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=Dracula =

By: Bram Stoker
All in all Dracula was an extremely interesting and very good novel. To tell you the truth, I didn't even want to read this book, but I couldn't find any other book that fit the requirements at the public library. But the incredible story line, sheer terror seen in the characters, and the suspense that keeps you reading on the edge of your seat is more than enough to change my mind. I'll admit that in some areas, the story was a little slow. And I wouldn't have minded if Stoker decided to cut out a few parts, but the way everything was connected, perfectly meshed together. If you're not careful, the changing of the different points of view, gets a bit confusing, but provides us with different stories and experiences. The way Stoker organized the novel is phenomenal and enjoyable. We are given so much to process through letters, journals, and articles, that Jonathan Harker, Abraham Van Helsing, and Mina Harker (the three major narrators of the novel) hardly have enough time to tell us about it all.

=﻿Authoria Background: =  Abraham Stoker was born in Clontarf, Ireland, November 8th, 1847. Up until the age of seven, Stoker was bedridden, because of excessive sicknesses. As a child he enjoyed stories told to him by his mother, especially those relating to the cholera epidemic. Being a student at Trinity College, in Dublin, Stoker did well in athletics and academics, graduating with honors in mathematics. He was a critic for the Dublin Mail, while working in the Irish Civil Services. Stoker became Henry Irving’s manager, an actor whom Stoker positively criticized. “He also performed managerial, secretarial, and directorial duties at London, England’s Lyceum Theatre.” Stoker married Florence Balcombe, and moved to Chelsea London. Beginning to write in 1890, Stoker started with The Snake’s Pass, which brought success and popularity. Mostly all his works have received good reviews, such as Dracula’s Guest, The Watter’s Mou, and Antheneum. Stoker’s most popular piece is Dracula, written in 1897. Following the death of his good friend Irving, in 1905, Stoker wrote several horror novels, The Lady of the Shroud and The Liar of the White Worm, which he wrote the year before his death, April 20th, 1912, in London, England.

=Literary Period: = Dracula was written in the 1890's. Bram Stoker was originally inspired to write the novel when he was visiting Whitby Yorkshire, and later returned to his home in London England to begin his most famous piece of literature.

=﻿Setting: = Dracula is set during the late nineteenth century in England and Eastern Europe.

=﻿Characters: = Count Dracula- A vampire several hundreds of years old, living in Transylvania. He is a nobleman, and owns a magnificent castle. Underneath his charming character, lies a dark soul. Dracula is stronger than any man, can change himself into an animal, and control the weather. However, he has his limits. Dracula cannot go into his victim’s home unless invited, must be carried across water, and is powerless in the daylight. Van Helsing- A Dutch professor, who serves as a bounty hunter for Dracula and other vampires, he is also called upon to cure those bitten. Van Helsing becomes the leader of the group that hunts Dracula down and destroys him. Jonathan Harker- A lawyer, sent to Castle Dracula on a real estate transaction. Being young and unaware, he becomes a prisoner and barely escapes with his life. Harker represents the naïve youngster, who puts himself in danger and fights hard for his life. Later he returns as a brave and strong fighter. Mina Murray- A schoolmistress, as well as Harker’s fiancée, Murray becomes a victim of Dracula. She is seen as the heroin of the novel, holding onto her morals while still being under Dracula’s control. Her intelligence and resources leads Van Helsing to Dracula. Lucy Westernra- Mina’s best friend, Lucy is Dracula’s first victim in the novel. Becoming a vampire and receiving a soul of evil, Van Helsing kills the demon she has become, and restores her soul to her body and heaven.

=<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">﻿Theme: = <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">One of the major themes of the novel is a female sexuality, and the threat it contains. When Dracula come to England, he relies on a woman’s sexuality. From the start, both Mina and Lucy, two women who hold their morals high, being innocent and pure, are now slaves, under the control of a evil vampire, turning them toward a more open “voluptuous” and shameless sexual longing. After being transformed into this evil mass, Van Helsing and the men have no choice but to destroy her. Their fear grows as they wonder if Mina will change into the same thing. Drawing them in with sexual desires, the women pull their pray close. The men fear that they will be seduced and lose their lives.

=<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">﻿Plot Summary: =

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The novel begins with Jonathan Harker, a young lawyer, traveling to Castle Dracula, in Transylvania, about a real estate transaction. While on his way, the townspeople beg and warn him not to go. Harker is frightened by the prayers and charms he is presented, as well as the words the people utter that he later translates into “devil, demon, evil,” and “vampire,” but presses on despite his uneasiness. When Harker arrives at Castle Dracula, and is greeted by the well educated, middle aged Count Dracula. He finds the count to be very hospitable. However, after a few days Harker realizes that his is not a guest in the Castle, but a prisoner. Harker is terrified, after being approached and almost killed by three female vampires, and attempts to escape the castle by climbing the wall. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The novel is then narrated by Harker’s fiancée, Mina, who decides to visit her friend, Lucy, in Whitby. Just off the shore of the town, a ship has wrecked. When brought to shore, the only life seen is a large dog that runs away once the ship has made port. The only cargo on board is boxes full of dirt from Castle Dracula. Meanwhile, Lucy begins to sleepwalk. One night Mina finds her in the cemetery, where she thinks she sees a dark figure with red eyes. Later, Lucy becomes ill, turning pale, with two red dots on her neck. The doctor can find no diagnosis, so he sends for Professor Van Helsing, his old mentor. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Mina leaves to join her fiancée, who is in Buda-Pest suffering from brain fever. While Van Helsing arrives in Whitby, ordering that garlic is to be hung around Lucy’s room. She begins to recover, however her unknowing mother takes down the strands because of its potent scent. Lucy is now vulnerable once more and is attacked. For the next several days Van Helsing tries to revive Lucy by performing several blood transfusions, but to no avail. One night, a wolf breaks into the house, giving Lucy’s mother a fatal heart attack and ending Lucy’s life as well. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After her death, Van Helsing takes the men to Lucy’s tomb, telling them that she is now one of the “undead.” The men follow unconvinced, until they see Lucy preying on a child. They agree to destroy her, allowing her soul to go to its eternal resting place, by stabbing her with a wooding stake through the heart, cutting off her head, and filling her mouth with garlic. After the men complete this task they vow to end Dracula’s “undead” life as well. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Now a married couple, Harker and Mina join the men in London, collecting all the literature they can on the count, to track him down and destroy him. At first their efforts are going well, until one night when one of Dr. Seward’s mental patients invites Dracula into the home they are staying in, allowing Dracula to prey on Mina. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">As Mina begins to change into a vampire, the men travel to Transylvania; Van Helsing takes Mina to the castle where they kill the three female vampires, while the men catch Dracula, destroying him with the use of knives.

=<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">﻿Unique Literary Devises: = <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In the novel blood is seen as a precious thing. “Blood is too precious a thing in these days of dishonorable peace; and the glories of the great races are as a tale that is told.” Here it’s referred to as one’s heritage. Your blood line makes you who you are. And you are to be proud of it. Blood is also connected to Christianity. Later in the novel, when Dracula is drinking Lucy’s blood, a reference to communion is present. The blood Dracula is in need of represents the blood of Christ shed on the cross. However, Dracula’s needs are darker, than that of the Christian’s.