Benutzer:Cupkake4Yoshi/Count Dracula
| Dracula character | |
|---|---|
| Dracula, as portrayed by Barry Moser and reproduced on the front cover of a 2001 edition | |
| Count Dracula | |
| Gender | Male |
| Ethnicity | Székely |
| Occupation | Transylvanian nobleman |
| Allies | Brides of Dracula Renfield |
| Enemies | Jonathan Harker Abraham Van Helsing |
| First appearance | Dracula |
| Created by | Bram Stoker |
Count Dracula is a fictional character, the titular antagonist of Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula. Some aspects of the character may have been inspired by the 15th century Wallachian Prince, Vlad III the Impaler.
Biography
Count Dracula (his first name is never given in the novel) is a centuries-old vampire, sorcerer and Transylvanian nobleman, who claims to be a Székely descended from Attila the Hun. He inhabits a decaying castle in the Carpathian Mountains near the Borgo Pass. Contrary to the vampires of Eastern European folklore which are portrayed as repulsive, corpse-like creatures, Dracula exudes a veneer of aristocratic charm which masks his unfathomable evil.
His appearance is described thus:
In his youth, he studied the black arts at the academy of Scholomance in the Carpathian Mountains, overlooking the town of Sibiu (also known as Hermannstadt) and became proficient in alchemy and magic (Dracula Chapter 18 and Chapter 23).
Later he took up a military profession. According to Abraham Van Helsing:
Using the black arts, Dracula returned from death as a vampire and lives for several centuries in his castle with his three wives for company.
In the 19th century, however, he acts on a long contemplated plan for world domination, and infiltrates London to begin his reign of terror. He summons Jonathan Harker, a newly qualified English solicitor, to provide legal support for a real estate transaction overseen by Harker's employer. Dracula at first charms Harker with his cordiality and historical knowledge and even rescues him from the clutches of his three bloodthirsty brides. In truth, however, Dracula wishes to keep Harker alive just long enough for his legal transaction to finish and to learn as much as possible about England. Before leaving for England, Dracula descends upon the village below his castle and feeds on an inhabitant, thus physically rejuvenating himself.
Dracula then leaves his castle and boards a Russian ship, the Demeter, taking along with him boxes of Transylvanian soil, which he needs in order to regain his strength. During the voyage to Whitby, a coastal town in northern England, he sustains himself on the ship's crew members. Only one body is later found, that of the captain, who is found tied up to the ship's helm. The captain's log is recovered and tells of strange events that had taken place during the ship's journey. Dracula leaves the ship in the form of a large wolf.
Soon the Count is menacing Harker's devoted fiancée, Wilhelmina "Mina" Murray, and her vivacious friend, Lucy Westenra. There is also a notable link between Dracula and Renfield, a patient in an insane asylum compelled to consume insects, spiders, birds, and other creatures — in ascending order of size — in order to absorb their "life force". Renfield acts as a kind of motion sensor, detecting Dracula's proximity and supplying clues accordingly. Dracula begins to visit Lucy's bed chamber on a nightly basis, draining her of blood while simultaneously infecting her with the curse of vampirism. Not knowing the cause for Lucy's deterioration, her companions call upon the Dutch doctor Abraham Van Helsing, the former mentor of one of Lucy's suitors. Van Helsing soon deduces her condition's supernatural origins, but does not speak out. Despite an attempt at keeping the vampire at bay with garlic, Dracula entices Lucy out of her chamber late at night and drains her blood, killing her.
Van Helsing and a group of men, including Jonathan Harker who had escaped his captivity, enter Lucy's crypt and kill her reanimated corpse. They later enter Dracula's residence at Carfax Abbey, destroying his boxes of earth, thus depriving the Count of his ability to refuel his powers. Dracula leaves England to return to his homeland, but not before biting Mina.
