Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897) and Exploitation

I believe there are 3 major themes in Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897):

1. Exploitation - somebody is always exploiting somebody else in this world
   
2. Knowledge & Beliefs - we believe what we've learned to believe and close our minds to everything else
   
3. God's will be done - Good prevails over evil, eventually
   

One, exploitation, is the most obvious. Vampires feed on the living. They kidnap babies, lure children, and mesmerize healthy adults and nourish themselves by sucking their blood. After feeding, the vampire becomes stronger, invigorated, and rejuvenated. Their victims are weakened and drained of their life force. The victims don't die right away, but will die eventually if they lose too much blood.

What's interesting is that Count Dracula was once a living human himself but fell prey to some other vampire hundreds of years ago. At the time, Dracula was a leader in battles against the Turks. He claimed a glorious history, but Van Helsing suggested he was more of a common dictator like many we still have in today's world. Dracula thoughtlessly led brave men into battle but left them to die when he fled to hide and save himself--strategic regrouping in his mind. How many dictators have we seen lately do the same or something similar?

Van Helsing, knowing Dracula's history and understanding his instincts, knew where to find him when he got away. He knew he was going to go back home, hide, cowardly wait until it was safe, and he knew he would then return to London and prey on the population. Van Helsing knew they had to act immediately or a future generation would suffer.

Dracula, as a human and as a vampire, ruthlessly exploited anybody he could: babies, children, women, and men. The purpose was to meet his personal needs and nourish and save himself, without regard to lives he destroyed.

Dracula symbolizes pervasive human exploitation that still happens today: abusive relationships, political and industrial exploitation, drug dealing, confidence scams, dictatorships--any case where someone is exploiting someone else, unfairly taking their money, resources, or labor; destroying their property, air, health, or quality of life...

Reference:
Bram Stoker. Dracula [Kindle Edition]. 1897.