Abstract This paper gives an analysis of the character Renfield in the book "Dracula" by Bram Stoker. The paper discusses the development of this character based on excerpts from the book and also talks about the progression and importance of Renfield's role in the book.
From the Paper "And then there is Renfield who can best be described as a raving lunatic occupying one of those cold, padded cells in Dr. Seward's sanitarium for the mentally deranged. Although somewhat incidental and secondary to the plot of the novel, the character of Renfield is nonetheless quite fascinating and as a literary character follows a distinct line of development, beginning in Chapter 5 with the 25th of April entry in Dr. Seward's diary"
Tags: Dracula, Bram Stoker, Renfield, gothic literature
Abstract This paper explores horror actor Peter Cushing's ancestral ties with Sir Henry Irving, the great English stage actor and Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula, in the context of the English stage and Irving's tours of America, from 1881 to 1889. It examines Bram Stoker's work in April of 1912, that used a new medium of artistic expression and brought Stoker his posthumous fame--the motion picture industry which catapulted Stoker's Gothic novel to the darkest realms of cinematic exploitation and created a new cultural icon in the form of a blood-sucking, malevolent human monster known as Count Dracula.
From the Paper "While Ellen Terry and Henry Irving enjoyed some days of quiet and peace in the privacy of their drawing-rooms and staterooms, the rest of the (touring) company, the tons of scenery, the hundreds of costumes, the 1,200 wigs, the small-part actors, the supers and Bram Stoker, were sailing to America in a slow boat called The City of Rome." Although this quote from Madeleine Bingham's 1978 biography Henry Irving and the Victorian Theatre seems at first glance rather superficial, two specific points deserve closer examination--first, Henry Irving, the legendary British thespian, the Sir Laurence Olivier of his time, who dominated the English stage for more than thirty years and was the first actor to be knighted 1, and actress Ellen Terry, his longtime leading lady, must have thought of themselves as blue-blood royalty, due to sailing to America from Liverpool in October of 1883 aboard the luxurious steamship Britannic on their first U.S. tour; and second, as the remainder of the company trudged along on that "slow boat" The City of Rome, Irving's business manager, the Dublin-born Bram Stoker, apparently was not considered as deserving of better quarters during the long voyage across the Atlantic to the theatrical citadel of New York City. However, this may have been in Stoker's favor, for it is quite possible while separated from Irving's manic desire for control that Stoker retreated to his conjoined cabin ( No. 100, a few steps from the promenade bar 2 ) and took pen in hand to scribble in a "dogeared notebook (with) hieroglyphical entries in thick, half-obliterated pencil," 3 more notes concerning his ten years of research into the occultic sciences."
Abstract This paper considers Bram Stoker's "Dracula" from a feminist perspective. The paper analyzes the novel's depiction of female sexuality and male dominance and incorporates Victorian ideals of womanhood.
From the Paper "While Bram Stoker's "Dracula" is often considered simply a thrilling Gothic tale of vampires and the eternal struggle between good and evil, there is much sub text underlying the novel that speaks to the social conventions of the period in which Stoker wrote the text. Indeed much can be gleaned about Victorian society from the narrative in "Dracula" as Stoker's characters all serve to embody various societal ideals or concerns."
Abstract This paper looks at Bram Stokers classic horror tale, "Dracula". It analyses the novel's message both on the basic, obvious level as well as its deeper more hidden messages. It looks at how "Dracula" represents the Victorian suppression and fear of the female sexuality and how in many ways vampirism is equated with sex and the 'forbidden'.
From the Paper "Bram Stoker's Dracula is probably the best-known vampire story of our time. Almost all of us know who Dracula is even if we have not read the book. It is a classic work of fictional terror and has produced the prototypical vampire, an image that is still embedded in popular culture today. Dracula also looks at sexuality in the Victorian Era as well as religion in the era. Bram Stoker uses this novel to convey the beliefs, fears, and thoughts of the people of the Victorian Era. Stoker based his novel on a real historical figure, Vlad who lived in the 15th century and ruled what is now a part of Romania. "
Abstract This paper examines how, in Bram Stoker's "Dracula", Dracula represents evil and how underlying this evil are the mores of Victorian England, which created stereotypes for women that centered on purity, motherhood and a lack of choice in their sexuality and the rest of their lives. It points out that this novel is often seen as an analogy of the two distinct roles of women in the Victorian society---the mother-wife and the whore. The paper concludes that this novel may be a classic horror tale but reading it from a woman's point of view it is even more frightening.
From the Paper "Stoker introduces the two women, Mina and Lucy, as chaste and good ladies who hold a decent place in society. Mina is a working class schoolmistress, while Lucy is an upper-class lady of leisure. The most either can hope for in their lives is to marry and become respectable wives and mothers. Lucy writes to Mina, "You and I, Mina dear, who are engaged and are going to settle down soon soberly into old married women, can despise vanity." Thus, Lucy writes what most women felt in Victorian times. Their only goal was to remain true (pure) to one man, raise children, and be seen but rarely heard."
