UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL MAYOR DE SAN MARCOS

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

TEACHER: YONNY CARDENAS CORNELIO

STUDENT: FELIX SATALAYA ISUIZA

COURSE: AMERICAN LITERATURE

TOPIC: DRACULA

By Bram Stoker

DRACULA

BIOGRAPHY

Stoker was born on 8 November 1847 at 15 Marino Crescent,

Clontarf, on the northside of Dublin, Ireland.

His parents were Abraham Stoker, from Dublin, and Charlotte

Mathilda Blake Thornley who came from Ballyshannon, County

Donegal.

He was the third of seven children.

Stoker was bed-ridden until he started school at the age of seven,

when he made a complete recovery.

After his recovery, he grew up without further major health issues,

even excelling as an athlete at Trinity College, Dublin.

EARLY

LIFE

BIOGRAPHY

Stoker became interested in the theatre while a student through a

friend, Dr. Maunsell.

He became the theatre critic for the Dublin Evening Mail, co-

owned by the author of Gothic tales Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu.

Stoker also wrote stories, and in 1872 "The Crystal Cup" was

published by the London Society, followed by "The Chain of

Destiny" in four parts in The Shamrock.

In 1876, while a civil servant in Dublin, Stoker wrote a non-fiction

book (The Duties of Clerks of Petty Sessions in Ireland, published

1879), which remained a standard work

EARLY

CAREER

BIOGRAPHY

After suffering a number of strokes, Stoker died at No. 26 St

George's Square in 1912.Some biographers attribute the

cause of death to tertiary syphilis. He was cremated, and his

ashes placed in a display urn at Golders Green Crematorium.

After Irving Noel Stoker's death in 1961, his ashes were added

to that urn. The original plan had been to keep his parents'

ashes together, but after Florence Stoker's death her ashes

were scattered at the Gardens of Rest. To visit his remains at

Golders Green, visitors must be escorted to the room the urn

is housed in, for fear of vandalism.

DEATH

WORK

The Primrose Path (1875) The Snake's Pass (1890) The Watter's Mou' (1895) The Shoulder of Shasta (1895) Dracula (1897) Miss Betty (1898) The Mystery of the Sea (1902) The Jewel of Seven Stars (1903) The Man (aka: The Gates of Life) (1905) Lady Athlyne (1908) The Lady of the Shroud (1909) The Lair of the White Worm (aka: The Garden of Evil)

(1911)

NOVELS

WORK

"The Bridal of Death" (alternate ending to The Jewel of Seven Stars)

"Buried Treasures" "The Chain of Destiny" "The Crystal Cup" "The Dualitists; or, The Death Doom of the Double Born" "Lord Castleton Explains" "The Gombeen Man" "In the Valley of the Shadow" "The Man from Shorrox" "Midnight Tales" "The Red Stockade" "The Seer"

STORIES

DRACULA

Jonathan Harker, a young London solicitor (a lawyer) travels to Transylvania (modern-day Romania) to help a rich nobleman, Count Dracula, purchase an estate in England. Dracula is planning to immigrate to England, and wants Harker to help him hammer out all the legal details. Harker is at first impressed by Dracula's suave politeness, but is soon creeped out by the Count's uncanny ability to communicate with wolves and by the lack of servants (or anyone else) in the Count's huge castle. Soon after, Harker realizes that he's a prisoner in the castle.

One evening, he tries to find an escape route – only to be discovered and almost seduced/devoured by three sexy vampire ladies (the brides of Dracula). Dracula rescues him at the last minute, and Harker realizes that Dracula is only keeping him alive to finish the real estate transaction. Harker decides to make a break for it and only barely escapes from the castle alive. He's not able to head straight back to England, though. He comes down with a severe case of brain fever because of the shock and spends many weeks recuperating in a convent in the countryside in Hungary.

Meanwhile, back in England, Harker's fiancée, Mina, is hanging out with her best friend Lucy in a seaside town. Mina's worried about Jonathan and wonders why she hasn't heard from him in so long, but Lucy can only think about her own suitors. She gets three marriage proposals in the same day by three friends: Dr. John Seward, a doctor who runs a mental hospital; Quincey Morris, an American; and Arthur Holmwood, the son of Lord Godalming (an English gentleman). She accepts Arthur Holmwood. Even though Quincey Morris and Dr. Seward are disappointed, they still stay friends with Arthur.

Meanwhile, Dracula has arrived in England, but hasn't shown himself yet. A patient in Dr. Seward's hospital, Renfield, continually captures and eats insects, spiders, and birds and says that the "Master" is coming soon. Lucy starts acting weird – she seems to be losing blood, but no one knows where the blood's going. Her fiancé, Lord Arthur Holmwood, gets worried, and Jack Seward sends for his friend and mentor, Van Helsing, to check her out.

Van Helsing realizes that there's a vampire involved. He's a scientist and doctor, but he's also well versed in ancient superstitions and philosophy, so he knows what to do to kill vampires. Even after giving her multiple blood transfusions, they're not able to save Lucy, and she dies. But Van Helsing knows she's not really dead. The four men break into her tomb and catch vampire Lucy coming back from a foray in the neighboring village. They stab her in the heart and cut off her head to make sure she's really dead, and not just mostly dead.

Mina finally hears from Jonathan and goes to Budapest to pick him up. They get married at the convent where he's been recovering from his illness, and come back to England. Harker, Van Helsing, Seward, Morris, and Holmwood all swear to get rid of Dracula once and for all.

Mina has to hide in Dr. Seward's office at the hospital while the men go vampire hunting. Unfortunately, Renfield knows about Dracula and invites him into the building (vampires can't enter unless they've been invited, so don't go inviting any vampires into your homes), and he starts drinking Mina's blood. The men come back in time to find her being force-fed some of Dracula's blood.

The case is now extremely urgent – if they don't catch and kill Dracula quickly, Mina will turn into a vampire, like Lucy. Dracula leads them on a spectacular chase back to Transylvania, where they finally catch up to him and kill him. Mina is saved, and they all live happily ever after. Except for Quincey Morris, who gets stabbed during the final fight.

CHARACTERS

Count Dracula

Mina Murray Harker

Jonathan harker

Lucy westenra

Dr. Seward

Dr. Val Helsing

Arthur Holmwood

Quincey Morris

THEMES

TECHNOLOGY AND MODERNIZATION

Bram seems to have been obsessed with the latest technologies. He makes a big point of having his characters use really up-to-date (for 1897) gadgets for communication – Jack Seward, for example, records his diary on a phonograph, which is an early recording device. All the high-tech gadgets contrast strongly with the superstitions and ancient traditions surrounding Dracula himself.

THEMES

SEX

Most of the characters in Dracula are simultaneously attracted to and repulsed by the idea of having their blood sucked. Most of them are able to repress that desire most of the time, although they acknowledge the desire later in their journals. There aren't any actual sex scenes in the novel, but the blood-sucking scenes are close enough: they're described in terms of illicit desire and sexual repression.

PASSIVITY

In the world of Dracula, being passive can get you into a lot of trouble. If you think something is fishy, or you aren't feeling quite right, you'd better say something. Staying quiet, or assuming that everything is going to be fine, will only get you bitten by a vampire. Take Jonathan Harker, for example, who ignores all the superstitious advice he's given on his way to Castle Dracula. He also ignores Dracula's advice to stay in his end of the castle, and falls asleep in a room where the Brides of Dracula could attack him.

GOOD VS EVIL

The vampire Dracula is pretty unambiguously evil. The members of the Crew of Light, the group dedicated to destroying Dracula, are unambiguously good.