Dracula di Bram Stoker

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Categoria:	Letteratura Inglese
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Data:	14.11.2006
Numero di pagine:	6
Formato di file:	.doc (Microsoft Word)

Sabino Pasquale V E
Title
“Dracula”
Author
Bram Stoker (1847-1912)
Genre
Horror / Gothic romance, write in form of letters and diaries
Date of first publication
1897
Language
Very simple and easy to be understood, the only parts in which the language is more complex is when talk the doctor, Van Helsing.
Setting
The story take place in different places: in Transylvania in the village and in the castle of the Vampire and in London. The description of the setting in Transylvania provoke fear in the people who read the story, which is setting above all during the night, and then it is a gloomy atmosphere, horrid and full of blood.

Plot
John Harker, a young lawyer, was sent in Transylvania by Mr Hawkins to sign a contract with Count Dracula, who lived in an isolated castle situated on a mountain.
Before he arrived at the castle, he stayed for a period in a small village situated under the mountain. In this village he noted a strange comportment of the villains, which look at him as an alien. An old woman gave him a crucifix and told him to may attention when he will arrive in the castle.
When he arrived in the castle the Count prayed him to stay in the castle until he came back home after a small voyage of work. Meanwhile Dracula leaved to London by sea and after few days it happened strange cases of murders (one of this is that of Lucy Westenra, who died after a long illness near her boyfriend Arthur Holmwood and her friends Quincey Morris and Doctor Seward). When a psychopathic, Renfield, decided to call his master, doctor Van Helsing, who understood that these murders are caused by a horrible creature and decided to kill it with crucifixes, garlic and deconsecrated hosts.
In this way he was successful to expel Dracula from London to Transylvania, where the Count kill also Mina, the future wife of John Harker.
Van Helsing, Morris and Holmwood decided to go in Transylvania to kill the monster. When they arrived they succeed to kill Dracula with the ritual of the stake of ash drive in the heart of the Vampire and with his decapitation.
Main characters
Dracula: He was the protagonist of the story. He was a Vampire who sucks the blood of the people because it is necessary to him to rest live. He was described as an old elegant man, pallid, with white moustaches, an aquiline nose, bushy hair, long and thin hands, red and thin lips, pointed ears and pointed and white teeth. From the point of view of the comportment he was described as an assassin but also as serious man, who give fear to the people that look him.
Jonathan Harker: He was a young lawyer, very passionate (he love Mina and to save her he risk to kill himself and other three person), he was also very impulsive and timorous. We have not many details of his physical characteristics.
Mina: after Dracula he was the most significant character of the story. Although she is a woman, she personified the courage, the rationality although hers numerous crisis and her suffering.
Van Helsing: the doctor, an intellectual man who was not driven by science and rationality but also by emotions and passions. He was the person who find the way to kill the vampire and the person who drive the ash stake in his heart.
Secondary characters
Lucy Westenra: the first female victim of the story.
Arthur Holmwood: Lucy’s boyfriend.
Quincey Morris: A friend of Lucy and Arthur.
Doctor Seward: the doctor of Lucy, who try to cure her from the illness provoked from the vampire.
Renfield: A psychopathic man. He was the person who call Van Helsing to resolve the case of Lucy’s death.
Themes
Love: Represented by the love between Mina and John and the love between Lucy and Arthur. The love play a very important role in the story; in fact is for love that Arthur decide to take revenge for Lucy, and then hi for love that John risk his own life and those of other three people.
Religion: This is the most important theme of the romance. In fact all the characters believe in God and at the same time Dracula represent the devil, a sort of antichrist; to demonstrate this we have the refuse of the view of the crucifix by Dracula. Other references to the religion concern for example the place in which sleep Dracula, a coffin; and also the presence of a graveyard around the castle in which live the vampire.
Adventure: This is referred to the comportment of Mina, of Arthur, of Quincey and of Van Helsing that have the courage to follow the vampire to kill him and also to the way in which the author narrate the story, full of particulars of the actions.
Life and Death: These themes are represented by the opposition mortal / immortal among the characters. In fact meanwhile all the people are mortal and some of them dead during the story, Dracula is the representation of the immortality, but not in the real sense of the word; in fact he is vulnerable (he hate the crucifix, the light of the sun an the garlic).
Comparison between Dracula & Frankenstein
As we can se from the following board there are more element in common between this two famous romances:
CHARACTERISTICS
DRACULA
FRANKENSTEIN
Type of Romance
Horror & Gothic romance
Horror romance
Written form
Letters and diaries
Letters and diaries
Protagonist
Dracula, the Vampire, a monster
The monster created by doctor Frankenstein
Main themes
Love, Religion, Death, Contrast between God and Devil
Contrast between God and Devil, Knowledge, death, Ugliness.
Final
The monster dead
The monster dead
The Vampire in the printing
There are more the illustrations dedicated to the famous vampire, Dracula, take as a model in art, in the music and in the cinema.
Examples:

