The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

". . . and the glories of the great races are as a tale that is told."
Our persistent interest in the politics of Dracula—whether they pertain to Ireland, class conflict, gender, or empire'acknowledges the historical relevance of the novel. Political arguments imply particular constructions of history. Yet historicity poses problems for the reader of Dracula as its questions are addressed by the novel scientifically, or even anthropologically, and not historically. Stoker seems to ask insistently, what is Dracula? Although this could be construed as a question of origins (how has Dracula come about and what can we infer about his meaning from such a narrative of becoming), Van Helsing, the man who masterminds the hunt for Dracula, addresses the question in terms of the monster's behavior.
To come to know what Dracula is, Van Helsing first meticulously records the details of the Count's behavior. He does not insist on the causes for Dracula, but on deciphering a pattern of behavior that will enable him to classify the Count as a vampire and hence to know what he must do to defeat him.

Some of the criticism on the novel reflects this same anthropological attitude: Dracula is explained in terms of Eastern European folklore, and the 'historical' Dracula (presumably, the fifteenth-century prince Vlad, the Impaler) is treated as a legendary figure about whom contradictory stories abound.