Dracula (Bram Stoker)

Since the Middle-Ages vampires have inspired authors but only one of them has remained famous: count Dracula. Evoking the name both fascinates people and makes their flesh creep, even though they know that the creature that sleeps in coffins and drinks blood never existed. But are we really sure of that? This is what we are going to see here, as well as all the aspects that make the story of Dracula attractive and captivating.

Dracula has been famous since 1897, when Irish writer Bram Stoker imagined a story mixing fiction and reality together. His hero was inspired by one of the best-known figures of Romanian history, Vlad III Basarab, nicknamed “Vlad Dracula” (the Dragon) ou “Vlad Tepes” (Vlad the Impaler). Born in 1431, Vlad Tepes was a cruel ruler who hanged, burned or impaled his enemies. He was prince of Walachia between 1456 and 1462. Walachia formed with Moldavia and Transylvania what is known today as Romania. The legend has it that the place, especially Transylvania, where Bram Stoker’s story is set, possesses lots of magnetic fields and its inhabitants are gifted with extra-sensory perception. Moreover, the place abounds with dense and dark forests, dangerous roads winding through them and castles. The ideal place to make a traveler’s skin crawl, isn’t it?

Bram Stoker’s novel begins with Jonathan Harker, a young English lawyer, paying a visit to Count Dracula in Transylvania, with whom he must conclude an estate transaction. Soon, Harker discovers his host has supernatural powers and that he keeps him prisoner. Nevertheless, he manages to escape and returns to London. Meanwhile, Dracula embarks for England, sustaining himself by drinking the blood of the crew members. There, he meets Mina, Harker’s fiancée, and her friend Lucy whom he will turn into a vampire. Aware that she has been infected with the curse of vampirism, doctors and friends try to protect her by placing garlic in her room to keep Dracula at bay. But the latter enters the room and transforms Lucy into an undead. Her friends will have no other choice but to destroy her in order to save her soul.

Back to England, Harker decides to join the party led by Professor Abraham Van Helsing and track Dracula. But he has bitten Mina and as she is about to drink his blood and become a vampire too, Dracula’s enemies use crucifixes to repel the vampire. He flees before reaching his goal but, thanks to Mina’s supernatural links with the vampire, her friends eventually find him in his castle, where they manage with difficulty to get rid of him by driving a stave into his heart. The final scene shows Dracula’s body turning into dust.

Like Frankenstein, another Gothic novel written in the 19^th century, Dracula has never been out of print since 1897, and it was so successful that lots of movies have appeared since. The first motion picture was produced in 1921 and the genre has continued to appeal to film directors. Nowadays, Twilight, Vampire Diaries or even Chica Vampiro are very popular among youngsters and will continue for years and years. People have always taken so much delight in horror tales that the genre is not close to disappear. And who could complain of it when one is given the opportunity to read masterpieces such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula?