Dracula-bram Stoker - Simbolistic Approach

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Dracula

Written in 1897, Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a novel based on the gothic/horror genre containing

gothic imagery and biarre characters! "old in e#istolary $ormat %as a series o$ letters, diaryentries& and using gothic imagery in order to enhance the horror o$ his novel, Stoker's Dracula

involves all the classic ingredients o$ a gothic horror story(

) horror scenes %driving a stake through *ucy’s heart&,

) the su#ernatural %men turning into vam#ires&,

) castles %in the $orests o$ "ransylvania&,

) darkness %+hen Dracula +ent sucking blood&,

) good versus evil %crosses, garlic, stakes, etc to kill vam#ires&!

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Bram Stoker +as initially going to call his vam#ire 4ount Wam#yr: but changed it to ;4ount

Dracula; basically because he liked the +ord/name Dracula! "he original <lad Dracula +as not a

4ount, nor +as he a vam#ire! is name +as originally <lad ..., =rince o$ Wallachia, also kno+n

as <lad Dracula or “<lad the .m#aler: because o$ his #re$erred method o$ e>ecuting #eo#le %by

leaving them to die slo+ly im#aled on steaks +hile dis#laying them #ublicly to $righten his

enemies&!

B*22D

Blood is the most #o+er$ul symbol associated +ith vam#ires and vam#irism, a virtually

universal $ood source $or the undead taking it $rom animals or dra+ing it $rom the necks o$

hel#less human victims! "he sim#le idea o$ blood is seen to be more com#le> as blood seems to

a$$ect all o$ the characters in a certain +ay! "+o o$ the most im#ortant symbolic ideas $or blood

in Bram Stoker’s novel +ould be( the idea o$ blood re#resenting se> and lust or the idea o$ blood

consum#tion as an act o$ obtaining vitality! "here$ore blood has al+ays been held to #ossess

su#ernatural and mystical ?ualities, as it is the kee#er and giver o$ li$e!

2ne o$ the central themes in the novel Dracula is that a$ter drinking blood, the count begins to

look younger! "his idea did not come to the novelist $rom any kno+n vam#ire $olklore but $rom

the legendary blood)bathing o$ 4ountess Bathory to kee# her skin looking young and healthy!



43.S".05 425*.4".25

Dracula seems to be a total o##osite o$ 4hrist and 4hristian values, driven #urely by desire and

lust, sho+ing his demonic soul through the $ire that burns in his eyes! Stoker re#eatedly uses

biblical imagery and re$erences to com#are Dracula to 4hrist, creating deliberate #arallels

throughout the novel! Stoker's most critical com#arison comes +ith the drinking o$ Dracula's blood by 6ina, +hen he #roclaims to her And you, their best beloved one, are now to me flesh

of my flesh, blood of my blood, kin of my kin; my bountiful wine press for a while; and shall be

later on my companion and my helper : %Dr! Se+ard’s Diary ch @@.& "his scene makes re$erence

to the biblical creation o$ the +oman in +hich 0dam says !!this is now bone of my bone, and

flesh of my flesh” %Aenesis !C&!

D035SS

Darkness, associated +ith the nightmare and the traditional time o$ evil, +as usually the

#re$erred time o$ vam#ires’ attack! .t is in darkness that a vam#ire o$ contem#orary imaginationmust $unction, residing in a dank subterranean #lace, a co$$in, or a darkened house or castle! "he

legendary %$olk& undead +ere not al+ays rendered hel#less or destroyed by light or sunshine!

"his conce#t, develo#ed by +riters and es#ecially by Bram Stoker in Dracula +as trans$erred to

the screen and became one o$ the main characteristics o$ the cinematic vam#ire!

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.n many legends o$ vam#ires, religious icons #lay a strong role in de$ending against the undead!

