How does Dracula explore social anxieties and fears?

Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' can be interpreted as a text that explores the social anxieties of Victorian society. The future of Britain was uncertain as the social hierarchy became challenged as women's rights changed, mass education was introduced, science developed and Britain faced issues with its empires. Many Gothic novels comment on anxieties prevalent in Victorian society, including Dracula. One of the main ways Dracula explores social anxieties is through the Count whom he uses as a symbol of all these anxieties as he exploits them upon his arrival to England. The Count embodies the threat of the other, female sexuality and the corruption of middle class women. For example, the Count personifies the fears the British had about foreigners as he infiltrates Britain. The notion of 'the other' arose due to reverse colonisation as immigrants from Eastern Europe migrated to Britain. With limited knowledge of other cultures, this was seen as a threat in Victorian society. The Count also represents a threat to female sexuality. For example, he turns Lucy into a vampire who consequently is not feared for her vampirism but for her new sexualised form. Finally, the Count embodies the political concern of wealthy aristocratic men exploiting middle class women. The Count primarily attacks middle class women and the middle class men are left powerless in the presence of an aristocrat. Dracula can ultimately be seen as a response to Victorian anxieties and portrays them through the Gothic convention of the vampire.