book review of dracula by bram stoker

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Bram stoker's dracula, common sense media reviewers.

Classic vampire tale is sexier and darker than you remember.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this book.

An excellent glimpse back into the turn of the cen

At the core of this story is a group of individual

Mina is a strong female character. She is practica

Staking, throat slashing, biting and blood drinkin

This classic is much sexier than you remember. Sex

Male characters drink and smoke in passing as was

Parents need to know that the vampire novel that started it all is sexier, more violent, and edgier than you probably remember. In one scene, sexually aggressive female vampires dance seductively for Jonathon Harker who expresses "a wicked, burning desire" for them to kiss him; in another the heroine is forced to…

Educational Value

An excellent glimpse back into the turn of the century. Plus many of the newfangled inventions of the late 19th/early 20th century play a major role in the story. Trains, typewriters, and steam ships are mentioned often.

Positive Messages

At the core of this story is a group of individuals working together to defeat a literal monster in their midst.

Positive Role Models

Mina is a strong female character. She is practical, courageous, and selfless in the face of increasing peril. She is resourceful and plays a key role in defeating Dracula. Lucy is foolish, free with her affections, and selfish, but she is punished for it. Jonathon is curious, protective, and brave. He shows a strong will to escape his captor and protect Mina.

Violence & Scariness

Staking, throat slashing, biting and blood drinking. These scenes are not described with gruesome detail, but there is definitely more colorful descriptions than you'd expect from a late Victorian novel.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

This classic is much sexier than you remember. Sexually aggressive female vampires dance seductively for Jonathon Harker who expresses "a wicked, burning desire" for them to kiss him. There's a suggestive, promiscuous female predator (Lucy), and an unsettling scene involving the heroine (Mina) forced to drink from Dracula's breast.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Male characters drink and smoke in passing as was the custom for the time period. Plus some unsettling descriptions of the "medicines" used by Dr. Seward.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that the vampire novel that started it all is sexier, more violent, and edgier than you probably remember. In one scene, sexually aggressive female vampires dance seductively for Jonathon Harker who expresses "a wicked, burning desire" for them to kiss him; in another the heroine is forced to drink from Dracula's breast. While not described in gruesome detail, there's plenty of staking, throat slashing, biting, and blood drinking. Count Dracula is not the tortured romantic hero of modern-day cinema, but rather an evil monster that must be destroyed. Also, parents should be aware that this novel has a strong female character turned into a sexually aggressive predator, as well as unsettling descriptions of mental illness.

Where to Read

Community reviews.

• Parents say (3)
• Kids say (14)

Based on 3 parent reviews

Classis horror story build great suspense

Great novel, what's the story.

When Jonthan Harker is sent to Transylvania to conduct some business for an enigmatic nobleman, he's warned by the villagers that Count Dracula has evil powers and diabolical ambitions. When Jonathon attempts to leave he discovers that the villagers are right; He is held captive by the count and barely escapes, badly injured. Meanwhile back in England, his beautiful wife-to-be, Mina, joins her friend Lucy in Whitby to wait for Jonathon to return. Lucy falls ill and begins acting very strangely and it becomes apparent that Lucy's illness is related to the evil count. With the help of two of Lucy's suitors, a brilliant old professor, and a new-found incentive to protect Mina, Jonathon sets off back to Transylvania to destroy the monster.

Is It Any Good?

DRACULA has all the necessary requirements to keep it read by each generation of horror fans. As well as being an excellent time capsule to turn-of-the-century England, it's a scary, intriguing under-the-covers read. With great horror staples like spooky howling wolves, damsels in distress, evil monsters, and a quest to destroy them it's not surprising that this is the novel that kicked off the vampire craze. While the myths about vampires may be familiar, don't be too shocked when this vampire is more monster and ghoul than romantic hero.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the vampire myth. How are the vampires in the Twilight series different? Which vampire lore do you prefer?

Why, when Count Dracula is such a cruel creature in this novel, has he become such an iconic character?

How does the novel itself live up to the hype of all the movies? Were you disappointed to find that Dracula isn't the romantic hero he is on screen?

Book Details

• Author : Bram Stoker
• Genre : Horror
• Book type : Fiction
• Publisher : Penguin Group
• Publication date : December 31, 1969
• Publisher's recommended age(s) : 12 - 15
• Number of pages : 560
• Last updated : July 12, 2017

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Book Review: Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'

Our book reviewer Scott Southard gives his take on the classic horror novel "Dracula."

“Welcome to my house! Come freely. Go safely. And leave something of the happiness you bring!”

