In Dracula by Briam Stoker, Dracula himself challenges the idea on sanity and insanity throughout the book. The use of hypnosis and sleep deprivation can be the cause of many incidents that occur during the story. Dracula is one of the most inhumane characters in throughout the book but cause the human characters to experience a loss of sanity. “God preserve my sanity, for to this I am reduced.’(Stoker, 60) this quote was said by Jonathan Harker towards the beginning of the book. Harker has already come in contact with Dracula and is observing the different character traits that the townspeople pointed out to him before his arrival. I think that this quote could set the tone for the rest of the story. Hacker is praying to God for his sanity, because without it the balance between what can be considered good and evil becomes blurred.
Hypnosis is one element that challenges this idea.
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Throughout the book he tends to keep a calm demeanor until something does not go his way. “As I opened my eyes involuntarily I saw his strong hand grasp the slender neck of the fair woman of the fair woman and with giant’s power draw it back, the blue eyes transformed with fury, the white teeth champing with rage, and the fair cheeks blazing red with passion.” This was said by Harker. As I observed in the book Dracula has his way of weaning his way in and out. He does one act, and then leaves as it falls into play. Lucy is an example of Dracula’s plan falling in place. He bites her, and then she becomes and over sexualized vampire, all to the benefit of Dracula. But just like the other character in the book, when something does not go his way he can be just as insane as the other characters. He did not plan on Harker escaping his castle.to Dracula; the goals he has set in place for himself will be accomplished no matter what feelings get in the way of his
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.
There is a classic "good versus evil" plot to this novel. The evil of course being Count Dracula and the Good being represented by the Harkers, Dr. Seward and Lucy, Arthur, Quincy and the Professor. It is the continuing battle between Dracula and the forces of good. Good in this case is the Christian God. The battle is foretold by the landlady where she says, "It is the eve of St Georges Day. Do you no know that tonight, when the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things in the world will have full sway?" and she hands Harker a crucifix (p 12).
evil, where a young woman loses her youth when she encounters the wicked Dracula. The vampire story essentials always include a victim of Dracula, that is a young women. In this novel there are two women that are victims of Dracula’s actions. The first lady is Lucy who is not very innocent as she is secretly married to three men, but chooses one, Arthur Holmwood to live with forever. Lucy starts sleepwalking and is caught by Dracula in the night. The other victim Mina, sees Lucy in the dark and says “There was undoubtedly something, long and black, bending over the white figure…I could see a white face and red, gleaming eyes” (Stoker 98). Mina sees Dracula bending over Lucy and that’s when he bites her. Lucy now becomes a victim of Dracula and turns into a vampire. The other victim stated before is Mina, who is innocent and married to Jonathan Harker. Dracula goes to hunt her and Jonathan, and when he sees them he makes Mina drink blood from his chest and makes her a victim. Mina is the real victim in this novel because of her past by displaying the values of a Victorian woman more than Lucy. The theme of good versus evil is apparent throughout the whole novel and is the main theme of the book. Dracula represents all evil in the novel and has become a main villain in many other novels and movies. The other characters in the novel represent the good. Jonathan is the first to encounter Dracula and brings Mina and
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.
Through the gothic writing of Stoker, there was a huge intimidation of Dracula coming forth from it. “Stoker spared no effort to present his demonic vampire as dramatically as possible” (Leatherdale 105-17). With this sinister presence of death, people start to panic. As a vampire hunter, it was Helsing’s job to help notify people on how to rid themselves of this demon. Stoker portrays survival in the form of teamwork between the men and women of the novel. These characters soon take survival into their own hands. “‘We must trace each of those boxes; and when we are ready, we must either capture or kill this monster in his lair; or we must, so to speak, sterilize the earth, so that no more he can seek safety in it’” (Stoker 373). At this point in the novel, the characters know about the existence of vampires. The consequences are also put on top priority. The men know of the consequences, yet still want to go after this demon. “By chasing Dracula, the men risk being sentenced to an immortal life as a vampire. This immortality is endless time lived in physical form” (Poquette 35). Knowing the risks of hunting a vampire, the characters ignore them to protect their loved ones. A vampire hunter is an important factor in the novel because without one, the other characters wouldn’t know what to do. Stoker chose right in including
Stoker chooses to lay some clues out for the readers in order to help them interpret Dracula. The distinct warning presented on the page before the introduction saying the narrators wrote to the best of their knowledge the facts that they witnessed. Next is the chapter where Jonathan Harker openly questions the group’s interpretations of the unsettling events that occur from meeting Dracula, and the sanity of the whole. Several characters could be considered emotionally unstable. Senf suggests that Stoker made the central normal characters hunting Dracula ill-equipped to judge the extraordinary events with which they were faced. The central characters were made two dimensional and had no distinguishing characteristics other then the...
