Dracula has been assigned to many
literary genres including
vampire literature,
horror fiction, the
gothic novel and
invasion literature. Structurally it is an
epistolary novel, that is, told as a series of letters,
diary entries, ships' logs, etc.
Literary critics have examined many themes in the novel, such as the role of women in
Victorian culture, conventional and conservative sexuality, immigration,
colonialism,
postcolonialism and
folklore. Although Stoker did not invent the vampire, the novel's influence on the popularity of vampires has been singularly responsible for many
theatrical,
film and
television interpretations since its publication.
The novel is mainly composed of journal entries and letters written by several narrators who also serve as the novel's main protagonists; Stoker supplemented the story with occasional newspaper clippings to relate events not directly witnessed by the story's characters. The tale begins with
Jonathan Harker, a newly qualified English
solicitor, journeying by train and
carriage from England to
Count Dracula's crumbling, remote castle (situated in the
Carpathian Mountains on the border of
Transylvania,
Bukovina and
Moldavia). The purpose of his mission is to provide legal support to Dracula for a
real estate transaction overseen by Harker's employer, Peter Hawkins, of
Exeter in England. At first enticed by Dracula's gracious manner, Harker soon discovers that he has become a prisoner in the castle. He also begins to see disquieting facets of Dracula's nocturnal life. One night while searching for a way out of the castle, and against Dracula's strict admonition not to venture outside his room at night, Harker falls under the spell of three
wanton female vampires, the
Brides of Dracula. He is saved at the last second by the Count, because he wants to keep Harker alive just long enough to obtain needed legal advice and teachings about England and London (Dracula's planned travel destination was to be among the "teeming millions"). Harker barely escapes from the castle with his life. Not long afterward, a
Russian ship, the
Demeter, having weighed anchor at
Varna, runs aground on the shores of
Whitby, England, during a fierce tempest. All of the crew are missing and presumed dead, and only one body is found, that of the captain tied to the ship's helm. The captain's
log is recovered and tells of strange events that had taken place during the ship's journey. These events led to the gradual disappearance of the entire crew apparently owing to a malevolent presence on board the ill-fated ship. An animal described as a large dog is seen on the ship leaping ashore. The ship's cargo is described as silver sand and boxes of "mould", or earth, from Transylvania.
Soon Dracula is tracking Harker's devoted fiancée,
Wilhelmina "Mina" Murray, and her friend,
Lucy Westenra. Lucy receives three
marriageproposals in one day, from Dr.
John Seward;
Quincey Morris; and the Hon.
Arthur Holmwood (later Lord Godalming). Lucy accepts Holmwood's proposal while turning down Seward and Morris, but all remain friends. There is a notable encounter between Dracula and Seward's patient
Renfield, an insane man who means to consume insects, spiders, birds, and other creatures — in ascending order of size — in order to absorb their "life force". Renfield acts as a motion sensor, detecting Dracula's proximity and supplying clues accordingly.
Lucy begins to waste away suspiciously. All of her suitors fret, and Seward calls in his old teacher, Professor
Abraham Van Helsing from
Amsterdam. Van Helsing immediately determines the cause of Lucy's condition but refuses to disclose it, knowing that Seward's faith in him will be shaken if he starts to speak of vampires. Van Helsing tries multiple
blood transfusions, but they are clearly losing ground. On a night when Van Helsing must return to Amsterdam (and his message to Seward asking him to watch the Westenra household is accidentally sent to the wrong address), Lucy and her mother are attacked by a
wolf. Mrs Westenra, who has a heart condition, dies of fright, and Lucy apparently dies soon after.
Lucy is buried, but soon afterward the newspapers report children being stalked in the night by a "bloofer lady" (as they describe it), i.e. "beautiful lady".
[2] Van Helsing, knowing that this means Lucy has become a vampire, confides in Seward, Lord Godalming and Morris. The suitors and Van Helsing track her down, and after a disturbing confrontation between her vampiric self and Arthur, they stake her heart,
behead her, and fill her mouth with
garlic.
