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The Transformation Of Dracula Essay

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The Transformation Of Dracula Essay
Transformation of Dracula
Dracula is a timeless novel written by Bram Stoker and to this day remains a thrilling read about good vs evil in the form of Van Helsing and his companions pitted against the supernatural forces of Count Dracula, the vampire from Transylvania. Not only was this novel about good vs. evil but upon inspection found to have many themes and views relevant to the time it was written. This caused it to be a huge success of its time and in 1922 the German director Murnau seeing the success of the story put it under transformation and named it Nosferatu. This silent film was very similar to Dracula except it was more relevant to the times it was written in. Public opinion about certain aspects of society had changed and …show more content…
Gender Hierarchy was viewed as an important cog of Victorian culture and that held true throughout the book with the submissive, helpless females needing the help of the apparent stronger sex, males. The only exception to this is Mina but even then she is only able to by having “a man’s brain”. Christian salvation and imagery was not part of the transformation process into nosferatu as being an important theme in Dracula is non-existent in Nosferatu. A great scene to help show this is the killing of Lucy where after being killed for a second time Lucy is restored to “unequalled sweetness and purity”. Use of holy symbols only reinforces this theme with the crucifix and holy wafers making appearances. The theme of superstition vs. science is also at the forefront with the logical, rational dr Seward unable to explain the bitings with all of his reasoning and it is only through superstition from a man of higher faith who is unable to uncover the mystery. Also when it comes to the hunting and killing of Dracula science is not enough to defeat the beast and faith is needed to kill the monster. The big thing of the unknown ,strange east invading progressive civilised England was also not only an issue in the book but an issue at the time with high immigration rates making some conservative Englishmen very
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