This speaks to the theme of modernity and the advances of science, which have blinded people to the dangers that their disgarded traditions and superstitions once protected them from.

Well, you know what we have to contend against; but we, too, are not without strength. We have on our side power of combination – a power denied to the vampire kind; we have sources of science; we are free to act and think; and the hours of the day and the night are ours equally. In fact, so far as our powers extend, they are unfettered, and we are free to use them. We have self-devotion in a cause, and an end to achieve which is not a selfish one. These things are much.

– Bram Stoker

Dracula, Chapter 18. Scientist and vampire killer Abraham Van Helsing offers hope to his fellow Dracula hunters, promising that modern science gives them power and hope in their fight against the evil Count.

We shall at the first board that ship; then, when we have identified the box, we shall place a branch of the wild rose on it. This we shall fasten, for when it is there none can emerge; so at least says the superstition. And to superstition must we trust at the first; it was man’s faith in the early, and it have its root in faith still.

– Bram Stoker

Dracula, Chapter 24. Rejecting modern sciences and methods, Prof. Van Helsing opts for the old superstitions in the battle to defeat Dracula. He knows that modern science and reason is not going to help them.
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