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Lucy receives three marriage proposals from Dr. Lucy accepts Holmwood's proposal while turning down Seward and Morris, but all remain friends. Dracula communicates with Seward's patient, Renfield , an insane man who wishes to consume insects, spiders, birds, and rats to absorb their "life force". Renfield is able to detect Dracula's presence and supplies clues accordingly. Soon Dracula is indirectly shown to be stalking Lucy.

As time passes she begins to suffer from episodes of sleepwalking and dementia, as witnessed by Mina. When Lucy begins to waste away suspiciously, Seward invites his old teacher, Abraham Van Helsing , who immediately determines the true cause of Lucy's condition. He refuses to disclose it but diagnoses her with acute blood-loss. Van Helsing prescribes numerous blood transfusions to which he, Seward, Quincey, and Arthur all contribute over time.

Van Helsing also prescribes garlic flowers to be placed throughout her room and weaves a necklace of withered garlic blossoms for her to wear. However she continues to waste away — appearing to lose blood every night. While both doctors are absent, Lucy and her mother are attacked by a wolf and Mrs. Westenra, who has a heart condition, dies of fright. Van Helsing attempts to protect her with garlic but fate thwarts him each night, whether Lucy's mother removes the garlic from her room, or Lucy herself does so in her restless sleep.

The doctors have found two small puncture marks about her neck, which Dr. Seward is at a loss to understand. After Lucy dies, Van Helsing places a golden crucifix over her mouth, ostensibly to delay or prevent Lucy's vampiric conversion.

Coppola introduction to Bram Stoker's Dracula

Fate conspires against him again when Van Helsing finds the crucifix in the possession of one of the servants who stole it off Lucy's corpse. Following Lucy's death and burial, the newspapers report children being stalked in the night by a "bloofer lady" i. The suitors and Van Helsing track her down and, after a confrontation with her, stake her heart, behead her, and fill her mouth with garlic. Around the same time, Jonathan Harker arrives from Budapest , where Mina marries him after his escape, and he and Mina join the campaign against Dracula. The vampire hunters stay at Dr. Seward's residence, holding nightly meetings and providing reports based on each of their various tasks.

Mina discovers that each of their journals and letters collectively contain clues to which they can track him down. She tasks herself with collecting them, researching newspaper clippings, fitting the most relevant entries into chronological order and typing out copies to distribute to each of the party which they are to study. Jonathan Harker tracks down the shipments of boxed graves and the estates which Dracula has purchased in order to store them.

Van Helsing conducts research along with Dr. Seward to analyze the behaviour of their patient Renfield who they learn is directly influenced by Dracula. They also research historical events, folklore, and superstitions from various cultures to understand Dracula's powers and weaknesses. Van Helsing also establishes a criminal profile on Dracula in order to better understand his actions and predict his movements.

Arthur Holmwood's fortune assists in funding the entire operation and expenses. As they discover the various properties Dracula had purchased, the male protagonists team up to raid each property and are several times confronted by Dracula. As they discover each of the boxed graves scattered throughout London, they pry them open to place and seal wafers of sacramental bread within. This act renders the boxes of earth completely useless to Dracula as he is unable to open, enter or further transport them.

After Dracula learns of the group's plot against him, he attacks Mina on three occasions, and feeds Mina his own blood to control her. This curses Mina with vampirism and changes her but does not completely turn her into a vampire. Van Helsing attempts to bless Mina through prayer and by placing a wafer of sacrament against her forehead, but it burns her upon contact leaving a wretched scar. Under this curse, Mina oscillates from consciousness to a semi-trance during which she perceives Dracula's surroundings and actions. Van Helsing is able to use hypnotism twice a day, at dawn and at sunset, to put her into this trance to further track Dracula's movements.

Mina, afraid of Dracula's link with her, urges the team not to tell her their plans out of fear that Dracula will be listening. After the protagonists discover and sterilize 49 boxes found throughout his lairs in London, they learn that Dracula has fled with the missing 50th box back to his castle in Transylvania. They pursue him under the guidance of Mina. They split up into teams once they reach Europe; Van Helsing and Mina team up to locate the castle of Dracula while the others attempt to ambush the boat Dracula is using to reach his home.

Van Helsing raids the castle and destroys the vampire "sisters". Upon discovering Dracula being transported by Gypsies , the three teams converge and attack the caravan carrying Dracula in the 50th box of Earth. After dispatching many Gypsies who were sworn to protect the Count, Harker shears Dracula through the throat with a kukri knife , while the mortally wounded Quincey stabs the Count in the heart with a Bowie knife. Dracula crumbles to dust, and Mina is freed from her curse of vampirism, as the scar on her forehead disappears.

