Death and the unknown has always been a source of man’s greatest fear. The vampire serves as a physical manifestation of this fear- an immortal creature that feeds on the blood of the innocent. As dangerous as they are, vampires are alluring- they possess an “aura of glamour”. Vampires have long crept into our imaginations from the lusty romance novel, “Twilight” to Bram Stokers’ “Dracula”. While most people tend to believe that all vampires come from Transylvania, are slender, and can transform into bats, Stoker did not create the vampire. Vampires existed long before except they were revenants; animated corpses of evil beings, with origins dating back to Mesopotamia, Ancient India and Serbia. The belief in vampires originates from the ignorance that people had during their time regarding postmortem decay, illnesses / diseases and other unexplainable events. With the accounts of Peter Plogojowitz, Arnod Paole, and the Shoemaker of Silesia, it can be determined that although these accounts provide sufficient and accurate data, they are inaccurate in their interpretations. This is due to the lack of knowledge and experience in physiology, pathology and anatomy of the human body. …show more content…
He was the first in his village to become a vampire then passed the infection onto others. Plogojowitz’s death shows the classic misconceptions of vampirism. Within a week of Peter Plogojowitz’s death, nine people in his village also died and claimed to have seen him giving a description of his body as the following: not decomposed, skin, hair and nails growing. His body was then exhumed and the following observations were made: new fresh skin emerging, fresh blood in his mouth, and wild signs (erection). All the indications pertaining to a vampire was present and his heart was pierced with a
1. How does the Renfield sub-plot function in the novel? What would be lost if it were removed?
A woman changes everything; finally there is vindication for the knight who gave up life to avenge the death of his one true love, as he chose to become the undead. Director, Francis Ford Coppola, in his work, “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”, reaches beyond the words to prove Dracula was more than a monster in creating the movie. Coppola focuses on Dracula as a man, as well as a knight, who is both deeply in love with his church and his bride. The historical elements in the writings of Bram Stoker come to life more so in Coppola’s work with the movie, than in the book. My goal of this paper is to prove how the differences between the book and the movie are predominantly in the beginning and in the end of the film and depict Dracula as the man he
Since the beginning of time vampires have been categorized into different "types” and are portrayed in different ways throughout several books. This paper will focus on three vampires from the following books: Dracula by Bram Stoker, and I am Legend by Richard Matheson. Dracula is considered to be the traditional vampire, where it all started, and the vampires in Matheson’s book, follow somewhat Stoker’s concept, but is more of a modern “type” of vampires. Certain vampire elements have been presented, but others have been completely removed or altered. In addition, elements along with appearances are used to infer if the vampire is a form of “the other”. There are two types of vampires; the traditional or modern vampire which can be distinguished based on the elements present in their storyline.
Many people are familiar with the novel Dracula, by Bram Stoker. It is typically referred to as a horror story sure to give a good scare. However, Bram Stoker was not merely out to give his Victorian audience a thrill ride. Many symbols and themes, particularly those of the main antagonist Dracula, were brought into the novel to teach a lesson. Oddly enough, Dracula resembles other forces of evil in other religions as well. A strong comparison exists between Dracula, Satan, and Hindu demons. Of course these parallels are not fully drawn across the entire novel. Some differences do exist, but the parallels that are apparent bring attention to a cultures idea of a monster or threatening force to order.
Bram Stoker's Dracula is one of the most renowned British novels of all time. It has left its marks on many aspects of literature and film. Many thematic elements are present throughout the story and have been interpreted in many ways. Stoker uses his characters to manifest the themes that he wishes to imply. Three themes that present themselves throughout the book are the theme of Christian Redemption, science and technology, and sexual expression.