Abstract This paper explains that Bram Stoker wrote "Dracula"in 1897 during the Industrial Revolution. For the first time in history, people were seeing how science and technology could change their lives and society, for better and for worse. The writer points out that superstition and fear of science continued well into the early 1900s. The writer then describes how each of the main characters in "Dracula" believes in the scientific rationality, yet ends up combining both science and superstition to succeed against the evil of Dracula.
From the Paper "When Lucy dies, Van Helsing's use of the superstitions are magnified and even Seward does not understand why these actions are being taken. Van Helsing places garlic all around the room and Lucy's coffin and places the crucifix over her mouth. He then completely surprises Seward by asking if he can cut off her head, take out her heart, and stuff her mouth with garlic. Naturally, Seward is upset about this mutilation, but Van Helsing reminds him that "there are strange and terrible days before us.""
Abstract In this article, the writer discusses that Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' highlights the collection of nineteenth century stories forming a popular vampire lore that has been well-received by the public. The writer maintains that unbeknown to the public at the time, Stoker's 'Dracula' actually poked holes in the Victorian society's need to adhere to strict cultural values that they believed would cause a cultural decline. Stoker's 'Dracula' and the vampire tales of the nineteenth century portray the evils that the people of the Victorian Era fought hard against: corruption, homosexuality, sexuality, and the transgression of boundaries or actions that violated the moral codes and cultural values of the time. The writer concludes that Stoker's Dracula offers a chance for readers to live out their sexual desires and fantasies that are deemed as taboo.
From the Paper "Stoker relays his story through the memory of his characters; their recollections of the events are presented in dairy journals and news clippings. Also, the clinical reports of Dr. Stewart and Dr. Abraham Van Helsing contribute to the narrative, as well as the ships logs that record journeys of the characters, specifically Jonathan Hacker and Count Dracula.
"The novel is essentially split into two parts that tell the story of Dracula's attempt to turn two different types of women into vampires: Lucy Westenra and Mina Hacker. The central victim in the first half of Stoker's novel is Lucy Westenra who emulates the perfection of the Victorian woman. It is clear that Stoker projects Lucy as an angelic Victorian symbol to illustrate how her own demise will be brought about by her desire for the wicked Count Dracula. Drawing close to death, Lucy slowly becomes a vampire. Yet even in this representation, Stoker still projects Victorian beauty onto the vampire Lucy.. "
Tags: cultural, values, sexuality, Victorian, fantasy
Abstract This paper examines how Bram Stoker portrays erotic elements and religious undertones in his novel "Dracula". The author provides a brief analysis of the novel and looks at the way the time in which it was written impacted its acceptance.
From the paper:
"Bram Stoker is known by the world primarily as the author of the powerfully unforgettable novel Dracula. The novel introduces us to the diabolical character?Count Dracula. Dracula was written during the late-Victorian age, when "sex was likely to seem bestial, polluting, depleting, deathly, satanic, a fever in the blood, the theme of dreams, the nature of madness, and the lurking menace in the shadow of every scene" (Stade VI). Obviously very much ahead of its time, the public nevertheless openly accepted Dracula."
Abstract This paper examines English propriety in the story of "Dracula" by Bram Stoker. The writer suggests that if restrictions are merely barriers to temptation, then it seems that no other author is more familiar with this idea than Bram Stoker. The writer further discusses how, by using "Dracula" as a cautionary tale, Stoker creates his story with the supreme antagonist restricted from a direct voice or expression. The writer also explains how Stoker allows his readers to watch events unfold according to the perceptions of the narrators. The writer describes Dracula as the uninhibited alpha male, untouched by the most confining restraint of English society--the suppression of sexual desire. The writer concludes that Stoker uses the character Dracula as a manifestation of the hidden desires of Van Helsing and his Englishmen avengers to illustrate the fatality of straying from English propriety.
From the Paper "Stoker first generates a group of unreliable narrators to establish their vulnerabilities as humans to temptation and fallibility. He chooses a style of narration that is undependable in itself to stress the skewed nature of the story. Told through a series of journals, newspaper articles, diaries, and letters, the reports of events are subjective and affected by unique perspectives and individualistic observation, the latter having a heavy reliance on a sharp memory. For a story with events as spectacular as in Dracula, it seems implausible then, particularly when they recall dialogue, for each narrator's recollection to be flawless and perfect retainers of events."
Tags: vampire, English, propriety, public, scrutiny, sexuality, victimization, of, women
Abstract This paper discusses and analyzes the different themes that are prominently illustrated in Bram Stoker's novel, "Dracula". The theme of traditional (Eastern) versus the modern (Western) society and culture; the prominence of religious meanings and themes; and the powerful and essential role of women in the novel. Each theme is thoroughly discussed, and examples from the text are provided to illustrate effectively the theme that is being discussed.