Eventually, the group of heroes — Lord Godalming, Van Helsing, Dr. Seward, Jonathan Harker, Mina and Quincey Morris — track the Count back to Transylvania and, after a vicious battle with Dracula's gypsy bodyguards, destroy him. Dracula's death is shorn of the rituals enjoined by Van Helsing. Despite the popular image of Dracula having a stake driven through his heart, Mina's narrative describes his throat being cut by Jonathan Harker's "kukri" knife and his heart pierced by Quincey Morris's Bowie knife while he is being transported in his coffin en route to Castle Dracula (Mina Harker's Journal, 6 November, Dracula Chapter 27). This omission of the proper rituals of destruction lead Auerbach and Skal, in the introduction to the 1997 Norton critical edition of Dracula, to express doubts whether Dracula has really been finished off. Dracula, they suggest, may rise again.
Personality
Although he usually dons a mask of cordiality to deceive others, Dracula often flies into fits of rage when his plans are interfered with. When his three brides attempt to seduce and consume Jonathan Harker, Dracula physically assaults one and ferociously berates them for their insubordination. Though he is capable of forming romantic ties, he freely admits that they are temporary.
Dracula is very passionate about his warrior heritage, emotionally proclaiming his pride to Harker on how the Székely people are infused with the blood of multiple heroes. He does express an interest in the history of the British Empire, speaking admirably of its people. He has a somewhat primal and predatory world view; he pities ordinary humans for their revulsion to their darker impulses.
Though usually portrayed as having a strong Eastern European accent, the original novel only specifies that his spoken English is excellent, though strangely toned.
Powers, abilities and weaknesses
Count Dracula possesses numerous different supernatural abilities inherent in vampirism, along with additional skills derived from his abilities as a sorcerer, making him far more powerful than the creatures of traditional Eastern European folklore. He has enormous physical strength which, according to Van Helsing, is equivalent to 20 men. Being undead, he is immune to conventional means of attack. The only ways to definitely kill him are decapitation, shooting him with a sacred bullet and stabbing through the heart with a wooden stake. The Count can defy gravity to a certain extent, being able to climb upside down vertical surfaces in a lizard-like manner. He is a skilled hypnotist, who is also able to command the loyalty of nocturnal animals such as wolves and rats. Dracula can also manipulate the weather, usually creating mists to hide his presence, but also storms such as in his voyage in the Demeter. He can shapeshift at will, his featured forms in the novel being that of a wolf, bat, dust and fog. He requires no other sustenance but fresh blood, which has the effect of rejuvenating him. Without it, he physically ages at an accelerated rate.
One of Dracula's most mysterious powers is the ability to transfer his vampiric condition to others. As seen with Lucy and Mina, transfer of the curse is done through a bite to the throat, allowing the Count to ingest the victim's blood at the same time. The victim is transformed gradually, exhibiting physical weakness and a fear of holy objects, the transformation being complete when the body is completely drained. Oddly, all other vampires present in the novel are female and there is no mention of Dracula's victims on the Demeter ever becoming undead themselves. However, it is implied through his encounters with Mina Harker that a person to be turned must also consume some of Dracula's blood ("By her bed stood a tall, thin man, clad in black. His face was turned from us, but the instant we saw we all recognized the Count-in every way, even to the scar on his forehead. With his left hand he held both Mrs Harker's hands, keeping them away with her arms at full tension; his right hand gripped her by the back of the neck, forcing her face down on his bosom. Her white nightdress was smeared with blood, and a thin stream trickled down the man's bare breast which was shown by his torn-open dress.") Although his acolytes share the Count's enhanced strength, thirst for blood and aversion to holy objects, they do not possess the more advanced powers of their creator, such as shapeshifting and weather manipulation.
Dracula's powers are not unlimited though. He is much less powerful in daylight, though the sun is not fatal to him, as in later adaptations. He is repulsed by garlic, crucifixes and Host, and he can only cross running water at low or high tide. He is also unable to enter a place unless invited to do so; once invited, however, he can approach and leave the premises at will.
Famous sayings of Count Dracula
- "Welcome to my house! Enter freely. Go safely, and leave something of the happiness you bring! ... I am Dracula; and I bid you welcome" (Jonathan Harker's Journal, 5 May, Dracula Chapter 2).
- "Listen to them - the children of the night. What music they make!" (Jonathan Harker's Journal, 5 May, Dracula Chapter 2: in reference to wolves).
