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Bram Stoker's Accomplishments

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Bram Stoker was an author during the 19th century that wrote the gothic novel Dracula. He is one of the least-known authors of one of the best-known books. Bram Stoker’s sickly childhood and growth into a well-developed person aided his imagination; creating captivating and gruesome works leading up to writing the novel Dracula. Bram Stoker writing Dracula showed that a harsh start in life and throwing oneself into studies lead him to a masterpiece that can catch the attention of almost anyone and leave a legendary monster to remember.
Bram Stoker grew up in harsh circumstances that also gave him the strength to push himself into school and work. Stoker started off his life struggling to survive physically, but was able to grow through his …show more content…

Once Stoker overcame his illness and left his house he never looked back. He went to Dublin to study: “In 1864 Stoker began his studies at Dublin’s Trinity College, where he was named president of the Philosophical Society and the Historical Society, both of them prestigious undergraduate organizations” (Concise Dictionary 3). Stoker excelled in school and was well liked by his peers. He earned honors in mathematics and was skillful at sports. As he worked for the Irish Civil Service, he also wrote play criticisms for Dublin Mail. With all this hard work he was able to meet his idle Henry Irving, a famous actor of the time, and become good friends with him. His excellence in college propelled him further than he could imagine and soon he was working harder. Not only did he fall in love with and marry his neighbor Florence Balcombe, but Stoker also accepted the job as manager of the Lyceum Theater in London: “Though his duties were taxing, he still found time to study for the bar, lead a family life, and write books. The first of these was a collection of’ ‘highly unsuitable stories for children,’ according to Farson and Dematteis, Under the Sunset” (Authors and Artists 7). Though Stoker worked long hours, he found spare time to continue his writing. Some of his stories in his book Under the Sunset were obviously inspired by the stories told to

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His novel, Dracula, tells the tale of five people who encounter and have to deal with the evil undead vampire Count Dracula, who terrorizes them and even causes two out of the five to become undead like himself. Thankfully, the group eventually discovers a way to eventually vanquish Dracula once and for all, and by the end of the book they destroy him, preventing him from terrorizing the people of Europe once and for all. Stoker explores several significant themes in this book, including the theme of deception. In Dracula, Stoker uses the theme of deception with the characterization of Dracula,

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1161 Words | 5 Pages

Everybody knows the classic tale of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. It is most famous for its introduction of the character of Count Dracula into both deep-rooted and contemporary literature and media. One critic claimed,” Bram Stoker set the ground rules for what a vampire should be.” It follows the story of Jonathan Harker, an English solicitor who visits Count Dracula in his castle in Transylvania – soon realising that he is being kept as a prisoner. Dracula forms a liking to the character of Lucy which ultimately leads to her death.

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Bram Stoker's Dracula is filled with interesting symbology and religious comparisons. Dracula is a gothic novel set in late 1800s Britain and Transylvania. Dracula is an epistolary, meaning it is told through a series of journal entries, news clippings, etc. It’s like the written version of found film. Dracula draws from many old myths for its villain and is the basis for the modern vampire.

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In Stoker’s novel Dracula, Renfield is a patient in Dr. Seward’s mental asylum who has a desire to gain the life of small, living organisms (e.g., flies, spiders, and rats) by consuming their souls. Although the purpose of Renfield’s character may be considered irrelevant to the central plot of Dracula, it is of utmost significance. To elaborate, the Renfield sub-plot functions as an “abstract representation for a better understanding” and in-depth knowledge to the character of Count Dracula through Renfield’s actions (Dracula). According to Gray, the character of Renfield “parallels aspects of Dracula 's livelihood,” such as his need to consume life. The dark relationship that Renfield and Dracula share is evident in the scene when Renfield

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901 Words | 4 Pages

The essay I chose to compare Dracula with was “Kiss Me With Those Red Lips: Gender and Inversion in Bram Stoker’s Dracula” by Christopher Craft. The essay explains the sexuality in Dracula, desire, gender, and even homosexuality. Craft mentions his essay gives an account of Stoker’s “vampire metaphor” (Craft 108). He highlights certain and very valid points in the story of Dracula that breaks the Victorian gender role, writing, “a pivotal anxiety of late Victorian culture.” (Craft 108).