The Vampire in the music
This is his text with the Italian translation:
VAMPIRE
It’s time! Even for tonight I’ve returned back to life,
This my short-length life consecrated to evil...
From so many years every night I leave my coffin
And with my bats I’m transformed into a bloodsucker
Looking for your blood.
Every night I sow the terror
And before sunrise I leave
The hot sign of my kiss of death
You common mortals can’t fight against my
curse
And of your lives I become the only master
Until you will be bleeding.
From a long time I’m immortal
By centuries I am the king
But cross and garlic excite my fear
Yes, I’m the vampire, the king of the night
Yes, I’m the evil, I am the master of your nightmares
I am the vampire, the prince of darkness
I am the devil who asks the blood of human race
Yes, I’m the vampire, the king of the night
Yes, I’m the evil, I am the master of your nightmares
I am the vampire, the prince of darkness
I am the devil who asks the blood of human race
Come with me in the reign of blood
Taste the flavour of red hot
Enjoy yourself in makin’ evil
And sit with me at the left of the Devil
Leave your life from all your troubles
To suck men’s lymph you must be able
And when the night restored your living
You’re an immortal fly and your fury’s screaming
Come with me in the reign of blood
Taste the flavour of red hot
Enjoy yourself in makin’ evil
And sit with me at the left of the Devil
Leave your life from all your troubles
To suck men’s lymph you must be able
And when the night restored your living
You’re an immortal fly and your fury’s screaming
VAMPIRO
È tempo! Anche per stanotte sono tornato alla vita,
Questa mia breve vita consacrata al male...
Da così tanti anni ogni notte lascio la mia bara
E con i miei pipistrelli mi trasformo in un succhiasangue
Cercando il vostro sangue.
Ogni notte semino il terrore
E prima che sorga il sole lascio
Il caldo segno del mio bacio di morte
Voi comuni mortali non potete combattere la mia
maledizione
E delle vostre vite divento il solo padrone
Finché verserete il vostro sangue.
Da lungo tempo io sono immortale
Attraverso i secoli io sono il re
Ma croce e aglio suscitano le mie paure
Sì, io sono il vampiro, il re della notte
Sì, io sono il male, sono il padrone dei vostri incubi
Io sono il vampiro, il principe dell’oscurità
Io sono il demone che chiede il sangue degli uomini
Sì, io sono il vampiro, il re della notte
Sì, io sono il male, sono il padrone dei vostri incubi
Io sono il vampiro, il principe dell’oscurità
Io sono il demone che chiede il sangue degli uomini
Vieni con me nel regno del sangue
Assaggia il sapore del calore rosso
Goditela a fare il male
E siedi con me alla sinistra del Diavolo
Libera la tua vita da tutti gli affanni
Devi essere bravo a succhiare la linfa degli uomini
E quando la notte ti ha restituito la vita
Immortale volerai urlando la tua rabbia
Vieni con me nel regno del sangue
Assaggia il sapore del calore rosso
Goditela a fare il male
E siedi con me alla sinistra del Diavolo
Libera la tua vita da tutti gli affanni
Devi essere bravo a succhiare la linfa degli uomini
E quando la notte ti ha restituito la vita
Immortale volerai urlando la tua rabbia