- "You will I trust, excuse me that I do not join you, but I have dined already, and I do not sup." (Jonathan Harker's Journal, 5 May, Dracula chapter 2) This line was changed in the 1931 film adaptation to the more famous, "I never drink... wine." [1]
- "We Szekelys have a right to be proud, for in our veins flows the blood of many brave races who fought as the lion fights, for lordship." (Dracula Jonathan Harker's Journal Chapter 3).
- "Yes, I too can love. You yourselves can tell it from the past. Is it not so? Well, now I promise you that when I am done with him you shall kiss him at your will." (Dracula Jonathan Harker's Journal Chapter 3; Dracula admonishing his brides for having attempted to seduce Jonathan)
- "And you, their best beloved one, are now to me, flesh of my flesh; blood of my blood; kin of my kin..." (Dr. Seward's Diary, 3 October, Dracula Chapter 21: to Mina)
- "Your girls that you all love are mine already!" (Dr. Seward's Diary, 3 October, Dracula Chapter 23)
In popular culture
Dracula is arguably one of the most famous villains in popular culture. He has been portrayed by more actors in more film adaptations than any other horror character.[2] Actors who have played him include Max Schreck, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jr., John Carradine, Christopher Lee, Frank Langella, Louis Jourdan, Klaus Kinski, Duncan Regehr, Gary Oldman, , Gerard Butler and Marc Warren. The character is closely associated with the cultural archetype of the vampire, and remains a popular Hallowe'en costume.
Allusions to history
Following the publication of In Search of Dracula by Radu Florescu and Raymond McNally in 1972, the supposed connections between the historical Transylvanian-born Vlad III Dracula of Wallachia and Stoker's fictional Dracula attracted popular attention.
Historically, the name "Dracula" is derived from a secret fraternal order of knights called the Order of the Dragon, founded by Sigismund of Luxembourg (king of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia, and Holy Roman Emperor) to uphold Christianity and defend the Empire against the Ottoman Turks. Vlad II Dracul, father of Vlad III, was admitted to the order around 1431 because of his bravery in fighting the Turks. From 1431 onward, Vlad II wore the emblem of the order and later, as ruler of Wallachia, his coinage bore the dragon symbol.
Stoker came across the name Dracula in his reading on Romanian history and chose this to replace the name (Count Wampyr) that he had originally intended to use for his villain. However, some Dracula scholars, led by Elizabeth Miller, have questioned the depth of this connection. They argue that Stoker in fact knew little of the historic Vlad III except for his nickname. There are sections in the novel where Dracula refers to his own background, and these speeches show that Stoker had some knowledge of Romanian history. Yet Stoker includes no details about Vlad III's reign and does not mention his use of impalement. Given Stoker's use of historical background to make his novel more horrific, it seems unlikely he would have failed to mention that his villain had impaled thousands of people. It can be assumed that Stoker either simply did not know much about the historic Vlad III, or did not intend his character Dracula to be the same person as Vlad III.
While Vlad III was an ethnic Vlach, the fictional Dracula claims to be a Székely. Plus, the vampire's aversion to holy objects is uncharacteristic of Vlad, who was in fact part of a Christian order and often invoked the name of God in his actions.
The story of Dracula as Stoker created it and as it has been portrayed in films and television shows ever since may be a compound of various influences. Many of Stoker's biographers and literary critics have found strong similarities to the earlier Irish writer Sheridan le Fanu's classic of the vampire genre, Carmilla. In writing Dracula, Stoker may also have drawn on stories about the sídhe — some of which feature blood-drinking women.
It has been suggested that Stoker was influenced by the history of Countess Elizabeth Bathory, who was born in the Kingdom of Hungary. It is believed that Bathory tortured and killed up to 700 servant girls in order to bathe in or drink their blood. She believed their blood preserved her youth, which may be connected to the element of Dracula in which Dracula appeared younger after feeding.[1]
See also
- Dracula
- Dracula in popular culture
- Count Orlok
- Varney the Vampire
- Vlad III the Impaler
- Elizabeth Báthory
Notes
References
- Clive Leatherdale (1985) Dracula: the Novel and the Legend. Desert Island Books.
- Bram Stoker (1897) Dracula. Norton Critical Edition (1997) edited by Nina Auerbach and David J. Skal.