In the original novel, Renfield is a 59-year-old inmate at Dr. John Seward's asylum. He suffers from a specific delusion: that he can prolong his own life by consuming the life-force of other living creatures.
: He begins by catching and eating flies, then feeds those flies to spiders, and the spiders to sparrows, intending to accumulate their collective life-force. Renfield
: Though not a recognized clinical diagnosis in the DSM, the term was coined as a critique of how psychiatric disorders are classified. In the original novel, Renfield is a 59-year-old
R.M. Renfield is one of the most enduring characters in Gothic literature, first appearing in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, . Traditionally portrayed as a "zoophagous" (life-eating) madman and the devoted servant of Count Dracula, the character has evolved from a tragic inmate to the star of his own modern horror-comedy. The Original Character: Stoker's "Zoophagous Maniac" : He begins by catching and eating flies,
: Unlike the psychological horror of the novel, the film is a "splatter-comedy" where Renfield gains temporary superpowers by eating bugs.