Goodness is self-righteous: evil is purposeful. Seems rather counterintuitive doesn’t it? But what truly is good and what truly is evil, or are the two even separate entities to begin with? After all, good and evil is all hinged upon perspective, viewpoint is the key. Can something so obscured by opinions really be quantified? So where do monsters fall then? Who are the monsters? Why is our society obsessed with such monsters both in reality and fiction tales? The answer is rather simple: since we cannot define what good and evil is and we presume monsters fall into the spectrum of evil, we write about them, mold them into what we believe they should be to fulfill our desire for a definitive ideal of good and …show more content…
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