ipl-logo

How Does Bram Stoker Present Social Issues In Dracula

1425 Words6 Pages

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 Then there is the whole issue of her outdated medical treatment where blood transfusion seems to be the only operation …show more content…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

Show More
Related

Women's Role In Society In Dracula By Bram Stoker

213 Words | 1 Pages

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.

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

Theme Of Corruption In Bram Stoker's Dracula

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.

Read More

What Does Religion Symbolize In Dracula

1196 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More

Summary Of Homosexuality In Bram Stoker's Dracula

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).

Read More

The Oppression Of Women In Bram Stoker's Dracula

1218 Words | 5 Pages

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

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

Gender Roles In Bram Stoker's Dracula

1350 Words | 6 Pages

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

Read More

Sexuality In Dracula

691 Words | 3 Pages

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

Read More

Dracula And The Anxieties Of Victorian Culture

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

Read More

The Real Monster In Bram Stoker's Dracula

1450 Words | 6 Pages

Bram Stoker’s, Dracula is a classic gothic horror novel with a very unique style. Stoker tells his tale through many different characters, he uses journals, newspaper articles, and letters between his characters to craft his tale. He is able to compose a complex tale by weaving together many different narratives. Though one crucial narrative is excluded by Stoker, Dracula himself never takes the role of narrator. He is portrayed as a demon and inhuman beast that seeks to destroy all that is pure and good.

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

The Supernatural And Reality In Bram Stoker's Dracula

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.

Read More

Sexuality And Gender Roles In Bram Stoker's Dracula

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.

Read More

Cold War Relationship

751 Words | 4 Pages

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,

Read More

More about How Does Bram Stoker Present Social Issues In Dracula

Related Topics

Open Document