) 4rosses and 4ruci$i>es( the most used +ea#ons against a vam#ire, bearing the $igure o$

4hrist hanging $rom it that re#resents Eesus's cruci$i>ion on Aood riday! .n both casestheir energy is largely de#endent on ho+ strongly the #erson holding it believes in its

symbolism! .n Dracula, the cruci$i> did not burn the $lesh o$ the vam#ire, but being near

one did cause him to lose his su#ernatural strength

) Aarlic( "he vam#ire’s aversion to garlic also has its roots in Stoker’s Dracula! <an

elsing treated *ucy +ith garlic by bringing garlands o$ it into her room, +hich ke#t the

vam#ire $rom entering!

) oly Water( being considered one o$ the #rimary symbols o$ li$e, the oly Water is used

in many religious ceremonies es#ecially in the 4atholic and astern 2rthodo> churches!

.t is believed to have s#ecial #o+ers and uses! 0mong them is the ability to re#el most

unholy creatures F including vam#ires!

) ucharist Wa$er( re#resents another religious symbol that is thought to o$$er #rotection

against vam#ires, though it's not as commonly mentioned as crosses or holy +ater! "he

+a$er, +hich is a thin #iece o$ blessed bread, re#resents the body o$ 4hrist in the oly

4ommunion ceremony! *ike a cruci$i>, the +a$er can burn the $lesh o$ a vam#ire and



leave a mark i$ #ressed against the skin o$ its victims! Stoker's use o$ the ucharist

underlines the religious signi$icance o$ the +a$er, em#hasiing the s#iritual tumult o$ the

<ictorian era through a range o$ issues, including good versus evil, moral versus

immoral, and dark versus light!

*05DS40=S

4ar#athians associated most closely +ith vam#ire lore in the region o$ "ransylvania in our

country! 3omania! "he novel Dracula +as crucial in bringing the 4ar#athians %and "ransylvania

es#ecially& to +ide #ublic attention, #lacing 4astle Dracula there, accessible only by traversing

high, Gagged, and rugged roads and crossing the Borgo =ass!

6.3323

Dracula casts no re$lection! "he $irst time that +e have a notion that he does not like mirrors is+hen Eonathan arker makes the statement ;there is not a single mirror in the entire castle;! "he

most memorable mirror scene is +hen Dracula comes to see Eonathan he%Dracula& is e>#osed to

mirror and he become enraged +hen he sees it! Dracula takes it and thro+s it into the courtyard

belo+ and it shatters on the rocks belo+!

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Dracula #ossesses unimaginable #o+ers( he casts no shado+, has the strength o$ t+enty men,

gro+s younger on the blood o$ his victims, controls the elements %such as $og, thunder, and rain&,controls many animals %including the o+l, bat, moth, $o>, +ol$, and rat&, and can travel on moon

rays as elemental dust or as a mist!

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"he vam#ire myth has a##eared over the centuries in almost every culture, beginning +ith the

earliest recorded e#ic $rom Babylonia, about HHH years B!4! 0lthough there are cultural

variations in the various legends, there is al+ays one de$ining trait o$ a vam#ire( a vam#ire sucks

blood! .t consumes another to sustain its o+n li$e!

rom +hat Stoker tells us, that the vam#ire's #o+ers are considerably e>tended( he can turn

humans into the ndead, is virtually immortal, has the ability to gro+ younger by drinking

blood, he casts no shado+, no re$lection, he has the ability to cra+l along +alls, to control

animals and the +eather and he also has the #o+er to trans$orm his o+n sha#e!



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• *eatherdale, 4live Dracula: The Novel and the Leend , Desert .sland Books *imited, Crd

edition, HH1

• 6elton, Aordon The !ampire "ook: The #ncyclopedia of the $ndead , <isible .nk =ress,

nd edition, 1998

• arg, BarbI S#aite, 0rGean The #verythin !ampire "ook: %rom !lad the &mpaler to the

vampire Lestat ' a history of vampires in Literature, %ilm, and Leend , 0dams 6edia,

HH8

Dracula-bram Stoker - Simbolistic Approach

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