Bleh Bleh Bleh What does the notorious bloodsucking Dracula have in common with the attractive vampires that are shown in the movie Twilight? A lot actually, not only do they share the same name of “Vampire” or “Undead”, they also share the same powers and needs. The vampire genre has gone a long way, specifically with books like Bram Stoker’s Dracula. It first started out as folklore and then it turned into a popular topic of writing in early European culture. Bram Stoker then combined what he could into one classic vampire that is widely known today. Even in today’s modern generation, Bram Stoker’s widely known character Dracula continues to be used as the classic vampire that is an example of a basis for the “undead”. In Bram Stoker’s …show more content…
Clarson makes a point of talking about the fangs being sharp, proving that it is a way to identify a vampire such as the Count. This continues to persist throughout the genre, a vampire has the need for blood so it turns to a victim and takes advantage of them, while also turning the victim into a vampire as well. This shows that Bram Stoker has successfully created a stereotype of fangs that are used to feed off the blood of victims that continues through this genre. There is something about burning red eyes of a blood hungry undead that just manages to stick with the whole vampire stereotypes. Despite not knowing that it was dracula, Jonathan Harker had met up with Dracula and had taken a lot of acknowledgement to the dark fire-like eyes of the Count. Jonathan describes the scene of him meeting the count for the first time, “I could only see the gleam of a pair of very bright eyes, which seemed red in the lamplight, as he turned to us” (Stoker 10). This proves that the eyes are a first expression that comes to Harkers mind when he first sees the Count. The stereotype of vampires having red eyes is probably one of the most known stereotypes when it comes to the undead and the vampire genre. The burning red eyes show a sense of character in the vampires, giving them an evil quality that strikes fear into those who look into them. Another
Dracula is one of the earliest and successful vampire novels in history, which is why Dracula is considered to be the traditional vampire. Beginning with the fact that Dracula must sleep during the day, otherwise he will weaken in sunlight. The first clue was Jonathan Harker’s thought, “I have not yet seen the Count in the daylight” (Bram Stoker, 49). His thought is later proved to be true when Harker sneaks into Dracula’s room and is said, “There in one of the great boxes, of which there were fifty in all, on a pile of newly dug earth, lay the Count” (50). The next being the obvious and most important is his consumption of blood. Another element is he is petrified of
The word blood is not used in the novel until a few chapters in, but is a major motif. Blood symbolizes life in Dracula, because in every situation characters seem to be struggling without it. The Count is always craving it while some of the characters are constantly lacking it. As the readers all know Count is a vampire, but the characters are clueless throughout the beginning of the book, when poor Lucy is suffering. As Harker is a prisoner in Dracula’s castle, Dracula makes sure that it is clear to Harker that blood is something everyone should cherish. Harker thinks he is going crazy because of the weird sights, smells, and fears he has encountered while staying with the Count. Although he thinks he is becoming crazy everything that he think is unrealistically happening is actually happening.
Another particularity of the eyes of a vampire is that they show whether a vampire feeds on human or animal blood. This is best shown in the baseball scene when James and the other vampires come and disrupt the Cullen’s game. The camera focuses on the eyes of every new vampire( which , as we were previously shown, attacked humans) and we can clearly notice that their eyes are scarlet red. So the redness of the eyes is an indicative of the fact that these vampires are not” vegetarians”.
Desire and fear some of the most prominent emotions exhibited in Dracula. Bram Stoker, Nosferatu, F.W. Murnau, Dracula, Tod Browning, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Francis Ford Coppola. “Human characters are caught up in the struggle between these emotions when it comes to vampires; this opposition drives forward the different plots… vampire attributes such as physical attraction, sexuality, power and thoughtless violence are common threads throughout the studied works. Characters in these stories fear the powerful abilities of vampires, yet show an unmistakable pull towards them. The vampires in all of these works incorporate physical attraction, sensuality, and awesome power. They often use this superhuman strength
The truly shocking and terrible, blood-sucking-monster we once knew have now changed into beautiful, perfect,and healthy human beings. This paper will discuss the change and the reason why the change of idea many still accept and like the modern picture of vampires.In order to answer this, I will examine the differences between Bram Stoker's Dracula , the typical figure of horror before, and the soft light just before sunrise or after sunset's Edward Cullen, the obvious example of the 21st century vampire. From this, I will be able to decide out what changed in the features of the vampires we know today.Many would think about Edward Cullen as a "shockingly disrespectful behavior of the vampire old example" (Mole).
