Imagine the late 1800’s, walking alone on a dark and eerie street. Not a single human soul in sight. As you walk further and further into the unknown you gradually get a chill running, screaming down your spine. You know you shouldn’t be here or anywhere even remotely close to where you are right now. But the pure fear of what might come drives you onward further and further until you reach the large, stronghold like, gothic, Castle Dracula. However nowadays people visit the castle on a daily basis. For it’s a renowned landmark as it is the birth place of Bram Stokers’ monster, Count Dracula. This castle is the home to Count Dracula and is also one of the most important scenes in the whole novel (“Dracula” 26) The famous novel Dracula needed …show more content…
"When the Count saw my face, his eyes blazed with a sort of demoniac fury, and he suddenly made a grab at my throat” (Stoker 28). Also to help with the influence in the two, Stoker gave the name Dracula after the real Vlad the Impaler. “Vlad the Impaler was well known for the punishment that he adopted, the impalement, this is the reason why he was named Tepes, which means The Impaler.” (“Vlad”) However instead of being an infamous vampire, Vlad was known for his method of impaling criminals and enemies and raising them in the town for all to see. To add onto Vlads amazing personality and how he was as a person. He was also known for his various means of torture. He would “cut limbs off of people, blind them, strangle them, burn them, cut off their noses and ears, scalping, skinning, and he would even sometimes boil people alive” (“Vlad”). However Dracula wasn’t as vicious and as evil as Vlad was, he was still just as blood thirsty. "With his left hand he held both Mrs. Harker 's hands, keeping them away with her arms at full tension; his right hand gripped her by the back of the neck, forcing her face down” (Stoker 310-311). Vlad the Impaler, the basis of where the infamous Dracula was born, was a very vicious and blood thirsty …show more content…
Its a book that gives life to a whole genre of monsters and scary other worldly beings. Medicine has been improved greatly allowing life saving procedures to be allowed to be used again and can provide a way to save somebody 's life in ways that back in the 1800 's were not allowed. Dracula is used now a days as inspiration to create horror movies, stories, and myths. Also there are so many people who are influenced by people from the past, whether it be from the early 1400 's or from the late 1900 's. Dracula paved a pathway for authors and directors to come up with new and scarier monsters. Just the impact alone on Bram Stokers ' Dracula on today’s society is huge and not many people even know it. Movies such as Dracula 's Daughter, The Brides of Dracula, Zoltan Hound of Dracula, and a more modern version, Dracula Untold. During Bram Stokers life he was inspired by a wide variety of things that went on in the world. But there were some in particular that inspired Bram to create his master pieces, Dracula. These inspirations consisted of a well known man by the name of Vlad Tepes, a man well known for how brutal he was towards his enemies and criminals, a man who was thirsty for blood. The medicine of the era in which Bram lived, and lastly all the stories his mother told to him when he was a young child. Now again, rethink back in the 1800 's, walking down the street in an empty ghost town like place where
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.
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.
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.
In Bram Stoker's "Dracula", Dracula is portrayed as a monster made evident by his gruesome actions. An analysis of Dracula shows that: shows his evil nature in his planning, brutally killing Lucy Westrenstra causing a violent response from Dr. Seward and others, and how his evil ways lead to his downfall. To characterize Dracula in one way, he is a ruthless, cunning monster who uses tricks, torture, and wits to manipulate people to his will. However when he trifled with some courageous people, he had no knowledge that it would be his undoing.
While studying the diabolical figures in the devil, the idea of presenting Dracula came to mind. Dracula represents the devil in many similar ways. Dracula remains as a character in many diabolical movies and films. For instance, Van Helsing provides a good interpret of how Dracula remains noticed in the past and in present day. Although Dracula’s character obtains different views in every movie and film, he plays an important role in Stephen Sommers Van Helsing movie. In the movie, he acts as many different things. Demonstrating both the kind and evil inside, Dracula portrays his character as a mystery. Different views of Dracula throughout the movie include harsh, strong, powerful, evil, the devil, and unstoppable. The studies of Dracula
In Bram Stoker's Dracula, the most blatant and powerful symbol is blood. He takes the blood that means so much to the believers of this legend and has it represent more than even they could imagine. Blood is the main object associated with vampires and vampirism. From a mythical standpoint, it is the basis of life for the vampires as they feed off of the blood of young, vibrant souls. From a more scientific standpoint blood is what would drip out of the corpse's mouth when family members would dig up their dead kin to check for the dreaded disease. Stoker takes the significance of this symbol and puts his own unique twist to the meaning of blood. He combines the traditional folklore of vampirism and the immense sexual undertones of the Victorian era to create a simply horrific tale which completely confuses the emotions of his readers. Stoker knew bloods importance in vampire history and used the overwhelming symbolism to convey his own personal lust and sexual obsessions. The scenes where Lucy is receiving transfusions; first from Holmwood, then from Seward, and the unforgettable vampire baptism between Dracula and Mina all have these very erotic, sexual feelings associated with them. What makes these so powerful is the combination of violence and sex. As a reader, you know that what Dracula is doing are horrific and wrong, but because they are so sexually described and associated you think you should enjoy them, but you can't. This is the confusion which stoker implements into his readers minds, especially ones of the Victorian era. This is why stoker used blood as the most important symbol in the novel; to create an intense horror that was not just in the words of the book, but in the minds of the reader.
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)
If Dracula was ever to truly walk the earth as a creature of flesh and blood rather than a figure concocted in books and on the big screen than that person who deserve that terrible title would have to be Vlad Dracula, other wise known as Vlad the Impaler, or simply put, Dracula. Feared by thousands of people cause of his ways of cruel and unusual punishment and unquenchable thirst for blood, Vlad the Impaler ruled Walachia, now part of Romania, through the years of 1456 and 1476. But what exactly is it that separates him from other tyrants, killers, and rulers? The legend of Dracula actually isn't that far from the truth.
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; These factors include setting, actions of each vampire, the initial reactions to news of them, and how their presence affects the people who live within the region the vampires inhabit.
Since the 19th Century, Bram Stoker’s Dracula has entertained its readers taking them to heights of excitement in the climax
Dracula by Bram Stoker is an authentic Gothic novel that manages to hit on every Gothic literature aspect. Gothic literature is usually set in an isolated setting and has a dark, mysterious, and evil tone. In this type of literature, there are usually dark castles, palaces, presences of supernatural beings, and religion. The book Dracula is about a Count from Transylvania that goes to London in search of new victims and a group of Victorian citizens who end up defeating him and his evil ways. The use of setting and atmosphere in Dracula is filled with a world full of mystery and fear. Bram Stoker manages to capture the Gothic element with his use of castles, symbols, and isolated setting.
Therefore, the killing of a peasant’s wife not only relieves the kingdom of scum but also reinforces his superiority by controlling all aspects of his kingdom. This story also represents Dracula’s lack of empathy, as to the fact that he killed a man’s wife and gave him a new one without even a shed of remorse. There is a reason why he was known as the Impaler. In his short 6-year rule, Dracula killed between 40,000 and 100,000 people, killing more than both Ivan The Terrible and Robespierre combined, mostly through his sacred art of impalement (pg 76). He also used decapitation and the cutting off of limbs one by one until death, and he invented the cartooned action of dropping people from a trap door into a room full of spikes to be impaled (pg 76). Just through the sheer numbers of people he killed, it can clearly be seen that he lacked empathy because no normal person can commit so much death in such as short time without being stained mentally. In addition to these, Dracula also displayed a lack of concern for social consequences and
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.
‘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 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.