Dracula: History, Myth,
and Literature
Transformations
History: Vlad III Dracula
Literature: Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Theatre: Dracula
Film: Nosferatu–Shadow of the Vampire
1431-1476
1897
1924 & 1927
1922-modern day
History: Vlad III Dracula
Born: 1431 in Sighisoara, Transylvania
Dracula: “Son of the Dragon/Devil”
Second child of Vlad II Dracul, voivode of Walachia
Walachia: principality between the Danube and the
Transylvanian Alps in southern Romania
Voivode (prince and military leader) for 3 separate
periods: 1448, 1456-1462, and 1476
To Romanians: Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler)
To Turks: Kaziglu Bey (the Impaler Prince)
Impalement: preferred method of execution
Unified Walachia - resisted Ottoman advances
Killed while fighting Turks near Bucharest in 1476
1431-1476
History: Vlad III Dracula
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During 2nd reign: murdered between 40,000
and 100,000 people by 1462
Mid-15th century: German, Russian, and
Turkish pamphlets establish notoriety
The Frightening and Truly Extraordinary Story
of a Wicked Blood-drinking Tyrant Called
Prince Dracula.
Nuremberg, 1488: "He had a large pot made
and boards with holes fastened over it and had
people's heads shoved through there and
imprisoned them in this. And he had the pot
filled with water and a big fire made under the
pot and thus let the people cry out pitiably until
they were boiled quite to death.”
An immortal heroic icon
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Never associated with vampires
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1431-1476
Literature: Bram Stoker
1847-1912
November 8th, 1847: Abraham “Bram”
Stoker born in Clontarf, 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
1882: First book, Under the Sunset
1890: First novel, The Snake’s Pass
1897: Dracula published
April 20, 1912: Dies in London
Literature: Bram Stoker’s Influences 1890-1896
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Researched eastern European vampire folklore (especially Transylvanian myths)
An Account of the Principalities of Walachia And Moldavia, An Extraordinary and Shocking History of a
Great Berserker Called Prince Dracula, and The Historie and Superstitions of Romantic Romania
The Un-dead and Count Wampyr
1890: Met Hungarian professor, Arminius Vanbery
Syphilis in Victorian England
Never set foot in Romania
Literature: Bram Stoker’s Influences 1890-1896
Literature: Bram Stoker’s Dracula
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Known as an epistolary novel is a
novel written as a series of
documents. The usual form is
letters, although diary entries,
newspaper clippings and other
documents are sometimes used.
The word epistolary comes from
the Latin word epistola, meaning
a letter.
Authors use this device to add
realism to their works.
1897
Literature: Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Significant plot changes
 2nd only to the Bible in sales
 Inspired over 700 films
 Never been out of print
 Translated into every major
language in the world
 Depicts good vs. evil
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1897
Literature: Bram Stoker’s Dracula
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1897
The novel is considered a work of gothic fiction,
specifically Victorian gothic.
Gothic fiction is a type of literature that combines
elements of both horror and romance.
Although gothic fiction was no longer a dominant literary
genre during the Victorian era, most would say that the
genre was entering its most creative period.
Some examples of Victorian gothic writers:
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Edgar Allan Poe
Charlotte and Emily Brontë (Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights)
Mary Shelley (Frankenstein)
Gothic Literature: Bram Stoker’s Dracula
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Gothic Elements Include:
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A deserted (or sparsely inhabited) castle or mansion in a state of ruins
Labyrinths/mazes, dark corridors, and winding stairs filled with dusty
cobwebs
Hidden tunnels/staircases, dungeons, underground passages, crypts
Limited lighting such as moonlight (usually a full moon), candles,
flashlight, lantern
The setting is usually threatening natural landscapes, like rugged
mountains, dark forests, or eerie moors, exhibiting stormy weather
Dark secrets surrounding some tormented soul who is left in isolation
Ominous omens and curses
Magic, supernatural manifestations, or the suggestion of the
supernatural
A damsel in distress
The damsel’s rescuer; usually a lover
Horrifying (or terrifying) events or the threat of such happenings
Tone in Bram Stoker’s Dracula
The novel displays an overall dark tone. The
impact of Dracula’s actions create a bleak
outlook on the future. This tone allows the
triumph of the protagonists to be enhanced.
The characters, who are respectable and
overall good people, face this evil head on
and triumph. The tone helps to set the odds
against their success but they overcome it.
Imagery in Bram Stoker’s Dracula
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Imagery is heavily used in an effort to enhance
the tone.
The setting of Dracula’s castle and its
appearance is described in detail. Stoker uses
horror so that the reader will remain interested
in the plot. He utilizes imagery when describing
how Dracula would suck the blood out of his
victim and how he attempted to change Mina
Harker into a vampire.
