Learning Log #1
Emma March
Course: ENG 4U1
Topic: Comparing the 1897 novel Dracula with the 1922 film "Nosferatu" and the 1992 movie "Dracula".
Sources:
Stoker, Bram. Dracula. United Kingdom: Archibald Constable, 1897. Print.
Nosferatu. Dir. F.W. Murnau. Perf. Max Schreck, Greta Schröder, Ruth Landshoff. Babelsberg, 1922. DVD.
Dracula. Dir. Francis F. Coppola. Perf. Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins. Columbia Pictures Corporation, 1992. DVD.
Notes:
-In all three Dracula stories, Dracula is an ancient vampire, centuries old, Transylvanian Count, Dracula resides in a decaying castle in the Carpathian Mountains. At first perceived to be filled with aristocratic charm, Dracula can't hide his evil nature.
-Dracula's appearance varies. In the novel, he is described
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However, in Nosferatu, Count Orlok closely resembles a rat. He is very pale with thick bushy eyebrows but no moustache.
In the 1992 movie adaptation, Dracula is less lanky and completely hairless with no eyelashes or eyebrows but white hair pulled tightly back in volumous arches. He also dons a red silk robe.
-Jonathon Harker (or Thomas Hutter) is a naive lawyer who travels to Count Dracula to sell him a home in England. In Nosferatu, the home is right across from Hutter's house. He quickly realizes that he is in fact a prisoner in Count Dracula's castle.
-Nosferatu dies differently than Count Dracula in the movie and Novel. In this film, he is entranced by Hutter's wife Ellen and becomes so engrossed drinking her blood he burns up in the sun when it rises.
-In the novel and movie, Dracula, Harker slices Dracula through the throat with a kukri while the mortally wounded Quincey stabs the Count in the heart with a Bowie knife.
-Unlike the ending in the novel, in the movie, Mina is found to be a reincarnation of Dracula's deceased wife from the 1500s and still loves him. Count Dracula dies in her
Florescu, Radu R., and McNally, Raymond T., Dracula, Prince of Many Faces: His Life and Times (1989)
The presence of racial stereotypes and commentary on the interaction of different races is a cornerstone of the Dracula narrative. In Stoker’s novel, Count Dracula is representative of the growing European culture of xenophobia and anti-Semitism which would rise to near hysteria in the coming decades. The concept of race was not limited to skin color or nationality in the nineteenth century, and was a means of categorizing people by “cultural as well as physical attributes” (Warren 127). Dracula is described as being covetous of ancient gold and jewels, childlike and simple in his malice, and more animalistic than human, traits frequently attributed to the Jewish people by Christian society (Newman). His material appearance is distinguished by extremely pale skin, dark features, a nose with a “high bridge…and peculiarly arched nostrils,” and “bushy hair that seemed to curl of its own profusion.” Stoker’s audience would have recognized...
Throughout many types of literature, violence exists to enhance the reader’s interest in order to add a sense of excitement or conflict to a novel. This statement withholds much truthfulness due to the fact that without violence in a piece of literature such as Dracula by Bram Stoker, the plot would not have the same impact if it were lacking violence. So to holds true to that of the movie. The movie bares different characteristics then that of the book. First off, the whole ordeal with the wolf escaping and jumping into Lucy’s, room and Lucy’s mom having a heart attacked is never even mention in the movie. Second, The night when the four men go to Lucy’s grave and find it empty is stated both in the book and in the movie however what unfolds after this is different. Finally, the end of the book differs severely from what Francis Ford Copolas rendition and that of the Bram Stoker see it to be. The differences are as follows…
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.
Once Jonathan arrives at the castle, he is met by the mysterious Count Dracula, a man described as strong and pale, with bright ruby lips and sharp white teeth. Although Jonathan is unaware of what Dracula truly is, he can already sense that something is amiss, and he gets worr...
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.
“Dracula, in one aspect, is a novel about the types of Victorian women and the representation of them in Victorian English society” (Humphrey). Through Mina, Lucy and the daughters of Dracula, Stoker symbolizes three different types of woman: the pure, the tempted and the impure. “Although Mina and Lucy possess similar qualities there is striking difference between the two” (Humphrey). Mina is the ideal 19th century Victorian woman; she is chaste, loyal and intelligent. On the other hand, Lucy’s ideal Victorian characteristics began to fade as she transformed from human to vampire and eventually those characteristics disappeared altogether. Lucy no longer embodied the Victorian woman and instead, “the swe...
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.
