1. Dracula: History, Myth, and Popular Culture

2. Literature: Bram Stoker 1847-1912
November 8th, 1847: Abraham “Bram” Stoker born in Ireland
Attended Trinity College in Dublin
8 years of civil service
1872: First story, The Crystal Cup
1878: Begins managing Henry Irving at London’s Lyceum Theatre
1897: Dracula published under the name: UNDEAD
April 20, 1912: Dies in London

3. The Death of the English Empire Foreigners = Dracula
At its peak, the
English Empire ruled
over 1/3 of the world
including (450 million people).
“ The Sun Never Set on
the English Empire”
(roughly)

4. Bram Stokers’ Cultural Influences 1890-1896
An Extraordinary and Shocking History of a Great Berserker Called Prince Dracula
Researched eastern European vampire folklore (especially Transylvanian myths)
1890: Met Hungarian professor, Arminius Vanbery (based Van Helsing character )
*Beserkers- Norse warriors who fought nearly uncontrollably, trance-like.
A major underlying sexual connotation Stoker uses as an implication of homosexuality is the excessive use of blood throughout the novel itself. Blood and sexuality within Dracula were very closely related, “reflecting the Victorians belief that blood is sperm” therefore, when feeding upon blood and exchanging bodily fluids “(it) can be associated with intercourse” (Pektas 2). The Victorians most likely concluded that blood did indeed have such an intimate relation to spermatic fluids as a result of shared biological characteristics between the two substances themselves. Sexually transmitted diseases, such as syphilis, had been just recently discovered, and were still relatively enigmatic to a dreading society. Discerning that blood could pass disease/ (identified as “bad blood” at the time) from one being to the next and then discovering that spermatic fluids held the same ability (regarding STDs), a connection between the two was inevitably made, such as “(linking) sexuality to syphilis, and (also) to blood” (Anttonen 9). It was “a time when sexually transmitted diseases (had become) a part of everyday life (Anttonen 9) as a result of being one of the newest and most disturbing scientific discoveries made at that point in time. Thus it became a popular conversational and debatable topic among the intellectual, reinforcing the value of the belief via repetition and the occasional misinterpretation (which distorted its severity and caused it to become more intensely feared).
• An epidemic of vampirism swept through Eastern 17th -18th century.
• The legend of the vampire was and still is deeply rooted in Transylvania.
•The number of reported cases rose dramatically in Hungary and the Balkans.
•Travelers returning from the Balkans brought with them tales of the undead, igniting an interest
in the vampire that has continued to this day.
•Philosophers in the West began to study the phenomenon.
•It was during this period that authors and playwrights first began to explore the vampire legend.
•Stoker's was inspired by the reports coming from the Balkans and Hungary.
•It is natural that Stoker should place his great vampire in Transylvania.
•Vlad Dracula would stand out as one of the most notorious rulers of the selected region.
• He was obscure enough that few would recognize the name and those who did would know him
for his acts of brutal cruelty; Dracula was a natural candidate for vampirism.

5. Cultural Influences cont.
Syphilis in Victorian England (world wide epidemic)
* “Blood is sperm,” (hunter of virgins, blood transfusions, homosexuality)
*Prominent symbol in Gothic works often intimating
the paradox of the human condition.
Represents life and death, or guilt and innocence.

6. History: Vlad III Prince of Wallachia, House Dracul 1431-1476 (never associated with vampires)
Murdered between 40,000 and 100,000 people
Mid-15th century: German, Russian, and Turkish pamphlets (establish notoriety)

7. Romania

8. Literature: Bram Stoker’s Dracula 1897
Epistolary novel – letters, journals
2nd to the Bible in sales
Inspired or influenced over 700 films
Never been out of print
Translated into every major language in the world “

9. Dracula’s Castles
Bran Castle- the only castle in Transylvania. Vlad Dracul’s real castle is elsewhere in ruins.
Poenari Castle- Vald rehabilitated this fortress because of its defense potential.

