Not surprisingly, the major metaphor in Dracula, is the title character himself. He is the antagonist (at least from the point of view of Harker, Van Helsing, Mina and their companions. But on the symbolic level, Count Dracula, the vampire, represents inhuman, monstrous domination over others. As Robert T. Carroll explains in The Skeptic’s Dictionary, “the vampire has become a metaphor for those who define and create themselves by destroying others”. Since vampires are usually referred to as creatures that drink blood, it is also not surprising that blood is a central metaphor in the book. Renfield cries out, quoting Scripture, “The blood is the life." Blood symbolizes the very life force, the essence, of a human being in Dracula. Since the title character is no longer human (but an “un-dead” animalistic creature), he must obtain the life-force of others to continue his existence. More positively, however, we also see blood as a positive symbol of life, most notably in the men’s many blood transfusions for Lucy: “One, two, three, all open their veins for her…” (Ch. 12, p. 190). Wild animals, particularly wolves and dogs, constitute another recurring metaphor in the text. We hear wild wolves howling when Dracula is close at hand—and we see he has power to subdue them. We learn of Dracula freeing the wolf known as “Berserker” from the zoo in order to break the window to Lucy’s room for him. We see Dracula come ashore at Whitby in the shape of a large dog. As you can see, symbols are extremely significant to this novel.