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

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