With those words, Count Dracula has been welcoming readers into his castle in Transylvania for over 100 years now. Dracula was not the first vampire in literature, but he is easily the most important. The count has flown like a bat out of Bram Stoker’s classic novel and into our cultural imagination. The vampires of today’s fantasy fiction all owe something to the dark count. Yet, when contemporary readers turn to Stoker’s original novel, they might be surprised because, pardon the pun, it is easy for reviewers to take a bite out of this imperfect horror.

The Dracula in Bram Stoker’s book is not the vampire you might expect. Movies and other pop culture interpretations usually miss the mark when it comes to the novel’s central character. Even the 1992 film Bram Stoker’s Dracula is not really Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The original Dracula is not a romantic hero. He’s a monster, driven by his hunger for blood and his uncontrolled lust to take what he wants.

There are three things that will surprise contemporary readers when they pick up this classic novel. The first is how little horror there really is in the book. It may seem strange to say it, but the body count is surprising low. There’s only a few moments of real white-knuckle terror scenes. My favorite one is the sea journey Dracula takes to London. During the trip he takes out members of the crew one by one, and you can feel the desperation and fear grow with each new entry in the ship’s logs.

It’s also surprising how little we see of the vampire. While the book is called "Dracula," the infamous count only makes a few appearances in its pages. Yes, he is the focus of all of the main characters’ discussions. But beyond some conversations with his English broker Jonathon Harker in the beginning of the book, he is nothing more than a dark and haunting shadow lurking in the background. He is the mystery to be solved, and then becomes the focus of the heroes’ hunt for justice.

The third, and the most surprising for me during this recent reading is how religious the novel is. The friends of Dracula’s first victim spend the book seeking revenge for their deceased friend. Each member of the team views their work as something spiritual, part of a great battle between good and evil. Honestly, it can get a little heavy handed.

If you have the ability to turn off everything you know about the count and just experience the book as Stoker intended, it’s actually a good story with some interesting high points. For example, the narrative is told through a series of diaries, journals and letters. This gives us an interesting first hand insight into all of the characters as they discover and experience the horror of Count Dracula’s actions. While we go in knowing exactly who Dracula is, the characters have to be convinced of the monster. We expect the fangs, they don’t.

"Dracula" by Bram Stoker might not be the book you believe it to be. And like Harker standing at the doorway of the castle in the beginning, you have to decide for yourself if you wish to enter or not. Go on. It’s Halloween. What do you have to lose?

Scott Southard is the author of the new novel "Permanent Spring Showers" and "A Jane Austen Daydream." You can follow his writing via his blog "The Musings and Artful Blunders of Scott D. Southard" at sdsouthard.com .

By Bram Stoker

With 'Dracula', Stoker was able to introduce the fantastic world of malevolent vampires and dogged vampire hunters to popular consciousness.

About the Book

Article written by Israel Njoku

Degree in M.C.M with focus on Literature from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula ‘ is a gothic horror story about a Vampire’s attempts to gain a foothold in England in order to find fresh blood and the attempts of a group of courageous individuals to stop him. It is the book most responsible for catapulting vampiric literature and media onto the top of public consciousness.

Through a fragmentary narrative technique and expert build-up of tension, Bram Stoker created a gripping tale that has lasted in public consciousness ever since it came out. ‘ Dracula ‘s staying power owed as much to Stoker’s writing as it did to the way in which he was able to capture the full range of Victorian anxieties .

Key Facts about Dracula

• Title:   Dracula
• Published: 1897
• Literary Period : Victorian
• Genre : Gothic, Horror
• Point-of-View:  Fragmentary
• Setting:  England and Transylvania in the Victorian period
• Climax:  Dracula’s destruction at the hands of the crew of light
• Antagonist: Count Dracula

Bram Stoker and Dracula

The seeds for ‘ Dracula ‘ were most probably planted through the numerous horror stories involving the “undead” that Stoker’s mother told him during his long incapacitated and sickly childhood by her side. Stoker was also privy to the so-called vampire scare of 1896, where a Tuberculosis outbreak was mischaracterized as symptoms of vampirism. All these most likely contributed to ‘Dracula ,’ as were the sensibilities of the Victorian period in which he lived.

The protagonists in ‘Dracula ‘ are all gentlemanly, prudish Western Europeans who were embodiments of Victorian Britain’s standards for proper conduct and character. The antagonists are embodiments of sexual licentiousness, greed, and evil- and they are from Eastern Europe. This also shows Stoker’s awareness of contemporary Britain’s colonialist and racist attitudes, as well as the bad blood between Western Europe on one hand and Russia and its Eastern European neighbors on the other.

