Over the years people have given new outlooks on the original vampire, Dracula. He was a tall non-attractive looking man who would never come out during the day. Hollywood however has made new vampire stories such as Twilight, True Blood, and The Vampire Diaries/The Originals that have new ideas of a vampire. These novels/books all have differences, but some still have key characteristics of the original vampire. Similar to Dracula, Twilight’s vampires have many of the same characteristics. The vampires in Dracula and Twilight both are very pale. People in both books often mention how pale the vampires are. Their skin is not only pale but it is also very thick and tough. This means that it is very strong and does not tear very often without In the book Dracula the vampires would be killed by a stake to the heart, and then the removal of the head (411-12). In The Vampire Diaries however there being many ways to kill them. For example you could use a stake to kill them, but it would have to be a White Oak ash dagger or stake. Also instead of the decapitation you could also burn then to ash. However the easiest thing for the vampires to die from was a werewolf bite. To the vampires the werewolf bite was like a poison to them. Next in The Vampire Diaries they had some vampires called the originals. These vampires are the oldest, and they were the first to ever walk the earth. So if one of the originals were killed then everyone that they turned would also die along with them. This is because there blood has the DNA of the original. Finally we do not truly know how Dracula was created he was the very first vampire. Then over the many years he was alive he made new vampires by feeding off people. In The Vampire Diaries however we do know how they were created. A witch created the vampires in The Vampire Diaries. She later regretted the creation she made, and wanted to undo what she had already
Comparing the 1931 version of Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi, with Frances Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula 1993 version yields some similarities. Both films are of the same genre: Horror. Both films are set around the same time period. Also, both deal with a vampire coming to England and causing disruptions in people's lives. Beyond these few similarities are numerous contrasts.
„h The only way to kill a vampire is to penetrate its heart with a stake.
Over the years people have given new out looks on the original vampire, Dracula. He was a tall non-attractive looking man who would never come out during the day. Hollywood however has made new vampire stories such as Twilight, True Blood, and The Vampire Diaries/The Originals that have new ideas of a vampire. These novels/books all have differences, but some still have key characteristics of the original vampire.
Vampires have been viewed with fear and fascination for centuries. Of all the vampires in literature, Bram Stoker’s Count Dracula is probably the most prominent vampire. Recently, there has been an upsurge of public interest in socially acceptable vampires, like the Cullens in the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. This essay will contrast Stoker’s Dracula with Carlisle Cullen, one of the newer vampires from the Twilight series. They will be examined in terms of their origins and how they dealt with immortality.
Dracula is a mythical creature designed to wreak havoc on the lives of mortals through the terror and intimidation of death by bite. Vampires are undead beings that kill humans for their blood to survive. Human blood is the vampire’s sustenance, and only way of staying alive. Throughout time, humans have come up with ways to repel vampires, such as lighting jack-o-lanterns on All Hallows Eve, placing garlic around the neck, a stake through the heart, sunlight, etc. Both beings have a survival instinct, whether it be hunger or safety, both are strong emotions. In the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, the characters Lucy, John, and Van Helsing strive for survival, therefore killing Dracula.
