The Mystery behind the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker

Perhaps the most impossible situation that a person could be into is be imprisoned in a haunted castle housed by weird people and be caught in a situation wherein there is no way out but maybe in the end, believing that you can will be a great help to strengthen your will to survive. Jonathan Harker’s experience in Count Dracula’s castle did not simply end it in escaping from the Count and from his wicked castle. Instead, it was the start of a much more serious talk about the society and about life.Despite being a horror novel, Dracula gave a clear view of a life that a person should have involving transformation, religious beliefs and even sexuality and its boundaries thus, the novel holds a clear issue of several aspects in life pointing in four major topics. The novel Dracula did not simply talked about the horror of being with the vampires but it showed a society in its near transformation, erasing every mark of innocence and purity.The novel Dracula did not support just any myth or legend but, it made a new way to discover and pin point critical issue happening in the society and the every normal day of a human being thus it leads us into analyzing the whole novel and figuring out what is the hidden message behind the horrific story. Thesis Statement: Bram Stoker’s Dracula did not just retell a story of people affected by Count Dracula, instead, he told a story of a changing society and the effects that it will give to the rest of the humanity.With Count Dracula in the story, Stoker told a story of transformation and a battle between the good and the evil. Literature Review: Bram Stoker: The Author of a legendary vampire story On the eight day of November 1847, Bram Stoker was born in Clontarf, Ireland (Miller, n. pag). Son of a civil servant and a charity worker, his mother, also a writer, he enjoyed every story she told her. He was a sickly boy although his childhood but an intelligent one (Douthat and Hopson , n. pag. ).In 1867, he graduated in Trinity College majoring in Mathematics and later on joined the Irish civil service. He also worked as a freelance journalist and wrote drama critics (Miller, n. pag. ). He became a good friend of Henry Irving and he managed the Lyceum Theatre owned by the English Actor until his death in 1906 (Encarta, n. pag. ). Aside from Dracula, Stoker’s first stories were children stories. His stories were not given much appreciation at that time but when he released the novel â€Å"Dracula† in 1897, It became the great hit as time goes by.Bram Stoker, Abraham Stoker (Encarta, n. pag) by birth died in 1912 (Douthat and Hopson , n. pag. ). Dracula: Backgrounder Bram Stoker’s Dracula was not his first novel but it is his greatest literary achievement even if it was not a big hit on its first release (Douthat and Hopson , n. pag. ). The continuous printing of the novel up to the present reveals its success to readers all around the world. Thus, the success of thi s novel showed that the people are really interested with horror stories. It marked the coming of the â€Å"horror† genre in the novels.Although it was focused in telling a horror story, Bram Stoker emphasized some points necessary in our lives thus giving the readers a hint of what it could be if something like in the story happens in real life. The novel was about Count Dracula, the king of the vampires and the group of young noble men who chases him and kills him in the end. It was a horror novel included in the gothic genre written in 1891 to 1897 in London England and was published by Constable in 1897 in an English language (Douthat and Hopson , n.pag. ).. The whole paper is mostly made up of journals written by the characters in the novel. From the first person perspective, the conversation shifts into several people with the tone of melodramatic, righteous and dark. Set in the nineteenth century Eastern Europe and England, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Mina, Lucy, Jon athan, Quincey, Arthur, Val and John tried to stop the Evil Count Dracula from transforming people into vampires and killing more and more (Douthat and Hopson , n. pag. ). Dracula: SummaryThe story of the novel â€Å"Dracula† started in a journal entry of Jonathan Harker in one of his business travels in Transylvania for a real state transaction with a person named Count Dracula. On his way to the Eastern European country, he decided to write down his travel in a journal and later share it to his girlfriend and fiancee named Mina. Although he as warned by the people and was even given protection such as crucifixes, he was determined to continue the transaction and did not pay too much attention with the warnings of the local peasants (Stoker, 1-26).When he reached Count Dracula’s castle, his suspicions disappeared when he was welcomed by a man but during his stay in the castle, he was frightened by some circumstances which drew him investigating. When he determined tha t he was already a prisoner in the castle by no other than Count Dracula, he attempted to escape but all he found were locked doors all over the castle (Stoker, 29-51). In his sleep, he removed the crucifix given to him and was somehow â€Å"Attacked† by three voluptuous and seductive women who were also vampires like Count Dracula.Before they were able to have him, Count Dracula came and saved him (Stoker, 68-73). On