Bleeding Souls Throughout the story of Dracula, Stoker analyzes the theme of good versus evil, especially in the Christian sense. Written in the Victorian era, Dracula serves as a warning to those individuals wishing to escape the strict Victorian rules and restrictions. Many of the Victorian eras principles were derived from Christianity and a basic moral good. It also warns against their reliance on technology, such as weapons that are useless against the powers of Dracula, causing them to rely on faith and Christian sacraments to protect themselves. Although it seems that Dracula overpowers his victims, they have in some ways allowed him to corrupt them and invite his evil upon them. Damnation is a prevalent theme throughout the story beginning with the loss of Dracula’s love taking her own life and according to the Catholic church, being damned to hell for eternity. Dracula curses God and wants others to be damned to hell like his beloved. Salvation comes after the people return to their faith in God and truly submit to God. Using the archetypes of corruption, damnation and salvation, Bram Stoker’s Dracula analyzes and warns of society’s abandonment of God. Bram Stoker’s Dracula is both an analysis and a warning of the potential danger of a modern society by giving examples of corruption, damnation, and salvation that resulted from the abandonment and subsequent return to reliance on God. Much of the story throughout Dracula is focused on the idea of corrupting the pure Christian characters of the story. Everything about their lives in the Victorian era stands against Dracula because they are so closely tied to Christianity. “Morality and religion-especially the Christian religion-infused all aspects of life”(Galens 31). The first target is Jonathan Harker, a lawyer who acquired the task of working for Dracula after his predecessor, Renfield, is bitten by Dracula and deemed insane. Jonathan is a young man, engaged to be married to a young woman named Mina. Upon Jonathan’s arrival in Transylvania, a stranger gives him a crucifix to wear to protect him from the evil the castle where Jonathan will work. Dracula discovers a photo of Mina in Jonathan’s possessions and she greatly resembles his lost love. He pursues Mina and infiltrates her circle of friends, hoping to corrupt them and strip them of their innocence. The young ladies’ purity and innocence are products of the Victorian era in which they live and the Catholic religion they practice. “The traditional equation of sexuality and death could hardly be clearer, nor her invitation of Dracula more explicit” (Spencer 210). Dracula’s first true victim becomes Lucy. She is Mina’s best friend and she has recently decided which suitor she is to marry. Much like with a person with a young faith, she is very vulnerable to Dracula at this early stage due to her lack of experience and not being entirely comfortable. Dracula’s first attempts on Lucy start out small, which is similar to the way that Satan tempts God’s children with small sins that will lead to bigger ones. Eventually he turns her without the knowledge of her friends. After Mina’s friend Lucy is corrupted by Dracula, Dutch Dr. Van Helsing is brought in to try to cure Lucy. Van Helsing is an expert of sorts, having a lot of information about vampire folklore. At the time he is brought in no one knew that Lucy was being turned into a vampire. They simply thought it is only a strange ailment. Van Helsing’s knowledge of vampires leads him to hang garlic in Lucy’s room to keep Dracula from completing her transformation. However Lucy’s mother unwittingly removes the garlic from the room. After that a wolf sent by Dracula wounds her and kills Lucy. Dracula can enter a house by invitation only. This is symbolic of the Christian faith where Jesus is invited into one’s heart or the devil is allowed in instead. In their fierce attempt to protect Mina from Dracula, Jonathan and Van