Humanities Analysis Paper assignment

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Castlevania Humanities Analysis

In the TV show, Castlevania, which is based on a popular video game in which you battle

vampires, a new twist is put on the characters not only to the original storyline, but to the

relationships between them as well. In this adaptation, new ideas on the roles of vampires and of

Count Dracula are also introduced. Castlevania takes place in the country of Wallachia, which is

set in the late 1500’s, in which the Church had a large amount of power and renounced science.

As a result, Dracula’s wife Lisa is killed for her knowledge of modern medicine, which causes

Dracula to begin a genocide of the human race by summoning demons from hell using skilled

forgemasters. Full of despair he organizes the court of vampires, who are Counts across the land

and are under his rule, to wage war on the humans and end them once for all. Over the course of

a year, the demons run loose in Wallachia and kill thousands of people until Dracula’s son,

Alucard, is awakened from his tomb and fights alongside a magician and a monster hunter to kill

Dracula.

Throughout the entirety of the show, the audience meets many characters from the

vampire and human efforts of each side of the war, and their character developments are shown

through their relationships with each other. We see relationships between humans and vampires,

vampires with their own kind, and human relationships as well. Of these relationships, those

which are shown more prominently are Lisa and Dracula whose relationship is a major turning

point in the series. In addition, one of the main characters of the third season, who is believed to

be asexual, holds a great deal of importance as well.

Out of all the relationships in Castlevania, the relationship between Dracula and

Lisa is one of the most important relationships in the entire series, as the loss of Lisa is the cause

for the entire plot point. When the church discovered Lisa’s breakthroughs in medicine, they

wrote off her knowledge as witchcraft and burned her at the stake, causing him to begin his

purge of the humans. Lisa and Dracula’s relationship has many contrasting ideas, but one of the

most notable is the differentiation between desire and romance. The relationship between the two

began with desire. For example, Lisa sought to learn as much of Dracula’s teachings about

medicine, while Dracula had a strong desire for change. His curiosity for Lisa grew from the

moment that she knocked on the door of his castle, with a genuine want for an education. That

desire slowly grew into a sexual desire, as they got closer and began to spend more time together.

In the book Understanding Asexuality, the author describes the A, B, C, and D’s of sex. The

letter D is for desire, and is related to all four of the other letters which stand for: attraction,

arousal, behavior, and cognition. “Desire is defined, sexually, as a feeling that includes wanting

to have a sexual experience, feeling receptive to a patrtners initiation, and thinking/fantasizing

about sex,” according to Bogaert (24). The proof of the desire and lust between Lisa and Dracula

is shown through their child, Alucard, who is born a few years after they get married.

However, there are clear distinctions between their desire for one another, and their

romance. Desire can be decoupled from romance because of the bodily functions that underlie it.

Their romance is separate from this desire, since love can exist even if they could not have

children. Dracula’s instincts are not only to reproduce, but to kill humans as well. This is one of

the main points which separates their relationship from lust and desire. While they did bond

through their desire for one another, he did not once act on his need to feed on humans, which

shows that he has a great respect for her as an individual, rather than her species. He could have

forcefully turned her into a vampire as well, but his love for her would not allow him to as the

loss of her humanity would change her. Their romance defied bodily mechanisms, while their

desires completely followed them, which made their relationship extremely strong and caused

Dracula to mourn her death so extremely as to murder all humans.

In addition, one of the most important characters of the third season, Isaac, is asexual.

Isaac, who worked in the court of Dracula as a forgemaster, was saved by Dracula when his son,

Alucard, and his friends attacked the castle seeking to kill them. As a result, he lost one of his

truest friends, and sought revenge on the other forgemaster, Hector, who betrayed the court. In

Understanding Asexuality, the author describes asexuality as a lack of sexual desire and interest

(10). Isaac’s character is one full of trauma, as he was a slave to terrible people in the past. As a

result, he found himself extremely disconnected from people in his older days, and dedicated his

entire life to learning about forging. Becoming a forgemaster is something revered in the

Castlevania universe, as it is something that deems power over others, that even the most

powerful beings, vampires, cannot access. It requires a human connection to hell, which is

something vampires lack. Isaac could have had the entire world at his feet, and followers to

worship him, but refused all these things, instead focusing on his work and eventually becoming

a friend of Dracula’s.

