The Old Vampire Trend : Bram Stoker 's Dracula

The Victorian men and women conveyed in Bram Stoker's Dracula are pure and virtuous members of the upper and middle class. However, hiding behind this composed and civilized conception of England lies a dark and turbulent underbelly. This underbelly is the lumpenproletariat, whom Karl Marx defined as "the lowest and most degraded section of the proletariat; the ‘down and outs’ who make no contribution to the workers cause". Victorian culture discriminated against these vagrants, who were seen not only as shiftless and immoral, but dangerous as well. Sex was taboo and purity was held sacred to the Victorian middle and upper class, but prostitution and sexually transmitted diseases ran rampant among the lumpenproletariat. The rich

Vampire stories introduce the reader to mystery and suspense and also very interesting effects, but did you know that the story of Dracula has plenty of literary elements that better help the reader analyze and understand the story better than before. Dracula is a Vampire/Victorian book that expresses a lot of elements for example: symbolism. Literary terms such as gothic and romantics are terms used to discuss, classify, and analyze novels, poetry, and books like Dracula. These terms are the most important aspects in a piece of work. Throughout the book: Dracula many terms are present to discuss or classify the author’s work that will lift the reader knowledge. Literary terms are defined as: the writer’s message in a simple manner to the

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

Unremarkable though it may seem, to affirm the obvious truism that Bram Stoker’s Dracula originates from a century that historians often describe as the most significant in terms of revolutionary ideology, whilst wishing to avoid the clichéd view held, it is undeniable that the more one delves into the depths of this novel the greater wealth of meaning demonstrates significant correlation with Marxist ideology. The 19th Century saw the emergence of revolutionary socialist Karl Marx, who himself used the vampire metaphor to describe the capitalist system as ‘dead labour which, vampire like, lives only by sucking living labour’. Through Stoker’s opulent use of narrative structure, use of setting and imagery, this novel presents a multiple

In the 19th century, this basis of scary and thriller books started to emerge. This essay will be about who Dracula enticed women, how his detainer was unsettling and demonic. How the era in which the novel was written plays a part in the ideas of Dracula and how behaves; with such things as women, food, and Harker. The Victorian era definitely influenced the writing of the time through reflections of exploitation of women and a certain darkness in ones self, also explains of mystery and suspense.

In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Dracula is representative of the superhuman ideal that man is striving to achieve. Dracula is a strong willed, powerful, brilliant masculine figure, and through these characteristics, he appeals to the contemporary reader. By the late 20th and early 21st century, vampires have been transformed into creatures that offer endless happiness and immortality on earth. Such a transformation can be seen in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 production of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Instead of viewing the Faustian dream of endless self-gratification and fulfillment as potentially evil, popular culture depicts these satanic creatures as morally justified, and actually good.

The mischaracterization of Dracula and the propagation of the archetype and stereotype of vampires can mainly be blamed on the media. While this is not the grossest mischaracterization that we will see in this paper, it is certainly an early starting point for the making of monsters out of the misunderstood and unknown.

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

Dracula can be read as an almost transparent metaphor for the confusion, guilt and anger over what is considered to be the ‘proper’ role of women in Victorian society. The ‘vamping’ of a human female - such as in the case of Lucy - succeeds in adding a sexualised and sexualising element to women, who - according to the time period - are then only ‘purified’ through further sexual and violent acts, such as being penetrated by a wooden stake (Skal, 31).

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

When the good guys in Dracula are up against the odds, the odds of a stronger and smarter enemy, the faith they have in the good fight get them over the line. The message this conveys to audiences worldwide is both strong and important. Buffy might be all about entertainment and appealing to the emotions, yet clearly the series does more than just entertain.

In particular, the theme of religion is implied throughout the novel. For instance, Dracula carries the title of “king of the underworld” and has the physical traits of having pointy ears, fangs, and demonic eyes. He sleeps during the day and is alive during the night. These observations applies that he is a creature from hell specifically, the devil of the book. This is what it means to to be a vampire. He must kill and feed on the blood of other people in order to live. This demon causes havoc around anything he comes near and instills fear among the living. However, holy items such as the crucifix and rosary are ways to weaken Dracula. The crucifix is a form of protection from evil and can also restrain it as well. The reader learns this when Harker cuts himself shaving, and Dracula tries to drink Harker’s blood “...only to stop short when he sees a rosary around his victim's neck” (Burt). God was a huge influence during this time period and praying was a way to escape one’s troubles.

The late nineteenth century Irish novelist, Bram Stoker is most famous for creating Dracula, one of the most popular and well-known vampire stories ever written. Dracula is a gothic, “horror novel about a vampire named Count Dracula who is looking to move from his native country of Transylvania to England” (Shmoop Editorial Team). Unbeknownst of Dracula’s plans, Jonathan Harker, a young English lawyer, traveled to Castle Dracula to help the count with his plans and talk to him about all his options. At first Jonathan was surprised by the Count’s knowledge, politeness, and overall hospitality. However, the longer Jonathan remained in the castle the more uneasy and suspicious he became as he began to realize just how strange and different

The theme in Dracula is that classic Gothic theme of the epic battle of good versus evil. In this novel this is expressed in a very direct way, there is never any question as to who is right and who is wrong. As it can be clearly seen the protagonists on the side of good have many endearing qualities while the antagonists on the side of evil have a pact with Lucifer and are of the purest evil. The main antagonist in this story, Dracula, has

The Vampire in Dracula threatens the very existence of Victorian England. Stoker constructs the vampire as an embodiment of threat by surpassing his Gothic novelist predecessors to bring the threat of the Gothic home to Victorian England (Arata 119). This in turn crosses the boundary between what is foreign and what is national; and dually East and West. Dracula is open to many