How Does Bram Stoker Idealize Human Behavior

Webster Dictionary defines a monster as: “an animal or plant, of abnormal form or structure, a mythical [creature] or [person] who deviates from normal or acceptable behavior, a threatening force, a person of unnatural or extreme ugliness, deformity, wickedness, or cruelty.” In his novel Dracula, Bram Stoker doesn’t only idealize the term monster through Count Dracula’s repulsive behavior and appalling looks, but also helps revolutionize the modern perspective of monstrous creatures and humans. To achieve this goal, Stoker redefines what a monster looks like, how it acts, and what it’s true intentions are.

Stoker first introduces his audience to the monster of the novel toward the beginning, when Count Dracula manipulates his prey by forgoing

human form. Although, before even meeting Dracula, Harker’s conflicted with a sense of terror because of the castles dreary appearance:
I stood close to a great door, old and studded with large iron nails, and set in a projecting doorway of massive stone. I could see even in the dim light that the stone was massively carved, but that the carving had been worn by time and weather… I felt doubts and fears crowding upon me. (Stoker 27)
Stoker’s brief description of the castle adds a sinister like feeling behind the scene, guiding his viewers to realize that there’s something or someone evil beyond this point. Harker’s everlasting feeling of fear is proven rightfully so once he encounters Dracula. During their dinner, Harker provides his readers with a long disturbing grotesque description of the beastly appearance of Count Dracula himself:
His face was strong [] with high bridge of the thin nose and peculiarly arched nostrils; with lofty domed forehead, and hair growing scantily round the temples. His eyebrows were very massive, almost meeting over the nose and with bushy hair that seemed to curl in its own profusion. The mouth…under the heavy moustache, was fixed and rather cruel-looking with peculiarly sharp white teeth; these protruded over the lops. For the rest, his ears were pale and at the tops extremely pointed, the chin was broad and strong, and the cheeks firm though thin...Strange to say, there were hairs in the center of the palm. The nails were long and fine, and cut to a sharp point… and his breath rank. (Stoker 24)
In other words, Stoker’s combining a variety of humanistic, animalistic, and fictional appearances to create a horrifying and barbaric looking creature. Dracula resembles the perfect monster because he blends in with humans, animals, and whatever else he needs to be. It’s important to realize that it’s not only Dracula’s looks that make him monstrous, but also his actions as a human.
Whenever Dracula engages communication with another human being he always acts mysterious, creepy, silent, and then something overtakes him, and he becomes enthusiastic energetic and friendly.

Matter of fact, one of the most inhumane monster like encounters was when Harker first met Dracula and he said, “'Enter freely and of your own will!”’ Harker thought to himself: “[He] Stood like a statue, as though his gesture of welcome had fixed him into stone. The instant I stepped over he moved impulsively forward…grasped [my hand] with a strength which made me wine” (Stoker22). This supernatural confrontation with Dracula dehumanizes him in a way that makes him more monstrous then human. Stokers emphasis on the phrase “'Enter freely and of your own will”’ holds a much deeper and frightening connotation behind it, causing the hairs of his readers to stand up in fear. Another time we see Dracula’s obscure energetic behavior, is when he begs Harker to teach him ‘fluent’ English: “I long to go through the crowded streets of London, to be in the midst of the whirl and rush of humanity, to share its life, its change, its death, and all that makes it what it is” (Stoker 27). Dracula’s use of terminology to describe a humane society are so horrifying that it barbarizes him into something much more dangerous than a monster. Stoker creates this perfect illusion that’s only evident to the eyes of the reader, and it shows how dangerous and monstrous Dracula truly is.

Bram Stoker does an exceptional job displaying the monstrous characteristics that lie behind Dracula’s human form, and continues this great array of detail by describing Dracula in his true form: a

vampire.
Numerous times throughout the novel, Dracula performs a variety of unforgivable acts that glorify him as a monster. After a few days of settling into Dracula’s home, Harker decides to shave, but realizes there’s no mirrors in the castle. Not to worry, he takes out his own little mirror from his travel kit and that’s when the most peculiar thing happened: “This time there could be no error, for the man was close to me, and I could see him over my shoulder. But there was no reflection of him in the mirror!” (Stoker 32). Although this might not be the most frightening scene in the novel, it highlights the fear of the unknowing, and isolates Dracula from norm. In other words, his power not to be seen in the mirror magnifies him as a monster. The moment that really solidifies Dracula as a monster is when Harker sees him leaving the castle to hunt: “But my very feelings changed to repulsion and terror when I saw the whole man slowly emerge from the window and begin to crawl down the castle wall…with his cloak spreading out around him like great wing…like a lizard” (Stoker 41). Stoker incorporates all the words and phrases that are used to describe an unimaginable creature into this scene. He creates the perfect parallel of a monster using Dracula and his powers. Lastly, the most gruesome and horrifying moment throughout the entire novel, is when Dracula returns from his feeding and finds Harker trapped by his three vampire daughters. They argue in great stress how much they wanted something to eat, and The Count threw a bag over to them. “If my ears did not deceive me there was a gasp and wail, as of a half-smothered child (stoker 47). Possibly, the most despicable and cruel act one can achieve is harming a poor innocent child, which Dracula did with ease. This appalling act exemplifies Dracula as a monster beyond any means.
Stoker successfully creates a monster that represents the definition perfectly, along with adding new ideas and terms. He opens his horror novel, by introducing his audience to a man of freakish looks accompanied by odd behavior. He goes into great detail, making it very obvious for his viewers and characters to realize that there’s something monstrous lying within this man. After making it quite noticeable, Stoker enlightens his audience with who or what Dracula truly is a vampire. Lastly, revealing The Count’s true intentions, which were blood, fear, chaos, and raise terror amongst the community.