Isaac is a complex character who has very simple wishes. One of the main reasons he is

deemed as asexual, is his lack of attraction to others. This is one of the letters of sex, as described

by Bogaert. Before he worked as a forgemaster in Dracula’s court, he lived by himself, detached

from others in society. This, which could be difficult for others who need human interaction, was

no problem to Isaac, as he was traumatized by his previous interactions with humans. His

adopted father, who in his childhood used him as a slave, was someone important to him and

someone he made an effort to help. However, when he tried to show his affection to his father, he

was instead abused for his actions. This is one of the reasons why he became so isolated, since he

stopped believing in the kindness of others. For this reason, he never pursued a relationship with

people who liked him, or even had friendships with anyone until Dracula, who has the same

beliefs as him.

Another point which defines Isaac as asexual is his lack of sexual behavior and cognition.

Much of the ways in which he acts towards others is very much the same, no matter the gender

or individual. Once more focus is put on Isaac in the third season, we find that his behavior

towards others worsens, transitioning from neutrality to violence. When his own friend and

forgemaster betrayed him, he found himself confused and resorted to violence. Forging hundreds

of demons from hell, he travels through the world with only one thought: revenge. He refused to

get to know any people, instead feeding them to his demons, thus his behavior towards others is

one that rejects any type of relationship with him.. In chapter 2, Bogaert says, “Our thoughts are

organized into knowledge structures or schemas. Our scripts generalize about the appropriate

sequence of events in a particular context.” Isaac’s cognition lacks the thoughts of other

individuals other than himself. Not only this, but he has no thought about sexual scripts, or

behavioral contingencies regarding others. Not only is this something that is outside of his

personal nature, but also something he has ch=osen to do as a part of his religion: Sufism. This

religion is very much related to Islam, however has more complex ideas about behavior and the

persons relationship with their god. Celibacy is not something that is required, but can be chosen

by sufi. This is one part of his religion that he distinctly chooses, unlike the rest of his devotion

to its practices. He chooses this because of his asexuality, and his lack of connection to any

individuals.

While Isaac had no real connections to any humans, he did have a connection to one

vampire. This vampire was Dracula, who became a dear friend of his when they began the

genocide of all humans. Through all his past interactions with humans, he sought to rid them of

their world, along with himself in the end. After those plans were ruined by the death of Dracula,

he continued this conquest and made it his only desire. Desire is also one of the important parts

of Bogaerts definition of sex and asexuality. As it is related to the other factors of this, we see

that his sexual desires are extremely low. While he has no sexcual desires, throughout the

entirety of Castlevania, we see that Isaac’s true desires stem in his hate for humans, and

moreover, anyone who stands in his way. As someone who has terrible experiences with humans,

he would never choose to interact with them in any way, especially after the betrayal by Hector.

The reason he became a forgemaster was to do the work he believed would bring him closer to

his god, and to make the sinners of hell repent by becoming his slaves. The genocide of humans

was also the only thing he connected with anyone with, and the sole reason he left his isolation

for.

Castlevania not only shows intricate relationships between complex characters, but it also

provides many connections which relate to Andrew Bogaert’s Understanding Asexuality.

Through these many connections between characters such as Lisa and Dracula, which decouple

ideas such as lust and romance in many new ways. In addition, we are introduced to new ideas

about vampires in a more modern way, as well as the reintroduction of characters such as

Dracula in new light. Additionally, the range of sexualities, specifically the asexual character,

Isaac, helps to interrogate this show as a form of art.

Works Cited

Bogaert, Anthony F. "Understanding Asexuality." Understanding Asexuality. Lanham, MD:

Rowman & Littlefield, 2015. Chapters 1-4. Print.

Ellis, Warren. Castlevania. Prod. Jason Williams and Maki Tershima-Furuta. 7 June 2017.

Netflix. Web. 15 Mar. 2021. <https://www.netflix.com/browse?jbv=80095241>.