Bram Stoker's Dracula

The Quintessential Vampire

Bram Stoker published his novel, Dracula, in 1897. It wasn't the first work of fiction to feature mythological blood-drinking 'undead' known as vampires, but it is now certainly the most famous.

It has been the basis for innumerable stage and screen adaptations, and the 'mythology' (much of it invented for the novel) lives on today in cult television shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Bram Stoker

Bram Stoker was Irish and suffered through a childhood of illness, the nature of which is still unknown. His lengthy battle for health as a boy informed his fiction, but after a sickly youth, he grew into a hale, even athletic man, notably tall and broad.

Prior to his literary career, he was probably best known for his involvement with the actor Henry Irving, who was then the equivalent of a 'superstar' - Stoker was Irving's business manager and travelled with him on his world tours. His theatrical associations allowed him access to the upper classes of society, or at least the Nineteenth Century equivalent of the 'glitterati'.

Count Dracula

Count Dracula is believed to be based, in large part, on Vlad III, also known as Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler). A Romanian warlord of the Fifteenth Century who ruled as Prince of Wallachia, Vlad III was noted for dispatching his enemies by impaling them on long stakes. He was, however, not known for returning from the dead and drinking the blood of the living.

In Bram Stoker's novel, Count Dracula is a Transylvanian nobleman who wishes to immigrate to England, and employs English barrister Jonathan Harker to find him an appropriate domicile. Harker travels to Transylvania to close the deal and discovers that his commission may be insufficient to compensate him for the inconvenience.

Dracula makes his way to England and preys upon a pair of young ladies, one of whom is Harker's fiancee, Mina. He transforms her friend Lucy into a vampire. Harker enlists the assistance of Professor van Helsing, who recognizes the symptoms and progression of Lucy's and later Mina's 'illness' as the work of a feeding vampire. Stakes, beheadings, garlic and the typical accouterments ensue.

Drac Factoids

Interestingly, the vampires as depicted by Stoker are completely able to operate during daylight hours, although their strength is at its maximum during the night.

The concept that vampires cannot be seen in mirrors does not exist in vampire folklore prior to Bram Stoker's Dracula. This was pure fictitious invention on the part of Stoker, although many people now believe it was in the lore all along.

Wooden stakes are only part of the formula for destroying a vampire. To really make sure they don't come back, according to Dracula, you must also behead them and stuff their mouths with garlic. It's easy to see why much of subsequent vampire literature decided to forgo these final touches - too messy.

The Afterlife

'Dracula has been movie fodder for roughly as long as there have been movies. Nosferatu was released in 1922; the estate of Bram Stoker in the person of his widow sued to have names and locations changed in this movie, but it is otherwise a fairly faithful retelling of his story. The most famous Dracula, of course, remains the 1931 movie in which the Count is played by Transylvanian (Romanian) Bela Lugosi.