Analysis Of Dracula

1369 Words3 Pages

In novels, it is not uncommon for characters to be identified as morally ambiguous. It can be extremely difficult to identify a character as purely evil or purely good. In the novel Dracula, Bram Stoker presents a morally ambiguous title character, Dracula. Dracula can be seen as evil by the obvious: he is a vampire that bites people to get their blood. But on the other hand, Dracula can also be seen as good. Dracula is not purposely trying to kill people, he is just trying to protect himself. Lots of people believe that they can understand and analyze other people and try to come up with conclusions on how that person is, but Stoker shows how in some cases, analyzing a person cannot easily be done. Most people are not black and white. Their
“‘We have learnt-much! Notwithstanding his brave words, he fears us; he hear time, he fear want! For if not, why he hurry so? His very tone betray him, or my ears deceive” (333). Dracula could have attacked the men quite easily, but instead, he chose to run away from them. Dracula’s actions show that he is not out to hurt the men. Dracula is susceptible to death and does not want to attack the men when he does not have to.Dracula may have attacked Mina and Lucy because he thought he was helping them escape the Victorian society. Living a life as a woman in a Victorian Society is no life at all. The women in England must abide by the men and keep to themselves or else they were deemed whorish and impure. .The men in England can live great lives and prosper in society, while the women have a tough time doing that without a man by her side.In Transylvania, life was not like that for women. So it is understandable that Dracula would go after the women and not the men. Dracula was trying to help the women and free them from society. He is saving the women, not hurting them. His actions are in fact rather good because he is saving the people who really do need
Seward, and Jonathan Harker. Which means, everything known about Dracula could be false because their letters and journal entries are not factual. They are extremely biased. This could lead to readers getting an inaccurate picture of Dracula since readers only ever see Dracula’s actions as horrible and vicious. He could be very friendly and have only the best intentions, but readers would not be able to recognize that because the description of him is skewed. Even though Dracula has committed some crimes, that does not make him evil. Some of the best superheroes have killed innocent people, but that does not make them evil. For example, In Spiderman, Gwen Stacy was falling to her death and so he tried to stop her from falling but the when he attached his web to her neck the backlash snapped her neck and she died. This could be a similar case in Dracula. Dracula is just trying to help Lucy but it backlashes on him and she ends up dying, even though he was trying to help her. Everyone makes mistakes in their life. Those decisions are not enough to generalize a whole person’s character. Dracula’s intentions could have been good, he could have just went about them in a way that maybe did not look so

Show More
Related

  • Dracul Different Elements In Bram Stoker's Dracula

    1133 Words  | 3 Pages

    Life is a cruel. It, will attempt to take one down; it will humble one; it will attempt to break many down. In moments one may not know what to do, instead he/she must a find a way to use what they have around them as an advantage to defeat the problems that stands their way. Throughout dark fiction, authors utilise different elements as a tool to defeating the antagonist. the story Dracula uses completely different approaches in taking down the mighty Dracula. In the novel Dracula, Bram Stoker effectively employs the different elements that are used to defeat Dracula. Stoker effectively demonstrates the elements that are used to destroy Dracula through act of Religion, the aspect of Science and the setting.

    Read More

  • Dracula: A Simple Tale of Good vs. Evil

    1486 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Dracula In Stoker's Dracula

    1456 Words  | 3 Pages

    First off, in Stoker’s Dracula the reader’s suspension of disbelief is lower as compared to folklore tales. He is a tall creepy old person when first revealed, but later on in the novel he is shown to be more sinister. This creates a sense of mystery and confusion. Another reason is that he is a well developed antagonist. Often times he outsmarts the main characters creating a sense of suspense and irony because the readers know what is going to happen but the characters do not. But the most important reason of them all is the fact that Count Dracula takes elements from folklore and builds upon it. Stoker uses classic folklore to create a foundation for Dracula, for example; Dracula’s powers give him the ability to live forever, or shapeshift into other creatures as well. They also give him weaknesses such as: holy objects and daylight which mitigates his powers. These powers regularly add to the mysterious tone in the book. Count Dracula climbing down the castle wall upside down or moving slowly across a yard as a cloud of vapor makes the reader question what is happening. He has the ability to control the weather and animals as well. Stoker gives him powers from legend to make him a formidable force in the story. Although his appearance is unpleasant, he is quite the seductive character. He uses this to his advantage when trying to turn Mina and Lucy into vampires. Dracula preys on ‘weaker’ beings in a hierarchical system where he feasts on the women and once the women have turned to vampires, they feed on children. He can also use telepathy to tell where other vampires are, however, this works against him in the final chase of the book. In short his powers are unique and interesting and help to make the Count a powerful

