#even Sherlock's unnatural ability to shape change

[drac-kool-aid]

I've talked about it in some tags, but I'm thinking more on it, and I really do believe that there is something.....mmmmm supernatural and particularly gothic going on with the impersonation game Dracula is playing.

The eerie supernatural double was actually a very big theme in gothic literature as well as folklore of the time. Hell, two very famous deaths (Abraham Lincoln and Percy Shelly) have doppelganger sightings attached to them (although whether or not they are true or just added on postmortem to further sensationalize the event, I do not know).

Basically, you or someone you are close with seeing your double (whether that be a doppelganger, ghost, evil twin yet unknown, an actor doing a supernaturally good impression, etc) was a very ill omen and often one of death.

Not really sure where I'm going with this, but tl;dr Dracula impersonating Jonathan isn't just a part of his grand plan to isolate and drive him to rely on Dracula, but in fact a long standing trope of Gothic literature likely tied to the inherent horror that your own identity can be taken from you with nefarious results.