A Drink of Blood
When most people hear the name “Dracula”, they are usually thinking of an evil monster saying bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh. While this is partially true, there is much more to Dracula. Count Dracula is a feared vampire who lives in a mysterious castle in Transylvania. The elements of a vampire story are what truly create this novel and its themes. In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, there are several essential elements of a vampire story that are discovered through characterization and setting to establish the melancholy tone of this bloodsucking story.
There is always something that gives people chills down their spines and goosebumps on their arms. Every vampire story must have an old man who symbolizes society’s problems. In this
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This innocent girl turns into such a monster that her friends realize that they have to kill her in order to save her; “But if she die in truth, then all cease; the tiny wounds of the throats disappear, and they go back to their plays unknowing ever of what has been. But the most blessed of all, when this now Un-Dead be made to rest as true dead, then the soul of the poor lady whom we love shall again be free” (Stoker 230). The vampire bite transformed Lucy into a person that no one would have imagined she would be. Along with that, there is an example to tell how Lucy’s behavior becomes strange. Moreover, Count Dracula takes the innocent young and with his selfishness, ruins them forever. After being bitten and some time has passed, Lucy, is able to move again; “I feel so happy to-night. I have been so miserably weak, that to be able to think and move about is like feeling sunshine after a long spell of east wind out of a steel sky.” (Stoker 136). Stoker once again makes an even stronger case for demonstrating how Lucy was manipulated until her death. Destruction and Dracula are synonymous, as he takes the innocence without pause and with great selfishness, until his victim becomes what he is and is not free again without death.
Eternal life is sought after by the old and has been for all of time. In a vampire story, immortality is the holy grail of the wicked old man. The Count seeks to be young forever, but to do this he must destroy lives without
Vampire: old, appealing, corrupt, grows younger after getting victims, leaves a mark on his victims (strips them of their youth, beauty, energy)
While this idea when taken literally can be terrifying enough on its own, Dracula has a much darker and deeper messages written in between its lines. Stoker’s novel was written and published in the Victorian period, an age dominated by societal constraints and restrictions of expressing individual and sexual desires. Dracula affirms the lustful acts and sexuality that was oppressed for most Victorians by the norms of the time; the fear of feminine sexuality, the Victorian’s stereotypical attitudes toward sexuality, becomes a prominent theme within the novel. Stoker created the figure of the vampire as a being capable of releasing characters’ repression of sexual desires. Dracula, the main protagonist, is a being who is able to reveal the sexual desires and lusty actions that lie dormant within the characters.
Dracula by Bram Stoker is the original vampire book, the one that started it all. From it derived the now so beloved and famous teen-romance vampire genre, with novels like Twilight. However, Dracula is not remotely like the sparkle-in-the-sunlight, falling-in-love-with-mortals vampire any more than Harry Potter is like the Wicked Witch of the West. Dracula is a gothic horror novel set in Transylvania and England during the Victorian Era. Letters, diary entries, and newspaper clippings from the viewpoint of several characters tell the story, allowing for a wide variety of viewpoints that highlight happenings in Dracula as well as present the social issues pertained within. While it contains action, suspense, horror, and romance, it also displays the corruption within the everyday society. The way the women are presented, interacted with, and how Count Dracula affects them brings forth the issues within the Victorian society, especially the men’s treatment of women and the different social and gender roles, which Stoker uses to highlight the situational irony found within the novel.
Since the beginning of time vampires have been categorized into different "types” and are portrayed in different ways throughout several books. This paper will focus on three vampires from the following books: Dracula by Bram Stoker, and I am Legend by Richard Matheson. Dracula is considered to be the traditional vampire, where it all started, and the vampires in Matheson’s book, follow somewhat Stoker’s concept, but is more of a modern “type” of vampires. Certain vampire elements have been presented, but others have been completely removed or altered. In addition, elements along with appearances are used to infer if the vampire is a form of “the other”. There are two types of vampires; the traditional or modern vampire which can be distinguished based on the elements present in their storyline.
Dracula uses his supernatural powers to feed his fascination with youth and innocence. In the beginning of the novel, when Dracula is first encountered, he is described as old, although “His face was strong… [his] lips, whose ruddiness showed astonishing vitality in a man of his years… The general effect was one of extraordinary pallor.” (27). This description of the Count shows that while he is old, he still possess some attributes and features of the young. Once Dracula finds that the men have made a bond against him, he makes a bond to take all of their women. He succeeds in transforming Lucy and scaring her mother to death, although Mina is stronger and the men save her by killing Dracula. Also, the three women vampires in his home are past conquests of beautiful, young women. Dracula only sucks the blood of young women in the novel reflecting his hunger for youth and innocence. As the
This quote shows what people thought of Dracula and how much they feared him. To show how much the people felt unease, they kept repeating these words. As all people know, vampires have a long history being immortal and all. Though Dracula; being the oldest and wisest vampire, has seen and lived through many events which is one reason people fear him. Supporting Sentences (support thesis and topic sentence): Example: Deal with devil.
