In Bram Stoker' s Dracula, vampires act as principles of mixing in many ways. Dracula comes from Transylvania, which is a land of many people, and his castle is located on the border of three states. Dracula himself describes the place as the "whirlpool of European races", and boasts, "in [his] veins flows the blood of many brave races" (p. 28). Dracula wishes to go to London, to the crowded streets with a variety of people. He takes blood from everybody, and gives it to others (Mina, albeit for his own purposes). His body acts as a vessel of mixed blood. In his veins run blood from ancient and modern times, from England and Transylvania. Dracula seems to act as some sort of cosmopolitan principle, mixing blood without regard to age, location, nationality, blood type. Since blood is a marker of corporeal identity, unique to every individual, Dracula mixes identities when he mixes bloods. But does he destroy individuality in the process or renew it, fusing elements to create a different identity altogether?Blood in this text seems to be a strong marker of individuality. Blood is "typed" according to nationality or race, gender, age etc. Thus Lucy has the blood of "four strong men" (151) put into her, and "a brave man's blood is the best thing on this earth when a woman is in trouble" (p 149). Van Helsing's blood is not as good as Seward's, because he is older. Arthur's blood is better than Seward's or Van Helsing's because their nerves are "not so calm, and [their] blood not so bright", since they "toil much in the world of thought" (p 121). Although Van Helsing may have said this merely to show consideration for Arthur, as he allowed Arthur to be the one to kill Lucy, nevertheless there is a strong tendency to categorize blood according to certain intrinsic factors such as race or gender, which are described in the language of characteristics that show in the blood. Dracula, on the other hand, does not differentiate between various ki...
