Rebekah Prieto
Cline
English 102
6 November 2011
“Death is Prevalent”
From the beginning of their supposed existence, vampires have been a superficial creation developed to represent fear, which humans have in the expectance of death. In a time when death from disease or plagues was ever present, the creation of a monster was developed to explain the fear of the unknown. Take for example the novel written by Bram Stoker, Dracula; this novel was a dark a deadly tale of sadness and death. However, if one looks at the deeper meaning behind the story, they will see that it really displays the tragedy that lies behind the fear of death and the desire for eternal life.
Author Bram Stoker, who was for many years a very ill child, was plagued from an unknown disease that prevented him from even the most basic luxuries in life, such as walking. (Hall 383). It was not until he was seven years old that these aliments seemed to diminish into thin air (Hall 383). Hall notes that during Stoker’s childhood, “his mother told him stories of her own childhood during the cholera plague in Sligo, recounting instances of life interment and corpse burnings” (Hall 383). Perhaps it was his fear of death, which plagued him in his early childhood, that developed the great monster in his mind who we all know as Dracula. At almost every turn of the page in this novel, the reader is informed of some deathly instance, and it seems as though death and mutilation are ever prevalent. Count Dracula works his destruction in the form of a plague, and, although the characters in the novel seem to know that death is inevitable, they tend to surround themselves with superstitions and religious convictions in hopes that they will remain untouched by this devilish inevitability. His tempting manor draws his victims in until he is ready to unleash his deathly plague. Just as in any common illness, the Count chooses his victims wisely. The death he brings is to the young and weak souls of women and children. The first victim of death is grotesquely described when Jonathan Harker describes, “If my ears did not deceive me there was a gasp and a low wail, as of a half smothered child” (Stoker 591 -592). This tears at ones heart and makes one sick to their stomach to even think about; these feelings are so very much the same as when we are told sickening news of an illness or death that has fallen upon a young child. The similarities between death and the superficial creation of vampires are unparallel.
Dracula has been an ever popular novel from the time it was first published. In fact it has never been out of publication since day one. Countless reenactments of the novel and displays or creations of vampires have been developed. Although their appearance and attitudes have been changed through out the years, vampires undoubtedly still display eternal life and the depiction of death. This simple fact demonstrates how the human race, despite the advances of modern medicine, still fears or dreads the possibility of unknown or unexplainable death. Stoker writes “Ah, it is the fault of our science that it wants to explain all, and if it explain not, then it says there is nothing to explain” (Kindle Locations 2781-2782). This is much the same as the way we treat death from unknown causes; if science cannot provide us with an explanation, the shadow of death must have only been from natural causes.
Lurking in the shadows of ones mind is the ever famous Count Dracula. He is the representation of sickness, or the fear of sickness, that surrounded people of the time period in which it this novel was written. It was a time when many individuals fell ill from things such as plagues and unfortunate illnesses. It was also a time when the advances in modern medicine that we have today were not yet available. So, rather than searching for an explanation, the frequency of death needed to lie in someone’s hands. Those hands were none other than the ones belonging to Dracula.
Almost every character in the novel Dracula is related to death or illness. Jonathan Harker for example, comes down with a very serious brain fever which he can best explain as the working of Dracula. Lucy becomes very ill and rests on and off the brink of death throughout a substantial portion of the novel; this is also only explained as the workings of the unknown, Dracula. Lucy’s mother is also very ill throughout the novel, and her final death comes through the workings of none other than, you guessed it, Dracula! Dr. Van Helsing, well, he is a doctor, who studies bizarre illnesses; he is always surrounded by ill individuals, and he makes it his life‘s journey to conquer this plague known as Dracula. Dr. Seward runs and insane asylum, thus he is constantly surrounded by sick individuals. One in which always makes reference to his “Master“, also known as Dracula. Mina becomes very ill, and it is thought that the only way to save her life is to rid the world of the monster of death known as Dracula. The evidence of unknown death and illness are shown to the reader time and time again through the presence of Dracula.
Vampires have always seemed to hold the myth defying ability to change and challenge the rules we know to exist. It was even noted by author Stacey Abbott that, “Dracula is represented as a creature that eludes these attempts at categorization, just as he defies nineteenth-century concepts of time, gravity, and physics, by personifying the changing definitions of these accepted scientific principles.” (17 ). Dracula, and other gothic vampires, represent the way that death has many different faces, and has the ability to mutate its self into many different things. Just as death, vampires are sneaky and have a sense of vengefulness about them. Take for example Dracula who has this very educated disposition about himself, he appears to know of many different cultures and times of existence. Death has been around from the beginning of time and seems to gain knowledge through its years. As a population, humans search for answers and strive to elongate life.