The essentials of a vampire story is an older figure, alluring yet wicked, abuses a young lady, leaves his imprint, takes her innocence, an attribute of nineteenth century writing to address sex by implication, selfishness, misuse, refusal to regard the independence of other individuals, utilizing individuals to get what we want, putting our needs, especially monstrous ones, over the needs of another.
Older people begin to worry about the exterior features and rush to cover their age. Festering on this human flaw, Dracula personifies the desire of long lived beauty and "passion." However, one can also infer a deeper meaning in Stokers
Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a story of horror, suspense, and repulsion. The main antagonist, Count Dracula, is depicted as an evil, repulsive creature that ends and perverts life to keep himself alive and youthful. To most onlookers that may be the case, but most people fail to see one crucial element to this character. Dracula is a character that, though it may be long gone, was once human, and thus has many human emotions and motives still within him. Let us delve into these emotions of a historically based monster.
Dracula by Bram Stoker, is the original vampire book, the one that started it all. From it derived the now so beloved and famous teen-romance vampire genre, with novels like Twilight. However, Dracula is not remotely like the sparkle-in-the-sunlight, falling-in-love-with-mortals vampire any more than Harry Potter is like the Wicked Witch of the West. Dracula is a gothic horror novel set in Transylvania and England during the Victorian Era. The story is told in letters, diary entries, and newspaper clippings from the viewpoint of several characters, allowing for a wide variety of viewpoints that highlight happenings in Dracula as well as present the social issues pertained within. While it contains action, suspense, horror, and romance, it also displays the corruption within the everyday society. The way the women are presented, interacted with, and how Count Dracula affects them brings forth the issues within the Victorian society, especially the men’s treatment of women and the different social and gender roles, which Stoker uses to highlight the situational irony found within the novel.
“Dracula” by Bram Stoker has stood as one of the most timeless, enduring and captivating novels in the literary realm. The whole novel is a journey through the dark corridors of conservative, Victorian England that presents themes of gender roles, sexuality, madness, religion and the supernatural to create a complex web that reflects the fears, views and values of Victorian society. The intricate “mysteries which men can only guess” such as the enigma of our human nature, societal values and eternal struggle between good and evil is explored to great depths and heavily questioned through Stoker’s meticulous characterisation, ominously atmospheric settings and macabre yet thought provoking narrative. At first glance it may seem difficult to
Dracula is a signet classic novel written by Bram Stoker. This novel is portrayed by an antagonist character known as Count Dracula. He has been dead for centuries yet he may never die. He has a peculiar power of hypnotic fascination but he is weak in god’s daylight. He is immortal as long as he is able to drink blood from the living. He can change his form into a wolf, a bat or a puff of smoke. Dracula get in touch with Jonathan Harker through a real estate transaction. He went to Dracula’s castle through a carriage as were planned. After a few days, he felt as if he were prisoned in the castle as his movements were restricted. Meanwhile, Harker has a fiancée named Mina
Bram Stoker’s Dracula does not follow the norm of the nineteenth century novels, that is, it is not written in a straightforward narrative but instead comprises of a collection of letters, journal entries and diary scrawls. Apart from that, it also includes a ship's log, numberless clippings from newspaper and also, a "phonograph diary.” This form of writing invariably helps in developing the “mystery” aspect of this horror novel since it either gives us no information about a particular thing or gives us information from various points of view so that it is impossible for the readers to come to one conclusion and they keep playing with different possibilities in their minds.
While in Stoker’s novel, the alluring Count Dracula spends the nights continuously feeding on the blood of the innocent, the villagers all the while living in fear. He sucks the life from young maidens, transforming them into his unholy minions.
Vampires have aroused a perennial fascination within humanity since their fictional materialization into history. However, it is over the course of the last century that these creatures have become an iconic symbol of mystifying horror and inexplicable desire. Recently, the vampire has undergone a significant reconstruction of physical appearance, behaviour, and surroundings, along with, extensive modifications to its super-natural disadvantages. These distinct character adaptations are imperative when considering two of the most notable vampires ever fashioned: Count Dracula and Edward Cullen. The dissimilarity between Bram Stoker’s 19th century, Count Dracula, and Stephenie Meyer’s 21st century, Edward Cullen, is a complex reflection of the contrasting societies from which these vampires emerged.