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. All throughout the novel, the mentioning of blood is easily noticeable, but the question that stands tall is, why so many references to it? As Liz Kella states, “The heart of Dracula is blood. The vampire flourishes on the blood of others, and Van Helsing and his team’s whole effort is to fight
Despite the plot’s complete failure in inciting interest within me, I was intrigued by Stoker’s style and storytelling capabilities. I was constantly curious as to why Stoker was revealing a vast amount of information about the scenery and internal feelings of each character while developing the plot in such a dull manner. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that Stoker is attempting to use rich imagery about both settings and the characters’ emotions to emphasize Count Dracula. While reading each chapter, clear mental images of the settings and the characters’ feelings are formed. Through the story being told from extremely
Values are malleable as they adapt to context, unlike conventions which remain constant through all frameworks. Bram Stoker’s Dracula upholds conventions which have persisted through centuries of time and diverse modes of communication. Identical conventions are distinct in all Vampiric and Gothic texts, such as Stephen Sommers’ film Van Helsing, and Cyber-Ducks Dracula: The Interactive Comic. Although the three mentioned texts preserve invariable conventions, they uphold values that have accommodated for different audiences. The latter two appropriations of Dracula are composed for a modern audience, and therefore portray different values to Bram Stoker’s original text. The most apparent change is acknowledged through Dracula highlighting
The protagonist and story of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula have been widely interpreted and adapted in films throughout many years. Despite almost a century of time since the initial publication, Dracula has maintained its ability to frighten and mesmerize readers. Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula; however, utilizes the erotic romance of the original novel in order to depict a tragic love story. The film accurately follows the general plot of the novel, yet presents the characters in a unique manner that provides for a different appreciation of the characters.
Are there still connections between Bram Stokers famous novel Dracula and modern day society? In Dracula, Stoker expands on many themes that indeed exist today. Not only does he touch on the most obvious theme, sex. He expands on gender division and good versus evil. Some say since times have changed the themes I introduced have changed as well, leaving connections between then and now irrelevant. However, I feel that although times have changed they still have roots from the time of the novel to now. In this essay I will expand on the themes of this novel while connecting them to modern day society, the critical texts I have chosen and will mention later on in the essay are a good representation of the commonalities between the chill, dark Victorian days in which the era that Dracula was written in and modern day.
Dracula succeeds on the suspenseful level despite Stoker’s obvious flaws as a writer, especially in his characterization, which oscillates between pompousness and lack of
Perhaps no work of literature has ever been composed without being a product of its era, mainly because the human being responsible for writing it develops their worldview within a particular era. Thus, with Bram Stoker's Dracula, though we have a vampire myth novel filled with terror, horror, and evil, the story is a thinly veiled disguise of the repressed sexual mores of the Victorian era. If we look to critical interpretation and commentary to win support for such a thesis, we find it aplenty "For erotic Dracula certainly is. 'Quasi-pornography' one critic labels it. Another describes it as a 'kind of incestuous, necrophilious, oral-anal-sadistic all-in-wrestling matching'. A
Bram Stoker`s “Dracula” is one of his most prominent work, originally published in 1897. Forming part of the gothic literature; the novel focuses, through the character of Dracula, on the theme of Supernatural and Religion in an era largely dominated by Science and Rationality. This critical essay, will therefore demonstrate how Dracula, portrayed as the “other,” is essentially different from the rest and, how he subtly manage to incite people and challenge values and ideals of the British Society.
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 modernly and controversially touches upon subjects of sexuality, gender roles and religion, and there are some forthcoming arguments that Dracula even serves as an autobiography of Stoker himself (Belford). Overall, the story behind Dracula is as mysterious as the story of the novel itself, which is why it is considered to be one of the most memorable pieces of literature in history. The novel consists of multiple diary entries, newspaper articles, telegram’s and so forth
Bram Stoker's Dracula is a true Gothic novel that belongs on any gothic literature course. Focusing in on the recurring themes, characters and settings used throughout the novel one sees how Dracula has set the standard for Gothic literature today.
Dracula, by Bram Stoker, is quite the epitome of the gothic novel. Towards the beginning of the story, the setting takes place in an old and ominous castle, which is highly characteristic of gothic literature. Harker’s tribulation begins when “the driver was in the act of pulling up the horses in the courtyard of a vast ruined castle,” (Stoker 18). There is also a gloomy and menacing tone given to the setting of the novel, as in most pieces of gothic literature. This gloom is evident early on in the novel, as it reads, “Then a dog began to howl somewhere in a farmhouse far down the road--a long, agonized wailing, as if from fear.”(Stoker 16). Also coinciding with the nature of
In one of the most dramatic scenes in the movie, Professor Van Helsing discovers his most compelling evidence proving, once and for all, that Dracula is a vampire. In this scene, John Harker opens a cigarette box with a mirrored lid, and, much to the amazement of those in the room observing the phenomenon, the Count’s reflection is nowhere to be found. When Van Helsing brings this to Dracula’s attention, the Count understands that his cover is blown. This grand reveal is not the first sign that a vampire might be causing the chaos in London though. Earlier, Lucy’s deceased body is found, and no obvious cause for the unnatural amount of blood loss she sustained exists. The only abnormalities discovered are two wounds with red centers on her neck. Additionally, Van Helsing’s analysis of a blood sample and Renfield’s reaction to the herb Wolfsbane lead the professor to conclude that a vampire is
Abraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish author, most famous for his novel Dracula. After working as a daily paper writer, Stoker started composing his realistic novel and incorporated the written work abilities he learned. In order to make the novel more genuine, he included journal sections, letters and telegrams to enable the reader to dive further into his characters. ‘Dracula’ is still today a standout amongst the best-known horror stories composed and is considered a classic. Therefore his life will be investigated since it affected his style and tone of the story, and in addition why ‘Dracula’ is viewed as a classic text.
When a person mentions the novel Dracula, the first thing that comes to mind is an image of a pale skinned creature in human form that lives off of the blood of innocent people who do not know they are in danger until he flashes his long white fangs at them. The second is how long it takes to get to the point that Dracula actually comes into the story and begins to horrify every word of the novel. Bram Stoker uses foreshadowing throughout the first one hundred pages of Dracula so that readers can get caught up in all of the anxiety and horror that comes with meeting The Count. Bram Stoker’s infamous foreshadowing in his novel Dracula leaves readers anticipating the moment when the dreaded Count Dracula will arrive in England and what kind of havoc he will wreak on its people.