Although Harker was the protagonist, I didn’t consider him a hero. He didn't actively seek out anything heroic, he just goes with the flow. I was looking at Dracula as an anti-hero in this story. Even though he was technically the villain, I challenged myself to analyze Dracula as the hero in the story. If it weren't for Dracula, vampires wouldn't be so popular in pop culture today. There are a lot of vampire characters that speak on how much of an impact Dracula had on culture (Melton 303).
...gue of Vampirism. Stoker plays upon the irony of England, at this time one of, if not the largest, colonizing countries, being colonized, not by another country but by an intangible immigrant. Dracula’s intent is not of material wealth or power, but of controlling the people and using them as livestock. We can see this when Dracula tells Jonathan Harker that he “[has] come to know your great England, and to know her is to love her. I long to go through the crowded streets of your mighty 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 19). Kane reaffirms this by contending that Dracula is an example of “invasion literature” acting upon the readers on England by playing with “a considerable variety of fears regarding the state of England and the English themselves” (9).
Dracula's foreign nature and supernatural presence proceeds his perception as other, being a vampire from Transylvania seeking to invade England.In conversation with Jonathan Harker, Dracula emphasizes his abnormal ways professing his foreign identity. “‘Our ways are not your ways, and there shall be to you many strange things. Nay, from what you have told me of your experiences already, you know something of what strange things there may be.’”(Stoker 42) Dracula not only confesses to his strange nature he owns it while confirming with Harker from his early experience traveling to the castle. This statement by Dracula indicates his foreign nature
In the novel, Dracula, Bram Stoker puts together a variety of characters with several characteristics that are unique and somewhat alike in many ways. One way that some of the characters are similar is that they show signs of being a degenerate. A degenerate is a person who has sunk below a former or normal condition and lost normal or higher qualities. These people most likely have mentally and sometimes physically become deteriorated to the point where they no longer can think and function as a normal person would. Two characters in the novel that stand out as degenerates are Dracula and Renfield. Both are degenerates in their own ways and also have characteristics that are in some ways the same. They follow most of the traits that degenerates contain and portray it throughout the novel.
Anytime a conversation of good versus evil presents itself, it is almost impossible to not think of Christianity and the eternal war between God and Satan over the fate of mankind. The same ideology reins true in Dracula, as goodly characters such as Johnathan Harker, Mina Murray, Lucy Westernra and her suitors, all tend to hone a sort of symbolization of what it
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.
In the novel Dracula, Bram Stoker shows that society alienates people that are different. The character Count Dracula reveals society assumptions by representing the idea of alienation and considered as an outsider when society won’t accept him because of his behavior.
In the Bible, John 3:20-21, it says “For everyone that does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.” The reason Dracula does not come out in the light is because God is the light, and Dracula is the opposite of God, he follows devil and thrives on evil thoughts and actions. While humans are in their weakest state, the Count masquerades in anguish deeds in murky, unnerving environments. Harker finds Count Dracula to be a pale, gaunt, thin man, rather strange, and Harker is mortified when, after accidentally cutting himself shaving, the Count lunges at Harker's throat in "demoniac fury Harker is shaving, his host's voice startles him, and he cuts himself. Then two unexplainable, horrible things occur. Harker realizes that, first, there is no reflection of Count Dracula in the shaving mirror; and second, when the Count sees Harker's fresh blood trickling from his chin, his eyes blaze up "with a sudden demoniac fury," and he lunges for Harker's throat. Renfield fell victim to Dracula as he fed on him multiple times and turned him into a slave for himself. Then, amidst the howling wolves in the distance, Jonathan Harker was swept up onto a horse drawn carriage by a mysterious driver with a unforgettable, heart-gripping handshake, that thrusted Jonathan into spin-chilling ride. Without adjournment, the driver flies off the