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The Problem With Dracula's Jack Seward
May. 26th, 2022 10:57 pmGoing through Dracula Daily on tumblr it seemed inevitable that Jack Seward would become an extremely divisive character as the guy who runs an "immense lunatic asylum" who is obviously struggling with his own mental health issues which grants him outpouring of sympathy and little meow meow or even blorbo status and brings down the ire of the other half who thinks that morality when it comes to interpreting his actions as malpractice as black and white, regardless of the time period. And a big contention here is the time period, with the claim that we need to judge him with the knowledge of the time period's knowledge of mental illness.
But the thing about Seward's character is that, I would argue we don't. Not because morality and knowledge of mental health is absolute throughout the ages but because, uh, despite the difference between the vocabulary, Seward is actually extremely modern. Condescension to patients especially to third parties, the-ends-justify-the-means goading of patients, etc., like... it's been a bit since I've read the book but anyone who thinks this sort of shit isn't extremely common now is hopelessly naive and has not interacted with medical professionals much. I have not been in in-patient psychiatric but like. People being mistreated by their doctors is not uncommon, especially if they have some kind of marginalization or disability, even if that disability is literally why they need treatment. Like, ABA is legal and common and has tons of advocates, and conversion therapy is being fought over for trans people. Our entire CDC has been gutted for the purpose of exclusively selling weight loss as a cure to all ills to the point that it can't actually do anything about infectious disease, when research on weight loss again and again doesn't prove results across populations. Doctors are constantly mishandling pain patients especially due to new laws and "wisdom" and God Forbid what they think and do if you're Black. I literally just had a psych appointment a few days ago where the doctor just talked over me the whole time about me not sleeping and watching too much news when, well, *gestures broadly at the world*.
I think there's a lot of argument that his actions are pretty tame considering the context within the novel or even that there's a possibility, given the rest of his life, that his actions are being influenced by being in proximity to Renfield for so long, like some kind of Dracula-vibes run-off. But like. I can't stand the idea that his actions are being argued with the assumption that we're really that much better today. Like yes there's laws and ethics codes and such but, perhaps disturbingly, people haven't changed that much.
But the thing about Seward's character is that, I would argue we don't. Not because morality and knowledge of mental health is absolute throughout the ages but because, uh, despite the difference between the vocabulary, Seward is actually extremely modern. Condescension to patients especially to third parties, the-ends-justify-the-means goading of patients, etc., like... it's been a bit since I've read the book but anyone who thinks this sort of shit isn't extremely common now is hopelessly naive and has not interacted with medical professionals much. I have not been in in-patient psychiatric but like. People being mistreated by their doctors is not uncommon, especially if they have some kind of marginalization or disability, even if that disability is literally why they need treatment. Like, ABA is legal and common and has tons of advocates, and conversion therapy is being fought over for trans people. Our entire CDC has been gutted for the purpose of exclusively selling weight loss as a cure to all ills to the point that it can't actually do anything about infectious disease, when research on weight loss again and again doesn't prove results across populations. Doctors are constantly mishandling pain patients especially due to new laws and "wisdom" and God Forbid what they think and do if you're Black. I literally just had a psych appointment a few days ago where the doctor just talked over me the whole time about me not sleeping and watching too much news when, well, *gestures broadly at the world*.
I think there's a lot of argument that his actions are pretty tame considering the context within the novel or even that there's a possibility, given the rest of his life, that his actions are being influenced by being in proximity to Renfield for so long, like some kind of Dracula-vibes run-off. But like. I can't stand the idea that his actions are being argued with the assumption that we're really that much better today. Like yes there's laws and ethics codes and such but, perhaps disturbingly, people haven't changed that much.
