>>5920740>>5932786>>5925989>>5931791The more interesting quote is this one below. I always wondered what that metaphor about Dracula carrying around 50 crates of earth to spread his evil lair etc was all about. It turns out, Dracula is a very political novel. There is one American man in the book (he dies) who is portrayed as a very down-to-earth cowboy type action hero.
But take a look at this quotation; it occurs after the Dracula conspiracy has been uncovered, when Harker, Mina, Van Helsing,Seward (asylum doctor) Lord Godalming (husband to the deceased Lucy, prey of Dracula) and the Texas American Quincey Morris (his name a pun on him being the fifth man) is introduced to a suspiciously polite Renfield, slave apostle to the vampire:
Renfield is incarcerated at the lunatic asylum, yet he feigns courtesy and pleasantries:
(Dr Seward's Diary)
>I was so much astonished that the oddness of introducing a madman in an asylum did not strike me at the moment; and, besides, there was a certain dignity in the man’s manner, so much of the habit of equality, that I at once made the introduction: ‘Lord Godalming; Professor Van Helsing; Mr Quincey Morris, of Texas; Mr Renfield.’ He shook hands with each of them, saying in turn:—‘Lord Godalming, I had the honour of seconding your father at the Windham; I grieve to know, by your holding the title, that he is no more. (...) Mr Morris, you should be proud of your great state. Its reception into the Union was a precedent which may have far-reaching effects hereafter, when the Pole and the Tropics may hold allegiance to the Stars and Stripes. The power of Treaty may yet prove a vast engine of enlargement, when the Monroe doctrine takes its true place as a political fable. (...)So the 50 crates of earth... 50 US states? The irony of course is that Renfield is flattering and complimentary to the American, but he is a vampire apostle and a madman (prior to this scene, Renfield has just swallowed a collection of live birds, spiders and flies whole). Bram Stoker is referring to the opposition of Britain to the US annexation of Texas in 1845 etc. Maybe this was what spreading an army of undead across the earth was truly about, hehe
