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Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'

Posted: Sat Mar 13, 2010 2:45 am
by Emily
I know it's not particularly philosophical, but it has inspired, in me, much philosophical thought concerning life and death.
I do extension english at school and I have been given an assignment based on Dracula. It is a polyphonous text but we never hear from Dracula's perspective. I have to write a chapter from his point of view and place it somehwere in the text.
I've made a start but any input I can recieve would be highly appreciated. Or any thoughts on Dracula in general.

This is the first little bit.

Awake, I sense the setting sun half hidden on the horizon. I am still, restrained by the great command of the waning day. Alas! I, with all of my unearthly power and strength cannot stand before the light. It mocks me. I am too dead to be wakeful before the shining sun. It is the thing of life; it gives life and feeds life. It will not abide me. But now it will not be long before I can rise. It is only a matter of time.
Oh time! Time, time, time - my eternal friend and foe. I know you much too well, and much too little all the same. Even after all the years you have tormented me, I still do not understand you yet. You mischievous thing, you stubborn fiend you! You are persistent with your game.
You are like the constant hunger that gnaws at me day and night. I am hungry - hungry always. I drink and drink and drink the life of so many alive but never can I sate this unending hunger of mine. No amount of life can replace that which I have lost; it can only subdue my starvation for a moment too small.
The sun is almost buried, its shackles are loosening and I am able to stir. I can feel my freedom coming soon.
It is now. Driven by thirst, I climb from my cradle. I must feed.
Later...
I smelled out a disgusting young man on horseback not two miles from by abode. He reeked of filth but I was too hungry to care. When I seized him he cowered, more so than my usual kill. He must have been a sorry man, and he was indeed. I could taste it in his blood. It tasted of hopelessness and sin. The stuff was sour! It made me ill! But against my own weakened will I did not stop. I sucked him dry and all of his tainted blood did little to revive me. His horse’s blood was richer than his own; disgusting. Too seldom do I find a body of pure blood. People start to go off once they have begun to lose their soul. Man is corrupt today more so than he has ever been and he is even more oblivious.

Re: Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'

Posted: Sat Mar 13, 2010 11:34 am
by Richard Baron
Hello Emily

Good stuff. Nietzsche would have approved: not that Zarathustra was diabolical, but he is also the voice to whom polite society dare not give audience.

Another point of comparison is Milton's Paradise Lost. We hear Satan speak, and we hear what he does, but we do not, so far as I recall, get an account from his point of view (or indeed from anyone's, the narrator being outside the poem).

Re: Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'

Posted: Sun Mar 28, 2010 6:55 pm
by duszek
A vampire is not the same as Satan, devil or Lucifer.
As far as the Evil itself is concerned the topic of selling one´s soul to the devil is common in literature.
One example: Dr. Faustus by Thomas Mann. A little bit long and tough to read though.
And if I have understood correctly Adrian sold his soul to the devil by getting syphilis, which gave him some big insights and feelings of grandeur. Nietzsche is also supposed to have got syphilis and therefore felt like a god, in his case the god of will power Dionysos.

Re: Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2010 11:47 pm
by John
Jonathan Harker is the lawyer and yet poor Dracula gets the reputation for being a blood sucker. There's no justice in the world.

And I do like your writing style and would have been quite happy to read more.

Re: Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'

Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 12:20 pm
by Aetixintro
You have probably heard about Anne Rice's vampires (fx. An Interview With a Vampire). You may want to check her out!
You are probably young (in school...)? Also consider watching the movie, it's very nice! At least, I think Anne Rice is writing from the perspective of a vampire, but yes, your text *is* good. You should make your own full vampire account from the one you've started. Good luck! :)

Re: Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'

Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 4:23 am
by Emily
I've heard of Anne Rice but I've never read or seen anything of hers.
I am young. 16 in year 11. Thankyou for you're compliments. :)
I have ellaborated on the bove and submitted it as my assignment. I got 16 out of 20. Probably due to the quality of the second part. I was rushed.

Re: Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'

Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 7:29 pm
by Jerrydr
Life after death is a wonderful topic and nothing better than the one of the world’s best inspirational speakers, Dr. Deepak Chopra. In his book he has stated what life and death is all about. Life and death is a continuum of the eternal consciousness. It is just returning to the source. I am very much inspired by the concept. In my opinion, the concept of Dracula by Bram Stoker is just a story and nothing else.

Re: Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'

Posted: Sun Jan 16, 2011 3:39 pm
by chaz wyman
Jerrydr wrote:Life after death is a wonderful topic and nothing better than the one of the world’s best inspirational speakers, Dr. Deepak Chopra. In his book he has stated what life and death is all about. Life and death is a continuum of the eternal consciousness. It is just returning to the source. I am very much inspired by the concept. In my opinion, the concept of Dracula by Bram Stoker is just a story and nothing else.
Bram Stoker and Chopra have one thing in common. They both write fiction based on traditional myth.

Re: Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'

Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 11:10 am
by chaz wyman
pangado wrote:Anne Rices' books are much better. They are the model after which all vampire stories are based. Bram Stoker did Dracula true, but Rice gave these previously soulless monsters personalities that make them such a popular subject now.
It is ridiculous to suggest that her books are "the model after which all vampire stories are based" because she was only born in 1941, and was not published until 1976, whereas Dracula has been around since 1897, and has inspired countless films, books and other stories. Count Dracula is far from lacking in personality.

Re: Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 1:12 am
by Izzywizzy
It is ridiculous to suggest that her books are "the model after which all vampire stories are based" because she was only born in 1941, and was not published until 1976, whereas Dracula has been around since 1897, and has inspired countless films, books and other stories. Count Dracula is far from lacking in personality.
Chaz has a point here, and i agree with him

Re: Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 9:29 pm
by chaz wyman
Izzywizzy wrote:
It is ridiculous to suggest that her books are "the model after which all vampire stories are based" because she was only born in 1941, and was not published until 1976, whereas Dracula has been around since 1897, and has inspired countless films, books and other stories. Count Dracula is far from lacking in personality.
Chaz has a point here, and i agree with him

CRUMBS!!!
:D

Re: Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 4:24 am
by blackbox
Haha, I thought the same.

Re: Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'

Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 1:43 pm
by Izzywizzy
CRUMBS!!!

LOL amazingly for once i agree with you Chaz..wow hope my house doesn`t fall in lol

Re: Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 9:13 pm
by Thundril
Anne Rice's books are interesting, challenging, and in many ways an innovative approach to the vampire gemre.. But IMO, Stoker's Dracula is way out on it's own. For a start, there wasn't a literary vampire genre; Stoker started it. Even though he was working in an age when, (as now) the gothic was very fashionable. I still shudder when I remember reading (and it was more than forty years ago!) the part where the count crawls head first down the walls of his castle. Awesome creative imagination!

Re: Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'

Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2012 3:56 pm
by GuerreroJ
i was reading it last summer.
but i didn't finish it.
the idea of the book is great but diary-style is not really my thing.
anyway i understand both: people who doesn't like it and people who likes it