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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 Then there is the whole issue of her outdated medical treatment where blood transfusion seems to be the only operation …show more content…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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Throughout the Victorian era, probably one of the biggest worries was the role of women in society. In “Dracula”, Bram Stoker makes most of the women in his story as very sexual and some as pure. The pure women in society were liked and the impure were considered evil and tempting. Throughout the story, Mina is the perfect fit for the “angel of the house” by remaining smart and loyal and she is seen as heroic and strong in the end because of it. Mina’s relationship with Harker represents the traditional part in society that women should play in the Victorian age.

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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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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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Her life has left her to Dracula, her soul is assumed trapped, and her flesh remains the same. The process even corrupts Lucy into a nightmarish version of herself. In her UnDeath Lucy specifically feeds on the blood of children (Stoker 198). It’s almost like Dracula corrupted Lucy into a dark version of motherhood. Instead of protecting children, she predates

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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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When Lucy turns into a vampire, it is made a point to describe how she appears and behaves in opposition to the Lucy we were introduced to before her death. With Lucy as a vampire it gives her many virtues she didn’t possess when she was alive. In this novel she is portrayed as a predatory. The importance of being a virgin in the 19th century is perceived through Lucy’s transition into a ‘she-devil’ once Dracula takes away her purity. A person like Lucy, her sexuality is viewed as offensive, is apparent that the gender categories are challenging to gender categories more than

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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.

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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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so you know what it is about before I go in to detail about the theme and conflict. Dracula is written in the form of letters and diary entries from his home in Transylvanian to London. Jonathan Harker a young London solicitor go to Transylvanian to help a rich nobleman that want to go to England. Harker is at first impressed by Dracula but is soon creeped out by

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3478 Words | 14 Pages

Trinity Lam ENG 1302 Professor Loubser May 3, 2023 Dracula and the Anxieties of Victorian Culture Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula, explores Victorian anxieties prevalent during the era that the book was written in. In contrast to Western uniformity, the cultural norms in England at the time were outmoded and constrictive; old and conservative values were highly respected and frequently connected with modesty and purity. With the Protestant ideals of Victorian society largely influencing the narrative, Stoker's work tackles the tension between yielding to one's desires and fighting them. Feminist Criticism is a School of Literary Criticism that refers to the masculine language used to subsume the role of women and construct a representation of

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1450 Words | 6 Pages

She is buried and awakes as a monster, she is feeding on the children of the area like a parasite. Van Helsing states they must behead her and stake her through the heart to truly lay her to rest. “When Lucy- I call the thing that was before us Lucy because it bore her shame-saw us she drew back with an angry snarl, such as a cat gives” her Lucy or rather her body is described like and animal very much like Dracula is described by Johnathan when he first encounters the count (Stoker 181). Lucy’s eyes are described as “full of hell-fire” and her gaze once innocent and pure is hateful and evil.

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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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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

Lucy is illustrated as someone who is continuously driven by sexual temptations and flirtatiousness. Stoker puts emphasis on her beauty, which is what grabs the attention of men. Lucy ends up getting killed because her sexual openness was seen as a threat to Victorian society. Stoker uses a character like Lucy in his novel to portray that sexually assertive women who try and use their beauty to win over men will not make it in the Victorian culture. On the other hand, when Dracula intimidates Jonathan during his effort to attack Mina, she reacts in the correct matter of what the Victorian culture would want her to.

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The relationships between United States and Soviet Union had embittered long before the beginning of the Cold War. In 1939, it seemed “highly improbable” (Garthoff, 29) that the two nations would form an alliance due to Stalin’s decision to forge a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany, to ensure security of his own country, in August of 1939 (Revelations from the Russian Archives). Stalin’s decision to form an alliance with Germany deeply affected the relationships between the two countries as Nazi Germany was one of U. S’s enemy during World War II. Additionally, the ways in which Stalin tried to establish security for his own country portrayed him as a potential threat amongst the Allies, especially the U.S and Great Britain. Furthermore,

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