Around the same time, Jonathan Harker arrives home from recuperation in
Budapest (where Mina joined and married him after his escape from the castle); he and Mina also join the coalition, who turn their attentions to dealing with Dracula.
After Dracula learns of Van Helsing and the others' plot against him, he takes revenge by visiting —- and feeding from —- Mina at least three times. Dracula also feeds Mina his blood, creating a spiritual bond between them to control her. The only way to forestall this is to kill Dracula first. Mina slowly succumbs to the blood of the vampire that flows through her veins, switching back and forth from a state of consciousness to a state of semi-trance during which she is telepathically connected with Dracula. This telepathic connection is established to be two-way, in that the Count can influence Mina, but in doing so betrays to her awareness of his surroundings.
After the group sterilizes all of his lairs in London, Dracula flees back to his castle in Transylvania, transported in a box with transfer and portage instructions forwarded ahead, pursued by Van Helsing's group, who themselves are aided by Van Helsing hypnotizing Mina and questioning her about the Count. The group splits in three directions. Van Helsing goes to the Count's castle and kills his trio of brides, and shortly afterwards all converge on the Count just at sundown under the shadow of the castle. Harker and Quincey rush to Dracula's box, which is being transported by
Gypsies. Harker shears Dracula through the throat with a
Kukri while mortally wounded Quincey, slashed by one of the crew, stabs the Count in the heart with a
Bowie knife. Dracula crumbles to dust, and Mina is freed from his curse.
The book closes with a note about Mina's and Jonathan's married life and the birth of their first-born son, whom they name after all four members of the party, but refer to only as Quincey in remembrance of their American friend.
Background
Between 1879 and 1898, Stoker was a business manager for the world-famous
Lyceum Theatre in London, where he supplemented his income by writing a large number of sensational novels, his most famous being the vampire tale
Dracula published on May 26, 1897. Parts of it are set around the town of
Whitby, where he spent summer vacations. Throughout the 1880s and 1890s, authors such as
H. Rider Haggard,
Rudyard Kipling,
Robert Louis Stevenson,
Arthur Conan Doyle, and
H. G. Wells wrote many tales in which fantastic creatures threatened the British Empire.
Invasion literature was at a peak, and Stoker's formula of an invasion of England by continental European influences was by 1897 very familiar to readers of fantastic adventure stories. Victorian readers enjoyed it as a good adventure story like many others, but it would not reach its iconic legendary status until later in the 20th century when film versions began to appear.
[3]
Shakespearean actor and friend of Stoker's,
Sir Henry Irving was a real-life inspiration for the character of Dracula, tailor-made to his dramatic presence, gentlemanly mannerisms and affinity for playing villain roles. Irving, however, never agreed to play the part on stage.
Before writing
Dracula, Stoker spent seven years researching European folklore and stories of vampires, being most influenced by
Emily Gerard's 1885 essay "Transylvania Superstitions".
Despite being the most well-known vampire novel,
Dracula was not the first. It was preceded and partly inspired by
Sheridan Le Fanu's 1871 "
Carmilla", about a
lesbian vampire who preys on a lonely young woman, and by
Varney the Vampire, a lengthy
penny dreadful serial from the mid-Victorian period by
James Malcolm Rymer. The image of a vampire portrayed as an aristocratic man, like the character of Dracula, was created by
John Polidori in "
The Vampyre" (1819), during the summer spent with
Frankenstein creator
Mary Shelley, her husband, the poet
Percy Bysshe Shelley and
Lord Byron in 1816. The Lyceum Theatre, where Stoker worked between 1878 and 1898, was headed by the actor-manager
Henry Irving, who was Stoker's real-life inspiration for Dracula's mannerisms and who Stoker hoped would play Dracula in a stage version.
[4] Although Irving never did agree to do a stage version, Dracula's dramatic sweeping gestures and gentlemanly mannerisms drew their living embodiment from Irving.
[4]The Dead Un-Dead was one of Stoker's original titles for
Dracula, and up until a few weeks before publication, the manuscript was titled simply
The Un-Dead. Stoker's Notes for Dracula show that the name of the count was originally "Count Wampyr", but while doing research, Stoker became intrigued by the name "Dracula", after reading
William Wilkenson's book
Account of the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia with Political Observations Relative to Them (London 1820), which he found in the Whitby Library, and consulted a number of times during visits to Whitby in the 1890s.
