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Examples of monsters in literature
Bram Stoker's Dracula Dracula — The Beginning
Bram Stoker's Dracula Dracula — The Beginning
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We represent evil as an entity, or 'individual' with insensitive abilities and sinister intention. This is what we refer to as a monster. They often give a story a central conflict, something to overcome. A more than fitting case of a fictional story that accurately embodies a monster is Bram Stoker's suspenseful and unpredictable gothic novel, Dracula. The antagonist in this story, Count Dracula, is a vampire who resides in a Transylvanian fortress
Dracula,you are truly evil vampire, who prey on the blood of the weak. Your ways cause countless of harm in the lives of others. There could been more peaceful but no you chosen the ways you did, prey on weak and innocent girls and destroying their life, their future and their dreams. You repeat
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.
For ages, we have wondered what is the difference between monsters and men that make them who they are. What are the characteristics that define a monster? Typically it’s the bad guy, the person or thing that comes into the story just to cause massacre or stand in the protagonist’s way. On the other Men are just defined as people who are the opposite of evil. There can be multiple people in a story who can be characterized as men. They don’t all necessarily have to be heroic to be considered as men. In the literature pieces of Macbeth, Beowulf and Frankenstein; there are countless instances where one might be able to distinguish between Monsters and Men. But they all fall in different genres. Macbeth is a story about a tragic hero; the fallen one or the man who brought misery upon himself. The monster can be identified as guilt. This guilt built stronger and stronger and led him to be his worst enemy. Beowulf is an epic about a hero (men) who takes on great challenges and adventures. His worst enemies are all the monsters that took place over the course of the story. Like: Grendel and his mother. This epic poem was made around the Anglo Saxon period. And lastly, Frankenstein is about a crazy doctor who created a monster. The monster name wasn’t Frankenstein, the doctor’s name was. That’s why the story is called “Frankenstein’s monster.” All these literary pieces are plotted so intelligently that it takes a moment before one can distinguish the monsters and the men.
Through characters such as the monster and William Frankenstein, the motif of light and darkness helps to set the mood of the story. Light is always portrayed as good while darkness is always shown as evil. There is a direct contrast between these two characters. The monster is viewed by everyone, even himself, as dark and repulsive. While William is viewed as a shining light simply because he is human.
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.
Dracula is a mythical creature designed to wreak havoc on the lives of mortals through the terror and intimidation of death by bite. Vampires are undead beings that kill humans for their blood to survive. Human blood is the vampire’s sustenance, and only way of staying alive. Throughout time, humans have come up with ways to repel vampires, such as lighting jack-o-lanterns on All Hallows Eve, placing garlic around the neck, a stake through the heart, sunlight, etc. Both beings have a survival instinct, whether it be hunger or safety, both are strong emotions. In the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, the characters Lucy, John, and Van Helsing strive for survival, therefore killing Dracula.
While studying the diabolical figures in the devil, the idea of presenting Dracula came to mind. Dracula represents the devil in many similar ways. Dracula remains as a character in many diabolical movies and films. For instance, Van Helsing provides a good interpret of how Dracula remains noticed in the past and in present day. Although Dracula’s character obtains different views in every movie and film, he plays an important role in Stephen Sommers Van Helsing movie. In the movie, he acts as many different things. Demonstrating both the kind and evil inside, Dracula portrays his character as a mystery. Different views of Dracula throughout the movie include harsh, strong, powerful, evil, the devil, and unstoppable. The studies of Dracula
What is a monster, really? Is it really a Creature that has three eyes instead of two, with pus seeping out of every crevice in his face and an abnormally large form? Or is it someone with a mind so corrupt it rivals that of Satan? Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a story within a story that centers on the tale of a man with an immense thirst of knowledge and a fetish to imitate the Creator. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a lot like the Greek mythological tale of the Greek God, Prometheus, and his brother, Epimetheus, who were assigned the task of creating man. The story captivates the theme of monstrosity. Mary Shelley wrote the novel in a form so the reader’s opinions never stray far from sympathy for the monster and apathy for Victor Frankenstein. The novel looks at “Monstrosity” and “Humanity” in a deeply analytical way.
In Twilight, Edward Cullen presents the question; “ But what if I’m not the hero? What if I’m the bad guy?” The role of vampires is very controversial. Back in the day they were evil, soulless monsters and people genuinely feared them. However, in the present day it seems that we have grown to love them and even hope to one day be them. There are a plethora of vampire stories and many of them have become immense hits. With so many vampire stories, it is not uncommon that readers are able to identify a vast amount of similarities. Although similar in aspects, there are still many differences between the classic and modern day vampires. Two highly popular stories, in which we can easily identify similarities and differences, are Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight.
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.
Dracula kills Lucy who is a sweet, victorian woman that did not deserve to be bit by Dracula. Killing people, to most people, would be an action only a purely evil person would do “Lucy’s eyes in form and colour; but Lucy’s eyes unclean and full of hell-fire, instead of the pure, gentle ors we knew” (226). Lucy getting bit not only hurt Lucy, but it caused all the people near and dear to her hurt also. Vampire-Lucy still looks pure and sweet which is even harder on the people she loves because they see that she looks beautiful and like herself but she is not herself. When something evil is being hidden as something good it is extremely evil and hurts the people that love and care for her. He does not act how a civilized and well manored man should act. He hurts other people to benefit himself. Clearly such actions are incredibly evil and no sane person would think to do such a
A monster is not a monster unless he intentionally wants to hurt many and his plans are to hurt many. In Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, the monster is portrayed as an evil, hideous creature through everyone’s eyes. Victor Frankenstein creates a monster and once he brings him to life he abandoned him, leaving him to learn and discover the world by himself. The monster has to learn his way around society while being rejected by society because of this looks. Frankenstein’s monster is seen as evil because the way people treated him caused him to act out. The monster is not inherently evil because he helps others, has emotions, and does not fight back when he is attacked.
As the saying goes, “Women can do everything Men can do.” In the Gothic Novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, there is a constant theme of sexuality, from both male and females in society. In the Victorian era, the roles of male and females have caused a lot of tension. After reading Dracula, some would argue the roles men and women hold in society. As mentioned in Dr. Seward’s Dairy from Val Halsing., “Ah, that wonderful Madam Mina! She has man’s brain—a brain that a man should have were he much gifted—and a woman’s heart. The good God fashioned her for a purpose, believe me, when He made that so good combination” (Stoker and Hindle, 2003 250). A women’s mind is not the always the first thing on a males mind. Some would overlook what a woman really has to offer.
What if in between good and evil did not exist? Where would you stand? Today, it is believed that everyone was born with the slightest bit of evil in them. In the Victorian Era, this theory would be considered very wrong, because one would either be all good, or all evil. In Dracula, by Bram Stoker, good versus evil was symbolised throughout the book as two antithetical forces without an in between. By clearly demonstrating the relationship between the dualistic ideas of intuition versus logic, good characters facing figures comparable to the devil, and symbolism within the natural world, Bram Stoker effectively recounts a “holy war” between the antagonistic forces of good and evil.
‘Dracula’ is a novel that probes deeply into people’s superstitions, fears and beliefs of the supernatural. The creature Dracula is an evil being with no concern for others, he kills for his own ends and cannot be stopped, and this is what makes ‘Dracula’ truly frightening.
In act 2 scene 6 and act 3 scene 6 of the play ‘Dracula’, the