Soon after, Quincey dies from his wounds. The book closes with a note left by Jonathan Harker seven years after the events of the novel, detailing his married life with Mina and the birth of their son, whom they name after all four members of the party, but address as "Quincey". Quincey is depicted sitting on the knee of Van Helsing as they recount their adventure. Seward and Arthur have each gotten married.

A small section was removed from a draft of the final chapter, in which Dracula's castle falls apart as he dies, hiding the fact that vampires were ever there. As we looked there came a terrible convulsion of the earth so that we seemed to rock to and fro and fell to our knees. At the same moment with a roar which seemed to shake the very heavens the whole castle and the rock and even the hill on which it stood seemed to rise into the air and scatter in fragments while a mighty cloud of black and yellow smoke volume on volume in rolling grandeur was shot upwards with inconceivable rapidity.

Then there was a stillness in nature as the echoes of that thunderous report seemed to come as with the hollow boom of a thunder-clap — the long reverberating roll which seems as though the floors of heaven shook. Then down in a mighty ruin falling whence they rose came the fragments that had been tossed skywards in the cataclysm.

From where we stood it seemed as though the one fierce volcano burst had satisfied the need of nature and that the castle and the structure of the hill had sunk again into the void. We were so appalled with the suddenness and the grandeur that we forgot to think of ourselves. Between and , Stoker was a business manager for the Lyceum Theatre in London, where he supplemented his income by writing a large number of sensational novels, his most successful being the vampire tale Dracula published on 26 May Throughout the s and s, authors such as H.

Wells wrote many tales in which fantastic creatures threatened the British Empire. Invasion literature was at a peak, and Stoker's formula was very familiar by to readers of fantastic adventure stories, of an invasion of England by continental European influences. Victorian readers enjoyed Dracula as a good adventure story like many others, but it did not reach its legendary status until later in the 20th century when film versions began to appear.

Before writing Dracula , Stoker spent seven years researching European folklore and stories of vampires, being most influenced by Emily Gerard 's essay "Transylvania Superstitions" which includes content about a vampire myth. Later he also claimed that he had a nightmare, caused by eating too much crab meat, about a "vampire king" rising from his grave.

Although a widely known vampire novel, Dracula was not the first. John Polidori created the image of a vampire portrayed as an aristocratic man, like the character of Dracula, in his tale " The Vampyre " The Lyceum Theatre where Stoker worked between and was headed by actor-manager Henry Irving , who was Stoker's real-life inspiration for Dracula's mannerisms and who Stoker hoped would play Dracula in a stage version. The Dead Un-Dead was one of Stoker's original titles for Dracula , and the manuscript was entitled simply The Un-Dead up until a few weeks before publication.

Stoker's notes for Dracula show that the name of the count was originally "Count Wampyr", but Stoker became intrigued by the name "Dracula" while doing research, after reading William Wilkinson 's book An Account of the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia with Political Observations Relative to Them London , [20] which he found in the Whitby Library and consulted a number of times during visits to Whitby in the s.

In the present day however, dracul means "the devil". Costing six shillings, the novel was bound yellow cloth and titled in red letters. Dracula was not an immediate bestseller when it was first published, although reviewers were unstinting in their praise.

Bram Stoker

According to literary historians Nina Auerbach and David J. Skal in the Norton Critical Edition, the novel has become more significant for modern readers than it was for Victorian readers, most of whom enjoyed it just as a good adventure story. It reached its broad and iconic status only later in the 20th century when the movie versions appeared. It did not make much money for Stoker. Murnau's unauthorized adaptation of the story was released in theatres in in the form of Nosferatu. Stoker's widow took affront and, during the legal battle that followed, the novel's popularity started to grow.

Nosferatu was followed by a highly successful stage adaptation, touring the UK for three years before arriving in the US where Stoker's creation caught Hollywood's attention and, after the American movie version was released, the book has never been out of print.

Dracula: A Biography of Vlad the Impaler 1431-1476

However, some Victorian fans were ahead of the time, describing it as "the sensation of the season" and "the most blood-curdling novel of the paralysed century". I think it is the very best story of diablerie which I have read for many years. Similarly good reviews appeared when the book was published in the U.