    Read More

  • A Morally Ambiguous Character In Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'

    1038 Words  | 3 Pages

    “‘We have learnt-much! Notwithstanding his brave words, he fears us; he hear time, he fear want! For if not, why he hurry so? His very tone betray him, or my ears deceive” (333). Dracula could have attacked the men quite easily, but instead he chose to run away from them. Dracula’s actions show that he is not out to hurt the men. Dracula is susceptible to death and does not want to attack men when he does not have to.Dracula may have attacked the girls because he thought he was helping them escape victorian society rules. In Transylvania women did not have such strict rules so maybe Dracula’s intentions of killing the women were actually for the best. The ladies in England must abide by the men and keep to themselves or else they were whorish and impure. Living a life like that is no life at all. So it is understandable that Dracula would go after the women and not the men. The men can live great lives and prosper in society, while the women would have a tough time doing that without a man by her side. He is saving the women, not hurting

    Read More

  • Good and Evil in Dracula by Bram Stoker

    635 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...l. After discovering this, Van Helsing, Dr. Seward, Quincey, and Arthur hunted her, and killed the evil soul that had taken over her body. She then truly dies and is left in her natural, humane state. Also, Jonathan facing Dracula is another example of good versus evil, as seen when Jonathan wrote that “when the Count saw [his] face, his eyes blazed with a sort of demoniac fury, and he suddenly made a grab at [his] throat. [Jonathan] drew away, and [the Count’s] hand touched the string of beads that held the crucifix.” (21). Jonathan unknowing put himself in danger by entering the Count’s castle, in which there was only evil. He could only protect himself by possessing religious objects, of which the Count, a demonic character, was afraid of. Good and evil was also demonstrated through the relationship between kind and purely good characters opposing evil characters.

    Read More

  • Dracula and the Threat of Female Sexual Expression by Bram Stoker

    1398 Words  | 3 Pages

    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 Dracula was. As the story unfolded, Jonathan realized he is not just a guest, but a prisoner as well. The horror in the novel not only focuses on the “vampiric nature” (Soyokaze), but also on the fear and threat of female sexual expression and aggression in such a conservative Victorian society.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Repression In Dracula

    2232 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Victorian England setting and culture of “Dracula” by: Bram Stoker attributes to many stylistic components and character behaviours in the novel. One of which is the behaviour and actions characters express that are a result of sexual repression. In Dracula, sexual repression is best expressed by the character’s desire to create. This desire is exemplified by the way Dracula creates other vampires, Lucy’s sexual desires, and the men’s expression of aggression. The creation of other Vampires is evident through events including Dracula’s aggressive encounters with Lucy and Mina, and the fact the Dracula is building up a Vampire army. Lucy’s sexual desires are exemplified through her longing to have sex with multiple men and how she compares

    Read More

  • The Role Of Survival In Dracula By Bram Stoker

    1002 Words  | 3 Pages

    Through the gothic writing of Stoker, there was a huge intimidation of Dracula coming forth from it. “Stoker spared no effort to present his demonic vampire as dramatically as possible” (Leatherdale 105-17). With this sinister presence of death, people start to panic. As a vampire hunter, it was Helsing’s job to help notify people on how to rid themselves of this demon. Stoker portrays survival in the form of teamwork between the men and women of the novel. These characters soon take survival into their own hands. “‘We must trace each of those boxes; and when we are ready, we must either capture or kill this monster in his lair; or we must, so to speak, sterilize the earth, so that no more he can seek safety in it’” (Stoker 373). At this point in the novel, the characters know about the existence of vampires. The consequences are also put on top priority. The men know of the consequences, yet still want to go after this demon. “By chasing Dracula, the men risk being sentenced to an immortal life as a vampire. This immortality is endless time lived in physical form” (Poquette 35). Knowing the risks of hunting a vampire, the characters ignore them to protect their loved ones. A vampire hunter is an important factor in the novel because without one, the other characters wouldn’t know what to do. Stoker chose right in including

