Robert Shaw is the main character in the movie Glory, which tells the story of the first all-black regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Shaw is a young and idealistic officer who is put in charge of the regiment, and he quickly becomes a beloved leader among the soldiers. Despite facing discrimination and racism from his fellow officers, Shaw is determined to lead his men with honor and dignity. He is deeply committed to the cause of abolition and believes that the war is a chance to end slavery and create a more just society. Shaw leads his regiment into battle and is killed in action, but his legacy lives on as a symbol of courage and sacrifice.
Thus, the second category of Stoker’s violence is evident here – the visual aspect. The female vampires, with an immaculate mix of violence and sex, entrance their victims and prey on them. This seems to be a frightening portrayal of a “monster” since we do not expect a monster to attract the victims in using their beauty. However, it is for the same reason, that Stoker’s theme of violence has to be
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).
The major theme in the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker is the threat of female sexual expression. During this time period, female sexual behavior was frowned upon. Women were said to have to be either a virgin or a wife and mother. Social standards were very strict during this time, making it unheard of for women to show sexual expressions. In is era, the main concern was the role women had in society.
Feminist Reading: Dracula between Beauvoir’s and Roth’s Ideas In her article, “Suddenly Sexual Women in Bram Stoker’s Dracula” Phyllis Roth argues that Dracula is a misogynistic novel which is obvious in the system of power in which men are dominant and active figures whereas women are just followers and obedient to their system. She draws on Simon de Beauvoir’s idea that “ambivalence as an intrinsic quality of Eternal Feminine”, in order to show that women are victims to men powers. In her chapter, “Myth and Reality”, Beauvoir discusses the way that anybody in the society, specially men, doesn’t do their job in taking a step towards the oppressed women, but to act just like what the system of myth impose them to act.
. Dracula may have even wanted to create a new vampire monarchy. London would be a great basing for such an endeavor so that’s is the answer to that mystery. What the Count is was answered early on but at first without prior knowledge that Dracula is a vampire he doesn’t seem like anything you’d probably heard of before. Stoker makes a point to not give it away at a glance but at the end of chapter 4 we know what he is.
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
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
The novel containing the most famous vampire that has ever existed is a product of its time. It contains elements of Victorian ideas on sexuality, the height of commercial and military expansion, Victorian medical practices, the struggle between science and religion, and the relationship between Bram Stoker and Henry Irving. Even though the classic story may be a part of its time the story of Dracula lives on even today because according to Thomas Foster a work “…that thinks about human problems, including those in the social and political realm, that addresses the rights of persons and the wrongs of those in power-…” (Foster, 117). In 2010, a modernized version of the classic tale called iDrakula by Bekka Black exists.
Dracula meant a turning point in the vampire genre, Dracula breaks with the ideals of intimacy that were forbidden at the time it was published, after this novel, vampires became rulers and moved to America. Due to American democracy, monarchs were taken apart from the vampiric literature, in the same way that Victorian patriarchal precepts forbade citizens to long for friendship. It is in the twentieth century when vampires implicated themselves in the sources of power; and thus, defining the new concept of the psychic vampire, which do not simply drink blood of their victim, but drain the energy out of them: “They drink energy, emotional generosity, self-control, creativity, talent, memories even (in a recent story) as mundane a life fluid
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,
The topic I have chosen for my essay is how Dracula is meant to remind society of the importance of religion, specifically Christianity, in Stoker’s time. I intend to do this through analyzing symbols in Dracula, drawing connections between these symbols and Christianity, and analyzing the implications Stoker attempts to make. I chose this topic because vampires and their sacrilegious implications, such as burning when touching a cross, have always been of interest to me, hence why I chose to study Dracula in the first place. My thesis is: Stoker uses Count Dracula as symbol to represent what society may become if they abandon religious beliefs.
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.
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.
The tumultuous times of today seem grim and completely unredeemable, however, similar situations may have occurred in the past that ended with a somewhat happily ever after. In times of the past, various vampires, whether through disease, famine, or other plights, popped out of the woodwork, wreaking havoc on society until they were driven back into the shadows. The Victorian Era even went as far as to personify its troubles with this trope of the vampire through Bram Stoker’s novel, “Dracula.” Similarly, now a figurative vampire in the form of immigration seems to seek entry into our society and haunt us with never-ending strife. Thus the people of our society must do what has been done before and put an end to this wave of uncontrolled, mass
