Good Versus Evil In Dracula By Bram Stoker

What launched Dracula to become a world famous vampire? The famous villain was named after Vlad Dracul, the prince of Romania back in 1456. The name Dracula means the son of the dragon or the devil. Dracul was responsible for killing many people in his time by staking them through the heart. He is a bloodthirsty hero in romanian folklore. Dracula was created during the Victorian era where the industrial revolution rose and caused poor work conditions and disease. Most Victorian novels portray the terrible work lives of humans and show love in the end. Dracula was not the first vampire to be introduced in literature, but has become the most popular vampire in pop culture starting from one book. The novel Dracula by Bram Stoker establishes the

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 novel is so great because of the irony and suspense that is built in every chapter. One of the main reasons Stoker is able to create such suspense because of his style of writing. Dracula’s style is an epistolary novel which is a series of journals or diaries put into one book. When Stoker jumps from character to character he always leaves us on a cliffhanger as he switches locations to another character. This keeps the audience engaged and makes them want to keep reading. It is a deeply engaging novel and that is why it has become so popular. The story also develops dramatic irony, which means that the audience knows what is happening but the characters do not. An example of irony is when Mina thinks she pricks Lucy to cause bite marks on her neck, but the audience knows it was Dracula “I must have pinched up a piece of loose skin and have transfixed it, for there are two little red points like pin-pricks” (Stoker 100). Lucy becomes pale and ill later on in the novel which leads to them calling Van Helsing for help. Van Helsing knows what happened to Lucy but does not tell Mina or Dr. Seward because they will think he is crazy. There is more irony later on when Van Helsing puts garlic flowers all around Lucy’s room and her mom throws them out because of the smell. The audience knows that the garlic was there to protect Lucy and keep Dracula away