    Read More

  • degenerate characteristics of dracula

    1104 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the novel, Dracula, Bram Stoker puts together a variety of characters with several characteristics that are unique and somewhat alike in many ways. One way that some of the characters are similar is that they show signs of being a degenerate. A degenerate is a person who has sunk below a former or normal condition and lost normal or higher qualities. These people most likely have mentally and sometimes physically become deteriorated to the point where they no longer can think and function as a normal person would. Two characters in the novel that stand out as degenerates are Dracula and Renfield. Both are degenerates in their own ways and also have characteristics that are in some ways the same. They follow most of the traits that degenerates contain and portray it throughout the novel.

    Read More

  • Dracula

    1700 Words  | 4 Pages

    The vampire, or monster, could be seen as the unfavorable downturn in social status. The trust that the family put into Dracula only to be betrayed by him could be looked at as fraud. The hypothetical of what Dracula stands for, being the lower class, tricks the high class family into believing he is higher class than he really is. This makes him the villain. It also means that he needs to be outed for what is really is. This being shown when Van Helsing figures out that Dracula is a vampire. This would mean that the overt is a monster killing people, and the covert is secretly being lower class.

    Read More

  • Stoker's Portrayal of Women in "Dracula"

    1196 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ny other novels of the time, Stoker’s Dracula purposely highlights the superiority of men, while simultaneously belittling women. After only a few pages of this novel, the reader should understand just how helpless the females become. No matter what the issue or controversy, they are unable to find any sort of solution, successful or not, without the help of the male characters. Stoker even goes as far as almost teasing Mina, by allowing her to aid in the hunt for Dracula, yet giving her trivial duties. Lucy on the other hand creates the novel’s most blatant case for male superiority. She is forced to constantly depend on four men for her survival. All blood transfusions she received were from men and even that could not save her life. Stoker manages to make a bold statement by pinpointing the inferiority of the two female main characters in the novel.

    Read More

  • Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Bram Stoker’s Dracula

    1804 Words  | 4 Pages

    ‘Dracula’ is a novel that probes deeply into people’s superstitions, fears and beliefs of the supernatural. The creature Dracula is an evil being with no concern for others, he kills for his own ends and cannot be stopped, and this is what makes ‘Dracula’ truly frightening.

    Read More

  • Suppressing Feminism In Dracula By Bram Stoker

    733 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are a few characters in Dracula that embody society’s views of the time towards the uprising of women for better rights. On the other hand there are also characters that portray the Victorian ideals that men are stronger than women and how it should stay that way. As author Bram Dijkstra mentions in his response essay, “Stokers work demonstrates how thoroughly the war waged by the nineteenth century male culture against the dignity and self -respect of women had been fought”.(Dijkstra , p.460).

    Read More

  • Dracula Character Analysis

    924 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the book, Dracula by Bram Stoker there are many characters that display qualities of good verse evil. The Count Dracula is a mysterious character who appears as an odd gentleman but the longer the story goes on Dracula shows his true self. Dracula started infiltrating the lives of anyone who crossed his path and he was not stopping his destruction of others’ lives. Many people were affect by Dracula’s actions but there were two people that Dracula caused an impact on during his rampage. Dracula is an evil, cunning, and selfish character who harms the life of a young man and ruins the future of an innocent woman.

    Read More

  • Impurity In Dracula

    999 Words  | 2 Pages

    The novel Dracula by Bram Stoker has plentiful examples of key concepts we have examined in class including: Purity and impurity, magical thinking, strong emotions such as disgust and shame, , formalization, and myth. In this essay I will summarize events that take place within the novel when the protagonists deal with Dracula and then relate these events to the key concepts to demonstrate why the characters view him as dangerous, and therefore something to be avoided completely.

    Read More

More about Analysis Of Dracula

Open Document