Vlad the Impaler vs Count Dracula
The being that is Vlad the Impaler and the story book character Count Dracula have similarities beyond coincidence. To begin to understand how Vlad the Impaler and Count Dracula are so much alike, it must first be understood that Count Dracula was based off of the historical being Vlad the Impaler. It is possible to compare and contrast between these two legends by merely picking up a book on the subject or even just going to a website that has information on the two. Vlad the Impaler became the fearsome ruler that has been used as a reference to create the book character Count Dracula.
Vlad the Impaler’s date of birth is November or December of 1431, in the Transylvanian city of Sighisoara. Vlad’s siblings included an older brother, Mircea, and a younger brother, Radu the Handsome. Vlad’s father ruled Wallachia from 1436 to 1447 and became the fearsome ruler that would cause his son to follow in his footsteps. But Vlad’s father would only fight is he knew that he would win. He would instantly change sides if the side he sided with started to lose. Family meant nothing to Vlad’s father; and he would eventually give up his own two sons without a second thought if it meant victory for the side he was on. Vlad was either 12 or 13 when he was given up as a hostage by his own father.
All of the things that had happened to him as a child would eventually contribute to the demented personality that Vlad the Impaler grew up to have. Growing up, all he knew became war. All Vlad’s father knew became war because all he wanted to gain became power. There is no peace in his mind and fighting is the only way Vlad’s father knew how to get what he wanted so badly. Power.
As an adult, Vlad the Impaler took his...
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... aren’t ready to known yet, or maybe they’ll turn out to just be people sensitive to the sunlight. Though the hypothesis remains, Bram Stoker and all the other writers about vampire got their ideas from something. That something could’ve been a lesser version of what is thought to be a Vampire.
“Figure 2” Vlad the Impaler
Works Cited
Goldberg, Enid A., and Norman Itzkowitz. Vlad the Impaler : The Real Count Dracula. NEW YORK: Franklin Watts, 2007. Print.
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"Vlad the Impaler vs Dracula." Vlad the Impaler. N.p., 7 Feb. 2003. Web. 7 Mar. 2014.
Wilkinson, Kathryn, ed. Signs & Symbols. New York: DK, n.d. Print.
This fictional character was soon to be famous, and modified for years to come into movie characters or even into cereal commercials. But the original will never be forgotten: a story of a group of friends all with the same mission, to destroy Dracula. The Count has scared many people, from critics to mere children, but if one reads between the lines, Stoker’s true message can be revealed. His personal experiences and the time period in which he lived, influenced him to write Dracula in which he communicated the universal truth that good always prevails over evil. Religion was a big part of people’s lives back in Stoker’s time.
Florescu, Radu, and McNally, R. T., Dracula: A Biography of Vlad the Impaler, 1431-1476 (1973)
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