[5] The name Dracula was the family name of the descendants of
Vlad II of
Wallachia, who took the name "Dracul" after being invested in the
Order of the Dragon in 1431. In the Romanian language, the word
dracul can mean either "the dragon" or, especially in the present day, "the devil".
[6] The novel has been in the
public domain in the United States since its original publication because Stoker failed to follow proper copyright procedure. In the United Kingdom and other countries following the
Berne Convention on copyrights, however, the novel was under copyright until April 1962, fifty years after Stoker's death.
[7] When
F. W. Murnau's unauthorized film adaptation
Nosferatu was released in 1922, the popularity of the novel increased considerably, owing to the controversy caused when Stoker's widow tried to have the film removed from public circulation.
[8]Because of the Stokers' frustrating history with
Dracula's copyright, a great-grandnephew of Bram Stoker, novelist Dacre Stoker, with encouragement from screenwriter Ian Holt, decided to write "a sequel that bore the Stoker name" to "reestabish creative control over" the original novel. In 2009,
Dracula: The Un-Dead was released, written by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt. Both writers "based on Bram Stoker's own handwritten notes for characters and plot threads excised from the original edition" as well as their own research for the sequel
Reaction
According to literary historians
Nina Auerbach and David Skal in the Norton Critical Edition, the novel has become more significant for modern readers than it was for contemporary Victorian readers, most of whom enjoyed it just as a good adventure story; it only reached its broad iconic legendary classic status later in the 20th century when the movie versions appeared.
[12] However, some Victorian fans were ahead of the time, describing it as "the sensation of the season" and "the most blood-curdling novel of the paralysed century".
[13] Sherlock Holmesauthor
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote to Stoker in a letter, "I write to tell you how very much I have enjoyed reading
Dracula. I think it is the very best story of diablerie which I have read for many years."
[14] The
Daily Mail review of June 1, 1897 proclaimed it a classic of
Gothic horror, "In seeking a parallel to this weird, powerful, and horrorful story our mind reverts to such tales as
The Mysteries of Udolpho,
Frankenstein,
The Fall of the House of Usher ... but Dracula is even more appalling in its gloomy fascination than any one of these."
[15]Similarly good reviews appeared when the book was published in the U.S. in 1899.
Historical and geographical references
Although Dracula is a work of fiction, it does contain some historical references. The historical connections with the novel and how much Stoker knew about the history are a matter of conjecture and debate.
Following the publication of
In Search of Dracula by
Radu Florescu and Raymond McNally in 1972, the supposed connections between the historical
Transylvanian-born
Vlad III Dracula of
Wallachia and Bram Stoker's fictional Dracula attracted popular attention. During his main reign (1456–1462), "Vlad the Impaler" is said to have killed from 40,000 to 100,000 European civilians (political rivals, criminals and anyone else he considered "useless to humanity"), mainly by using his favourite method of impaling them on a sharp pole. The main sources dealing with these events are records by
Saxon settlers in neighbouring Transylvania, who had frequent clashes with Vlad III. Vlad III is revered as a folk hero by
Romanians for driving off the invading Turks. His impaled victims are said to have included as many as 100,000
Ottoman Turks.
