Religion
The theme of religion plays a very important role in the novel. The vampires are the exact opposite of Christianity, the dominant religion in Victorian age. The Christian crucifixes, communion wafers and other holy objects are repellent to the vampires, going as far as doing them physical harm. Renfield even portrays Dracula as God, and believes that he will gain eternal life by obeying him. Vampires are immortal, have an influence over the elements and can change their forms. It shows the god-like qualities that the vampires are shown to possess, going against the Christian belief that only Christ himself has such qualities. Their aversion to holy objects shows how religion weakens the undead, whereas giving humans strength and weapons to fight them.