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.With each death the plot thickens, the characters left become more valuable, and new meaning is brought to the text. After all, the paranormal elements within Dracula makes death almost a necessity. The characters that die within the story contribute through their deaths, they are: , Mr. Swales, Mrs. Westenra, Lucy Westenra, …show more content…
For life be, after all, only a waitin' for somethin' else than what we're doin'; and death be all that we can rightly depend on. But I'm content, for it's comin' to me... and comin' quick ..." - (Mr. Swales Chapter 6 Dracula)
The characters of the book, as a whole, unwittingly bring upon their deaths through their tragically, fatal flaw they each individually possess. And, Through death Dracula maintained some semblance of control. He was able to make the characters fear him, therefore, giving him the superior position. In Dracula the meaning of the work is grasped through death.With each death more and more of the literary meaning is illuminated.
Mr. Swales, a superstitious old fisherman who is also wise. Swales' contribution to the story is to 'set the scene' for Mina and Lucy by giving them information about occurrences
…show more content…
His death was very bland and straight to the point, but it signified an important part of the book. His death represented, both literally and figuratively, the purging of evil from the lives of the characters. During his tirade Dracula caused much heartache and loss. He also represented temptation and evil. Because of this, Dracula's death was of the utmost importance to the characters. He had to die in order for the main characters to move on with their lives in peace. Not only were the main characters given peace by Dracula's death, Dracula himself was given peace as his death drew towards an
Anyone who has ever seen one of the several adaptations of Dracula as a movie will know that it was intended to be a horror story. Stoker goes to great lengths in order to create an
To start with, there is a reason why Dracula can never be evil. He doesn’t have an innate quality that makes him evil. In the beginning of the novel it seemed like he had some capacity of goodness in him. From the article Dracula and Philosophy, it says “Dracula is not perpetrating evil acts for their own sake, simply to cause harm and chaos”. What it means is that Dracula is selfish and attempting to reclaim the former glory of his family but it doesn’t make him evil for doing that. An example to compare Dracula’s scenario, it is the same as how Dr. Seward treatments were on Renfield. Dr. Seward causes Renfield to suffer, but only because he does not fully understand the distress it will cause him. If he did this in another way out of specific intent to hurt Renfield, he would be counted as Evil. His intentions were decisive. While the results are same whether or not he meant to harm Renfield, his own character is determined by the motives which make him act the way he does. In this case, Dr. Seward is not evil. Another character that would portray good would be Arthur. He was put into a difficult situation where the love of his life Lucy who was turned into a vampire. Him and his group set a trap for her and caught her in the moment here he had decide whether to kill her or not but he didn’t want to see her like that
More often than not, dramatic irony causes the novel to not be as gripping as it could be since the readers already know a large part of the suspense. However, in the case of Dracula, it is anything but this. Dracula was one of the first novels of its kind and gave the readers a new kind of thrill and is as gripping as any of the contemporary horror novels. The dramatic irony actually acts as a means to keep the readers glued to the novel since the readers know what Jonathan’s fate will be but can do nothing but wait for the inevitable. As the novel proceeds, the readers cannot help but worry about the safety of Jonathan and this makes the novel very
Dracula possesses the majority of power throughout the book. His supernatural abilities grants him with an upper advantage over a mortal human. He can control the atmosphere, shapeshift, and live for centuries. This alone provokes
The play-script book “Dracula”, adapted by David Calcutt, is a captivating reword of the iconic epistolary horror novel of a same name which was written by Bram Stoker, The author outlines the power struggle between good and evil in the text through messages and symbols. The author focuses on Dracula and a group of friend’s actions and emotions in which he uses narrative conventions to convey key messages in the book. The messages I found that were prominent were “evilness is an infection”, “greed is consuming” and “good always prevail”.
Throughout many types of literature, violence exists to enhance the readers interest in order to add a sense of excitement or conflict to a novel. This statement withholds much truthfulness due to the fact that without violence in a piece of literature such as Dracula by Bram Stoker, the plot would not have the same impact if it was lacking violence. Dracula's power and evilness led to the violent happenings which began with the conflict of Jonathan's inner struggle, as compared to the conflict which blossomed later on with good versus evil.
In the novel's world, Dracula has many mystical powers, some which has been shown only on several occasions and some which he uses for his daily life. Dracula also has a very unique personality, which could tempt women and make them vulnerable. This means, Dracula could dominate every human being individually, not as a group. His powers and personality has something in common. Count Dracula uses his powers and unique abilities as a tool to ridicule religions and God's decisions and as a great threat to the mainstream society.
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's "death" left many questions unanswered. He turned into a pile of dust, which he could have merely shape shifted into. Mina's marks had disappeared, Dracula was the head vampire he is sure to have special powers like; being able to turn into mist, fog, etc., and Mina seemed to return to normal, just another power. As we went through the novel, Lucy needed to be decapitated and stabbed, and three female vampires at Dracula's castle needed to be decapitated, to be killed. If all of these vampires, who were far less powerful than Dracula, had to be killed in this way, then why would it only take a simple Bowie knife to kill the lead vampire? This is the true mystery of the novel. I believe he Dracula has all these powers, why would it take much less to kill him? We have seen him turn into fog and what not, so how he could not turn into dust to escape is not unreasonable. He used his shape shifting powers to get out of another life threatening situation, and therefore is still alive when the novel ends. The novel is informative parts on
In ‘Frankenstein’ there were reasons behind the monster’s actions but this is not the case in ‘Dracula’, apart from him needing blood to exist. Dracula callously uses people and situations for his own ends, “Monster, give me my child!” here a woman from the village has had her baby snatched by Dracula, she knows Dracula has taken him and is pleading for the life of her child. The child is, of course, dead and this shows how little regard Dracula has for the innocence of any creature, then he uses his power over the wolves to command them to come to the woman and devour her. Towards the end of the novel, Dracula uses his power over Mina
After Lucy’s death, Van Helsing tried to convinced Quincey Morris, Seward and Arthur Holmwood that Lucy has turned into “Un-dead” by bringing them to her tomb. They eventually find a solution by plunging a stake into Lucy’s heart. They chop off her head and stuff her mouth with garlic. After Jonathan and Mina’s returning to England, they joined forces with the others. Mina helps Van Helsing by collecting various journals and dairies to retype them. Their efforts were useless went one of Seward’s patient has let Dracula into the asylum to prey upon Mina. These men divided forces among them tracks Dracula across land and sea. Van Helsing takes Mina with him and he killed three female vampires by using sacred objects. Quincey and Jonathan use knives to destroy Dracula went Dracula is about to reached his castle. In 1992, Francis Ford Coppola has released a Dracula movie based on Bram Stoker’s novel. I would prefer watching a Dracula movie rather than reading a book because Coppola evokes the origins of Dracula before he turn into a vampire, twisted the subplot where Mina is the reincarnation of Dracula’s greatest love and the movie ends with Dracula’s soul
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.
Bram Stoker’s ingenious piece of work on writing Dracula has set the expectation for gothic novels all over the world and time to come. The mindset of writing Dracula through the Victorian Era really sets the tone for the reader by creating a spine-tingling sensation right through the novel. With this in mind, Stoker wouldn’t have been able to succeed his masterpiece without the effective uses of symbolism, imagery, foreshadowing, and its overall theme.
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
The characters in Dracula are very Gothic. Dracula is the most important antagonist in the novel. Dracula is a very if not the most interesting Gothic character ever created. He like all vampires casts no shadow and possesses no reflection. Dracula cannot die by the mere passing of time for he is