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Vampires in folklore vs in literature
Essays about past vs present vampires
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Vampires in today's society
How would a vampire be described in today’s society? The author Abraham “Bram” Stoker is the creator of the novel Dracula. Bram Stoker was born in Dublin 1847. Bram Stoker was born with an unknown Malady which caused him to not walk until the age of eight years old. The treatment Bram Stoker received from doctors were leeches. The leeches were supposed to cleanse his blood. Bram Stoker then received the “University Athlete” and earned a BA in mathematics. Bram Stoker was a very intelligent man as he took an interest with vampires. Bram Stoker took interest in vampires at a very young age. When Bram Stoker was a child, he took interest in vampires because of the treatment he received as an child. The leeches were
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First off, The description of Dracula's powers is described by Van Helsing telling the men what they are in for. “This vampire which is amongst us is of himself so strong...and come unknown” (Stoker 255). Bram Stoker's description of the powers vampires possess has changed. Vampires in today's society cannot morph into animals such as wolves bats and etc. Secondly, in the novel Twilight, Edward has some of the same powers as Dracula does and some edward does not have. In Twilight, Edward is not able to transform into animals and he cannot control the weather like Dracula, but Edward is able to read minds and has the strength of twenty men like Dracula. Dracula can turn into a werewolf, but the werewolves in Twilight enemies of the vampire and that is the big difference. [Jacob to Bella:] "You see, the cold ones are the natural enemies of the wolf– well, not the wolf, really, but the wolves that turn into men, like our ancestors. You would call them werewolves." (Meyer 113). Dracula and Twilight are about vampires, but the description of their supernatural powers are not the same. Dracula has changed in order to fit in with today's society. The Novel twilight is a perfect example of how vampires has …show more content…
First of all, in Dracula there many examples of Dracula sucking of blood to gain strength and to feast. Lucy was the meal, and Dracula was feasting on her.”There must be a transfusion of blood at once. Is it you or me? I am younger and stronger, Professor. It must be me” (130). The more blood transfusions they gave in order to save her only made Dracula only stronger. The blood transfusions in the novel were useless to Lucy as she passes away and becomes a vampire from the bite of dracula. In Twilight, the vampires seen in the novel do not feed on the humans. They try to be hidden from society by in a their own group, and sucking blood and being involved with others would provoke suspicious behaviors. It was there, sitting in the lunchroom, trying to make conversation with seven curious strangers, that I first saw them. “They were sitting in the corner of the cafeteria, as far away from where I sat as possible in the long room. There were five of them. They weren't talking, and they weren't eating, though they each had a tray of untouched food in front of them”(Meyer 108-109). They do not want any attention because it is very difficult to not feast on human blood for vampires. It is difficult because vampires use blood in order to get stronger and they do not want to hurt anyone so they decide not to feast on
J. Gordon Melton, in the excerpt “Sexuality and the Vampire” published in his The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead (1998), explains that vampires have a sexual appearance that started from their origin in Dracula. Melton supports his statement by analyzing the monsters' transition to sexual beings through the stories of Dracula’s desires, multiple countries’ erotic tales revolving around vampire-like beings, the manifestation of sensual themes in literary, stage, and screen works, and their current evolution of the once terrified immortals to loved heroes. The purpose of this essay was to outline the seductiveness of the written immortal creatures in order to explain the fanged-mammals’ appeal beyond their terrifying monster abilities.
In a world with ghosts, monsters, demons, and ghouls, there is one being that resonates in everyone’s mind. The idea of these creatures can be found in almost every culture on the planet in one form or another. They prey on the weak and they feast on the blood of their victims. They are compared to a fox for being quick and cunning, but also rather seductive in their nature. With their unholy existence one can only describe them as almost demonic. So what is this horrid creature? Well it is none other than the vampire, a creature as old as time itself. Throughout history there have been many different variations of the vampire, each with their own unique abilities. But one cannot help but mention
Carmilla is an example of a woman who loves her food far too much. Carmilla is consumed entirely by her food, even sleeping in a coffin of blood: “The limbs were perfectly flexible, the flesh elastic; and the leaden coffin floated with blood, in which to a depth of seven inches, the body lay immersed” (Le Fanu 102). There exists a unique relationship between the vampire and their victims. Food becomes defined in terms of victimhood, distinctly separated from humanity’s general consumption of meat. The need for human victims makes hunting synonymous with courtship, as intense emotional connections are established between the vampiress and her food. As seen in the intense relationship developed between Laura and Carmilla, the vampire is “prone to be fascinated with an engrossing vehemence, resembling the passion of love, by particular persons” (105). For Carmilla, cruelty and love are inseparable (33). The taking of the victims’ blood for sustenance is a highly sexualized exchange of fluids from one body to another. The act of consumption is transformed into an illicit carnal exchange between the hunter and the hunted.
Vampires have been viewed with fear and fascination for centuries. Of all the vampires in literature, Bram Stoker’s Count Dracula is probably the most prominent vampire. Recently, there has been an upsurge of public interest in socially acceptable vampires, like the Cullens in the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. This essay will contrast Stoker’s Dracula with Carlisle Cullen, one of the newer vampires from the Twilight series. They will be examined in terms of their origins and how they dealt with immortality.
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.