In the last several decades, literary and cultural scholars have offered diverse analyses of Stoker's novel and the character of Count Dracula. Bentley reads Dracula as an embodiment of the Freudian id. Senf reads the novel as a response to the powerful New Woman, [42] while Christopher Craft sees Dracula as embodying latent homosexuality and sees the text as an example of a 'characteristic, if hyperbolic instance of Victorian anxiety over the potential fluidity of gender roles'. Arata interprets the events of the novel as anxiety over colonialism and racial mixing , [44] and Talia Schaffer construes the novel as an indictment of Oscar Wilde.

Bruno Starrs understands the novel to be a pro- Catholic pamphlet promoting proselytization.

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Dracula is a work of fiction, but it does contain some historical references; although it is a matter of conjecture and debate as to how much historical connection was deliberate on Stoker's part. During his main reign — , "Vlad the Impaler" is said to have killed from 40, to , European civilians political rivals, criminals, and anyone that he considered "useless to humanity" , mainly by impaling. The sources depicting these events are records by Saxon settlers in neighbouring Transylvania who had frequent clashes with Vlad III. Vlad III is revered as a folk hero by Romanians for driving off the invading Ottoman Turks , of whom his impaled victims are said to have included as many as , Historically, the name "Dracula" is derived from a Chivalric order called the Order of the Dragon , founded by Sigismund of Luxembourg then king of Hungary to uphold Christianity and defend the Empire against the Ottoman Turks.

Vlad II Dracul , father of Vlad III, was admitted to the order around , after which Vlad II wore the emblem of the order and later, as ruler of Wallachia, his coinage bore the dragon symbol, from which the name "Dracula" is derived since "dracul" in Romanian means "the dragon". The name "Dracula" became popular in Romania after publication of Stoker's book.

Contrary to popular belief, the name Dracula does not translate to "son of the devil" in Romanian , which would be " pui de drac ". Stoker came across the name Dracula in his reading on Romanian history , and chose this to replace the name Count Wampyr originally intended for his villain. Who was it but one of my own race who as Voivode crossed the Danube and beat the Turk on his own ground? This was a Dracula indeed! Woe was it that his own unworthy brother, when he had fallen, sold his people to the Turk and brought the shame of slavery on them! Was it not this Dracula, indeed, who inspired that other of his race who in a later age again and again brought his forces over the great river into Turkey-land; who, when he was beaten back, came again, and again, though he had to come alone from the bloody field where his troops were being slaughtered, since he knew that he alone could ultimately triumph!

He must, indeed, have been that Voivode Dracula who won his name against the Turk, over the great river on the very frontier of Turkey-land. Many of Stoker's biographers and literary critics have found strong similarities to the earlier Irish writer Sheridan Le Fanu 's classic of the vampire genre Carmilla. The Irish legend of Abhartach has also been suggested as a source. Particularly themes of being buried while alive. In , McNally additionally suggested that Stoker was influenced by the history of Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Bathory , who allegedly tortured and killed between 36 and young women.

Haining and Tremaine maintain that, during this visit, Stoker was especially impressed by Slains Castle's interior and the surrounding landscape. Miller and Leatherdale question the stringency of this connection. Many of the scenes in Whitby and London are based on real places that Stoker frequently visited, although he distorts the geography for the sake of the story in some cases. One scholar has suggested that Stoker chose Whitby as the site of Dracula's first appearance in England because of the Synod of Whitby , given the novel's preoccupation with timekeeping and calendar disputes.

The short story "Dracula's Guest" was posthumously published in , two years after Stoker's death. It was, according to most contemporary critics, the deleted first or second chapter from the original manuscript [66] and the one which gave the volume its name, [6]: It is Walpurgis Night and the young Englishman foolishly leaves his hotel, in spite of the coachman's warnings, and wanders through a dense forest alone.

Along the way, he feels that he is being watched by a tall and thin stranger possibly Count Dracula. The short story climaxes in an old graveyard where the Englishman, caught in a blizzard, takes refuge in the marble tomb of "Countess Dolingen of Gratz". Within the tomb, he sees the Countess—apparently asleep and healthy—but before he can investigate further, a mysterious force throws him clear of the tomb.

A lightning bolt then strikes the tomb, destroying it and incinerating the undead screaming countess. The Englishman then loses consciousness. He awakens to find a "gigantic" wolf lying on his chest and licking at his throat; however, the wolf merely keeps him warm and protects him until help arrives.

