Creative Writing: The Legend Of Dracula

As discussed in class, as well as in many literary analyses of the novel, Dracula is full of statements regarding gender roles and gender separation in the late nineteenth century. Stoker conveys contrasting female personas through Lucy and Mina. Though these women exist in the same time period and within the same social class, they have varying personality traits that reflect their womanhood in relation to societal ideals and, more specifically, to the men around them. Multiple times within the novel, the traits of the ideal nineteenth century woman are challenged, not only through Lucy and Mina themselves, but also through the reactions and opinions of male characters, such as Van Helsing. One of the most obvious occurrences is relayed to the reader through Mina’s journal. She writes about the ‘New Woman’ and expresses what may be interpreted as a sense of desire to emulate this progressive persona. Mina’s opinion of the New Woman is somewhere between fear and adoration. Stoker uses this passage to show Mina’s unspoken struggle between being the woman society expects her to be and being a more modern woman by presenting the reader with the equivalence of an internal monologue; since Mina writes these thoughts in her journal, but does not express them to anyone else.

1. How does the Renfield sub-plot function in the novel? What would be lost if it were removed?

on the place; this makes us feel anxious to find out where he is going

A woman changes everything; finally there is vindication for the knight who gave up life to avenge the death of his one true love, as he chose to become the undead. Director, Francis Ford Coppola, in his work, “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”, reaches beyond the words to prove Dracula was more than a monster in creating the movie. Coppola focuses on Dracula as a man, as well as a knight, who is both deeply in love with his church and his bride. The historical elements in the writings of Bram Stoker come to life more so in Coppola’s work with the movie, than in the book. My goal of this paper is to prove how the differences between the book and the movie are predominantly in the beginning and in the end of the film and depict Dracula as the man he

Written in 1897, the greatest horror book in its time was created, Dracula, by Bram Stocker. This book contained different aspects of vampirism that was had associated itself with flight of the imagination of romanticism. Freud's idea of psychoanalysis was basically intertwined with this book, because his psychoanalytical reasoning's was based on this book. "All human experiences of morbid dread and aggressive wishes and in vampirism we see these repressed wishes becoming plainly visible." -Sigmund Freud. The way psychoanalysis and this book relate is how the Victorian ideology affects the war how people think and act according to the situation. Such as many of the characters in this book had suffered from the fog of confusion which they

Bram Stoker in Dracula imagines a “proper women” by demonizing Lucy ascribing to her traits of a wanton woman; a whore of a demon. A misogynistic attitude is popular in a patriarchal society, especially in the middle of the nineteenth century. On the other hand, Stoker unconsciously ties Mina’s behavior to emulate a woman of propriety. She is the very bane of what a progressive woman looks like but not when looking at her through a gynocritics lens. To prepare the reader for the ideology of the “new and proper woman,” Stoker gives Dr. Steward and Van Helsing separate spheres from that of Lucy’s and Mina’s Character. In chapter fifteen, they are now experts in the dealings and explanation of Lucy the human and Lucy the Un-Dead. As we read the chapters sixteen and seventeen, it is preconditioning us to follow the ways they are dealing with Lucy. It is justifiable to call her a voluptuous lipped “thing” without a soul. Their credibility as learned men allow for them to penetrate a woman for the sake of her soul so she can take her place amongst angels. A woman in the nineteenth century is synonymous to the term “Angel.” Doing anything that is non-Angelic, like the suffragettes places the women to be the binary opposition to Angel; Demon. The “proper woman” has qualities like “purity, sweetness, and dainty-looking” (Dracula 211) (220). The interpretation would is more “factual” since it is from the “proper man”. Finally, Stoker uses the binary opposition, to present a figure

Perception is the manuscript for the past, present, and future alike. Ones perception of a novel could be completely unlike the next. Online research regarding Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” provided many useful points of view on numerous topics such as Count Dracula’s idea “The blood is the life” (Stoker 121) This statement can range anywhere from the literal meaning of Count Dracula needs blood to continue his life or that blood is a contributor that enables humans to possess life. When reading a novel each and every person will have altering perceptions about things in this novel. Bram Stoker’s writing style is vague to the point that he requires the reader to draw their own interpretation of the novel which enables the reader to think critically. Perception is all around us, it’s unique and assists one’s ability to process information.

Death is a literary device that could represent the rebirth of a character, It could also represent new beginnings the plot of the story. The theme of death manifests itself in Dracula repeatedly. The story Dracula uses the death of a character, in some ways, as a mode of transportation. There is some irony involved in the storyline and death. Dracula is a vampire, dead yet undead, who brings about terror through acts of murder.

