Bram Stoker's Dracula Comparison Essay

Legends and myths are something that has been handed down through ancestors for centuries. These myths are often a way of telling history or creating an image of something in the past to make it seem interesting; some are very realistic while others are not. Horror stems from folk-tales, stories of creatures and monsters from the past told to younger generations to entertain and fear. One the most famous monsters of our time is Count Dracula, he has terrorized hundreds of people throughout the years. Stoker’s vivid imagery of Dracula is what makes the character a classic favorite. The 1992 film “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” is an adaptation of the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. What makes Dracula such a unique story is that it does not start out as an evil and horrifying movie but as a start of a romance story. Through comparison of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, to its film adaptation “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”, there are differences and similarities between the two although it was very close to the book.

The novel starts off with the history of the Count. It begins with a war and Dracula is going to fight in it; in a war. Many people were killed and in confusion a message was delivered to the Count’s wife the he was killed in battle. After realizing this she

commits suicide, not actually knowing that her husband actually survived and was returning to her. When Dracula returns, he finds his wife’s body dead and lifeless on the floor; since she had committed suicide the church declares her soul is lost. The Count become enraged of this because he was in battle protecting the church that just condemned his wife’s soul to hell; because of this he renounces God and becomes immortal in hopes of rising from the darkness to save his wife’s soul. After watching the movie there are however some differences between the film adaption and the novel. First of all in the novel (pg. 29) upon arrival Jonathan stayed at the Golden Krone Hotel for an evening. During his stay, he met an elderly woman who told him of the superstitions of the town and warned him to not go ahead with his travels. Before he left the elderly woman becoming more crazed about him leaving to go to the counts castle began to plead with him:
“Do you know what Day it is? It is the eve of St. Georges Day. Do you know not that tonight when the clock strikes midnight, all evil things in the world will have full sway? Do you not know where you are going, and what you are going to?” (pg. 31)
After this the women took the crucifix and put it around his neck and said “For your mother’s sake”. In the movie the hotel and most of this scene was cut out, all that happened was a girl in

the carriage he was in gave it to him when he stepped out to wait for Counts carriage. Another difference between the two is the proposal scene. In the book Lucy writes a letter to Mina about how three men proposed to her at different times throughout the day. In the film all three men showed up and were there together and Mina was there to witness it all.
Another difference between the film and novel is the women and inferences we get from the text. In the novel Stoker portrays women in two different ways, the conservative Victorian style like Mina and Lucy, and a more loose style where it takes on the role of a more modern approach such as the three bride vampires. For example, according to spark notes:
Because the prejudices of his time barred him from writing frankly about intercourse, Stoker suggests graphic sexual acts through the predatory habits of his vampires. The means by which Dracula feeds, for instance, echo the mechanics of sex: he waits to be beckoned into his victim’s bedroom, and then he pierces her body in a way that makes her bleed. In the mind of the typical Victorian male, this act has the same effect as a real sexual encounter—it transforms the woman from a repository of purity and innocence into an uncontrollably lascivious creature who inspires “wicked, burning desire” in men.
Throughout the novel we see sexuality become more prevalent in situations dealing with vampires. For this time period it was unheard of to write about sex, so the way stoker wrote we can infer what he was talking about in certain scenes.

Dracula is more than a story of horror, but a story about good vs.

evil, and love vs. hate. I feel Francis Coppola did an excellent job in producing Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Coppola’s analysis of characters and events, psychological and motivational, in the book is one of the reasons the movie was so successful. He stayed as close to the book while making minor adjustments to the historical events as much as it is possible, making the story even more to the plot as possible. One important changed to the plot that was an important factor was destroying vampires stereotype by portraying Count as a capable person of love and compassion and not just a blood sucking monster. According to a student from an online

essay:
Originally, Stoker’s “Dracula” is a tale of love. It is a story of love, where love is high above the mortality and death. At the same time it is a novel about the struggle of treachery and sacrifice in the name of love. Count Dracula is ready to do anything to return the love he lost…
One aspect of the book Coppola emphasizes is the evil-good relations. In Coppola’s Dracula he takes the story that was always portrayed as a horror myth into a story with underlying messages of love, passion and death meaning, true love lives forever.