In the gothic novel Dracula, Bram Stoker largely presents good and evil in stark contrast, in a very simple way. This perhaps reflects the Victorian view of good and evil as opposed but inextricable, a strict view of good and evil in a religious sense. But more interesting than this construction is the character of Renfield, the man who seems neutral, caught between clearly right good and obvious evil. Throughout the novel, he is thrust into a metaphorical gray area. Stoker uses Renfield to provoke deeper thinking about good and evil, and indeed wants the reader to be afraid of this gray area itself. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay Often, Stoker tends to present fairly easily accessible interpretations about good and evil. For example, when Mina feeds and also feeds on Dracula in chapter twenty-one, the literary technique is not difficult to understand. Descriptions such as "clad in white" and "clad in black" are used to describe Mina and Dracula: the colors are obviously opposites but Stoker even went so far as to change the syntax of the adjectives to emphasize the opposing ideas. We also see Mina's "nightgown" which has been "smeared with blood" and therefore has connotations of loss of virginity, due to the Victorian belief that the exchange of blood and reproductive fluids are synonymous. This signifies a loss of the innocence of color imagery, a defloration of Mina's character. There is also an obvious contrast in terms of religious lexicon, between "the mercy of God" and "the devil and his children." So in many ways (visually and metaphorically, as well as through allusions to the Bible), Stoker presents good and evil as a very clear topic, something that does not require much thought. This begs the question: what is this about Renfield? What is its place? He is generally an extremely ambiguous character. His initial interactions with Dracula are unclear in his exposition. It is also unclear why he is so particularly sensitive to Dracula's movements. Another ambiguity is his strange and unnatural obsession with immortality. He is described as a “madman”. No past, no personality. We are therefore content only with the text, but the writing also offers a very gray side. We are often confused about Renfield's warped personality: he shows kindness and politeness (much like the ideal Victorian bachelor) by "tidying up" before Mina enters his cell and even says "let the lady in » only after you have finished cleaning. However, this only makes it more uncomfortable to see the character display signs of evil. As Seward says when Mina enters the cell, "I thought maybe he had murderous intent." Much like the in-between of horror and terror, the gray, Renfield is an example of the abject. He is both good and bad. One of the manifestations of Renfield's possible evil is his strange habit of eating the insects in his room. The flies and spiders sent by Dracula himself are obviously under his influence, as Harker says in the fourth chapter of the novel in reference to Dracula's castle, supposedly a place where the Devil and the "children of the devil" are found. . It is possible that the insects are the "children of the devil" in question, under the influence of the Count. The juxtaposition of the insects and Renfield makes him seem much more animal, provoking the Victorian fear of devolution and thus conveying the impression that he is.