10. Dracula’s Castles Hunyad Castle
Legend has it that Vlad was prisoner here and tortured for seven years

11. Elizabeth Bathory 1560 a real Vampire?
A Hungarian Countess
Practiced Witchcraft and S&M
Aspired for eternal youth and bathed
in the blood of young virgins
Opened a school for young women
Charged with 600 murders and was
sentenced to be sealed up in her own
castle. (died four
years later, diary
found)
She died four years later. Inside her room they found a diary that she wrote during her imprisonment.

12. Transformations History: Vlad III Dracula 1431-1476
Literature: Bram Stoker’s, Dracula
Theatre: Dracula & 1927
Film: Nosferatu–Shadow of the Vampire

13. Film: Interpretations

14. Symbolism: Religious
The most effective weapons in combating supernatural evil are symbols of unearthly good.
Indeed, in the fight against Dracula, these symbols of good take the form of the icons of Christian Faith, such as the Crucifix, Communion Wafer, Holy Water, blessing of stakes (weapons).

15. Symbolism: *Femme Fatale
Sexual proficiency threatens to undermine the foundations of a male-dominated society by compromising men’s ability to reason and maintain control.
For this reason, the sexually aggressive women in the novel must be destroyed.
*Femme fatale (fatal or deadly woman)

16. Characters Dracula:
Transylvanian count who has been "Un-Dead" for several hundred years.
He keeps his vitality by sucking blood from live victims which motivates his desire to move from the barren and desolate Transylvania, which is sparsely populated, to the more populous England.

17. Characters . . . Jonathan Harker:
London solicitor who is sent to Transylvania to finalize the transfer of real estate in England to Count Dracula.
He keeps account of his stay at the Castle Dracula by journal. Harker is engaged to Mina Murray.

18. Characters . . . Dr. Abraham Van Helsing:
M.D., a Ph.D., and a D.Litt., as well as an attorney.
He is a lonely, unmarried old bachelor who is both kindly and fatherly.
From Amsterdam has knowledge of medicine, folklore and the occult.
He is also chiefly in charge of tracking down Count Dracula.

19. Characters…Miss Mina (Wilhelmina) Murray:
Fiancée of Jonathan Harker, love desire of Dracula
An assistant schoolmistress
She will later become Mina Harker and will assist in tracking down Count Dracula.

20. Characters…Miss Lucy Westenra:
Mina Murray's closest friend.

21. Characters…Dr. John Seward:
Head of a lunatic asylum. He is an intelligent and determined man.
One of Lucy Westenra's suitors

22. Characters…Arthur Holmwood:
A vigorous man, twenty-nine years old, only son of Lord Godalming
His affection for Lucy convinces him join in hunting Dracula.

23. Characters…Quincey P. Morris:
Another of Lucy's suitors.
Morris is an American from Texas.
His great wealth allows him to pay many of the expenses incurred in tracking down Dracula.

24. Characters…R. M. Renfield:
Fifty-nine-year-old mad patient of Dr. Seward; he also comes under the influence of Dracula.

25. Literature: the Count or the Voivode 1897
Vlad Tepes
He was not very tall, but very stocky and strong, with a cold and terrible appearance, a strong and aquiline nose, swollen nostrils, a thin reddish face in which very long eyelashes framed large wide-open green eyes; the bushy black eyebrows made them appear threatening. His face and chin were shaven, but for a moustache. The swollen temples increased the bulk of his head. A bull's neck connected [with] his head to his body from which black curly locks hung on his wide-shouldered person.
--Niccolò Modrussa
Count Dracula
His face was strong -- a very strong -- aquiline, with high bridge of the thin nose and peculiarly arched nostrils; with lofty domed forehead, and hair growing scantily round the temple, but profusely elsewhere. His eyebrows were very massive, almost meeting over the nose, and with bushy hair that seemed to curl in its own profusion. The mouth, so far as I could see it under the heavy moustache, was fixed and rather cruel looking, with peculiarly sharp white teeth; these protruded over the lips, whose remarkable ruddiness showed astonishing vitality in a man of his years.
--Bram Stoker