Vampires have been around for centuries, they represent the fear of many things such as sexuality, race, gender, etc. and above all, they stand for the fear of diseases. Vampires have once been the symbol of horror due to their terrific depictions and were described as a threat to the humanity. Throughout time, the image of vampire has changed dramatically from a monstrous, inhumanely creature that doesn’t belong to human society to such an attractive and adaptive figure that expresses more of the human side than the evil. They developed human feelings, senses, and live within our society. Modern vampire movies are often more romantic and “sympathetic” comparing to the past. Vampires have abandoned their horror and evolved to a more
Why does Bram Stoker and many authors alike make vampires out to be voluptuous and sexy? Is it because it brings light to our darkest desires? Not in the sense that we desire to feed on another humans blood. But in more of a dark and sinful kind of way. In society back then and now, sex is still kind of weird to talk and be open about. Although, sex is more accepted nowadays it is still something you usually do not discuss. So I believe what drew a large crowd in for Dracula was the fact that it went against the norms of society. For example, the Jonathan Harker describes the encounter with the three sisters as "ecstasy" (Stoker 42). He said that they had
When his name is uttered, people who know it quake with fear of his evil. He has the strength of twenty men and likes to use it on unsuspecting victims. He makes diabolical plans and wants to slowly devour the population of London. He kidnaped people, kills and turns some into vampires. In the novel, he fed a baby to three hungry women as the mother of the child was looking for it. Because of this, Count Dracula has become one of the most influential examples of evil in literature. From the show Vampire Diaries, you can compare Damon to Dracula because of how sadistic he is and how he manipulates people into doing what he tells you to do. He compels people to follow him like a slave. But the closest comparison to Dracula would be from The Originals Niklaus who always wants to be king and the ruler. Like Dracula, Klaus is the strongest of his kind and the first. He does everything in his power to control things and like to make people suffer for his own sake. But Klaus is also loyal to his family. He and Dracula both manipulate others by getting into their head and even turning them into vampires so they can rule. The only difference is that Klaus cannot be killed or doesn’t get killed because he is that strong unlike how Dracula was killed at the end. Dracula is devoid of empathy for the people that suffer at his hand in the novel. For example, when he is holding Jonathan Harker prisoner, he doesn’t take a
To start off, the manner Arnold Friend and Dracula 's facial and physiological traits are described allow us to compare how monstrous they really are. The Count is said to be a tall thin old man with a shaved face, except for his heavy mustache. His face is a strong aquiline with a high bridge of the thin nose and peculiarly arched nostrils. Stoker notes that his ears are pale and pointed, his chin is broad and strong and his cheeks firm and thin. There is an insistence on Dracula 's mouth that is fixed and cruel-looking with sharp white teeth that protruded over his vital-looking lips. His eyebrows are massive, almost meeting over his nose and he has bushy hair that grows around his temples and his lofty domed forehead. Another element that is focused on in Stoker 's novel is the vampire 's extreme pallor. This description is not particularly frightening since we immediately know the character is a monster : he does not look human at all and is not hiding it. There is no place for
Dracula is a novel written by Bram Stoker during the late 1800’s. The book starts out with Jonathan Harker, who is a smart young business man, who wants to travel to Count Dracula for a business ordeal. Many locals from the European area warned Jonathan about Count Dracula, and would offer him crosses and other trinkets to help fend against him. Mina, who is at the time Jonathans soon to be wife, visits to catch up with an old friend named Lucy Westenra. Lucy gives Mina an update on her love life telling her how she’s been proposed to by three different men. The men are introduced as Dr. Seward, Arthur Holmwood, and Quincey Morris. Unfortunately for her she will need to reject two of the men, and Lucy ends up choosing to marry Holmwood. Later on after Mina visits Lucy, Lucy starts to sleep walk, becomes sick, and then finds out she has bite marks on her throat. Due to this incident, another new character is introduced who happens to be Van Helsing. As the novel progresses, lady vampires are introduced and Lucy is eventually turned into one of the lady vampires as well. With the introduction of female vampires, the novel Dracula turns into a sexual and sensational novel by Bram Stoker. The female characters in the book are overly sexualized to where we can compare it to how women are viewed from back then in history to today’s world.
In everyday life, as in literature, there will always be an opposing force to evil. In the novel “Dracula,” by Bram Stoker, Professor Van Helsing acts as Dracula’s main antagonist. An antagonist is the character who acts against the main character, which increases the conflict of the story and intensifies the plot. Through the use of theme, characterization and specific events, the author shows readers how Dr. Van Helsing effectively fits the role of Dracula’s most threatening adversary.
The generalization for vampires has been displayed in films and literature for hundreds of years. The stereotypical versions of vampires are that they have long fangs, sleep in coffins during the day, and suck the blood out of humans. Both novels contradict those stereotypes in different ways. To understand the diversity of the vampires described in both novels, one must examine the characteristics that the vampires display and the meaning and purpose behind them. David D. Gilmore’s book “Monsters” analyzes monsters and other mythical creatures. Gilmore describes why humanity invented the idea of
Blood sucking, shapeshifting, killer… These are just some of the myths attached to Count Dracula. Dracula is a vampire, and as we all know, vampires consume blood. In the novel, the author Bram Stoker never mentions how Dracula became a vampire (every other vampire was created off of Dracula), however Van Helsing thinks that he made a deal with the Devil and traded his mortality for that of a cursed soul in return for something else. A lot of myths are attached to Dracula, which is
An additional way that horror movies are inspired by dracula is the way that the villain in each media for is molded by a deviant sexuality. This can be seen in Dracula by the use of blood transfusions performed by the vampires to symbolize rape. Stroker writes, “I was afraid to raise my eyelids, but looked out and saw perfectly under the lashes. The girl went on her knees, and bent over me, simply gloating.” (Stroker 55) This parallel can be seen in horror movies with the common use of nudity in the movies, as well as the fact that a lot of slasher movie villains are raped as children. Grant
The legend of the vampire has emerged countless times within human imagination over the past few centuries. The first available representation of the mythical creature in prose fiction can be found in John Polidori’s “The Vampyre” (1810). It was not until eight decades later that Bram Stoker popularized the existence of this figure with the publication of “Dracula” in 1897. The folklore of the vampire has come a long way since and can be found in today’s popular media more frequently than ever before. However, with due course of time, the representation of the creature has taken alternate routes and today’s vampires are noticeable different – socially and physically – from their predecessors. One effective path to trace this