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Essay about the character of dracula
Essay about the character of dracula
Dracula literary analysis
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Degenerate Characters of Dracula
In the novel, Dracula, Bram Stoker puts together a variety of characters with several characteristics that are unique and somewhat alike in many ways. One way that some of the characters are similar is that they show signs of being a degenerate. A degenerate is a person who has sunk below a former or normal condition and lost normal or higher qualities. These people most likely have mentally and sometimes physically become deteriorated to the point where they no longer can think and function as a normal person would. Two characters in the novel that stand out as degenerates are Dracula and Renfield. Both are degenerates in their own ways and also have characteristics that are in some ways the same. They follow most of the traits that degenerates contain and portray it throughout the novel.
The best way to imagine a degenerate person would be to think of people on death roe in prison. The ones that aren’t remorseful for what they did, and could care less about what others think. They do not know what is right from wrong, and even if one tried to explain it to them, they couldn’t figure it out. Degenerates have no common sense, let alone a functioning brain. They are most definitely missing a few screws in there heads. 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. His powers include a wide range of abilities in which some are beyond the powers of the other vampires or immortal people in the novel. Degenerates are predestined to crime and don’t know why it is wrong. Van Helsing wrote of Dracula by saying, "The Count is a criminal and of criminal type. Nordau and Lombroso would so classify him, and qua criminal he is of imperfectly formed mind" (Stoker chapter 28). With all his killings and bites he proceeds on people, Dracula fights the degenerate theme.
Renfield as well has qualities and characteristics of degenerates throughout the novel. Renfield was taken under the care of Dr.
The novel Dracula by Bram Stoker has plentiful examples of key concepts we have examined in class including: Purity and impurity, magical thinking, strong emotions such as disgust and shame, , formalization, and myth. In this essay I will summarize events that take place within the novel when the protagonists deal with Dracula and then relate these events to the key concepts to demonstrate why the characters view him as dangerous, and therefore something to be avoided completely.
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.
The presence of racial stereotypes and commentary on the interaction of different races is a cornerstone of the Dracula narrative. In Stoker’s novel, Count Dracula is representative of the growing European culture of xenophobia and anti-Semitism which would rise to near hysteria in the coming decades. The concept of race was not limited to skin color or nationality in the nineteenth century, and was a means of categorizing people by “cultural as well as physical attributes” (Warren 127). Dracula is described as being covetous of ancient gold and jewels, childlike and simple in his malice, and more animalistic than human, traits frequently attributed to the Jewish people by Christian society (Newman). His material appearance is distinguished by extremely pale skin, dark features, a nose with a “high bridge…and peculiarly arched nostrils,” and “bushy hair that seemed to curl of its own profusion.” Stoker’s audience would have recognized...
First off, in Stoker’s Dracula the reader’s suspension of disbelief is lower as compared to folklore tales. He is a tall creepy old person when first revealed, but later on in the novel he is shown to be more sinister. This creates a sense of mystery and confusion. Another reason is that he is a well developed antagonist. Often times he outsmarts the main characters creating a sense of suspense and irony because the readers know what is going to happen but the characters do not. But the most important reason of them all is the fact that Count Dracula takes elements from folklore and builds upon it. Stoker uses classic folklore to create a foundation for Dracula, for example; Dracula’s powers give him the ability to live forever, or shapeshift into other creatures as well. They also give him weaknesses such as: holy objects and daylight which mitigates his powers. These powers regularly add to the mysterious tone in the book. Count Dracula climbing down the castle wall upside down or moving slowly across a yard as a cloud of vapor makes the reader question what is happening. He has the ability to control the weather and animals as well. Stoker gives him powers from legend to make him a formidable force in the story. Although his appearance is unpleasant, he is quite the seductive character. He uses this to his advantage when trying to turn Mina and Lucy into vampires. Dracula preys on ‘weaker’ beings in a hierarchical system where he feasts on the women and once the women have turned to vampires, they feed on children. He can also use telepathy to tell where other vampires are, however, this works against him in the final chase of the book. In short his powers are unique and interesting and help to make the Count a powerful
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.
Through the gothic writing of Stoker, there was a huge intimidation of Dracula coming forth from it. “Stoker spared no effort to present his demonic vampire as dramatically as possible” (Leatherdale 105-17). With this sinister presence of death, people start to panic. As a vampire hunter, it was Helsing’s job to help notify people on how to rid themselves of this demon. Stoker portrays survival in the form of teamwork between the men and women of the novel. These characters soon take survival into their own hands. “‘We must trace each of those boxes; and when we are ready, we must either capture or kill this monster in his lair; or we must, so to speak, sterilize the earth, so that no more he can seek safety in it’” (Stoker 373). At this point in the novel, the characters know about the existence of vampires. The consequences are also put on top priority. The men know of the consequences, yet still want to go after this demon. “By chasing Dracula, the men risk being sentenced to an immortal life as a vampire. This immortality is endless time lived in physical form” (Poquette 35). Knowing the risks of hunting a vampire, the characters ignore them to protect their loved ones. A vampire hunter is an important factor in the novel because without one, the other characters wouldn’t know what to do. Stoker chose right in including
Dracula: a name that inspires thoughts of intrigue, fear, romance and in some a life style that is all its own. Yet one thing that is not always known is that there is a true story hidden behind the legend of Dracula. More than one actually, one in which a man is a demon who executes a hundred thousand men, impaling them, and dinning on their blood. Then there is the story of a patriot who cares for his people and is only doing what he must to protect them from the invading armies. The latter of which is less known, yet in the most famous book about Dracula, Bram Stoker brings forth many of the true facts about Vlad Țepeș also known as Vlad the Impaler. The tricky thing comes when we look at why Bram Stoker chose what he did for the book, and later what Coppola chose to leave out or modify from the novel when he directed the movie adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula in 1992. Stoker wrote his based more on a German view of Vlad while Coppola modified his based on a more educated modern understanding of the times in which Vlad Țepeș lived, one of which Vlad was seen as a hero to the people of Hungary not initially the savage he is made out to be in many of the earlier studies.