the other hand, his fiancee was having a continuous exchange of letters with her friend named Lucy who was talking about her marriage proposals from three men named John Seward, a doctor, Arthur Holmwood, a noble man and the one she choose to marry and lastly was from Quincey Morris (Stoker, 98-109). The whole adventure started when Mina visited Lucy in Whitby and was saddened by the fact that her fiancee haven’t arrived yet. In her stay with Lucy, she found out that she was sleep walking mostly at night.To help her, she talked to Dr. Seward and they trie d to help Lucy but in hopelessness, Dr. Seward asked for the help of his mentor Van Helsing who also tried his best to revive Lucy (Stoker, 113-170). Jonathan who already reunited with his fiancee after having brain fever asked Mina to hide his journal and open only if it is needed. Upon knowing the situation of her friend through Steward, she gave him the journal and Jonathan started a new one after knowing that something like his experienced happened to Lucy. In hopelessness, the older doctor tried to save Lucy through Garlic powers.The latter mixed tradition, belief and modern science to save Lucy but in the end, she died and belong to the â€Å"Un-dead† (Stoker, n. pag). Now chasing Count Dracula, Van Helsing created a group to chase the Count in exemption of Mina who will later on become the Count’s next target. Although it was hard for Holmwood to kill his beloved Lucy, they killed her to save her soul now that she is also a vampire killing children. Mina on the other hand was attacked by the Count in her sleep, unaware that she was already a victim of Count Dracula’s goal to turn a person into a vampire (Stoker, n.pag). The band travelled miles over seas and land to capture the Count and when they did, they killed him and Mina became human again while Quincey Morris died of a fatal wound (Stoker, 653-684). Women in the Victorian Society When it comes to the status of women in the society, there is a big debate on their existence. Although they were mostly treated with respect, it is also visible that men do not look at them as equal. There are several stories about the women of the past centuries and how they live up their life being just a second class citizen in the world made only for man.There are also a lot of historical contexts about the women suffrage and the movements which fought hard enough to have a fair and equal treatment between the men and the woman. Now, there is a difference between the women of the past and the Vi ctorian women. Hearing the word Victorian would made one think that it is such a glamorous and social word created for the members of the higher society, the rich and the famous but what is in there with the Victorian women that made them famous? Victorian era lasted for 64 years and there were numerous changes both in the society and the women’s attitudes right before the century ended.Victorian era was a very long year or moment of prosperity thus there were several strict laws or perhaps moral codes (Thomas, n. pag). Victorian women were women of good qualities. At a young age, the Victorian women are being groomed and taught of certain things to prepare them before they enter courtship and get married. They are expected to be weak and incapable of making decisions. She is the man of the house, only in the house. Her major role is to bear children, prepare the food and maintain a smooth atmosphere in the family (Thomas, n. pag).Although the above paragraph states the gener al status of Victorian women in the society, among their race, there are still some differences between the classes. Victorian women or wife of a wealthy man is her husband’s social representative and spends most of her time either writing or reading or sewing and many more while the poor women are not as lucky as the Victorian women (Thomas, n. pag). The greatest detector of differences was the clothes worn by the women. While wealthy wives wear the traditional Victorian clothes made up of high quality materials, the poor women do not share the same luxury (Thomas, n.pag). Social Issues visible in the Novel Although the novel focused more in the story of Count Dracula and his plans to take over humanity and turn each one into vampires, there are slight attachments in the social situation that is visible during those times in the Victorian society. Stoker touched a important aspect of the Victorian society, the Victorian women who were commonly house people thus in his novel, he characterized them as a typical women of the Victorian era, heroines of the novel, Mina and Lucy possessed the attitudes of a typical women of their time but with a twist.The transformation of women of their time is one of the great issues in the novel. With the fast changing prosperity and development of the era, there are also several changes both in the society, the women and the men alike. With just this issue of transformation, it opens the issue of sexual boundaries and sexuality. While men were considered as strong individuals, women are considered as weak people with no power to make decisions except when it comes to daily meals for the family.They are not expected to work outside of the house, especially the rich ones and at the same time, they practice etiquette in the right and proper way. Treated as second class citizens with respect, the women were precious gems of the era (Thomas, n. pag). Thus it