While ‘Dracula’ was favorably reviewed upon its publication, it did not bring much financial stability for Stoker. In his time, it was less an achievement for him than his position as Henry Irving’s right-hand man. ‘Dracula ‘s reputation would only truly soar years after Stoker’s death.

Books Related to Dracula

In writing ‘Dracula ,’ Stoker drew from a plethora of already existing Vampire literature, such as John Polidori’s ‘The Vampyre ‘ which, when published in 1819, became the first complete work of vampire literature in English prose, and Sheridan Le Fanu’s 1872 homoerotic vampire fiction ‘Camilla .’ There was also the anonymously published ‘Varney the Vampire ‘ published in 1847. Stoker evidently borrowed elements from these books for use in his own.

Bram Stoker’s work is also similar to other contemporary gothic fiction that utilized a monster, such as Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein: Or, the Modern Prometheus ‘ which was published in 1818, Robert Louis Stevenson ‘s ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde ‘ published in 1886, Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Picture of Dorian Grey ‘ published in 1891 and H.G. Well’ s ‘The Invincible Man ‘ which came out in 1897.

The Lasting Impact of Dracula

Dracula remains one of the most influential works in literature. It has inspired countless film adaptations, and stage plays. The characters of Dracula and Van Helsing have become the prototypical vampire and vampire hunter, respectively, becoming permanent staples of the Vampire lore within fiction. ‘Dracula’ has inspired a great number of scholarly articles on topics devoted to both the gothic horror genre and psychoanalytical deconstruction of social and psychological dimensions in books of the Victorian age.

Victorian Anxieties Reflected In Dracula 🧛

‘Dracula’ embodies some of the pressing anxieties facing English people during Bram Stoker’s time.

Best Film Adaptation of Dracula 🎥

Bram Stoker’s Dracula is possibly among the most widely adapted piece of fictional literature ever written. We round up some of the notable films.

Dracula Themes and Analysis 🧛

Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ contains a number of themes important because they reveal so much about the author’s philosophies.

Dracula Character List 🧛

‘Dracula’ contains characters like Count Dracula and Abraham Van Helsing that have become the quintessential chief vampire and vampire hunter in vampire lore.

Dracula Historical Context 🧛

‘Dracula’ has gone on to be the greatest vampire book of all time, but it drew on books before it.

Dracula Quotes 🧛

‘Dracula’ is full of great quotes on a variety of topics that we can find relevant to our lives.

Dracula Review 🧛

“Dracula”‘s greatness is unquestionable. We look at some of the reasons why the book is so great.

Dracula Plot Summary 🧛

In Stoker’s “Dracula’, a group of courageous individuals face off against the world’s single deadliest entity.

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The Book Habit

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Review: Dracula by Bram Stoker

A few weeks ago, I had a revelation. Assisting with an advertising campaign for Hitchin British Schools (where I played the role of wife and mother very effectively), I stumbled upon the fabulous Eric T. Moore Books – a seller of secondhand, out-of-print, and antiquarian books. It is an absolute treasure trove. If I hadn’t needed to return to my duties, I would quite happily have spent the day exploring the shop. Fortunately, I did grab the chance to pick up a couple of new novels. Unexpectedly, given that it was not on my interest list, I ended up purchasing a copy of Bram Stoker’s celebrated classic, Dracula . The epitome of gothicism, and a terrifying read if ever there was one.

“The great box was in the same place, close against the wall, but the lid was laid on it, not fastened down, but with nails ready in their places to be hammered home. I knew I must search the body for the key, so I raised the lid and laid it back against the wall; and then I saw something which filled my very soul with horror. There lay the Count, but looking as if his youth had been half-renewed, for the white hair and moustache were changed to dark iron-grey; the cheeks were fuller, and the white skin seemed ruby-red underneath; the mouth was redder than ever, for on the lips were gouts of fresh blood, which trickled from the corners of the mouth and ran over the chin and neck.”

The narrative of Dracula consists of diaries and letters, composed by the novel’s various involved parties. It begins with the diary of Jonathan Harker, a solicitor sent to Transylvania to consult with the mysterious Count Dracula regarding some property acquisitions in London. After his arrival, however, Harker becomes a virtual prisoner in the Count’s castle. He escapes, but is left with a brain fever that draws his new wife and old friends to the details of his experience. Alongside the infamous Doctor Van Helsing, the group set out to destroy the Count, whose apparent arrival in England has led to a number of monstrous events. As Dr. Van Helsing and his companions work to eradicate the threat posed by Count Dracula, it becomes clear that they will not succeed without substantial sacrifice.

