Comparative Literature: The comparison between the book Dracula to the movie is that in the movie starts with legend of Vlad the impaler which is not in the book. In the movie Dracula has a shadow that operates separately from his body movements. Character of Dracula is less threatening initially in the book than in the movie. In the movie, Dracula appears as a wolf rather than the wolf escaping from the zoo being controlled by him which is not in the book. Lucy does not seem very ill compared to the description in the book. Dracula only appears as a bat briefly at the end of the movie in the abbey scene, not at the windows of the house.…
Stoker’s Dracula, by contrast, is refined and enthralling. He has transmutated from a monster of sorts to a mysterious seducer, from a coldhearted “beast” of incontestable evil to a complex human arousing a strange sympathy and blurring the lines between good and evil. Count Dracula is now an attractive, sophisticated aristocrat who moves about easily in polite society. Dracula’s motivation throughout the film is the pursuit of his lost love, reincarnated in Mina Harker.…
In an analysis of Bram Stoker’s Dracula and one of many film adaptions, Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula, it is very evident that the female characters within the movie and the book are remarkably different. Not only is the love interest between Mina (Ryder) Harker and Dracula (Oldman) an addition to the movie, but the extreme sexualization of all the female characters within the film adaption portray the women in a new light. Through the distinction in character portrayal between the movie and the book, the underlying contrast between the “New Woman” and the Victorian Woman become very identifiable.…
“The monster is not outside but within…,” said John Paul Riquelme. Riquelme’s quote gives the impression that there are always two sides to every coin. Each individual is more than their outer appearance. Humans are an imperfect mixture of both good and bad. According to Jean Baudrillard, simulacrum or simulacra is essentially the representation of something or even a certain person. In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Dracula himself can be seen as a simulacra for humanity because he represents the bad side of humanity while the human’s simulacra is a representation of both good and evil. This idea of what good and evil exactly…
Vampire stories have been popular for years. One such vampire is Dracula of Bram Stoker’s novel. Dracula drives the plot in many ways, but he is not always the nice guy. Not everyone like him; in fact most are scared of him. Dracula is dynamic, but the antagonist for several reasons. Dracula is evil, scares everyone, and he kills a lot of people.…
The frequently used concepts in Dracula to objectify women as sexual objects, gives the reader an insight into Stoker’s ways on implementing the Victorian male imagination and society’s extremely rigid expectations for a female. In the Victorian era, the women had only two scarce choices to choose from, either be a virgin – which basically consisted of being a role model of purity and innocence – or a respected wife and mother. If women did not met these socially acceptable standards they were either seen as a harlot who had no self-respect or did not deserved any respect whatsoever. Men commonly in the Victorian era, as Bram Stoker regularly refers to, strongly believed to have a higher stand that any other women, Limiting women was very common…
In passage #1 of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, Stoker describes an event in which Dr. Seward, Quincey Morris, Lord Godalming, and Van Helsing decapitate Lucy in her vampiress state in order to truly kill her. Through Dr. Seward’s description of actions done by the men in order to kill Lucy, and the pathetic fallacy described after their task was complete, Stoker conveys a tone of relief in the passage. The men needed to decapitate Lucy and fill her mouth with garlic in order to truly end her life and ensure not only their own safety, but the safety of innocent people in London. As the men are preparing to kill Lucy, Dr. Seward describes their actions very bluntly and short, with no detail, showing that they were done with determination and…
