Bram Stoker’s epistolary novel, entitled Dracula, offers a glimpse of a dark, supernatural world, wrought with sexual symbolism and the draining of human power. Stoker introduces his protagonist, a young solicitor named Jonathan Harker, who finds himself on the road to Transylvania for the purpose of visiting a certain count Dracula and organizing a real estate transaction. Harker leaves behind the vehicles of modern civilization as he is driven into the desolate mountain country (Davison 79). The countryside he passes through is picturesque enough to lull him into a state of false security, while the villagers offer charms against dark, evil forces and mutter chants, invoking the name of God to protect them. Following his arrival to the castle, Harker realizes only too late, after three seductive female vampires attack him, that his life is in danger and he escapes by climbing down the castle walls. Meanwhile, his fiancée Mina Murray and her friend Lucy Westenra, undergo love troubles, as Lucy is forced to choose between three suitors.
Eventually, Lucy becomes count Dracula’s victim, and exhibits traits of what was considered frighteningly liberal, sexual female behavior, but is ultimately slain with a stake in her heart, by the hand of her chosen suitor. Thus, with the help of professor Van Helsing, Jonathan and Quincy, of the two rejected suitors, hunt down count Dracula in an effort to put a stop to his evil, undead reign. Despite having written numerous novels and short stories, preceding and following the publication of Dracula, this novel remains Stoker’s most influential piece of work and the pinnacle of his literary oeuvre. Having been translated into numerous languages, it is still a frequent addition to any book lover’s library. The inspiration current writers, movie makers, directors, story writers and other artists drain from this book is immeasurable, especially since it has remodeled the traditional vampire mythology and created a life line of followers, who revere the cult image of the charismatic, darkly charming vampire overlord.
Some critics say that Stoker’s grand influence was Le Fanu’s novella “Carmilla,” because it is the first really successful vampire story, and it is considered the ideal from which Stoker continued to transform the elements of the faded Gothic genre into the enduring form of the modern supernatural horror story (Heldreth, Pharr 19). Stoker utilized the dark and sinister tone of Harker’s journal to portray his mastery of the Gothic novel:
The castle is on the very edge of a terrible precipice. A stone falling from the window would fall a thousand feet without touching anything! But I am not heart to describe beauty, for when I had seen the view I explored further; doors, doors, doors everywhere, and all locked and bolter. In no place save from the windows in the castle walks is there an available exit. The castle is a veritable prison, and I am a prisoner! (Stoker CCC)
Despite the fact that Stoker was not the originator of the vampire story genre, he nonetheless strengthened it more than any other writer before him, and not only evoked images of a claustrophobic, gothic castle and overwhelming landscape which hides a terrible secret within, but also of a sense of horrifying dread. It is passages such as these that remain in the mind of his readers, and thus, numerous literary imitators endeavor to recreate this original image of Transylvanian landscape. In addition to writers who were merely able to mimic Stoker’s sense of claustrophobia, various horror films are also based on this simple notion of a castle, a dark space where evil dwells within, and though there are doors everywhere, escape is impossible.
Stoker’s previous, and especially later work, such as The Mystery of the Sea, The Jewel of Seven Stars, The Man, The Lady of the Shroud, Famous Impostors and The Lair of the White Worm also include elements from his most famous literary piece. He retained the images of the unseen, but felt presence of evil, frightening creatures, events that refuse to be explained by pure reason and logic, and the most potent trait of the gothic genre, supernatural horror. David Glover says that “Stoker’s narratives are best understood as fantasy, as their frequent evocation of states of reverie, unconsciousness, dream and daydream ought perhaps to suggest” (15).
Throughout the ages, the image of vampires and their charming, dark, sinful ways has been a more or less ubiquitous one, stepping into and out of the spot light, depending on the era. The post-Dracula era acknowledged his existence not only as a deeply disturbing character from a book, but rather as an entity that defines the society’s forbidden wishes and desires. The movie spotlight seems to be in love with this magical, undead persona and thus, there exist numerous movies which try to breathe life yet again into Stoker’s story, keeping it the same or rearranging it, but one aspect of it is unchangeable: the count himself. Slight altering of the physical appearance to suit the current times of its production was bound to happen, but the traditional image of this man keeps its basis:
Within stood a tall old man, clean shaven save for a long white moustache, and clad in black from head to foot, without a single speck of colour about him anywhere The instant, however, that I had stepped over the threshold, he moved impulsively forward, and holding out his hand grasped mine with a strength which made me wince, an effect which was not lessened by the fact that it seemed cold as ice, more like the hand of a dead than a living man. (Stoker 338)
The modern day generation of vampires has kept the original type of the charming and irresistible villain, gentlemanly in his behavior and reigning over his baser instincts. The vampire is both innocent, because vampirism is morally thrust upon him, simultaneously glamorous and an outsider (Williamson 50). This is what “has turned a whole generation of pre-pubescent girls into devotees of the undead” (King). The quintessential count Dracula, from one of the first movie versions played by the Hungarian born Bela Lugosi, with his sleek aristocratic looks has created an enduring image of vampires throughout the 20th century. Nowadays, the big screen is wrought with movies and shows portraying vampires, such as Twilight, True Blood, Vampire Diaries and numerous others. The image of the darkly charismatic overlords of the undead is still omnipresent, but they are simultaneously given a more humane identity, in the sense that they fall in love with a human girl and serve as her protectors, not wishing her to become what they are, instead of following the lead of the original Dracula, who desired Mina as his undead bride for eternity. This, however, makes them all the more alluring, this personal choice of not harming a human, as long as they find him, or more importantly her, important.
It is apparent that there exists a strong interdependence of modern day vampires and the old, traditional one in Stoker’s novel, as the art of vampire fantasy continues its existence and shows little, if any, signs of disappearing any time soon. The modern day audience continues to be enchanted by the dark undead villain, as was the Victorian audience of Stoker’s time, because Dracula offers an entry into a darkly supernatural world of superstitions and elapsed traditions, forgotten by the modern rational and all too logical perception of the world.
Works Cited:
Davison, Carol Margaret. Bram Stoker’s Dracula: Sucking Through the Century, 1897-1997. Ontario: Dundurn Press Ltd., 1997. Print.
Glover, David. Vampires, Mummies, and Liberals: Bram Stoker and the Politics of Popular Fiction. North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1996. Print.
Heldreth, Leonard G., and Mary Pharr. The Blood Is the Life: Vampires in Literature. Ohio: Popular Press, 1999. Print.
King, Stewart. “A Hundred Years On, Dracula’s Creator Is Far From Dead.” The Huffington Post, 4th March 2012. Web. 14th April 2012.
Stoker, Bram. Dracula. New York: Signet Classics, 1986. Print.
Williamson, Milly. The Lure Of The Vampire: Gender, Fiction And Fandom From Bram Stoker To Buffy. London: Wallflower Press, 2005. Print.