Have you ever thought to yourself, what has influenced vampire literature today? Well, neither have I, but it wouldn’t hurt to touch on the subject. Dracula introduces the idea of lust and death within vampirism. Also, there are many connections that I make throughout this essay between Dracula and I am Legend, proving that Dracula was an influence on the book. The opposition of Dracula has had great influences on vampire literature.We see that these two pieces of literature are so much similar than one would think. Both authors even use similar words to describe the similar things, which I hadn’t even noticed until I made further inspection. .The book Dracula, written by
The authors do an excellent job in showing how vampires are much like the human. They adapt as the human evolves through the scientific evolution. “The vampire is as flexible and polyvalent as ever” It shows how the vampire arose from imagination yet without it, it would be difficult to remind oneself that there are other things in the world unexplainable and unknown to the human
“Folklore vampires often convey important social messages in that their undead condition is regarded as a penalty for mental, physical, or behavioral
Dracula is a work of fantasy published by Bram Stoker. Its uncanny success comes from its capability to play on all-inclusive human fears. The novel is a reflection of the anxieties and fears which troubled his era; the figure of Count Dracula is both a timeless vision of evil and the incarnation of turn-of-the-century England's strongest fears. The 1992 movie “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” is an adaptation of the 1897 book. This movie is not the traditional monster movie you would expect at first like the book itself portrays. Alternately, it’s a very affectionate and romantic story, illustrating Dracula as a tormented being with emotions that much like himself can not die. By comparing Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, to the film adaptation, many differences
It seems in this modern world, the most agreeable option, when it comes to moral darkness and light, is to believe the underlying, superlative, and reminiscently instinctual superstitions that are conjured up over generations. Thomas C. Foster has one of the most acceptable theories upon the fictional importance of a generally conventional fear’s relation to life itself; “My guess is that as long as people act toward their fellows in exploitative and selfish ways, the vampire will be with us” (Foster, Chapter 3). Appealing to my beliefs, the well-processed example of vampirism employed by Bram Stoker and his 1897 novel Dracula brings the most common hadal, diffident, and nethermost irrationalities an undesirable lifeblood
Evil never conquers because good always overcomes it. A good example of this is the book Dracula by Bram Stoker because the author expresses the nature of good vs. evil. Dracula wants to come to London because he wants to turn everyone into vampires. The basic background of the book Dracula is when Jonathan Harker, a realtor who is sent to Transylvania to complete a transaction with Dracula so he can come to England. What Harker does not know is that Dracula has a plan for world domination. Well, while Harker is on a train to Transylvania he enters “the east, a section of Europe whose peoples and customs will be for the most part, strange and unfamiliar” (Dracula, 20). Harker arrives at Bistritz on the eve of St. George’s Day,
Jan Perkowski is a Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Virginia. Aside from teaching courses on vampire mythology and folklore, he also researches Slavic mythology and Russian language. Perkowski has contributed many works towards vampire mythology and folklore, and “in studying the Slavic Vampire” he “devised an outline of analysis to be applied to individual accounts of Slavic vampires” (Stern). This allows for students to deconstruct the Slavic vampire to see how it may differ or strongly relate to the stereotypical vampire that the contemporary audience knows today. Today’s stereotypical vampire is commonly thought to die from a wooden stake piercing the heart or from the burning heat of the sun (Guõmundsdóttir). Physical characteristics are oftentimes extremely pale with a long nose, paired with sharp canine fangs that enhance the vampire’s unearthly, ghastly mien. The historical portrayal of the folkloric and legendary vampire is often grotesque. The uncertainty and fear of a disastrous and mysterious disease otherwise called as the Black Death spread across Europe in the mid-14th century (Benedictow). The looming, ominous plague clouded over Europe as swarms of rats carrying the bubonic plague spread throughout the city streets like a tsunami crashes into New York City, waves weaving intricately along and in-between the skyscrapers, looking for the next open space they can swell into. The lack of knowledge in regards to the origin of
The first record of vampires’ undead activity was in Sebia (Butler 77). The local inhabitants’ lives were uneasy, because they were confused about their identities and what they should follow (Butler 77). In this circumstance, vampire myth appeared to express the society’s anxiety by their irregularities, such as upsetting healthy sexuality and destroying normal patterns of reproduction (Butler 78). Places like back alleys and hidden recess provide opportunities for vampires to gain their powers and their exotic influence
Physicians / Doctors have [and as I ‘am sure they will in the future] a pivotal position in the belief of the supernatural, especially concerning that of vampire literature and belief. These individuals of medicine with their instruments that detect malady, are held to a great standard in our past given their familiarity with the human body and its various physicalities. Hence, they stood as the most reputable of witnesses to the vampire phenomenon that plagues our era. According to Professor Mary Hallab [a longtime friend of mine] the greatest medical mystery of our time “is determining what death is … when one might know for some when a body is actually dead”. For it is death, that breathes life into a vampire. This alone makes vampires a
Bram Stoker’s Dracula Bram Stoker’s Dracula, a novel full of horror, superstition, and evil excitement. It tells the story of a dedicated middle-class group’s challenging experience of destroying the leader of the undead, Dracula. The suspenseful qualities of the novel leave the reader thirsting for more, it is easy to say that this novel was written to entertain the reader. However, I feel there is more to Dracula than just a want to entertain others. Bram Stoker wrote Dracula to also exhibit life and beliefs during the Victorian Era.