When I read the literary criticism “The Occidental Tourist” I found myself agreeing with the majority of Arata’s points. On page 463 Arata notes on how Stoker links vampires to military conquest and the rise and fall of empires. Van Hellsing provides this insight to the behaviors of vampires, “He have follow the wake of the berserker Icelander, the devil-begotten Hun, the Slav, the Saxon, and the Magyar.” This makes perfect sense to me. The supernatural creature that is the vampire has nothing to fear when it comes to men’s rifles or swords. The battlefield would be the perfect environment for the vampire. There would be scores of bloodied and dying bodies; with so many deaths a few paler corpses with pricks in their necks would go completely unnoticed. Additionally the vampire could reap the spoils of war, such as gold, land, and titles for fighting for his country.

With Dracula’s history in such a war-torn area, it is no surprise he was able to amass such a fortune and fortify himself so steadfastly into the country. Before Dracula moved to England he imprisoned Johnathan Harker to learn the subtle mannerisms of a British man, and Dracula also purchased and studied any written material on his intended land of conquest. On page 26 of the novel Dracula explains that ‘I am content if I am like the rest, so that no man stops if he sees me, or pause in his speaking if he hear my words, to say, “Ha, ha! A stranger!’ Dracula lost the defenses of his castle that included the forest full of wolf minions and the heavily defended castle for the anonymity of the “teeming masses”.
Dracula is portrayed as not only a bloodthirsty vampire but also as a Szekely warrior. The reasoning behind Dracula’s move from his homeland to a new place with potential danger was made much clearer after Arata stresses the conqueror spirit in Dracula. Dracula had been living in his castle for centuries and the allure of Britain was too much for him. Dracula is a conqueror of the lands, men, and women. He is defined through the immense power he wields wherever he goes. The newness of Dracula’s three wives had worn off, children were easy prey, so it is understandable that Dracula wanted a challenge.
Victorians view that Dracula and Frankenstein’s monster were capable of rearing hordes of demonic offspring seem to point to a xenophobic undercurrent in the thoughts. In Frankenstein the monster wanted a wife created the same as him to be his companion, but Dracula takes these thoughts a step farther through Dracula’s conquest and defilement of English women. Throughout the novel women seem to serve as the main battlefield for Dracula and the Victorian men. Each male character gives his own blood trying to save the life of Lucy as she is being fed upon and later Mina is in constant danger of being taken by the Count. I agreed with Aratathat the role of women in the novel was that of life givers, the means to which the race was continued.