Dracula is one classic I had not ever intended to read. With a general dislike of all things vampiric, due almost entirely to an ill-fated run-in with the Twilight series, I had assumed that Dracula was probably not a novel for me. That said, I did have reasons to suspect that I might get along with Bram Stoker’s masterpiece. Firstly, a month-long stay in Romania afforded me the opportunity to visit Brasov, and view the castle that provided inspiration for Dracula’s abode. It was as creepy as one would expect. Secondly, working in the gothic fantasy that is Knebworth House, I have a good amount of personal interest in gothic literature. Given these two facts, my long avoidance of Dracula should be some indication of how much I dislike anything relating to Stephanie Meyer’s anti-feminist and unbelievably trite creations.

Fortunately, Dracula is incomparable in its gothic originality and intricate narrative. It is tantalisingly eerie and full of suspense from beginning to end:

“‘You see, my friends. He is close to land; he has left his earth-chest. But he has yet to get on shore. In the night he may lie hidden somewhere; but if he be not carried on shore, or if the ship do not touch it, he cannot achieve the land. In such case he can, if it be in the night, change his form and can jump or fly on shore, as he did at Whitby. But if the day come before he get on shore, then, unless he be carried he cannot escape. And if he be carried, then the customs men may discover what the box contains. Thus in fine, if he escapes not on shore tonight, or before dawn, there will be the whole day lost to him. We may then arrive in time’.”

The novel is particularly powerful in its juxtaposition of narratives. Stoker manipulates a broad array of character voices with true efficacy, offering a variety of first-person perspectives that build the complexity and realism of this fantastical tale. The mark of a truly great gothic novelist is undoubtedly the ability to paint unreality in the most realistic way. If the narrative is permitted to slip into cliche or flawed superficiality, it immediately loses its edge. The ability to convince is integral to any work of fiction, but it is a particularly difficult challenge to mount for authors ambitious enough to tread gothic ground.

The only point on which I would fault this work is in its invocation of one of my pet peeves – incomprehensible dialect. I completely understand the desire to add to realism through acknowledging linguistic nuances and, when employed effectively, it can enhance the reading experience immensely. If, however, it is necessary to re-read a passage numerous times in order to decipher its meaning, this narrative device has been badly mishandled. Certain pieces of dialogue in Dracula  would, I think, require code breaking skills to make understandable:

” ‘It be all fool-talk, lock, stock, and barrel; that’s what it be, an’ nowt else. These bans an’ wafts an’ boh-ghosts an’ bar-guests and bogles an’ all anent them is only fit to set bairns an’ dizzy women a-belderin’. They be nowt but air-blebs! They, an’ all grims an’ signs an’ warnin’s, be all invented by parsons an’ ill some beuk-bodies an’ railway touters to skeer an’ scunner hafflin’s…’.”

This is, however, a problem that impacts very little of the novel. Dracula is a gripping read from start to finish and represents gothic literature at its very best. If you are looking for a classic that will also leave you with a fear of pale strangers, this is the novel for you. And if you want vampires, Bram Stoker’s terrifying tale provides a far better option than any work that has inspired celebration of a sparkly Robert Pattinson.

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5 thoughts on “ Review: Dracula by Bram Stoker ”

How could you not love the original Dracula? It's a classic for a reason! It's so sad seeing books like Twilight getting so much acclaim nowadays while books like Dracula seem to fall to the wayside…

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An 1897 Review of Bram Stoker's Dracula

Upon the iconic horror novel's publication 120 years ago, the manchester guardian wrote that it had been "an artistic mistake to fill the whole volume with horrors".

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“Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make!”

“A writer who attempts in the nineteenth century to rehabilitate the ancient legends of the were-wolf and the vampire has set himself a formidable task. Most of the delightful old superstitions of the past have an unhappy way of appearing limp and sickly in the glare of a later day, and in such a story as Dracula , by Bram Stoker, the reader must reluctantly acknowledge that the region of horrors has shifted its ground. Man is no longer in dread of the monstrous and the unnatural, and although Mr. Stoker has tackled his gruesome subject with enthusiasm, the effect is more often grotesque than terrible.

“The Transylvanian site of Castle Dracula is skillfully chosen, and the picturesque region is well described. Count Dracula himself has been in his day a medieval noble, who, by reason of his ‘Vampire’ quilters, is unable to die properly, but from century to century resuscitates his life of the ‘Un-Dead,’ as the author terms it, by nightly droughts of blood from the throats of living victims, with the appalling consequence that those once so bitten must become vampire in their turn.