When the Englishman is finally taken back to his hotel, a telegram awaits him from his expectant host Dracula, with a warning about "dangers from snow and wolves and night". Dacre Stoker and J. Barker will write a prequel to Dracula titled Dracul. An interpretation of the missing pages of the original novel, it was pieced together from Bram Stoker's editorial notes, artifacts, and journals. The story of Dracula has been the basis for numerous films and plays.

Stoker himself wrote the first theatrical adaptation, which was presented at the Lyceum Theatre on 18 May under the title Dracula, or The Undead shortly before the novel's publication and performed only once, in order to establish his own copyright for such adaptations. This adaption was first published only a century later in October Murnau 's unauthorised film adaptation Nosferatu was released in , and the popularity of the novel increased considerably, owing to an attempt by Stoker's widow to have the film removed from public circulation.

Galeen transplanted the action of the story from s England to s Germany and reworked several characters, dropping some such as Lucy and all three of her suitors , and renaming others Dracula became Orlok , Jonathan Harker became Thomas Hutter, Mina became Ellen, and so on. This attempt failed to avoid a court case, however; Florence Stoker sued Prana Film, and all copies of the film were ordered to be destroyed. George's Day, April 23, and the eve of St. The area is also home to Bram Stoker's Dracula, and it's easy to get caught up in the tale while driving along winding roads through dense, dark, ancient forests and over mountain passes.

Tales of the supernatural had been circulating in Romanian folklore for centuries when Irish writer Bram Stoker picked up the thread and spun it into a golden tale of ghoulishness that has never been out of print since its first publication in To research his immortal tale, Stoker immersed himself in the history, lore and legends of Transylvania, which he called a "whirlpool for the imagination. Count Dracula, a fictional character in the Dracula novel, was inspired by one of the best-known figures of Romanian history, Vlad Dracula, nicknamed Vlad Tepes Vlad the Impaler , who was the ruler of Walachia at various times from Born in in Sighisoara, he resided all his adult life in Walachia, except for periods of imprisonment at Pest and Visegrad in Hungary.

For more information about Bram Stocker's Dracula Novel please visit www. Although he never traveled to Romania, Stoker crammed his book with descriptions of many real locations that can still be visited in present-day Romania.

Bram Stoker: A Brief Biography

They include the most important historical places associated with Vlad Tepes, such as the 14th century town of Sighisoara where you can visit the house in which Vlad was born now hosting a restaurant and a small museum of medieval weapons. Other Dracula sites include: Some tours also cover the folkloric aspects of the fictional Dracula.

For instance, visitors can eat the exact meal Jonathan Harker ate at The Golden Crown in Bistrita and sleep at Castle Dracula Hotel, built no so long ago on the Borgo Pass at the approximate site of the fictional Count's castle. Bucharest is laden with historical charm — from the streets of the Old City Center, which are slowly being restored, to the grand architecture of the Royal Palace and the lush green of Cismigiu Park.

The city also claims a large number of museums, art galleries, exquisite Orthodox churches and unique architectural sites find out more about Bucharest. Strada Franceza Telephone: At the center of the historic area in Bucharest are the remains of the Old Princely Court, built in the 15th century by Vlad Tepes. According to local lore, Vlad kept his prisoners in dungeons which commenced beneath the Old Princely Court and extended under the city. All that remains today are a few walls, arches, tombstones and a Corinthian column.

The Old Court Museum was established in when an archaeological dig revealed the remains of the fortress, along with Dacian pottery and Roman coins, evidence of Bucharest's earliest inhabitants. The oldest document attesting to the city's origin under the name of Bucuresti was discovered here.

It was issued on September 20, and signed by Prince Vlad Tepes. For two centuries, the church served as coronation ground for Romanian princes. Some of the original 16th century frescoes have been preserved.

Bucuresti Nord Nearest bus stop: In - more than one hundred years after the church was built - Romanian prince Vlad Tepes Vlad the Impaler added thick defending walls and a dungeon. A plaque on the floor inside the church marks the grave with the presumed remains of the world-known count.

The monastery is located on an island on lake Snagov, and can be accessed on a pedestrian bridge or by boat. Calea Domneasca Telephone: The Princely Court served as the capital of Walachia, where Vlad ruled. It was here that the Prince impaled a great many disloyal court members the boyars after inviting them to a celebratory feast.

Chindiei Watchtower now houses an exhibition illustrating Vlad's life. Valachia — Southern-Centre Romania Where: Curtea de Arges 15 miles north Nearest train station: Curtea de Arges Nearest bus stop: The ruins of Poienari Fortress stand high on a cliff overlooking the Arges River, at the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. Built at the beginning of the 13th century by the first Walachian rulers, the castle changed names and residents a few times over the decades; eventually, it was abandoned and left in ruins. Vlad recognized the potential of the location and upon taking over the throne, he ordered that the structure be repaired and consolidated, turning it into one of his main fortresses.

