Dracula Versus Frankenstein- Which Story is More Terrifying?

The two Gothic novels, Dracula and Frankenstein, introduced two of the most terrifying characters throughout all of literature. Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula, and Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, both present elements of terror and create a tense mood and a frightening picture. In both of these novels the other characters are not able to see these evil creatures actions. Although both of these novels depict truly evil minds, Dracula is far more terrifying than Frankenstein due in part to its bloodthirsty vampires, mysterious deaths, and dark gothic tone. Dracula is indeed the more bone-chilling story of the two.

Although Frankenstein is a rather a frightening adventure, the monster doesn’t create a scene to a certain extent like Count Dracula does. Victor Frankenstein, the monster’s creator, uses his vast knowledge of science, more specifically chemistry, to create him. As opposed to Dracula, the characters that the monster kills die. Count Dracula’s victims are undead and roam the earth creating other monsters. With Dracula, the reader gets a sense that they might be the next victim. In Burt’s references, Senf’s opinion “ No other single piece of work, with the exception of the bible, has so influenced Anglo- American culture (Burt ¶ 1).” According to Gale Literature Resource Center, “Frankenstein was first published in 1818. It was the first novel to ever be written with such disturbing details. Even though Dracula was published many years late , it brought a whole other type of literature to the board. In this century there was a fascination with Gothic horror and these two novels fit in perfectly.

All throughout the Dracula, a feeling of failure and doom prevails because of his supernatural powers. Dracula ...

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As you can see, the evil features are in both Dracula and Frankenstein, but the presentation of this evil is different in both novels. Rarely has another novel been able to come close to the dismay that the witness experiences in Dracula. Bram Stoker wrote a true piece work of art that will never be able to be topped. With willing suspension of disbelief, Stoker makes she accounts of terror in Dracula seem as if they could actually happen. The image the author creates is horrendous and he his tone brings about the most dreadful of adventures.

Works Cited

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Penguin Classics, 2006. Print.

Stoker, Bram. Dracula. New York: Bantam Classics, 2005. Print.

"Frankenstein." Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Jessica Bomarito and Russel Whitaker. Vol. 170. Detroit: Gale, 2006. Literature Resource Center. Web. 23 Feb. 2010.