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785 Words | 4 Pages

In Bram Stoker’s gothic novel, Dracula, the overall and fundamental theme of the book is given away the further you read, expressing Stoker’s view of religion. The novel is an account of the paths taken by many different characters such as Count Dracula, Van Helsing, Jonathan Harker, Mina Murray and Lucy Westenra. Since this poem was written with ideas focused primarily on the concepts of evil, as it was viewed during an appearingly-conservative nineteenth and twentieth century society, the book can be seen as a parallel to Eliot’s and others’ own religious quests. While Bram Stoker attempts to acquaint the reader with a frightening tale on the accounts of a dreadful vampire named Count Dracula, he also expresses the goal of strengthening

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1160 Words | 5 Pages

The horror genre of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, combined with mild eroticism is able to draw in readers due to the fact that Stoker is able to intricately weave suspenseful sexual scenes/scenes of desire throughout the novel—making it clear that

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At first glance, the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker appears to be a typical gothic horror novel set in the late 1890s that gives readers an exciting look into the fight between good and evil. Upon closer inspection, it becomes apparent that Dracula is a statement piece about gender roles and expectations for men and women during the Victorian age. Looking at the personalities, actions, and character development of each of the characters in Dracula bring to light startling revelations about Victorian society and how Stoker viewed the roles of men and women during this time period. To really understand Dracula, it is important to note that this novel was written during a time “of political and social upheaval, with anxieties not just about the

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A myth is a false belief or idea. It is usually held within an old traditional story or it is a way to explain a natural or social phenomenon, typically involving supernatural creatures or events. Myths are stories of transformation. Many people are surprised to learn that ancient myth was often at least as violent, if not more so, than the mayhem of our modern fantasies. For example, The Godfather, and its companion, Godfather II, have been justly praised for excellence in such technical matters as acting and direction; their popularity is enhanced by less pleasant preoccupations: a lust for violence accentuated in recent years; an obsession with the details of organized crime; a cynical belief that only small distinctions separate lawless behavior from ordinary business practice.

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921 Words | 4 Pages

The first mention of vampires in literature seeped through from European folklore. In the mid-1700s, a vampire panic swept the Serbian countryside. Victims reported being visited in the night by their recently deceased relatives or neighbors, who throttled the life from them. Those struck by these visions died within days. When panicked townspeople exhumed the offending corpses, they found "tell-tale" signs of vampirism: hair and nails that continued to grow after death, blood in the mouth, a lack of decomposition.

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823 Words | 4 Pages

Seeing is believing, especially when it comes to the supernatural. Throughout Dracula, by Bram Stoker, the clash between science and the supernatural is a recurring theme. At the time, London, England, was in the middle of modernizing society and the science behind it. This included the invention of the phonograph, typewriter, and the way people were thinking. Because of this new era, the English began to discharge the ideas of superstitions.

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1253 Words | 6 Pages

Gothic horror novel Dracula, the title character makes only several relatively short appearances, some of which are while in disguise. Throughout the novel, Stoker keeps Count Dracula in the shadows, both literally and figuratively. This essay will describe these appearances and analyze Stoker’s use of them to determine what effect they might have on the impression of the character and the novel overall. It will be claimed that by keeping his title character hidden for much of the novel, Stoker’s Dracula is made much more frightening to the reader. Human beings tend to fear the unknown, and by leaving Dracula to the imagination,

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1072 Words | 5 Pages

In the novel Dracula, author Bram Stoker creates a peculiar situation that pushes the main characters to decipher the supernatural from reality. Originally thought of as a myth, Dracula quickly becomes something more than the supernatural. By slowly building the conflict of Dracula himself, Stoker depicts all stages of the change from believing that Dracula is a fictitious character to being face to face with Dracula himself. As he terrorizes the lives of the characters in the novel, they soon come to the realization that Dracula is more than what they formerly believed, and in actuality he is their harsh reality.

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858 Words | 4 Pages

Dracula is about vampires in general, the myth, the mystery and the horror. Even though Dracula wasn’t the first vampire story, it was the first really popular one. Throughout the novel, the author, Bram Stoker, portrays many different aspects of women's roles in the 19th century. With the use of imagery and symbolism, the theme of sexuality and gender roles has an enormous presence in the novel. Social gender roles of women and men during the Victorian Era were very strict and looked upon differently than any other time period.

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1329 Words | 6 Pages

During the Victorian period in which Dracula was written, morals and ethics were often strictly enforced. Some of the morals that were upheld had to do with personal duty, hard work, honesty, as well as sexual proprietary. It was very important during this period that one was proper in their sexual behaviors and conventional in whom they had sexual relations with. However, during this period, many authors sought to challenge the ‘norm’ with ideas of reform and change and Bram Stoker was no exception to this. In his novel, Dracula, Stoker provides a critique of this rigidity in his portrayal of Dracula and Dracula’s relationship with Jonathan Harker.

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