Voice in Bram Stoker’s Dracula
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Stoker utilizes a more personal voice. Rather than Stoker
offering his own voice in the novel, the voice comes directly
from the characters due to his writing style. The novel is
composed of journal entries, letters, and newspaper clippings
written by the protagonists. Through this, they offer their own
opinions on the situation which may vary from highly
optimistic to having a negative outlook on the probable
outcome of the situation.
There isn’t one specific voice and this allows the reader to
have a better understanding of what is taking place.
The novel is written so that the actions and thoughts of the
protagonists are known in detail by the reader.
Importance of Irony in Bram Stoker’s Dracula
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Irony is not very important to the overall
plot in Dracula. Everything is described
and actually is as it seems.
The protagonists are good in every
aspect and the vampires are evil in
every aspect.
This novel is basically the battle between
good and evil with good prevailing.
Literature: the Count or the Voivode
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1897
2 major differences
Count: Castle in Transylvanian Alps
Voivode: Castle in Walachia's foothills
Count: of Szekely blood, from the "northern country"
Voivode: of an older Walachian stock
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2 Major Similarities
Count Dracula describes his royal heritage: "Is it a wonder that we were a conquering race; that we
were proud; that when the Magyar, the Lombard, the Avar, the Bulgar, or the Turk poured his
thousands on our frontiers, we drove them back? [...] To us, for centuries, was trusted the
guarding of the frontier of Turkeyland; aye, and more than that, endless duty of the frontier guard.“
Count Dracula alludes to an "ancestor" who "sold his people to the Turk and brought the shame of
slavery on them!" Vlad III Dracula’s younger brother, Radu, surrendered Walachia to the
Ottomans.
Literature: the Count or the Voivode
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
1897
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
Theatre: Dracula
1924 & 1927
1924: Dracula, by Hamilton Deane, premiered in
Derby, England – popular 3 year tour
3 acts set mostly in a drawing room in London
Count: Raymond Huntley (2000+ performances)
Count: from cadaverous to charming
American entrepreneur, Horace Liveright, bought
rights to the Deane production
John Balderston: young journalist/playwright assigned by
Liveright to 'Americanize' Deane’s script
Toned down theatrical dialogue – structure remained
Huntley turned down role – Bela Lugosi hired (speech)
1927: Dracula opens in Fulton Theatre in New York City
Runs for 33 weeks, earning over $2 million
Film: Nosferatu
1922
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Nosferatu, Eine Symphonie des Grayens (The
Undead, a Symphony of Horror)
Directed by F.W. Murnau (1889-1931)
German Expressionist cinema; silent
Earliest surviving vampire film
Max Schreck as Count Orlok – isolated,
pathetic, and withdrawn
Murnau drew on popular Vampire lore and
Stoker's novel (without permission)
Changed names and setting
Florence Stoker and the British Incorporated
Society of Authors destroyed the original
negatives and most of the prints
Wordy - journal entries, letters, etc.
Straightforward, unromantic, gruesome, cynical
Max Schreck myth
Film: Dracula & Horror of Dracula 1931 & 1958
Dracula (1931): D. Tod Browning
Dracula: Bela Lugosi (speech)
Script draws heavily on stage play
Dracula a suave, continental lover handsome and charismatic
Victorian-era English aristocrat
Omits explicit sexuality
Horror of Dracula (1958): D. Terence Fisher
Dracula: Christopher Lee
Significant changes to novel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVPxAgy7lBA
Film: Dracula
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG-TwX5A49g
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Dracula was played by Gary Oldman
Dracula returns to England to try to find his lost
love
Closest to the novel (characters and journal
entries)
Supernatural Romance
1992
Film: Other Interpretations
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1979-2000
1979: Nosferatu, Phantom der Nacht
(The Undead, Phantom of the Night)
D. Werner Herzog, Count: Klaus
Kinski
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2000: Wes Craven Presents: Dracula 2000
D. Patrick Lussier, Count: Gerard Butler
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Set in America, modern day
2000: Shadow of the Vampire
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Set in Netherlands, not England
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First film to portray Dracula as tragic
figure
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Dracula as “the plague" personified
with
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D. E. Elias Merhige, Count: Willem Dafoe
The making of Murnau’s Nosferatu
no romantic power over mortals
Best Dracula Quotes (clips)
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1995: Dracula, Dead and Loving It
D. Mel Brooks, Count: Leslie Nielsen
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Unpopular parody
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpjQQE7rwr8
Film: Other Interpretations
1979-2000