She will be mine!” ‘Yeah, right.’ I’m thinking to myself. He leaves the club and closes the door to run errands. Now, she and I are alone as I take a stroll around the bed with the dimmed red lights following my shadow analyzing her potential and determining which role she will play in my world. She is too valuable to share, so she will be all mine. Lanzone will be mad because I am going to make her a vampire. Just as I think this, she starts coughing loudly catching me by surprise. I comfort her, “Hey, hey, hey now. Are you alright?” I grab a cup of blood from the minibar nearby. “Here, take a drink”, she sips then spits it out on the floor. When she finally opens her eyes, she jumps and grab a knife from the sink of the minibar coming back to me with it to my neck. “Who are you!?” I try to calm her down.

Alice let her ice blue eyes sweep over the crowded room before her gaze fell upon the Master Vampires. She needed air. Needed a way to escape this stuffy crowded ballroom before she went insane. Dropping her gaze back onto the group she stood with, Alice took a small step back before turning on the heel of her shoe, then vanishing into the crowd. Placing her empty wine glass down on a passing tray, Alice stopped one last time, before pushing the glass door open that led onto the balcony. A rush of cold air blasted her pale angelic face, and a small fanged smile appeared as she slipped through the crack, and into the night.

Another theory I would like to apply to Dracula is that he is a psychopath. When I went through the checklist for his personality or character traits, I scored him as a 28, which is above the consensus ranking by doctors of 26 points. In terms of his superficial charm, I scored him with a two. I did this because the book describes him as a clever man, with above average intelligence, as a likable conversationalist; even in the conversation he had with the peasant before killing his wife, he was described as being emotionally calm with little discomfort. For his sense of self-worth I scored him with a one. I picked this answer because while he didn’t brag about his abilities, he often gave off the feeling that he believed that he was better than the people

Many people are familiar with the novel Dracula, by Bram Stoker. It is typically referred to as a horror story sure to give a good scare. However, Bram Stoker was not merely out to give his Victorian audience a thrill ride. Many symbols and themes, particularly those of the main antagonist Dracula, were brought into the novel to teach a lesson. Oddly enough, Dracula resembles other forces of evil in other religions as well. A strong comparison exists between Dracula, Satan, and Hindu demons. Of course these parallels are not fully drawn across the entire novel. Some differences do exist, but the parallels that are apparent bring attention to a cultures idea of a monster or threatening force to order.

The first example of this is when Lucy is finally killed. Stoker uses the terminology "releasing the soul" when referring to the killing of a vampire. Lucy had been transformed into a bloodsucking, killing monster. However, when she is "saved" by the forces of good by cutting her head off, stuffing her mouth with garlic, and driving a steak through her heart, her former beauty is restored. Stoker writes, "Death had given back park of her beauty, for her brow and cheeks had recovered some of their flowing lines; even the lips had lost their deadly pallor" (Stoker, p 169). Even when Dracula is killed, he has a look of tranquility on his face. Mina writes in her journal, "I shall be glad as long as I live that even in that moment of final dissolution, there was in the face a look of peace, such as I never could have imagined might have rested there" (Stoker, p 398). The Christian rituals and symbols that are used throughout the book represent how the faith will protect you from evil and save you from eternal hell. In the Victorian Era, there was an emergence of the belief that you will receive personal salvation through Christ. In Dracula, characters such as Lucy, Mina, even Dracula, received personal salvation at some point in the novel. Sometimes the book can even be propagandistic towards the Christian faith. However, the thematic element of Christian Redemption is still a major part of the novel.

Vampire tales and stories have been a tradition for decades. Bram Stoker adds a twist to his novel by creating his own characteristics for Dracula as well as using old well-known things about vampires. He creates an overarching theme in his novel excellently. The main theme in the novel Dracula, by Bram Stoker is “the soul is more important than the body”. This is reinstated by four main events in the novel which include Jonathan Harker trying to escape Dracula’s compound, the captain of the Demeter, Lucy's death, and the final destruction of Dracula.

Enamored by her vivacious personality and sharp wit, she intrigued him. Her dead status unnerved him until she kissed him with the feral passion of a tigress. Not a bone in his body argued she wasn’t alive in the best sense of the word. After that day, he no longer wanted every vampire dead, especially not the one that turned him on with her lustful gaze. While he originally had suspected she vamped him with her