“Bram Stoker’s novel… integrated many vampire superstitions” (“History of”). Many vampire stereotypes and characteristics came from Dracula. The method for killing a vampire was addressed in the book. “There are things that we know of; and as for things sacred, as this symbol, my crucifix, that was amongst us even now when we resolve, to them he is nothing, but in their presence he take his place far off and silent with respect… The branch of wild rose on his coffin keep him that he move not from it; a sacred bullet fired into the coffin keep him that he be true dead; and as for the stake through him, we know already of its peace; or the cut-off head that giveth rest” (Stoker 259). Most of these ways are still a part of modern vampire superstition. In a lot of different vampire myths, a stake through the heart is an effective technique to kill a vampire. “Certain types of wood were said to be the most effective towards these old vampires, such as maple, hawthorn and aspen” (“Top 10”). Garlic is also associated with repelling vampires. “It was known not only for healing but also protection against the plague and supernatural evils” (“Why Do”). The fact that vampires cannot see their reflection came from Dracula, as well. Myths and superstitions concerning these blood-sucking creatures originated from or are the same as the ones in Stoker’s
Bram Stoker took the legend of Vlad Tepes and used it as an idea for Dracula. He was the ruler of an old country called Wallachia. He is most famous for impaling his enemies on sticks around his castle. He taught himself how to miss vital organs in the body, causing the victim to die a slow painful death. This is why people consider him an ancient vampire. What people don’t know about him is that the rich loved him, but the poor hated him. To anyone that didn’t have to seal to make it by he was great. But to the poor people who couldn’t buy food, they were always in fear of him. He was abused as a child, and this is what is thought to have caused his behavior. (Melton 1053)
From Transylvania to Hollywood, vampires have transformed from unfamiliar, mysterious personalities to one of the most dominant monsters in the horror genre today. Vampires are one of the oldest and most noted creatures in mythology, with many variations of them around the world. Although the most famous version is Bram Stoker’s Dracula, many variants have come before and after telling of the same legend with their own added ideas and modifications to relate to their cultures. Today, there is a multitude of literary and film works that convey and resurface peoples’ fear of vampires. As gothic works like Dracula, by Bram Stoker and Scooby-Doo! and the Legend of the Vampire directed by Scott Jeralds share certain traits reflective of the genre;
The biggest difference is the fact that unlike in the earlier vampire tales, modern vampires are perceived as inhumanly attractive. Afterall, Dracula is described as a “tall old man, clean shaven save for a long white mustache, and clad in black from head to foot, without a single speck of color about him anywhere.” (Dracula, 42). Whereas in Twilight, “Everyone of them was chalky pale… They all had very dark eyes despite the range in their hair...were all, devastatingly, inhumanly beautiful.” (Twilight, 18-19). Another dissimilarity is that Dracula does not have a reflection. While Jonathan Harker may be unable to see the Count in his mirror, in Twilight, Edward shows up in pictures and has a reflection. Lastly, another major difference between the two kinds of vampires lies in their sleeping habits. Twilight vampires do not sleep in coffins, in fact, they do not sleep at all. But in Dracula, Jonathan discovers the count sleeping in a
Dracula, by Bram Stoker, is a classic tale of Gothicism. Traditionally, gothic tales only carried single theme of horror. Through Dracula, Stoker breaks this single theme barrier. The theme throughout Dracula is clearly displayed through the characters as they step from ignorance to realization in this tale of horror.
Dracula - central character of the book: An old vampire who lives in a crumbling castle in Transylvania. As the book begins, he is planning to move to England, where he can feed on fresh blood. When we first meet him, Dracula is described as an old man with a white mustache, and he appears courtly and charming; as the book progresses and feeds upon his victims, he grows younger and becomes more like a beast.
The “Otherness” Dracula possesses reinforces our own norms and beliefs through his transgression that separates him from society and the polarity to Western norms and ideals makes him an effective device for extorting revulsion and horror. Stoker’s novel employs Gothic tradition, providing “the principle embodiments and evocations of cultural anxieties” from which the very Gothic mood and horror is produced, establishing the baseline used to distinguish the modern vampires, as part of vampire mythology within the Gothic (Botting Aftergothic 280). Differences Between Dracula and Twilight The similarities between the two novels are namely Gothic imagery and theme, but the Gothic mood predominates in Dracula over Twilight and it is this difference that makes Twilight not belong in the vampire canon. Horror is the element that Dracula possesses that Edward does not, and it is crucial in the interplay between transgression and limit.
The vampire genre is one that is so widely exploited, that anything can be done with it. It can be made into a horror story made to induce nightmares, into a story that displays humans can be just as monstrous as the monster, or into a romance that proves that love conquers all. The mystery and sensuality that shrouds vampires allows for a vampire story to be anything and everything the writer or reader desires.
In vampire legends, they do not like sunlight and the drink human blood instead of eating food, so that could be a possible explanation
Vampires are in a sense immortal. They cannot die of old age and are always in their prime at around 20 – 30 years of age (physically). They are immune to almost any diseases and poisons and cannot spread a disease from one human to another. They can recover from most wounds; a new vampire might take three days to recover from a wound that would take an older vampire three minutes. Vampires can of course be killed if the wound is large enough that they will die before they have time to heal, this means that old vampires are almost impossible to kill as they heal almost instantaneously