“The plot is too complicated for reproduction, but it says no little  for the authors powers that in spite of its absurdities the reader can follow the story with interest to the end. It is, however, an artistic mistake to fill the whole volume with horrors. A touch of the mysterious, the terrible, or the supernatural is infinitely more effective and credible.”

– The Manchester Guardian , June 15, 1897

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Bram Stoker | 4.20 | 1,402,935 ratings and reviews

Ranked #1 in Gothic , Ranked #1 in Autumn — see more rankings .

Reviews and Recommendations

We've comprehensively compiled reviews of Dracula from the world's leading experts.

Becky Cloonan @Noise_Raptor Oh, thank you so much! This book was such a delight, and such a challenge! Dracula is one of my favorites- funny enough I'd jump at the chance to do this again XD (Source)

Douglas Starr When you read the physical description of Count Dracula, he does not resemble the handsome vampires we see on television; rather, he looks like a thug. He has one continuous eyebrow across his forehead, thick hands, pointy teeth and pointy ears. (Source)

Andrei Codrescu Vampirism is a growth industry. Dracula is bigger than Jesus now. (Source)

Claire Jarvis Dracula is very explicit. That’s what’s so surprising about it. (Source)

Rankings by Category

Dracula is ranked in the following categories:

• #78 in 11th Grade
• #20 in 12th Grade
• #77 in 16-Year-Old
• #20 in 17-Year-Old
• #20 in 18-Year-Old
• #45 in Adaptation
• #5 in Animated
• #16 in Archives
• #55 in Audible
• #14 in Barcelona
• #26 in Bucket List
• #66 in Class
• #16 in Classic
• #78 in Classic Sci-Fi
• #20 in Classical
• #20 in Collection
• #68 in Dark
• #43 in Dark Fantasy
• #30 in Diaries
• #40 in Evil
• #36 in Fall
• #73 in Fiction
• #35 in Folio Society
• #3 in Free e-Book
• #8 in GRE Prep
• #34 in Gold
• #15 in Graduate School
• #5 in Halloween
• #59 in High School Reading
• #4 in Horror
• #80 in Influential
• #96 in Intellectual
• #16 in Ireland
• #3 in Irish
• #6 in Journals
• #17 in Kindle
• #20 in Leather
• #13 in Leather Bound
• #17 in Legend
• #99 in Library
• #54 in Literary
• #37 in Literature
• #33 in London
• #68 in Long
• #7 in Monsters
• #84 in Movie
• #75 in Movies
• #61 in Novel
• #41 in Occult
• #22 in Online
• #88 in Paperback
• #56 in Paranormal
• #7 in Penguin Classics
• #17 in Podcast
• #29 in Poster
• #3 in Project Gutenberg
• #32 in Public
• #4 in Public Domain
• #53 in Rated
• #96 in Reviewed
• #90 in Roman
• #8 in Scary
• #14 in Sci-Fi Horror
• #15 in Supernatural
• #86 in To-Read
• #7 in University
• #6 in Vampire
• #2 in Victorian
• #50 in Weird

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By John Williams

• Feb. 3, 2017

In 1898, Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” was translated for the first time, into Hungarian. Just a couple of years later, it was published in Icelandic. But it turns out the Icelandic rendering was much more than a translation; it was a radically different version of the story. In a foreword to “Powers of Darkness,” an annotated English-language edition of that version, Dacre Stoker, the great-grandnephew of Bram, says the author “could not have been immune to the influences of the Icelandophiles who surrounded him,” people who had traveled to the country and studied its myths and literature.

He concludes that his ancestor “was not only aware of the differences” between the two texts, but “orchestrated them.” He calls “Powers of Darkness” “another version or draft of ‘Dracula,’ written by Bram sometime during the 1890s.” The Icelandic translation, by Valdimar Asmundsson, allowed Stoker the opportunity to make the book “unique and more relevant to Icelandic interest,” Dacre writes. “ ‘Powers of Darkness’ — a different title for a different book.”

In his introduction, the back-translator, Hans Corneel de Roos, writes that several of Stoker’s planning notes that didn’t end up in “Dracula” do appear in “Powers of Darkness.” Those details include a hidden room in the count’s castle and a more active presence in the story for the investigative police.

The book received only one review in the Icelandic press, and in 1906, several years after it was published. The critic said the novel “would have been better left unwritten, and I cannot see that such nonsense has enriched our literature.” But according to de Roos, despite that solitary pan, the book did leave a lasting impression on Icelandic culture. And now, with the discovery of its vast differences from “Dracula,” it will have a lasting effect on the world of vampire studies too.

