The theme of vampires revived in modern literature after the success of Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
Dracula became a common name for vampires and certain sort of evils described in modern literature.
Dracula was screened by numerous movie makers, it’s plot was remade and enriched by a number of
modern writers. But it’s very interesting that from a number of literary pieces: novels, poems,
legends and sagas, Dracula is nearly the only literary character of the world of evil who is
interesting for modern audience. It’s not a secret that legends and detailed about vampires, witches
and other representatives of the world of evil were very common in mediaeval Europe and survived due
to the superstitious beliefs of Europeans, deepened by the domination of Catholicism and horrors of
Inquisition. Stoker’s novel Dracula appeared to be a uniting link of the world of modernity and
world of mediaeval evils.
Dracula legends goes all the way back to Middle Age Transylvanian legends about bloody and
notorious Prince of Wallachia Vlad Dracula (Vlad the Impaler). Vlad was considered to be a brilliant
militaryman but at the same time he was tyrannical and ruthless to his enemies, he was known for
drinking blood of his enemies, murdering homeless and forcing women to commit cannibalism. The story
of Bram Stoker is about the curse of Dracula descendents which chased these family for centuries.
The story starts as English lawyer John Harker travels to Transylvania to Dracula’s estate to
complete one important transaction. He was impressed by the beauty of Romanian nature, picturesque
views and at the same he was impressed by the terrible poverty and ignorance of peasants who were
scared by vampires and evil forced which reigned in the evil. Everyone mentioned Dracula as the
leader of vampires. Harker was impressed when he met count Dracula, who was a very educated
gentleman with noble and aristocratic manners. Later Harker nevertheless discovered that Dracula had
diabolic nature and that he was a leader of vampires as local people told him. The description of
count Dracula correlates with common observations of foreigners from Western Europe who visited
Eastern Europe and especially Russia in the nineteenth century. Aristocratic manners of educated
noblemen coexisted with hatred and bigotry towards their serfs or peasants. Such dualism and
hypocrisy was one the main reasons which prevented those remote states from gradual development
relying on the achievements of modernity in politics, government, ethics and technology. That’s why
remote mountainous provinces of Romania appeared to be subjected to the brutal forms of evils which
tyrannized its population for centuries. From the other side, even at the end of the story nothing
had reality changed in Transylvania, as even the termination of vampires did not terminate the
system of evils which dominated in the region for years.
The plot of the story perfectly suits Victorian epoch to which it belongs. The second half of the
nineteenth century in England was much dictated by social, ethical and technological changes which
occurred in previous decades, directing the future development of Western society for years. Old
aristocracy was experiencing decline and moral crisis, tradition ethical values were forced out by
changes which appeared in family ethics and sexual ethics and relations between people of different
social classes. Discoveries made in technology, natural sciences, medicine and biology overturned
former views and ideas about the surrounding world destroying religious dogmas which dominated
consciousness of Europeans for centuries. At the same time it was a serious strike on traditional
morality and ethics of Europeans which was based on Christian values. Ideas to abandon former
traditions and beliefs made heroes of Stoker’s novel vulnerable to evil forces represented by count
Dracula and his suite. It’s clearly marked in the novel in the words of old professor Van Helsing to
his protege John Seward: “You are a clever man, friend John; you reason well, and your wit is bold;
but you are too prejudiced. . . . Ah, it is the fault of our science that it wants to explain all;
and if it explain not, then it says there is nothing to explain. But yet we see around us every day
the growth of new beliefs, which think themselves new; and which are yet but the old, which pretend
to be young. . .” (Stoker)
Description of women in the novel Lucy and Mina is also made in Victorian tradition, which despite
the rise of modernism was very strict towards family values and sexual relations. A Victorian woman
could be either a virgin or a devoted mother and loving wife. Her behavior was dictated by strict
morality which did not allow any demonstration of sexuality, which was only permitted in fantasies.
Such attitudes were already survivals in the society with changing morality and declining attitudes
towards religion and Christian ethics. The conflict of human’s sexuality and Victorian morality is
brightly demonstrated on the example of Lucy Westenra, who as a result was tempered by vampire and
turned into demonic creature as well. Continue reading “Short Essay about
Dracula”
