Discuss an element of thematic appreciation in Stoker's Dracula.

I think that one of the most fascinating themes in
Stoker's work is how love figures into salvation and damnation.  This is a thematic
appreciation that really can play a prominent role in the analysis of the work.  The
idea of how love is separate from the salvation of human beings or the damnation of
their souls is an very unique element out of Stoker's work.  It seems that the
construction of the salvation of the soul is constructed outside of love.  This means
that love does not play a prominent role in the construct of saving or condemning one's
soul.  I think that this is something unique because the Romantic period that preceded
Stoker's Victorianism made it very clear that to find love and to have love is the key
to spiritual redemption.  The ability for the Romantic notion of the soul to be redeemed
rested in the ability to love.  That is not the case in Stoker's world.  The psychic
link that Mina shares with Dracula has no impact it seems on her ability to be saved or
damned.  She has to be rescued from Dracula's power or she will be condemned.  The
strictly moral absolutism of the Victorian era is one where there is a construction to
save the soul of the individual outside of love.  In fact, if one argues that Dracula
actually "loved" Lucy and Mina, this love inhibits their ability to be saved.  It is a
very interesting thematic element of the novel to see how love plays a role, if it plays
a role, in an individual's salvation or damnation.