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Patricia Bosworth’s new memoir, “The Men in My Life,” is reviewed this week by Penelope Green. Bosworth has written a lot about other people’s lives, including biographies of Marlon Brando, Jane Fonda and the photographer Diane Arbus. In Interview magazine in 2012, Bosworth recalled posing for Arbus as a teenager, and made her sound like a bit of a biographer herself. “She was always very interested in you,” Bosworth said. “She focused on you. . . . She pulled stories out of people, which is why she was able to take such interesting pictures. Her subjects always revealed themselves to her.”

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A Ruined Chapel by Moonlight

Book review: “dracula” by bram stoker.

That’s the story. I knew it long before I read the book, mostly because I’d seen the 1931 movie.

One thing I didn’t know was that the book was told as a series of letters among the characters. That was an interesting idea, and made the whole thing feel very immediate. Also, the movie minimizes the coolest scene in the book, the arrival of Dracula’s boat in England.

Now comes the part where I’m probably going to get into trouble: I don’t love the book. It is, in my opinion, just okay.

Part of this is not really anything intrinsic to the book. Dracula is iconic, and as such, most of the elements of it that must have seemed amazing at the time have now become clichés. Alas, there is just no way to read Dracula with the perspective of an 1890s Victorian reader.

But there are some books from the 1890s that still feel to me as fresh as if they were written yesterday . You know the book I mean, so I won’t rehash it again.

Dracula , I’m afraid, doesn’t feel that way to me. It feels dated. That’s not to say it’s bad, because it isn’t at all. It’s fine. More than fine, I suppose. It has become become iconic for some reason. What is that reason?

I’m privileged to know many talented writers and artists. One of the things we often talk about is whether art needs to have a meaning or not. The reason for this question is raised not so much by art, but by the field of art criticism, which follows all art but is never as substantial as art itself, like a mere shadow on a wall.

Is a work of fiction just a pure fragment of imagination? Or are there lessons about the real world that we can take away from fiction?

On the most obvious level, Dracula is about a vampire who comes to England. However, in the century-plus since its publication, critics have written all sorts of analyses of the meaning of Dracula . Dracula is “invasion literature.”   Dracula is about tradition vs. modernity . Dracula is about Victorian sexual mores .

Is any of this remotely true? Or is it all a bunch of academic navel-gazing?

My feeling is, if you could ask Bram Stoker himself, he’d tell you Dracula was just a cool story about a vampire.

But then… Bram Stoker was a Victorian, and so it is reasonable to suspect that in the process of telling his cool vampire story, he included some elements of himself and the world he knew.

As an example, it is interesting to know that Stoker modeled the character of Dracula after Henry Irving , the most famous actor of the period. Stoker was Irving’s business manager, and it seems he both adored and feared the man. Indeed, he wanted Irving to play the part of Dracula on the stage, but Irving refused, perhaps believing that playing “modern” characters like Dracula (and Sherlock Holmes, BTW) was beneath him.

This is an interesting tidbit, and maybe it tells us something about Victorian society. Maybe the vampire legend’s enduring popularity can tell us other things about society.

Then again, maybe not. Maybe it is just a cool vampire story after all. Either way, though, don’t you want to stick around to find out? 🙂 As I did with the Headless Horseman legend last October, each weekend this month I’m going to take a look at some of the stories related to Dracula and see if there’s anything interesting to be discovered.

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17 Comments

I have a beautiful leather bound volume that collects both Dracula and Frankenstein. Dracula suffers from the natural comparison. It is a very good, if not great, book, but it pales beside Frankenstein. I do like Stoker’s original vision of the vampire and his powers and wish more contemporary vampire fiction would hew closer to it.

What a cool book to have! I’m ashamed to admit it, but I’ve never read Frankenstein. I should do that.

Hmm, I think I have an idea for next October’s blog post series… 🙂

Hi Berthold. I haven’t read Dracula, but as you said, I do know the story. It’s too bad you didn’t like it too much. You raise a lot of good questions about books and art and our perceptions and the meanings in stories. I was surprised at how good Frankenstein was, written in 1818. Have you read it?

No, I haven’t read it. You’re the second person today to tell me I should! 😀 I guess I know what I’ll be reviewing for next Halloween season. 🙂

Haha – yes I read it for the first time when my son had to read it for his English class. I wasn’t so sure I would like it, but I did!