From the Paper "The conflicting nature of traditional with modern culture is a primary theme in the story: all throughout the novel, it can be observed that the reader can see numerous references of differences between the society and customs of the East with that of the West. In the novel, The East, or the town of Transylvania, is romanticized, with a vivid description of its characteristics fully recorded in Jonathan Harker's journal entry during his travel from England to Transylvania. Much of these depictions of a romanticized East are evident in Chapter 1, wherein Harker described the countryside and its inhabitants with the eye of a good observer, a remarkable trait needed for any individual who has grown up and lived in a modern society such as England."
Tags: Transylvania, Count, Lucy, Westerna, Mina, Harker, Quincey, and, Arthur
Abstract The paper introduces the characters, settings and themes of Bram Stoker's classic novel, "Dracula", written in 1897. The paper shows that the book contains beautiful and exotic settings and a theme of the forces of great evil pitted against the religious and sexual mores of the day. It shows too that superstitions about evil and how to fight it also play an important role in this book.
From the Paper "The central character, Count Dracula, is a character of towering malevolence, a nobleman from a foreign country who intends to prey on young, virtuous English women for his own purposes. While he often isn?t physically present in the action of the story, the presence of his influence is often felt. While he does not pursue the young women for overtly sexual reasons, the idea of a high-born nobleman taking advantage of young women, especially those of a lower class than he, draws a parallel to the concerns many parents had of the day that their daughters might be seduced by men above their class only to be used and then cast aside."
Tags: Lucy, Westenra, Mina, Murray, Jonathan, Harker, Transylvania, Professor, Van, Helsing
Abstract This paper examines the novel " Dracula", written by Bram (Abraham) Stoker in 1897. It describes the novel as the modern tale of the anti-hero as a fallen angel of the romantic dreams. The paper illustrates Stoker's use of the first person character voice, as the reader is taken through the dark gothic tale through the diaries of the participants. In addition, the paper examines sexual symbolism, the empowerment of women and the submissive attitude of the men.
From the Paper "The Book "Dracula" has created many arguments of blood, power, sexual symbolism, political and even magical discussions. The main question that needs to be asked concerning the book and even the author is what Stoker had in mind when he created this masterpiece. After all the book itself is Stokers? Frankenstein monster, he has taken from nearly every aspect of his life that has been influential to him in some way. From the holidays in Cruden Bay and Whitby to the people in his life who became the characters of his book."
This paper examines the ways in which the legend of the vampire, encased within Bram Stoker's "Dracula", emerges as an index of the position of women amid fin-de-siecle decadence: Sexual repression, plot, characters, morality, symbolism, women as victim
6,300 words (approx. 25.2 pages), 11 sources, 1990, $ 135.95
From the Paper "The purpose of this research is to examine the ways in which the legend of the vampire, encased within Bram Stoker's "Dracula", emerges as an index of the position of women amid fin-de-siecle decadence. The plan of the research will be to set forth the principal elements of the climate of social and sexual repression that defined prevailing ideas about women in Victorian society and culture, and then to discuss aspects of the novel that show it to be as much (if not more) a product of such closely held attitudes as a commentary upon them. Throughout, reference will be made, from a twentieth-century perspective, to the status of the so-called New Woman, whose identity was at the time of the novel's publication just beginning to emerge.
The power and sensual attractiveness of the vampire offer access to forbidden (sexual) fruit that could not fail to appeal ... "
Abstract This paper on "Dracula" by Bram Stoker focuses on the famous novel and its theme. This paper highlights the summary of the novel and emphasizes on the arguments put up by critics regarding the theme. This paper focuses on how each character in the novel plays an important part in establishing the theme of the fiction.
From the Paper "Bram Stoker is considered to be the world's most famous horror novelist. Though he has produced a number of short stories, essays and novels, his classic novel Dracula, published in 1897 remains to be his most praised and admired work. Dracula is a story, which focuses on a Transylvanian vampire that comes to London. One of the most pressing themes in the novel, Dracula focuses on the Fulmination of Woman Sexual Expression. The theme reinstates how women behavior during that era was delineated by the austere European expectations. Stoker characterizes the status of women and how they were expected to behave by the society through his heroines Mina and Lucy and how their behavior changes to opposite that is unacceptable by the society. "
Abstract In Bram Stoker's "Dracula", desire is represented as monstrous in its resistance to the limiting positions of gender: the fixed roles of male and female. This paper discusses the ways in which desire is configured in the text through the relations of Jonathan, Lucy and Mina to Dracula. It also explains how that desire is also ultimately re-contained.
From the Paper "By associating sexual awakening and nightly desire with physical degeneration, the novel again encodes the notion of sexuality with disgust and disease. Lucy becomes other than herself because of Dracula's awakening of the girl to the pleasures of physical desire. In fact, after she dies and becomes one of the undead, Professor Van Helsing urges Harker to kill Lucy by saying that the walking woman who bears the girl's face is no longer Lucy. Desire renders the girl unlike herself and the novel returns Lucy to a state of innocence again after a stake is drawn through her heart."
Tags: vampirism, Professor, Van, Helsing, Professor, Van, Helsing