Stoker has rendered the reader to see the Count as physically strong and powerful, through Jonathan Harker and his confinement and Lucy Westenra and her failing health. Although the reader does not understand all the omniscient powers and control that Count Dracula possesses over people, they are brought to light through Dr Steward’s accounts of his patient R.M. Renfield. The ‘strange and sudden change’ (Stoker, 86), that has happened in Renfield evokes the reader to contemplate the Count’s influence over people. Dr Steward suggests it is as though a ‘religious mania has seized’ Renfield (Stoker, 87), and is controlling him. The reader is aware that Renfield can feel the Counts presence and that there is a connection between them. This eventually leads Van Helsing to recognize the bond between Mina Harker and the Count, which helps them to find Dracula and finally kill him. Dracula’s invasion over Renfield also reveals a weakness in the Counts power. Renfield, an obedient servant of Dracula, claims he is ‘here to do Your bidding, Master. I am Your slave’ (Stoker, 88). Renfield’s devotion is quickly reversed when he sees that the Count is taking life from Mina. It is his care for her that causes him to turn against Dracula and try to fight for her. Again Renfield’s actions mimic that of the other men as it becomes their goal to save Mina from the invasion running through her body. The key to this invasion is the blood.
‘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.
Dracula by Bram Stoker is known to be a one of the most famous horror stories of all times. The book well describes the atmosphere and setting throughout the book. Three things that influence the atmosphere and setting are the country before Transylvania, how the castle looks and how the estate that Harker is selling looks like.
It has been nearly one hundred and seventeen years since Bram Stoker published his ground breaking novel entitled “Dracula” and only twenty-two years since the movie “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”, a film based upon the novel, was unleashed upon the world. The book and the movie were a success and influenced the creation of a genre that still is seen today in pop culture. Though many raved about the story, no one ever explored the source of this fantastical tale of blood shed. To understand where his inspiration took flight, one would have to look back five hundred and eighty-three years ago, when a notorious Romanian prince inflicted fear upon the masses. Vlad III, also known as Vlad Tepes or Vlad the Impaler, was a ruthless warrior with an intense blood lust and the sort of person Stoker would have drawn from to create his masterpiece. In exploring why Vlad would make such a likely candidate for Stoker, one need only take a peek into his blood-stained past and it would become quite clear.
Mina Murray was engaged to Jonathan Harker and when Dracula kept him prisoner, the Count wrote letters to Harker’s boss and pretended to be Jonathan and to inform his boss and his fiancé that things were going good with his business trip. The Count was giving Mina and Jonathan’s boss false hope and keeping Harker prisoner at his castle. Dracula would even dress up in Harker’s clothes and mail the letters so it would not arise any suspicion. The Count seemed to only focus on turning women into vampires and he used the men to lure the women into his trap. Therefore, that is why he was keeping Jonathan alive. Everything Dracula did was made with lots of forethought. Such as when Lucy a young woman who also was a friend of Mina was mysteriously getting ill and sleep-walking during the night no one knew what was happening to Lucy because she would get sicker after they discovered she was sleepwalking. Lucy was sleep walking because she had gotten bite by Dracula and every night he called to her so he could feed off her again. He also made sure she was alone and waited a few days before attempting to suck her blood again. Although, Dracula was a smart man in his cunning actions he could not hide the fact that something evil was
When Van Helsing stakes the three women in Count Dracula’s castle, he almost succumbs to their seductive prowess, but he remembers Mina, who is infected with Dracula’s
Harkers trip to the Count's castle is filled with irony. He sees at one point that he coachmen appears to be translucent.Also how the wolves were in the middle of the road and all the coachmen did was say something to them and they moved which is weird. Then the carriage driver tries to tell Harker that Dracula's coachmen may not come tonight and tries to convince him to spend the night. Harker doesn't listen because he is ignorant which is a big piece of irony because Peasants who are not educated and poor understand what an englishmen can't understand. Which is orthodox because its seems someone educated like himself would understand this type of things not a peasant. Instead of drinking wine of christ's blood for eternal life dracula is drinking human blood to keep his physical appearance and lifespan. Women are eating babies when usually women cherish babies and protect them In this instance it's the total opposite. In chapter III pg.47 when he is being persuaded by her sisters dracula comes in with this babe in a bag and gives this to them which is their meal. Harker is terrified by this and loses consciousness.”One of the women jumped forward and opened it , if my ears didn't deceive me there was a gasp and a low wail,as of half- smothered child”. This is an example of how mothers cherish children but they eat them like their a regular lunch