Interesting, as always, to read your thoughts on one of my favourite books and my favourite vampire novel. 😊 You’re right in that “most of the elements of it that must have seemed amazing at the time have now become clichés” yet that doesn’t stop me still getting caught up in the story. To be honest, I’ve never analysed the story, just enjoyed it for what it is, so can’t add to that discussion.

It’s been yonks since I’ve read ‘Frankenstein’ but I remember enjoying it. Looking forward to seeing what you think of it… might even read it again sometime next year 😊

Wouldn’t it be cool to be able to read a book for the first time without knowing anything at all about it? I’m sure Dracula would “wow” me more if I hadn’t already been familiar with the basic plot.

Sounds good. I hear a lot of good things about Frankenstein. 🙂

Victorians loved good ‘spooky’ stories, in the UK it was a custom at Christmas tide at some stage of an evening’s social gathering for folk to hive off to one room and tell each other such tales. Go back to the Georgian and it was over-heated ‘Gothic’ themes. So I guess ‘unreality’ and the ‘disturbing’ side of Nature will always have their appeal. I’ve never read ‘Dracula’ and never felt the urge to, thus sympathise with your reaction. And of course, there will always be proliferation of reactions by readers to many works. There’s the interesting time factor as the years pass one, what might have held you fascinated years ago now does nothing (even irritates) or the reverse.

I love the idea of telling scary stories at Christmas! (But then *I* would, wouldn’t I? :D)

You indulge! Keep the old traditions going. Here’s a summary of one for you, to think on an embellish for a suitable occasion. I heard this as a lad as a radio short story. Two things to bear in mind this was told in the aftermath of WWII when war stories were common and that in the UK there were some strict and often quirky licencing laws in pubs. Anyway, the narrator is a sailor on board a British warship, it is sunk in a battle, he is a survivor, although his memory is muddled. He was aware of being in hospital. He was aware of being, he supposes discharged. Still confused he decides as a good sailor would, is what he needs is a convivial pub and a stiff drink. He finds one, it is a fairly quiet part of the day, which suits him. He decides on a whiskey will suit the situation. He walk up the the bar and says to the bar tender ‘A whiskey please’, the man ignores him; he tries again, still no response. He tries a third time, nothing. In exasperation, as you do he looks upwards and sees the reason why. The sign on the wall says ‘No spirits are served here’

Excellent! I love it. Thanks for sharing. 🙂

Have to agree with you. The story is highly interesting, and the method of telling it through letters is unique, but the story never did it for me. I do have to confess, the Keanu Reeves remake really did it for me, it was so fantastically weird and off-kilter that it felt more unique to me than the book ever did. Blasphemy they say! Bring out the pitchforks! Oh wait, that’s a different monster…

😀 I’ll have to see that one. Weird and off-kilter is very much my thing.

I enjoyed Dracula – however, I 100% get what you’re saying here.

Glad to hear that. I was worried Dracula fans would be upset with me. 😀 And I definitely didn’t dislike the book; it just didn’t dazzle me. Maybe that says more about me than the book…

I know I read it, but honestly don’t remember much about it, apart from the stuff everyone knows. My vampire book of choice is Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot. And I did read Frankenstein–pretty much had to, because of Herbert. I wrote a couple of blog posts about my impressions of it, comparing it to HPL’s “Herbert West, Reanimator.” And of course I had to mention my own book too. This was in 2010, when my main purpose for blogging was to publicize my book. Ironically, it appears not one person read either of those posts. But Frankenstein is definitely worth a read.

All right, now I really have to read Frankenstein! 🙂

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Bram Stoker

Ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

Dracula opens with a young solicitor's assistant, Jonathan Harker , en route from Budapest into Transylvania, to visit the Castle Dracula and to meet with Count Dracula , a nobleman who has recently purchased an estate in London called Carfax. Harker worries, as he approaches the castle, about the superstitious locals, who seem to fear Dracula. Harker is picked up by a strange driver and taken to the castle, where he meets the Count and begins to discuss business. Harker finds the Count odd—he is active only at night, and seems never to eat. And the Count appears to be the only person living in the Castle.

Harker realizes, slowly, that Dracula was, in fact, the "strange driver" who brought Harker there, and that Dracula is holding Harker prisoner. Harker observes Dracula crawling out his window, along the castle walls, "like a lizard," and even believes he has seen Dracula turn himself into a bat . Harker, in the meantime, stumbles upon a room of the castle in which he meets the demonic forms of three women , who appear to want to drink his blood . But Dracula intervenes, saying Harker is "his," and carries Harker back to his own bedroom. Eventually, Harker decides to escape and finds a deep basement chapel in the castle, where Dracula sleeps in a wooden box filled with earth. Harker attempts to kill Dracula by gashing him in the face with a shovel, but Dracula seems only superficially harmed. Harker escapes from the castle through his window and brings his journal with him, to show his experiences to his fiancée Mina .

