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How Does Bram Stoker Present Social Issues In Dracula

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Dracula by Bram Stoker, is the original vampire book, the one that started it all, from it derived the now so beloved and famous teen-romance vampire genre, like Twilight. Although Dracula is not remotely like the sparkle-in-the-sunlight, falling-in-love-with-mortals vampire any more than Harry Potter is like the Wicked Witch of the West. Dracula is a gothic horror novel set in Transylvania and England during the Victorian Era. The story is told in letters, diary entries and newspaper clippings, from the viewpoint of several different characters. This allows for a wide variety of viewpoints that highlight happenings in Dracula as well as present the social issues pertained within. While it contains action, suspense, horror and romance, it also …show more content…

Young, unmarried (aka virgin), pure to be specific. As Thomas C. Foster says “[The Count is] alluring, dangerous, mysterious, and tends to focus on beautiful, unmarried...women”, and the Counts first victim is Lucy. The reason that Lucy ends up turned into a vampire and is then killed is because of the limitations placed upon her by society and also the way she is treated by men. One of the main issues is that society expects women to be picture perfect and not show that they have any issues, which is why Lucy’s problem is detected so late. Mina is absolutely horrified with the thought that anyone could find out about Lucy’s sleepwalking incident and keeps it under tight wraps, she says “but for her reputation in case the story should get wind” (103). And Lucy is constantly trying to hide how exhausted she is, “the mask fell from her face” (119), as well as her teeth marks “how she could have been drained of so much blood with no sign to show for it” (139). If she had told Dr. Van Helsing, who started treating her per Arthur (her fiance’s) request, about them sooner, he would have known about her problem earlier. When he first inspects her, he already says it is a situation of “life or death” (123). Then there is the whole issue of her outdated medical treatment where blood transfusion seems to be the only operation …show more content…

Stoker explores and shows this idea both through Count Dracula himself, as well as through the situational irony of the men almost killing to women by the same fate due to their ignorances. This topic is also prevalent in Stoker’s time in society so Dracula is in part a response to the ideas about women’s roles and the uprising of the New Women and essentially pointing out the flaws in society. As Thomas C. Foster said “ghosts and vampires are never just about ghosts and vampires”, so while Dracula is one of the first gothic horror books that sets the tone for all others to follow, it is so much more than just a thriller, it’s an

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