matters the most if these women who practiced innocence and purity t urned into someone different perhaps turn into a seductive and sexually starve women, there is a big debate of the idea that these precious gems will turn into a destroyer of innocence. At the same time, the seal boundaries talked more on the gender bias issue that there is in the society.Perhaps, there is no need to explain further why this one is mentioned because while reading the book, one will understand that the women of that time do not have the same rights as the men. Even Van Helsing does not want Mina to join them in their chase with the Count. This one is enough evidence that the women are treated with a different way than the men. While men are heroes, women are damsels in distress. Drawn Conclusion Bram Stoker’s Dracula talked more on vampires and Count Dracula’s evil plans, each part of the novel symbolized the people of the society particularly the Victorian women.The transformation of a Victorian woman to a seductive and sexually active woman is one of the transformations that are very threatening to the humanity. Not that women should remain tame but because it erases innocence that one holds. At the same time, the sexual attraction that a woman can exercise could make a man down for her thus making him just a follower. The novel simply talked transformation in a way that it will not be seen directly except of keen observance in the characters and the flow of the story.Although there is a little bit unclear instances, the mere fact that Count Dracula chooses to victimize women means that there is an on-going transformation with the Victorian women and in order to somehow state the transformation or the changes, Stoker probably thought that using them as characters in the novel, preferably as heroines, Mina and Lucy stood for the Victorian women, an image of class, wit and elegance while the three vampire women who attacked Harker in the first chapter showed the drastic change of the women of the Victorian era being seductive and sexually attractive to the eyes of the men.The battle between the good and the evil is shown by the characters of Count Dracula and the group of Van Helsing. While Count Dracula wanted to changed humanity into vampires and makes the human beings as the primary source of food instead of humans searching for foods, in the Count’s dream, men will be the food and the vampires will be the killers. Although this is such an impossible thing, we must take it into account that the vampires are part of legends and myths which can somehow be considered either true or not.While we are stressing the reality that the novel wants us to see, there are certain issues that must be given more attention. The horror that the book brings to the readers and the chills it gives and the shivers it lets to run down in our body, there is a much more important idea and issue that should be given a tougher concentration. The massacre and the killings that the vampires give us are already present in the s ociety. Although it does not actually look like the vampire killings, the murder that there is in the society is part of the horror.The evil deeds of the evil people who can do crimes are characterized by Dracula’s evil plans for the humanity. We must take it into account that the crimes are evil things and evil deeds to thus we experience horror almost everyday, When it comes to sexual boundaries, this is focused in gender bias because in the Victorian era, there were no justified rights for the women and no one treats them as their equal. As women of the society, they have less rights and equality is out of reach. Although some would consider these women as precious gems, not all will give them the same attention thus this leads to inequality and gender bias.The third issue is the sexuality. In Victorian era and most of the time, men are the only ones who can make indecent proposals or ask for sex, women on the other hand practices innocence when it comes to sex thus they w ere trained to be glamorous and innocent starting from and as they grow up. The actuations of the vampire women do not belong to the women of the Victorian era. Aside from being timid and shy, these women do not need to be sexually attractive because in the first place, they are already beautiful and well trained individuals.The Count Dracula stands for evil while the women vampires stand for the near transformation of the Victorian women because of the development of the society. From being a timid and shy girl, the Victorian women could turn into someone who can lure men and deceive them. The novel did exactly a great job in painting a futuristic image of women and the society thus; Stoker provided an initial statement of the future women. Works Cited â€Å"Bram Stoker,† Microsoft ® Encarta ® Online Encyclopedia 2008 ahttp://encarta. msn. comâ€Å"Count Dracula,† Microsoft ® Encarta ® Online Encyclopedia 2008. http://encarta. msn. com Douthat, Ross and Hopson , David. SparkNote on Dracula. 11 Jul. 2008 . Miller, Elizabeth. â€Å"Dracula’s Homepage†. 2006. http://www. ucs. mun. ca/~emiller/index. html SFReader. â€Å"SFReader Book Review†. 2000-2008. http://sfreader. com/Home/BookReview/tabid/55/Default. aspx? book=463 Stoker, Bram. â€Å"Dracula†. 1897. Constable, England Thomas, P. W. â€Å"A Woman's Place in C19th Victorian History†. 2001-2008. http://www. fashion-era. com/a_womans_place. htmaga