Death, although sometimes frightening, is the one sure thing in life. All humans will all die some day, and it can only be hoped that it will be a gentle and peaceful happening. Stoker writes, “For life be, after all, only a waitin' for somethin' else than what we're doin', and death be all that we can rightly depend on“(Kindle Locations 1101-1102). The fear is that death will come by means of some horrific event or disease. The monster created as Dracula represents the more frightening ways that one can die. For even in the 1992 film version of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the story begins with the unfortunate death of Dracula’s wife. Dracula then sets out to bring torture and death to everyone he comes in contact with. Like death, no one is safe from the fangs of Dracula’s vengeful search for revenge. Death often brings uncertainty and fear; Dracula brings the fear for certain death and suffering.
The doctors in the novel, Van Helsing and Seward, represent the desire for the knowledge to cure all aliments that bring forth certain death. Dracula, like death and disease, stumps the doctors, and, despite their unfailing devotion, Dracula continues to stump their knowledge. Dracula, like many diseases, is very sly and sneaky. Michael Delahoyde writes, “Dracula ultimately wants to blend in, to draw no attention” (pp 11). Dracula can change his appearance in order to deceive his victims. Disease can travel through the air virtually unseen. Dracula has the power to change the weather and create thick fog in order to hide or travel undetected. Disease can be present with someone for a long period of time before it ever shows its presence. The similarities between Dracula and death or disease are almost uncanny.
Vampires, even with all of their terror and grotesque displays of vicious acts, are desirable beings in the minds of humans. Though they may never admit their desires, humans show their lust for the lives of superficial beings, known as vampires. It is the search of every medical researcher to find some cure that will help to elongate the lives of humans, and the illusion of vampires seems to holds the key to eternal life. People desire the eternal life that vampires hold, because they fear death. Not a day passes when the news reports the death of some poor individual who was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Death has no sympathy; much like the supernatural vampires of the nineteenth century. Dracula was written as a horror story, and that is a message it portrayed very well. Stoker writes, “If ever a face meant death, if looks could kill, we saw it at that moment” (Kindle Locations 3087-3088). Vampires have a look that can kill just like death yet they remain eternally in this world, again, just like death. The very fear of staring death in the face can bring a person to commit acts that they never thought possible. Thus, the idea of selling your soul to a vampire in return for eternal life may not be an idea that would be so far fetched.
Vampires, like Dracula, represent so many disturbing things. Ed. Laurie Di Mauro writes “…critics find that the vampire in literature serves to reflect society’s views on sexuality, death, religion, and the role of women, and functions as a psychological metaphor for humanity’s most profound fears and desires.” (391) Fear and desire are two things that drive humans to the depths of their souls. Fear of the unknown, fear of death, fear of disease, and fear for their souls can have such a psychologically damning affect. The desire for more, for life, and for a world where there is no fear can drive one to the edges of earth.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula was, at one time, thought to be flawed. He wrote with such detail, being certain to not leave any strings unattached. He focused on all of the modern technologies of the time, and he described the scenery so well that one can not help but to have a perfect vision of the places in their mind. However, this was all just a façade for the deeper horror that stirs in a readers mind. Vampires, and undoubtedly the vampire known as Dracula, may represent many things. However, none is greater than the representation of death, fear, fear of death, and fear of disease that are present through every and any looking-glass that one may be looking through. Vampires, especially that created in Dracula, are nothing more than superficial creations developed to help justify death and disease.
Work Cited
Abbott, Stacey. Vampires: Life after Death in the Modern World. University of Texas Press. Austin, TX. December 2007. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/yavapai/docDetail.action?docID=10245687
Delahoyde, Dr. Michael A. BRAM STOKER: DRACULA. Washington State University. Fall 2009. Web. November 6, 2011. http://public.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/dracula.html
Di Mauro, Ed Laurie. Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Vol. 46. Detroit: Gale Research. 1993. P391-454
http://galenet.galegroup.com.proxy.yc.edu/servlet/LitCrit?vrsn=1.0&dd=0&srs=AL L&locID=yava&b1=KE&srchtp=b&d1=TCLC_046_0006&c=10&ste=10&stp=Date Descend&dc=tiPG&d4=0.50&n=10&docNum=FJ3556550006&b0=Dracula&tiPG =0
Hall, Sharon K. Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Sharon K. Hall. Vol. 8. Detroit: Gale Research, 1982. p383-403
http://galenet.galegroup.com.proxy.yc.edu/servlet/LitCrit?vrsn=1.0&dd=0& srs=ALL&locID=yava&b1=KE&srchtp=b&d1=TCLC_008_0024&c=20&ste =10&stp=DateDescend&dc=tiPG&d4=0.50&n=10&docNum=FJ35497500 24&b0=Dracula&tiPG=0
Stoker, Bram (1995-10-01). Dracula. Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition
