Dracula Essay, Research Paper
The book Dracula by Bram Stoker is a tale of the old-time legend of the most famous of vampires. It takes place in both England and Transylvania. Jonathan Harker s first assignment as a professional lawyer is to meet with Count Dracula at his castle in Transylvania on behalf of concluding a deal with the purchase of an English estate. Before Jonathan gets to the castle, he stays in a hotel that was selected by Count Dracula. Right before Jonathan leaves this hotel, the Innkeeper s Wife presses a crucifix on his head. This occurs on the Eve of St. George s Day. When he asks her what St. George s Day is, she replies with, All evil things in the world will have full sway. This could be considered foreshadowing for many of the events that were to follow. This novel portrayed many conflicts, both minor and major. One of the minor conflicts is when Jonathan secretly passes a letter to his love, Mina Murray, out the window to one of the three gypsies while they were leaving the castle. The gypsy who received the letter brought it straight to the count. As a result the count has a talk with Jonathan. Dracula says, A vile thing, an outrage upon friendship and hospitality. The reason that the count got so upset was because he told Jonathan that he would collect and be responsible for any letters that needed to be sent. Another conflict was when Jonathan spied on the count and saw him wearing his clothing and carrying a heap that moved like a baby. This time the conflict was not between the count and Jonathan. A while later, a woman showed up at the gates, screaming for the count to return her child to her. At this time a
pack of wolves came, and they attacked and killed her. The last conflict was a major one. This one had to do with Mina Murray s friend Lucy. One night Mina woke up and saw that Lucy was not in her bed. Because of this, she goes out looking for her. She finds Lucy lying on a bench in the garden with a dark figure hunched over her. This figure looks up, revealing a pale face and red eyes. When Mina approaches them, the man disappears. The next morning, she notices two small holes on Lucy s neck. She thinks that when she put Lucy s shawl on her, the hooks on it pricked her neck. What she doesn t know is that these holes are from that dark figure. After this night, Lucy behaves strangely and often becomes ill. Some of the strange things that she did were sleepwalking and leaning out of windows. As far as her health goes, her face got pale and the holes on her neck got larger. One time, she had trouble breathing and had to get a blood transfusion with blood from Arthur Holmwood. After she recovered from this health issue, on the sixth of September, a wolf came into the bedroom that she and her mother were sleeping in. This wolf gave her mother a heart attack, killing her. It also knocked Lucy unconscious. On the twentieth of September, Lucy died as well. Dracula finally pays the price for the evil he used on many innocent people. A very brave Jonathan slits Count Dracula s throat and Quincy drives a bowie knife into the vampire s heart. Thus, the vampire is dead, and his name remains only in fictional tales such as this.