When the Turks attacked and captured the castle in , Vlad escaped via a secret passageway leading north through the mountains. Although the castle was used for many years after Vlad's death in , it was eventually abandoned again in the first half of the 16th century and left to the ravages of time and weather. In , a major landslide brought down a portion of the castle which crashed into the river far below. The castle underwent repairs and the remnants of its walls and towers stand to this day. You will need stamina to climb the 1, steps to reach the castle ruins, perched high above the surrounding area like an eagle's nest.

Next visit Arefu, where many of the villagers trace their ancestry back to the loyal minions of Vlad Tepes himself in the movies, these are the ones who are always busy loading up Dracula's coffins with Transylvanian earth. Legend has it that when the Turks attacked and took over the Poenari Castle in , it was the villagers of Arefu who helped Vlad escape. Spend the night with the locals camping around a fire and listening to centuries-old folk tales.

Bram Stoker | Irish writer |

Fringed by the peaks of the Southern Carpathian Mountains and resplendent with gothic, baroque and renaissance architecture, as well as a wealth of historical attractions, Brasov is one of the most visited places in Romania. Founded by Transylvanian Saxons during the 12th century, Sighisoara still stands as one of the most beautiful and best-preserved medieval towns in Europe. Designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, this perfectly intact 16th century gem with nine towers, cobbled streets, burgher houses and ornate churches rivals the historic streets of Old Prague or Vienna for atmospheric magic.

It is the birthplace of Vlad Tepes Vlad the Impaler , ruler of the province of Walachia from to find out more about Sighisoara. This ocher-colored house is the place where Vlad Tepes, the inspiration for Bram Stoker's famous Dracula, was born in and lived with his father, Vlad Dracul read more about the story of the Dracul name , until when they moved to Targoviste. A wrought-iron dragon hangs above the entrance.

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The ground floor of the house serves as a restaurant, while the first floor is home to the Museum of Weapons. Located at the foot of the Bargau Mountains, not far from the Borgo Pass Pasul Tihuta in Romanian which connects the provinces of Transylvania and Moldavia, the town of Bistrita is one of the oldest in the region. Archeological findings indicate that the area has been inhabited since the Neolithic age, long before Bram Stocker chose it as the setting of his fictional Dracula's castle.

Saxon colonists, who settled here in , helped develop the town into a flourishing medieval trading post. First mentioned in as Villa Bistiche, the name was later changed to Civitas Bysterce. Today, the old town's quaint 15th and 16th century merchants' houses, the remains of the 13th century fortress walls and a generally unhurried pace have preserved some of Bistrita's medieval atmosphere find out more about Bistrita. Access by car only Borgo Pass Bargau in Romanian , made famous in the opening chapter of Bram Stoker's Dracula, is an oft-trod passageway through the Carpathian Mountains in northern Transylvania.

Located near the small township of Tihuta, the pass peaks at 3, feet. The Bargau Valley encompasses some of the most beautiful unspoiled mountain scenery in the Carpathians with picturesque traditional villages located in valleys and on hillsides, ideal bases for hiking, riding or discovering their vivid tapestry of old customs, handicrafts and folklore. Here, you will step into a realm that the fictional Mina Harker described in her diary as "a lovely county; full of beauties of all imaginable kinds, and the people are brave, and strong, and simple, and seem full of nice qualities.

Vlad Tepes was born in in the fortress city of Sighisoara. His father, Vlad Dacul, was the military governor of Transylvania and had become a member of the Order of the Dragon a year before. The Order, similar to the Order of the Teutonic Knights, was a semi-military and religious organization established in in Rome in order to promote Catholic interests and crusades. For his deeds, the Order of the Dragon was bestowed upon him, hence the title Dracul the Latin word for dragon is draco. While in medieval lure dragons served as symbols of independence, leadership, strength and wisdom, the biblical association of the devil with the serpent that tempted Adam and Eve gave the snake-like dragon connotations of evil.

Thus, the Romanian word Dracul stands in English for both dragon and devil. Moreover, the ceremonial uniform of the Order — black cloak over red accouterment — was Bram Stocker' source of inspiration for Count Dracula's look. But how did Bram Stoker's story turn into a myth? A partial explanation is provided by the circumstances under which the book was written and received.