Renfield. The ‘strange and sudden change’ (Stoker, 86), that has happened in Renfield evokes the reader to contemplate the Count’s influence over people. Dr Steward suggests it is as though a ‘religious mania has seized’ Renfield (Stoker, 87), and is controlling him. The reader is aware that Renfield can feel the Counts presence and that there is a connection between them. This eventually leads Van Helsing to recognize the bond between Mina Harker and the Count, which helps them to find Dracula and finally kill him.
People hide these fears behind artificial masks, and feel they are powerful over one another. The problem is, when one’s outer mask starts to crumble, his/her true colors shine brightly through the cracks of the outer mask. The novel tackles the vampire’s strengths and weaknesses, and some of these reflect the dark side to the age of moralistic views and actions. Bram Stoker brings light upon the humanity’s dark and cloudy weaknesses and limitations of their everyday living. Dracula is the Satan to this story, for he is fake, cruel, humiliating, and outright evil.
Dracula contains a lot Gothic conventions which incite the reader. A convention is the main point of a specific type of writing, for example in Dracula there is the use of journeys/quests, diaries, letters, journals, weird places and strange creatures. These conventions are essential in the story of Dracula and it is important to understand them. Dracula, just like any other gothic piece of writing has a villain/vampire-Dracula, a hero-Jonathan Harker and a victim-Mina. Van Helsing also plays a main role as the slayer of Dracula.
These two characters of Dracula and Renfield both have a lot of these traits that degenerates consist of. Dracula most definitely contains degenerate characteristics throughout the novel. He has a lack of compassion for people’s well being, and has signs of selfishness. Vampires fit under the degenerate theme very well. How he became a vampire we are not sure, although Van Helsing calls him King-Vampire, because of his consistency and power driven obsessions towards his cravings.
Dracula paved a pathway for authors and directors to come up with new and scarier monsters. Just the impact alone on Bram Stokers ' Dracula on today’s society is huge and not many people even know it. Movies such as Dracula 's Daughter, The Brides of Dracula, Zoltan Hound of Dracula, and a more modern version, Dracula Untold. During Bram Stokers life he was inspired by a wide variety of things that went on in the world. But there were some in particular that inspired Bram to create his master pieces, Dracula.
Renfield is connected to Dracula by an unseen power, which not only foretells the attempted invasion by Dracula, but also the final outcome. Renfield parallels Dracula need for life (blood) throughout the novel. The novel as a whole is centered on the complex, mysterious creature Dracula. Stoker’s use of the character Renfield functions as an abstract representation for a better understanding of Dracula. The idea of an omnipotent vampire is unbelievable and Renfield provides clarity through his madness.
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). The “Otherness” Dracula possess reinforces our own norms and beliefs through his transgression that separates him from society and the polarity to Western norms and ideals makes him an effective device for extorting revulsion and horror. Stoker’s novel employs Gothic tradition, providing “the principle embodiments and evocations of cultural anxieties” from which the very Gothic mood and horror is produced, establishing the baseline used to distinguish the modern vampires, as part of vampire mythology within the Gothic (Botting Aftergothic
Dracula realizes his affect on his country and that they have figured ways out to stop his exploitation, therefore, he must move to London. III. BP2/Topic Sentence: Love is a major motivator all through the Dracula. A. When the four men find that Lucy is Un-Dead they feel a tremendous amount of anguish.
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.
She then truly dies and is left in her natural, humane state. Also, Jonathan facing Dracula is another example of good versus evil, as seen when Jonathan wrote that “when the Count saw [his] face, his eyes blazed with a sort of demoniac fury, and he suddenly made a grab at [his] throat. [Jonathan] drew away, and [the Count’s] hand touched the string of beads that held the crucifix.” (21). Jonathan unknowing put himself in danger by entering the Count’s castle, in which there was only evil. He could only protect himself by possessing religious objects, of which the Count, a demonic character, was afraid of.