New York Wonderland

Historical Document

Dracula was Published in the United States in 1899. Here’s a brief summary of the story: it is about a man named Jonathan Harker who goes to visit Count Dracula to give him legal help with a real estate transaction. When he visits the castle, he slowly begins to realize that the count isn’t a regular person and tries to escape. This article speaks about the psychological background of the story. The author of this writing claims that Jonathan Harker was going through a development of paranoia. He compares this character to a case study  that happened around the same time Dracula came out, of a man who is referenced to as Judge Schreber. In the case study, Schreber goes through different stages all dealing with delusions and hallucinations.  These stages included: having hypochondriac thoughts, having sensory hallucinations and delusions of being chased, and mystic/religious mania which included being harrassed by demons.