In Bram Stoker's novel, Dracula is depicted as the definition of evil. Throughout the novel, there is no doubt about his nefarious intentions and murderous pastimes as he proclaims, “My revenge has just begun! I spread it over centuries and time is on my side “ (Brams 339, ch 22). Thus it is apparent in the novel that Dracula is evil. Brams made his definition of evil quite clear through Dracula’s sexualized, violent, and sacrilegious actions. Evil was elucidated as an overtly sexually driven being, who is fueled by violence, and does not follow God. To Stoker, this was a definite ideal of evil befitting of his time, so then, why are will still obsessed with Dracula today, why has this tale in particular persevered? Again, the clear declaration of Dracula as an antagonistic murderer still fulfills humanity's desire for a definitive ideal of good and evil, over time that ideal has not faded into the background. We as human beings have gravitated towards such a clear-cut definition of evil, and rarely have we come across one so obvious as Dracula’s tale. We yearn for a separate ideal of good like that of Jonathan Harker to defeat the looming threat of evil of Dracula. Thus, we are drawn to Dracula because of how clear-cut the lines between good and evil are in the novel and how we yearn for our reality to parallel this black and white…
Since the eighteen century, vampire stories have played a strong role of popularity in literature and cinematic environments. The continuous changes of vampires have taken the vampire legend from something feared to something desired. Between Dracula and Twilight it has been over a hundred years. These two novels are a great example of vampire’s evolution. However, both novels have elements of narrative device, they are both written from multiple perspectives, and both were turned into a film. Although Twilight and Dracula are pieces of literature that share a vampire story, there are three important differences that characterize each one.…
“There is reason that all things are as they are...” (Stoker 17). Outlasting countless other tales of its time, Bram Stoker’s lore of “Dracula” began as and still continues to be a classic, frightening novel and despite how some would classify it on only a single one end of the spectrum, it holds true elements of both literary and commercial fiction. He uses various techniques of writing, such as the epistolary plot structure and dramatic irony, and elements, including suspense, to present an unexpected, fear-inducing concept based on the xenophobic idea of the Victorian era.…
In Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula, Stoker portrays many different aspects of women’s roles in the nineteenth century. Women had a strictly defined role within the era; there was no thought of equality, no thought that women could liberate themselves sexually. Stoker uses women in this novel to critique against women’s liberation. Stoker’s portrayal of women makes the novel seem like a fantasy. Women are primarily objects of delicate beauty who occasionally need to be rescued from danger. In the novel Mina Murray is the embodiment of Victorian virtue in which she is loyal, earnest, innocent, and dependent of her husband. Stoker creates another character, Lucy Westenra who is completely opposite of Mina. Lucy is embodies the desire of women who want to liberate themselves. Only Mina shows any considerable strength or resourcefulness. Lucy is primarily two-dimensional victim, picture of perfection who is easy for Dracula to prey upon.…
The story starts off with a young Englishman named Jonathan Harker. He travels to Eastern Europe in order to sell some property to Count Dracula. The antagonist is a reclusive but seemingly normal “man” from Transylvania. This section of the story takes place from the view of Harker, who decided to chronicle his adventures abroad for his fiancée, Mina Murray.…
1. Describe the appearances Dracula makes throughout the novel. What does Stoker achieve by keeping his title character in the shadows for so much of the novel?…
Dracula by Bram Stoker is a story about a vampire, Count Dracula, that holds Johnathan Harker captive in his castle and he eventually escapes after he has witnessed events that change him forever. Also in this story, Count Dracula bites two ladies Lucy and Mina. Lucy turns into a vampire after multiple encounters with Dracula and Dr. Steward, Dr. Van Helsing, Lord Godalming, and Quincy Morris free her from her vampire state. Then, Dracula forces Mina, who is happens to be Johnathan Harker’s wife, to drink his blood to become his slave. Dracula flees from the men after they decide to hunt and kill him. The men follow him back to his castle and catch him along the way killing him by cutting off his head and freeing Mina from her captivity to Dracula. Throughout this story, Stoker uses several elements…
Stoker’s ability to illustrate the unfamiliar roles in which many in this novel take on proves to be helpful in understanding the relations between all the characters in the novel. In this essay I would like to argue that throughout Stoker’s novel there is a constant competition between good and evil. I believe Stoker set up Dracula like a competition between the band of men and Dracula. Who wins?…