Stoker came across the name Dracula in his reading on
Romanian history, and chose this to replace the name (
Count Wampyr) that he had originally intended to use for his villain. However, some Dracula scholars, led by
Elizabeth Miller, have questioned the depth of this connection. They argue that Stoker in fact knew little of the historic Vlad III except for the name "Dracula". There are sections in the novel where Dracula refers to his own background, and these speeches show that Stoker had some knowledge of Romanian history. Stoker mentions the Dracula who fought against the Turks, and was later betrayed by his brother, historical facts which unequivocably point to Vlad III:
Who was it but one of my own race who as Voivode crossed the Danube and beat the Turk on his own ground? This was a Dracula indeed! Woe was it that his own unworthy brother, when he had fallen, sold his people to the Turk and brought the shame of slavery on them! Was it not this Dracula, indeed, who inspired that other of his race who in a later age again and again brought his forces over the great river into Turkey-land; who, when he was beaten back, came again, and again, though he had to come alone from the bloody field where his troops were being slaughtered, since he knew that he alone could ultimately triumph! (Chapter 3, pp 19)
The Count's intended identity is later explicitly confirmed by Professor Van Helsing:
He must, indeed, have been that Voivode Dracula who won his name against the Turk, over the great river on the very frontier of Turkey-land. (Chapter 18, pp 145)
The Dracula legend as he created it and as it has been portrayed in films and television shows may be a compound of various influences. Many of Stoker's biographers and literary critics have found strong similarities to the earlier Irish writer
Sheridan Le Fanu's classic of the vampire genre,
Carmilla. In writing
Dracula, Stoker may also have drawn on stories about the
sídhe, some of which feature blood-drinking women. The folkloric figure of
Abhartach has also been suggested as a source.
It has been suggested that Stoker was influenced by the history of Countess
Elizabeth Bathory, who was born in the
Kingdom of Hungary. Bathory is suspected to have tortured and killed anywhere between 36 and 700 young women over a period of many years, and it was commonly believed that she committed these crimes in order to bathe in or drink their blood, believing that this preserved her youth. In Elizabeth Miller's opinion, no credible evidence of blood-drinking or other blood crimes in the Bathory case has ever been found, however the stories and influence may explain why Dracula appeared younger after feeding.
[16]Some have claimed the castle of Count Dracula was inspired by
Slains Castle, at which Bram Stoker was a guest of the 19th
Earl of Erroll. However, since as Stoker visited the castle in 1895—five years after work on
Dracula had begun—there is unlikely to be much connection. Many of the scenes in
Whitby and
London are based on real places that Stoker frequently visited, although in some cases he distorts the geography for the sake of the story.
It has been suggested that Stoker received much historical information from
Ármin Vámbéry, a
Hungarian professor he met at least twice. Miller argues "there is nothing to indicate that the conversation included Vlad, vampires, or even Transylvania" and that, "furthermore, there is no record of any other correspondence between Stoker and Vámbéry, nor is Vámbéry mentioned in Stoker's notes for Dracula."
"Dracula's Guest"
In 1914, two years after Stoker's death, the short story "
Dracula's Guest" was posthumously published. It was, according to most contemporary critics, the deleted first (or second) chapter from the original manuscript
[21] and the one which gave the volume its name,
[22]but which the original publishers deemed unnecessary to the overall story.
"Dracula's Guest" follows an unnamed Englishman traveller (whom most readers identify as Jonathan Harker, assuming it is the same character from the novel) as he wanders around
Munich before leaving for Transylvania. It is
Walpurgis Night, and in spite of the coachman's warnings, the young Englishman foolishly leaves his hotel and wanders through a dense forest alone. Along the way he feels he is being watched by a tall and thin stranger (possibly Count Dracula).
The short story climaxes in an old graveyard, where in a marble tomb (with a large iron stake driven into it), the Englishman encounters a sleeping female vampire called Countess Dolingen. This malevolent and beautiful vampire awakens from her marble
bier to conjure a snowstorm before being struck by lightning and returning to her eternal prison. However, the Englishman's troubles are not quite over, as he is dragged away by an unseen force and rendered unconscious. He awakes to find a "gigantic" wolf lying on his chest and licking at his throat. However, the wolf merely keeps him warm and protects him until help arrives.
When the Englishman is finally taken back to his hotel, a telegram awaits him from his expectant host Dracula, with a warning about "dangers from snow and wolves and night".
Notes for Dracula
In 2008, Robert Eighteen-Bisang and
Elizabeth Miller published
Bram Stoker's Notes for Dracula: A Facsimile Edition (Jefferson NC & London: McFarland.
ISBN 978-0-7864-3410-7) based on the materials from the
Rosenbach Museum & Library, containing a complete set of Stoker's handwritten and typed notes. Notes are fully transcribed and annotated.
