What did Dracula represent within the context of Stoker's story? Explore the question in the context of the following assertion: Dracula is all things to all people.
Post your own observations, questions, and remarks. When you respond to this posting, DO NOT simply repeat the thoughts of your classmates. You can add something new to a previous comment. You can comment or critique a previous posting, but your main goal is to add something new to the discussion. Remember, try to include direct quotes as much as possible!
11 comments:
Throughout the story, Stoker molds Dracula into what many people know him as. A blood sucking vampire that's an epiphany of evil. The assertion, "Dracula is all things to all people", means that everyone fears Dracula. You see this right away in the first chapter when Jonathan Harker is on his way to Dracula's castle. For example, on page 4, "Just before I was leaving, the old lady came up to my room and said in a very hysterical way: 'Must you go? Oh! young Herr, must you go?'" Dracula also represents how some people do bad things when they don't want to. All Dracula has to do is hypnotize and/or bite them and the victim will do things against their will. In the end, Stoker shows that evil can always be conquered, and that Dracula, as "invincible" as he may seem, can still be killed. But Stoker also shows that destroying evil comes at a price. Page 410 Mr. Morris was fatally wounded and just before he dies he says as the sun is coming up, "Now God be thanked that all has not been in vain! See! the snow is not more stainless than her forehead! The curse has passed away!"
I agree with Cameron. Dracula represents evil as a physical being. Evil can control you and you can't escape or hide from it, just like how Dracula can control your mind and turn into a mist and squeeze through cracks. Just like how Dracula drains his victims' blood and turns them into one of his kind, evil will drain the light from your eyes and soul and twist you into a figure of evil as well. I do not believe that Dracula started out as a bad person, just as evil does not just pop out of no where, it has to originate from somewhere. His cold demeanor may have been the result of isolation from the rest of people and being cooped up alone in that nasty castle. He has grown angry and somewhat envious of people who were free to walk among others and enjoy life, and therefore took out his anger on people that were loved by many. When he moved to England he was frustrated when the four men tried to hunt him down, so he attacked Mina in revenge, sayin"...And so you, like the others would help these men to hunt me and play your brains against mine. You would help these men to hunt me and frustrate my design.....And you, their best beloved one, are now to me, flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood, kin of my kin......."
So what Stoker is saying is that everybody has a little Dracula in them?
Yes, Allyssa...did you feel bad for Dracula when you realized he was just a lonely, old pathetic vampire?
In the book, Dracula represents evil. Some people have heard what Dracula really is and they try to warn Jonathan Harker before he leaves to make his journey to Castle Dracula. On page 9, Harker explains that he must go at once because he is engaged in important business. To which the woman replies, "It is the eve of St. George's Day. Do you not know that tonight, when the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things in the world will have full sway? Do you know where you are going, and what you are going to?" This tells us that Dracula is something to be feared. The woman clearly didn't want Jonathan Harker to go to Castle Dracula, but he didn't let her persistence stop him.
It may be a stretch and I hate to draw religion in but I believe that Dracula is suppose to represent an Anti-Christ like character in this novel. This book is chronicling the battle between good and evil in which Dracula is the main evil. It is said that you will have to choose to stay Christian or accept the mark of the beast. In the novel Dracula can only enter your house if you let him in, and each of his victims are scared with the fang marks. Dracula also makes all of his Also it takes the communion wafers, crucifixes, and other religious objects to fight off Dracula. The cross on Harkers neck was the only thing that stopped Dracula from killing him that night when he cut himself shaving. When Dracula is able to get a new victim, he corrupts them and turns them very un-holy. His victims then use their powers to seduce more innocent people and steal their blood. Could they be deciples of Dracula? Maybe I am overlooking things but this is what i was thinking, that Stoker was using Dracula as a parallel to the Anti-Christ
I believe Dracula does represent evil, but maybe there is something deeper to Stoker's thoughts on this. What if he is possibly using Dracula's character to represent not just evil, but an evil that is inside the living and only comes out after death. I don't know if that makes any sense to anyone but me, but I was actually thinking that as I was reading. "Dracula is all things to all people" seems to back that thought up for me. As in, all people are unable to escape Dracula, or at least what he represents?.. Does that make any sense?..
Joe...how could you not bring in the religious element here? It's everywhere. I like your thinking here Kortney about Dracula representing the evil within all of us. I don't think you need to add the "only comes out after death part." So let's think about how Dracula could represent the evil that is in each of us. Is evil too strong of a word? Do you see any similarities between Dracula and yourself?
"Evil" is obviously the selected term here to describe Dracula, but I don't see the physical being that is Dracula as evil. I feel as if Dracula represents lack of choice. I see Dracula as merely a man who has fallen into control of evil randomly, and has become transformed into something he doesn't really aspire to be. What I mean is, evil isn't a person, evil is something deeper, something that has the capabilities to take over a person, and after Dracula was made the epiphany of evil, this same evil became infectious and used Dracula to spread it's "disease." After all, it's not like Dracula is happy. He's a lonely old vampire, which isn't his fault, but it's the fault of the evil that has consumed him. You know what I mean?
I believe Stoker uses Dracula as a tool to say that evil CAN be conquered, but evil can conquer as well.
Is it okay to say that "Dracula is all things to all people" can mean that Dracula represents all people, but with evil multiplied?
I agree with Madison. I don't see Dracula himself as 'evil'. I don't think he would choose that for himself. I believe what has taken over Dracula is evil, and what continues to take over Dracula's victims is evil. I think of his being a vampire as a person would be possessed by a demon. It takes a little weakness to encourage the 'demon' to do all he can for the worse. The 'demon' (vampire) takes control over the body and does what it wants. The person has no control. I think demonic accurately describes the whole idea of being a vampire because, like demons with an exorcism, the things that can harm and frighten the vampires are garlic and crucifixes. I do believe that every person has the capability to become weak and be easily persuaded by the evil, if tried upon hard enough.
What I took from the novel is that Dracula is supposed to represent the borderline between both good and evil. He is evil, because he bites and kills. Yet he is good, because he was very nice to John in the beginning of the book. I do not believe that he is completely evil, because he needs to kill in order to survive. That's why I think he represents both good and evil.
I think Makayla is awesome. I agree with whatever she says.
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