ipl-logo

Common Motifs In Dracula By Bram Stoker

1303 Words6 Pages

Dracula, written by Bram Stoker, created one of the most terrifying characters in literature--Count Dracula, whose heinous passions are preying upon the innocent, helpless and the beautiful. Not only did Stoker create a memorable villainous character, but he also created one of the most memorable gothic horror novels known today. Gothic horror novels are known for being creatively eerie and entertaining, and they all use more than one common motif. Stoker was able to create an absolute masterpiece using plenty of these common motifs. Three common motifs that are seen within Dracula are cemeteries, dreaming, nightmares or sleepwalking, and shapeshifting. These three motifs were prominent in the novel, and were used to create one of the …show more content…

Our sleepwalker in Dracula is Lucy, and her act of sleepwalking is what causes her vampirism. In chapter eight, Mina records a night of Lucy’s sleepwalking activity and the horrors that follow. Mina wakes up one night with a horrible sense of fright and finds that Lucy is not in her bed. She sets out to find Lucy and discovers her sitting in their favorite seat just across the harbour to the East Cliff. As Mina approaches Lucy, she sees a dark figure with a white face and red eyes leaning over her. Mina runs toward Lucy and finds her with her head lying over the back of the seat, with no living thing about her. Mina soon discovers two red marks on Lucy’s neck and believes that these were caused by her trying to tighten a shawl around her. Little does Mina know that this is just the beginning of Lucy’s transformation into a …show more content…

The reader is always wondering about Lucy’s sleepwalking and where she will end up at in the morning. Sleepwalking not only keeps the reader curious about where Lucy will end up at, but also curious about her health. With Lucy’s sleepwalking, she becomes very ill and eventually needs multiple blood transfusions just to keep her alive. She also appears more beautiful when asleep and more sick when awake. The shapeshifting motif is also seen widely within the gothic horror genre of novels. Stoker uses this motif as the transformation between Dracula and different animals he changes into. Some of the transformations seen are Dracula turning into a bat and wolf, both are significant. Howling wolves are seen throughout the whole novel and foreshadow Dracula’s arrival. Dracula changing into a bat is a widely seen transformation within vampire movies today, however the transformation into a wolf is seen more within

Show More
Related

The Dynamic Character In Lucy Westenra In Dracula By Bram Stoker

394 Words | 2 Pages

In Dracula Lucy Westenra is a dynamic character. Lucy is portrayed as a dynamic character because of how she changes throughout the novel. Lucy was a young and innocent girl with morals. Although she had a faint desire to have a strong sexuality towards men, her weakness was abused by Count Dracula and changed her entirely. Lucy was transformed into a vampire which increased her sexuality in result her chastity and innocence were destroyed.

Read More

Theme Of Deception In Bram Stoker's Dracula

778 Words | 4 Pages

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,

Read More

Examples Of Communicable Disease In Dracula

2358 Words | 10 Pages

Anthony Belfatto Brit Lit Honors Mr. Hoerner 10/20/14 Vulnerable to the Unknown Women in elegant dresses with umbrellas perched upon their shoulder; men in suits carrying with them their ever so confident stride; children wide-eyed and observant to the changing world around them -- these are the things that could be seen in a single snapshot of the Victorian Era. However, what would be overlooked in such a picture is an alternate dimension to the world at the time which caused ominous rifts to ravage society: fear. This often forgotten element of the Victorian Era was so disquieting yet influential that it made its way into the very fabric of Victorian culture, including its literature. For example, the fear of communicable disease during the Victorian Era could be seen as a subtle influence on the main ideas of the novel Dracula, by Bram Stoker.

Read More

Comparison Of Dr. Seward And Renfield In Dracula By Bram Stoker

556 Words | 3 Pages

Has one ever seen a pale, shadowy figure in real life before? Dracula is a suspenseful novel written by Bram Stokers and readers delight in the fact that there are characters with many differences in personality, in attitude, or even in appearance. A prominent example of two characters is Dr. Seward and Renfield. They differ in how they see the world and in how they think.

Read More

Violence In Bram Stoker's Dracula

1461 Words | 6 Pages

Bram Stoker, describes one of the verbal taboos of the Victorian era, violence, through the representation of vampires as “monsters” through the point of view of their victims in his novel Dracula. Stoker portrays violence in three distinct categories- physical, visual and psychological. Each one of these categories is described by one of the antagonists in the Novel, with Count Dracula as the physical aspect of violence, his underlings, the female vampires as the visual and Renfield, the patient at Dr. Seward’s mental asylum, as the psychological aspect of violence. This essay looks at the portrayal of such Categorical violence as different renditions of a “monster” and considers why Stoker would segregate violence in such a manner.

Read More

Dracula Comparative Essay

2242 Words | 9 Pages

Dracula is an 1897 gothic novel written by Bram Stoker that tells the story of an English solicitor named Jonathan Harker who takes a business excursion to the town of Transylvania where he stays at the castle of Count Dracula. The story is a mysterious and eerie tale with a multitude of quirky and peculiar characters that all add to the grotesque atmosphere. Nosferatu is a 1922 film directed by F.W. Murnau set in the fictional German city of Wisborg which follows estate assistant Thomas Hutter as he ventures to Transylvania to sell a house to Count Orlok. The extremely influential German expressionist silent film utilizes light and shadow to bring a bleak and desolate tone to the film and creates an atmosphere that is equally stunning as it

Read More

Lucy Westenra In Dracula

825 Words | 4 Pages

Slowly through the chapters Lucy’s tempting sexuality is more lightly brought up. In one of her may letters to Mina, Lucy tells her about the three proposal she got that day and asks her why they cannot:” […] let a girl marry three men, or as many as want her, and save all this trouble.” Through her liberal dealing with sexuality, Lucy is crossing mentally boundaries set up by the social convention of society as it was immoral and forbidden for women in

Read More

Women In Dracula Essay

696 Words | 3 Pages

As she is sick, Arthur gives her a blood transfusion to try to help her become better but when it does not work, she is stabbed in the heart to go back to her original beauty and die. Lucy in the book shows how the ideal Victorian woman can so suddenly turn into the bad, evil, sexual woman that was unacceptable. Throughout the novel, Bram Stoker showed in detail what was considered to be the ideal Victorian woman through the character Mina. He also showed how women were sexualized, misbehaved, and evil through the behaviors of Dracula’s three daughters.

Read More

Desire In Bram Stoker's Dracula

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

Read More

Who Is Bram Stoker's Dracula?

340 Words | 2 Pages

Topic 1 Bram Stoker was born November 8, 1847 in Dublin. Stoker wrote 12 novels, including the legendary novel Dracula. Written in 1897, Dracula was initially going to be named The Undead. Many have their own opinion as to what motivated Stoker to write this novel full of suspense, horror, and mystery. Of course, there were other stories about vampires and mystical creatures written before this novel, but up to this day Dracula has kept its fame and people continue to read this thrilling novel as generations go on.

Read More

Sexual Hypocrisy In Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'

1777 Words | 8 Pages

Here the audience can see that Lucy is introduced first, which suggests she is of high importance when compared to previous ‘Dracula’ adaptations. If you break down the stage direction, it vividly describes two conflicting elements in Lucy’s character. The first being her flirtatious and sexual nature which contrasts with the description of Lucy being on a swing which represents her innocence and childlike character. She is mainly described as a child emphasising that Lucy, along with other Victorian women, has been conditioned to act in a way which sees women as objects who aren’t allowed to express their rational sexual desires. The reason why these two aspects are so contrasting is that having sexual desires as a woman is seen as a form of corruption which contradicts with her supposed innocent and pure child motif.

Read More

The Importance Of Dracula In Stoker's Dracula

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,

Read More

How Does Dracula Influence Frankenstein

1091 Words | 5 Pages

Influences and a Legend Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula and Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein both introduced two of the most petrifying characters in Gothic Literature. Both Dracula and Frankenstein's “ The Monster” demonstrated elements of dread, horror and pain. Even though both characters have similar characteristics Dracula is by far more spine chilling than Frankenstein because of how gruesome it is as well as apart from how Dracula is full of bloodthirsty vampires, many deaths and a unique dark gothic tone. However the real question is what was Bram Stoker's inspiration ? What was it that made him come up with such a evil character like Dracula.

Read More

Examples Of Duality In Dracula

1114 Words | 5 Pages

The way in which Stoker distinguishes a duality present in Lucy is through the shifting perspectives told by multiple characters, the structure of the novel is heavily based on intertextuality in this light. The structure of the multi-faceted narrative reveals how certain characters are unable to cope with the duality present in Lucy. The male characters, specifically, project the idea of a duality in Lucy in order to comprehend how she so easily shifts states between being ‘the pure woman’ and ‘the fallen woman’ - terms first established in the Victorian era. This projection is not only endorsed by the male figures in the book, but the character of Mina Harker as well confirms the notion, whom Stoker constructed of representing the ideal standard

Read More

Fear In Dracula

811 Words | 4 Pages

“Fear can challenge our sense of humanity and understanding of the world” This is a broad statement and in a book with over 300 pages, I will be focusing on certain parts in each of the books. Proving that fear can and really does challenge our sense of humanity and understanding in the world, from the start of the book where they tried to make up a rational solution to make this all seem like it wasn’t real, to actively fight against the evil they had so vehemently protested against existing. Bram stokers 19th-century fictitious Gothic novel 'Dracula ' is incredibly complex with many different characters from the meek and underestimated Mina, to the courageous and respected Van Helsing.

Read More

More about Common Motifs In Dracula By Bram Stoker

Related Topics

Open Document