Bram Stoker took the legend of Vlad Tepes and used it as an idea for Dracula. He was the ruler of an old country called Wallachia. He is most famous for impaling his enemies on sticks around his castle. He taught himself how to miss vital organs in the body, causing the victim to die a slow painful death. This is why people consider him an ancient vampire. What people don’t know about him is that the rich loved him, but the poor hated him. To anyone that didn’t have to seal to make it by he was great. But to the poor people who couldn’t buy food, they were always in fear of him. He was abused as a child, and this is what is thought to have caused his behavior. (Melton 1053)
Count Dracula has been the frontrunner for the modern day vampire lore and legends since being printed back in 1897, pop culture took the vampire traits from Bram Stoker’s Dracula and twisted them. In modern portrayals of vampire lore, each author chooses an original aspect from Stoker but then creates a little bit of their own lore in the process. Count Dracula appears to be a walking corpse from the pale and gaunt visual aesthetics to the coolness of his undead skin (Stoker). In some cultures, the vampire is able to transform from the body of a human being to that of a fellow creature of the night, a bat. In the novel Dracula more than one town was easily visualized through the detailed descriptions throughout the novel, thus
Critic Stephanie Demetrakopoulos argued that ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula embodies a collective dream reflecting Victorian sex roles and repression’. (Stephanie Demetrakopoulos 1977) Victorian society was a period where sexuality and sexual fantasy were taboo subjects and prostitution was rife. Stoker primarily focuses on classic gothic motifs such as Vampirism, The Abject to present and demonstrate the several types of hidden sexuality’s that are repressed in Dracula. The controversies, rejections and invectives surrounding Stoker’s novel arose because of the silence and refusal to discuss sexuality in Victorian England. Dracula in Victorian culture, was scandalous and many members of Victorian society refused to read the novel, supressing their interest and curiosity in correspondence to the principles and social expectations of what was acceptable. The vast range of sexualities repressed in Dracula include bisexuality, heterosexuality and homosexuality. It has debated that the male characters ‘white fangs’, (Stoker) are phallic representations as they graphically penetrate the skin. This is supported with the vampires physically biting another whilst drinking their blood, this is symbolic for the act of sexual intercourse as it brings them life and they exchange bodily fluids. This also can
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.
it horrifies us and reinforces our sense of boundaries and normalcy” (Halberstam 13). Assuming that Bram Stoker’s Dracula sets the archetype of the vampire, it is clear that modern vampires have demonstrated a decrease in the Gothic horror despite similarities in the Gothic imagery and themes, and such a shift is attributed to a changing value of the limit within society and postmodernism. The Count is the benchmark of the vampire archetype as the monstrous Other that “announces itself as the place of corruption” (Anolik and Howard 1). Dracula is associated with disruption and transgression of accepted limits—a monstrosity of great evil that serves to guarantee the existence of good (Punter and Byron 231).
First a major difference is sunlight does not affect the vampires in Twilight. The only thing the sun does to them is making them glow like glitter is on them. In Dracula the vampires are very weak when they get into the sun. Next big difference that you usually do not see in vampires is in Twilight they show up in pictures and mirrors. In Dracula it is shown when Jonathan was shaving that Dracula could not be seen in the mirror (29-30). The final difference between Dracula and Twilight is Holy items do not harm the vampires in Twilight. In Dracula however the items either burn the vampires, they just do not go near them. They usually just try to find an alternate solution around the object. This is shown when Draula used the wolf from the zoo to break the window open to get inside to suck on Lucy’s blood
Bram Stoker captures the essence of Victorian England through his portrayal of every main character. Each reflects a value of the time thus, allowing for readers of all ages to engage with this timeless literary piece. Stoker cleverly and effectively provides insight into the context, to appeal to the pathological, ethical and logical senses of the reader. He inadvertently cemented the concept of the vampire into popular culture and set precedent for multiple vampiric tales to come.
Humanity has always been fascinated with the allure of immortality and although in the beginning vampires were not a symbol of this, as time passed and society changed so did the ideas and perceptions surrounding them. The most important thing to ask yourself at this point is 'What is immortality?' Unfortunately this isn't as easily answered as asked. The Merriam Webster Dictionary says immortality is 'the quality or state of being immortal; esp : unending existence' while The World Book Encyclopedia states it as 'the continued and eternal life of a human being after the death of the body.' A more humorous definition can be found in The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce:
In the beginning of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Count Dracula buys properties in London, England to seduce Mina and impose mayhem in the exterior land. On the other hand, in Dark Shadows, Barnabas Collins is set free and returns to Collinwood, where his family are in of his protection. Therefore, to determine who the superior vampire is, one must make a comparison of Barnabas Collins and Count Dracula, and base it on their abilities, history, and motives.
The author’s op-ed piece was published in 2009, the very peak of the vampire contagion, where one could find these creatures wherever they looked. This pandemonium that arose from vampires is what drove del Toro and Hogan to pen “Why Vampires Never Die.” Furthermore, the purpose behind this essay is to give an abridged description of the past of vampires for the people who had become fanatics of the creatures. Also, this essay showed how vampires have persisted in pop culture. They suggest that vampires have been remade by diverse cultures at different times, and this change echoes that society's angst and concerns. The novelist’s imply that Stroker’s Dracula may mirror an exaggerated human on a prim...