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)
Stoker uses phenomenal imagery to produce a late nineteenth century setting, located somewhere within eastern Europe. Transylvania, the infamous home to Dracula himself, is described in great detail in Harker’s journal. There, Stoker purposely and meticulously outlines Dracula’s castle and the surrounding town. Stoker manages to do this with a very gothic tone, immediately lowering the societal status of women. In conjunction with Dracula’s gothic tone comes the understanding of male and female traditional roles of the era. The reader sees that there is no hesitation differentiating between the two, as Stoker “ cast[s] men as rational, strong, protective and decisive…[and] women as emotional (irrational), weak, nurturing and submissive.” (Tyson, 82).
Over the course of cinematic history, many filmmakers have attempted to recreate the chilling, unprecedented world of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Arguably very few have succeeded, for the majority of directors tend to avoid the pervasive sexuality inherent in the novel. It is a difficult task to achieve, considering the blatant imagery surrounding sex and vampirism, such as the reproduction following a vampiric encounter and the phallocentric nature of the violence committed both by and against these creatures: penetration is involved in their hunting, and one must impale them with a stake in order to destroy them. Readers are thereby forced to admit that Dracula is, in fact, a highly eroticized piece of literature, though whether or not Stoker himself was aware of this suggestiveness, we cannot be sure. The most successful effort at capturing that sexual energy on film has been Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 movie, Bram Stoker's Dracula. In fact, it has often been proposed that Coppola’s version is too carnally focused in comparison to the original work, which leads a viewer to wonder about the purpose in this overt sexualization. It can be concluded that adding copious amounts of eroticism to the film is directly related to Coppola’s strive to depict Count Dracula as more human rather than monster, and sexuality in his film serves as a balance so that the lines between good and evil are blurred. Evidence for this deduction is found in three scenes in particular: Jonathan’s seduction by Dracula’s vampiric wives, Lucy’s demonic transformation, and Mina and Van Helsing’s relationship during the climax of the story.
In the year 1897, Bram Stoker releases the crown jewel of the 20th century: his vampire epic Dracula. Ever since Dracula, Transylvania, and castles have been associative of vampirism, the world has become “bloody”. There are slight deviations to the novel, but the majority of them are fairly partial to the novel. Worldly views show Dracula as an old man with a new face. The inception of Bram Stoker’s Dracula has been the melting pot of the recreations and incarnations of the world’s deadliest, bloodsucking vampire, Count Dracula.
The Victorian England setting and culture of “Dracula” by: Bram Stoker attributes to many stylistic components and character behaviours in the novel. One of which is the behaviour and actions characters express that are a result of sexual repression. In Dracula, sexual repression is best expressed by the character’s desire to create. This desire is exemplified by the way Dracula creates other vampires, Lucy’s sexual desires, and the men’s expression of aggression. The creation of other Vampires is evident through events including Dracula’s aggressive encounters with Lucy and Mina, and the fact the Dracula is building up a Vampire army. Lucy’s sexual desires are exemplified through her longing to have sex with multiple men and how she compares
So what makes Dracula monstrous and Edward not? Broadly, Dracula is distancing himself from human form while Edward progresses toward human form. Dracula is “un-dead”, once human before his vampire state and clearly separate from human form, establishing his frightening allure. His fangs, hands and sharp nails are horrifying up close. He is not a corpse at first look, mysteriously resisting the decay of death.
While the character of Renfield is ostensively extraneous to the central plot of Dracula, he fulfils an important role in Stoker’s exploration of the central themes of the novel. This paper will examine how Renfield character is intertwined with the three central themes of invasion, blood and otherness. Firstly, through Renfield’s inner struggle we learn that he is ‘not his own master’ (Stoker, 211). The theme of invasion is revealed by the controlling and occupying powers of Count Dracula. Secondly, the recurring theme ‘the Blood is the Life’ (Stoker, 121), is portrayed throughout the novel and has been interpreted through Stoker’s character Renfield. Then finally, a look at the social construction of the ‘other’ in Dracula and how, through Renfield, who is ‘unlike the normal lunatic’ (Stoker, 52), the Count emerges as the ‘other’ of all ‘others’.
There are a few characters in Dracula that embody society’s views of the time towards the uprising of women for better rights. On the other hand there are also characters that portray the Victorian ideals that men are stronger than women and how it should stay that way. As author Bram Dijkstra mentions in his response essay, “Stokers work demonstrates how thoroughly the war waged by the nineteenth century male culture against the dignity and self -respect of women had been fought”.(Dijkstra , p.460).