Preview

Dracula And American Vampire Myths

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
114 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Dracula And American Vampire Myths
The first mention of the word vampire in the English language is in the 1730s, in newspapers which carry reports from the edge of Europe, of bodies being dug up and looking bloated, and having fresh blood around their mouths. They report that these stories have come from peasants, but they make them sound very plausible.” A very real life disease killing people began to catch wind and rumors of supernatural tendencies made this disease even more terrifying, the exaggerated affects of the disease began to become more and more outrageous and a myth began. What myth exactly? It was then, from eastern European regions such as Transylvania that the vampire myth spread westwards.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Bram Stoker’s book Dracula begins with a journal entry by Jonathan Harker. Harker is an English lawyer traveling to Transylvania, an Eastern European country, to meet with Count Dracula for business purposes. In his first journal entry, Jonathan records his trip to Dracula’s castle. Along the way local peasants warn him not proceed on to his destination especially so late at night. The worried peasants keep repeating the word “vampire” and give him crucifixes to ward off evil. Harker does get a bit scared but he still decides to continue on to the castle. When Jonathan arrives to his final destination, the friendly and gently Count greets him. During his stay at the castle, Harker feels more and more uncomfortable as certain events take place.…

    • 209 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Preface: The dissonance between the film (Bram Stoker’s Dracula 1992) and the novel (Dracula, Prince of Many faces: His life and times) was absolutely astounding. I never expected the novel to take such a historical and authentic digression. Uncovering the man from the myth, the truth from the tale and to vastly and inimically ruin the revered image I believed of Dracula to have.…

    • 1427 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Nice to Eat You: Acts of Vampires Main Ideas/Questions Details Little known…

    • 1480 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    This revolting image of Dracula is entirely absent in the film. By contrast, Bram Stoker’s Dracula is refined and enthralling. He has evolved from a monster of sorts to an enigmatic seducer, from a coldhearted “beast” of incontestable evil to a multifaceted human arousing a strange compassion and blurring the lines between monster and man. He is now an attractive and sophisticated aristocrat who moves about effortlessly society and whose only impetus is in the search for his beloved revitalized as Mina Harker.…

    • 83 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Apocalypticism In Dracula

    • 328 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Apocalypticism that pertains to the religious beliefs which talks about the end of the world at a specific point of time. This too has a deeper reach in the theme of Dracula with Dracula expanding his reach beyond the seas and performing the role of Satan as the evil bearer. The believers plan for this event mimicking to the events of the Noah in the bible in order to save themselves for the end of world. The same way the characters in the story fights against the evil and become successful in delaying the end of days. Jonathan’s visit to Transylvania drops him amidst the myths and occult of the place. He questions and wonders the superstition beliefs the local people has, for instance of crossing their fingers as a crucifix. The similar warning…

    • 328 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dracula Dynamic Quotes

    • 566 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Dracula is a vampire. He is described as tall, old, cleanly shaven, thin nose, pointy ears, and sharp white teeth. He cannot be seen in mirrors, he refuses to eat, and is clad from head to toe in black. “When the count saw my face his eyes blazed with a sort of demoniac fury, and he suddenly made a grab for my throat.” (Stoker) This quote comes after Johnathan Harker cuts himself to shaving. We also…

    • 566 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I first met “Shock Illusionist” and “Anti-Conjurer,” Dan Sperry, back in 2011. His morgue-nificent Magic Show was the headlining act at the now defunct Times Scare New York City, which was located on (the infamous) 42nd Street. Times Scare NYC featured: a year-round haunted house, restaurant (with two bars) and a lounge. Its old fashioned theatre was reminiscent of the Midnight Spookshows, and this is where Dan Sperry regularly performed to amaze audiences. The building that housed this atrocious attraction was once a crematorium during the Roaring Twenties, and some have claimed it was truly haunted.…

    • 1595 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Goodness is self-righteous: evil is purposeful. Seems rather counterintuitive doesn’t it? But what truly is good and what truly is evil, or are the two even separate entities to begin with? After all, good and evil is all hinged upon perspective, viewpoint is the key. Can something so obscured by opinions really be quantified? So where do monsters fall then? Who are the monsters? Why is our society obsessed with such monsters both in reality and fiction tales? The answer is rather simple: since we cannot define what good and evil is and we presume monsters fall into the spectrum of evil, we write about them, mold them into what we believe they should be to fulfill our desire for a definitive ideal of good and…

    • 724 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Since the eighteen century, vampire stories have played a strong role of popularity in literature and cinematic environments. The continuous changes of vampires have taken the vampire legend from something feared to something desired. Between Dracula and Twilight it has been over a hundred years. These two novels are a great example of vampire’s evolution. However, both novels have elements of narrative device, they are both written from multiple perspectives, and both were turned into a film. Although Twilight and Dracula are pieces of literature that share a vampire story, there are three important differences that characterize each one.…

    • 548 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    “It was Stoker who with the stroke of his pen, forever linked the real clad with traditional beliefs in malefic spirits that return from the draad to plague the living. Stoker welded these elements into the bloodthirsty Count Dracula the immortal symbol of evil.” Bram Stoker was a writer who used Vlad Tepes’s image to create the famous vampire of his book, “Dracula.” Vlad was the perfect candidate due to his unusual methods. Dracula, similar to vlad, was created to be cruel and bloodthirsty feared by all. When thinking of Vlad or dracula, for many, the term “son of the devil” will come to mind. Stoker also made sure to incorporate vlads ruthless killing habits into Dracula's character. To make things more realistic stoker wrote “Dracula”…

    • 370 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Vampires and werewolves are nocturnal creatures that have fangs and thirst for blood. Both are considered mythical beings and are portrayed in several horror films and books. Although they have several similarities; vampires and werewolves are nothing alike. Before writing this paper, I researched many different sources and you won’t believe what I have found! There are thousands of legends throughout history about vampires and werewolves and every culture has some kind of myth about the undead.…

    • 990 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The concept of a dead person returning in his living physical form and feeding on the living is considered a vampire. The vampire is believed to also be capable of transmitting his vampirism to those he infect or bite. Kayton recognizes that though this belief has been found in early writings of the Babylonians, Semites, and Egyptians, the most famous vampire scare swept Europe in 1730. This vampire epidemic lasted approximately five years (305).…

    • 1658 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dracula The Impaler

    • 234 Words
    • 1 Page

    Nevertheless, the essential aspect upon which the vast majority of interpreters and scholars have agreed is that Dracula is a roman à clef based on the life of Vlad III, better known as Vlad “the Impaler”, a fifteenth century Prince (Voievode) that ruled the Wallachian throne. But who was he, and how did he achieve such fame? In his essay “Dracula: Fact, Legend and Fiction,” Paul Dukes analyzes thoroughly the story behind the figure of Dracula, and shows how “there is a basis in fact and Eastern European legend for the ghoul” (1982: 44). As he explains, the vampire that haunts our dreams is inspired in Romanian history, concretely Stoker’s nineteenth century vampire is inspired in the fifteenth century ruler of the Danubian principality…

    • 234 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Vampires originated around the twelfth century in England. William of Newburgh, a fairly good historian wrote about prodigies, and oddities well beyond the natural course of events. When you read his stories they're pretty much about vampires or very similarly related characters (Kaplan). Years later around the time of the black plague when so many people were dying off is when…

    • 879 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The First Vampire

    • 1514 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Ambrogio was a young adventurer. Born and raised in Italy, he had always longed to travel to Greece to have his fortune told by the Oracle of Delphi. When he was an adult, he got on a boat and sailed to the western edge of Greece, near Astakos. He traveled east until he eventually reached the city of Delphi. Delphi was home to a great temple of Apollo, the sun god. It was also the home of the Pythia, better known as the Oracles. The Pythia would sit in a chamber within the temple and speak of prophecies, inspired by Apollo, to those who came to seek the Oracle's wisdom. When Ambrogio finally arrived at the temple, he went to speak to the Pythia. The Pythia, whose words were often cryptic, said only a few words: "The curse. The moon. The blood will run."…

    • 1514 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays