Dracula Exposed In Bram Stoker's Dracula

The Oxford dictionary defines a vampire as ‘a corpse supposed to leave its grave at night to drink the blood of the living by biting their necks with long pointed canine teeth.’ But, as I will explain, there is much more behind this gothic character; a reflection of societal views and values and contextual evidence within their stories help us to understand the world in which they were created. A text from the past, in this case Dracula written by Bram Stoker in 1897, not only helps us to understand the world as it was, but also as it is now, in its textual appropriation Twilight, composed in 2005 by Stephanie Meyer. Today, using these two texts, I aim to persuade you that the appropriation of texts must be retained as part of the HSC Senior Syllabus. The differences in the way the vampires are …show more content…
Big social and technological changes towards the end of the 19th century, saw a society driven by curiosity. This lead to the popular idea of foreign landscape equating to danger. Stoker reflects this idea, being an Irishman living in England, and writing about Romania. Dracula inhabits Transylvania, in a castle like this (*castle on screen*). It is clear that Stoker has given certain characteristics to his Dracula with the intention to scare. Dracula, consistently sinister and evil throughout, represents the unknown in the form of a foreigner, and the dangers that come with it. The death of Dracula and the specifications of the way he was killed, would have provided a comfort of sorts to the early English society, considering the upheaval within society that would have arisen, bearing in mind their superstitious nature, and the fact that a global awareness of vampires still exists. Twilight, on the other hand, is written by an American woman, about events that occur in America, contrasting with Stoker’s take on the fear of the unknown. Stephanie Meyer takes on the idea that the real monsters are