Dracula Strengths

What does the notorious blood sucking Dracula have in common with the attractive vampires that are shown in the movie Twilight? A lot actually, not only do they share the same name of “Vampire” or “Undead”, they also share the same powers and needs. The vampire genre has gone a long way, specifically with books like Bram Stoker’s Dracula. It first started out as folklore and then it turned into a popular topic of writing in early European culture. Bram Stoker then combined what he could into one classic vampire that is widely known today. Even in today’s modern generation, Bram Stoker’s widely known character Dracula continues to be used as the classic vampire that is an example of a basis for the “undead”. In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the author
Bram Stoker creates this stereotype that the vampire has strength that far surpasses the average human. This becomes a constant theme in the genre that can also be shown in Twilight where the vampires use their strength and inhuman agility to their advantage. Pramod Nayar in his article says “However, the hegemonic masculinity of Meyer’s text also constructs the male body as a superb specimen of strength and fitness” (Nayar). This gives the undead a theory where they are the perfect human even after death that persist throughout the times. Weather they are using their strengths in helpful ways, such as seen in the movie, or in an evil way, such as in Dracula, their strengths are certainly a force to be reckoned with. Nayar then continues to say “Excess strength, heightened senses and rare speed mark out Edward. Edward represents a condition that I term supernatural masculinity in drag. His superior speed, strength and senses, all attributes of being a vampire, enable him to perform the 'traditional' functions of the human male” (Nayar). This shows that Edward’s super undead powers are along the same line as Dracula. Dracula uses his super strength to fight off his hunters, overcoming them with his strength and agility so that they are no match. Vampire are what seems to be the greatest predator of humans, using their powers as an
These powers help the vampire keep track of their prey. For Dracula, he can also see where his victim is and control them, that is how he is able to get Lucy and Mina to do whatever he wanted without them resisting. Mina experiences this to a lesser extent, to the point where she can see and sense what Dracula is feeling while the hunters are chasing after him, this is how in the end they eventually find where he is and finish him off once and for all. This can be shown through Mina looking into Dracula’s vision and hearing that he is on a ship so that they can figure out where he is hiding, “At sunset time he hypnotised me, and he says that I answered as usual ‘darkness, lapping water and creaking wood’” (Stoker 393). This shows that Mina, though now yet a vampire has an extent of the same powers as Dracula because of her being bitten, ultimately helping them defeat their foe. In Rebecca Cords essay about Twilight she states, “They exemplify what Margaret Carter calls “rationalized supernaturalism,” for although they retain some special qualities like their un-dead status, their immortality, their mind-reading ability, their defiance of gravity, and their preternatural strength, there are few traditional supernatural stigmata they share” (Cord). She says this when talking about the comparison of Dracula and other more modern vampire stories, showing that there is a connection to the mind