Dracula as a Parasite?

Obviously, all vampires are parasitic beings, but what do you think about Dracula's effect on Victorian society?

I am not even half way through the book, but I do think Dracula is a parasite. He literally sucks the life out of healthy people. As for Victorian society, I will state the obvious; Dracula forces nice people to look at the ugly. During the Victorian era, the sick were covered up, sexuality was repressed, and anger was unacceptable. Mini never gets mad at Lucy for her constant childish needs to be looked after at the beach. Nor does Mini talk about the strange man who was hunching over her. Mini just cheerfully keeps up a happy appearance and hopes things will get better.

Dracula takes the good and soils it. It makes the people open their eyes to the darker, more unpleasant things in life. We cannot forget that these characters are of a certain socio-economic class. There lives are filled with leisure, intellectual pursuits, and managable jobs. Dracula pushes all these happy little illusions out from under them and what happens? I'm still reading.

Now that I have finished the book, I still believe that Dracula is a repulsive parasite. In this way, he is victim to his own circumstances. His survival depends on this type of existence or he will die. He must prey on others. None-the-less I pity him, because he is such a sad character and isolated in his castle. He tries to better his circumstances by getting a new start in England. During his exchanges with Harker in Transylvania, the reader can see how cultured and civilized Dracula can be. Stocker grants him a sense of humanity and the reader can see past his blood sucking and physical deformities (as he transforms into a beast). Dracula is hunted; he is a very dangerous predator. It is during the final pages of the book that the easy of heart may fall prey themselves to rooting for the vampire. He is a parasite that tries to take a happily married woman for himself by turning her. It is in the happy marriage between these two characters as well as Lucy's death that the reader is able to keep the dislike for Dracula anchored. He is a parasite, but one that deserves more than being cast aside. The reader should give this character deeper consideration before reacting to our stereotypical impulse to categorize evil simply because it is bad.

I myself did not pay close attention to the sexual symbolism scattered throughout the book, but there are numerous sources that one can consult as the second part of this question asks about Dracula's effect on Victorian society.