Meanwhile, Mina and Lucy , two young, upper-middle-class friends in England, are on vacation at Whitby, an English port. Lucy begins sleepwalking, and Mina finds Lucy one night bent over a rock in a cemetery above Whitby, with a ghastly shade above her. Mina brings Lucy back to her house, and notices, over the ensuing days, that Lucy's condition appears to be worsening. Mina calls in Arthur , a nobleman and Lucy's fiancé, Seward , a doctor and chief of a London insane asylum, and Morris , a Texas man, to help Lucy—Seward and Morris were former suitors of Lucy's, and are now her friends. Seward, realizing he doesn't understand the nature of Lucy's illness, calls in his former Professor Abraham Van Helsing , from Amsterdam, to help Lucy.

Van Helsing believes he knows the cause of Lucy's illness, but does not immediately explain it to Seward and the rest of the group. Lucy appears to be losing blood at night, and in turn Arthur, Morris, Van Helsing, and Seward all give Lucy transfusions to keep her alive. After a while, however, these transfusions prove insufficient. One night, when the men of the group are away, and when Lucy's elderly mother is in her bedroom, a wolf leaps in through Lucy's window, then rushes out—Lucy documents the events in her journal, and her mother dies from the shock of the wolf's attack. Afterward, Lucy cannot be saved by any future blood transfusions, and she dies surrounded by the men of the group.

Meanwhile, Mina has been in Budapest caring for Harker, who has suffered a "nervous breakdown" after his time with the Count, and believes the strange things he saw at Castle Dracula were hallucinations. When Mina and Harker return to England, however, Van Helsing tells Harker that his interactions with the Count were not hallucinations, but real. Van Helsing gathers the men of the group and tells them that Lucy is not truly dead, but is an Un-Dead vampire; the men of the group travel to Lucy's cemetery, observe her haunting the grounds and attempting to suck the blood of children, and later "truly kill" her by stabbing her in the heart with a stake and cutting off her head. Although these events shock Arthur, Morris, Seward, and Harker, the men agree to track down Dracula, whom they believe to have bitten Lucy in England, and "truly kill" him as well.

As the group prepares to do this, however, Harker notices that Mina appears to be getting sick as well, and one night, as the group is all assembled in Seward's office of the insane asylum, a loud crash is heard, and Dracula is seen having bitten Mina and forcing Mina to suck his own blood, while Harker is in a deep trance beside them. This causes the group great alarm, and Mina feels she has been "poisoned" by Dracula in this blood-ritual. In the asylum, Seward has also had conversations with an insane man named Renfield , who speaks of wanting to gain the "life force" of animals he eats, and who is discovered, also, to be communing with Dracula—Renfield allowed Dracula to enter the asylum by inviting him in, and this enabled Dracula to attack Mina and form a "blood link" with her.

The men of the group find out that Dracula has shipped 50 wooden boxes, filled with sacred earth from Transylvania, to England—Dracula needs these boxes to sleep in, to maintain his powers. The group realizes they must sterilize these boxes with holy communion wafers in order to remove their special restorative properties and destroy Dracula. The group finds 49 of the 50 boxes in London, at the Carfax estate and other of Dracula's properties, and sterilizes them; but the last box, they realize, Dracula has taken back to Transylvania. The group tracks Dracula and this final box to Dracula's castle.

The group makes the trip with Mina, who can tell Dracula's location when hypnotized by Van Helsing because of her blood link with the Count. They believe Dracula will land at the port Varna, near Romania, but he actually lands at Galatz—the group intercepts him, however, as he sleeps in his final box en route to the castle, and Harker and Morris stab him in the heart and cut off his head, thus truly killing him—freeing his soul from his Un-Dead body. But Morris is fatally wounded by a gypsy during this attack, and later dies. In a closing note, written seven years later, Harker says that he and Mina now have a child , named after Morris, and that Seward and Arthur both ended up finding love and getting married. They write that they and Van Helsing worry no one will believe their fantastical story of Dracula, even though they have painstakingly assembled their accounts of his activities in order to "prove" his existence.

Dracula by Bram Stoker

When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula with the purchase of a London house, he makes horrifying discoveries about his client and his castle. Soon afterwards, a number of disturbing incidents unfold in England: an unmanned ship is wrecked at Whitby; strange puncture marks appear on a young woman's neck; and the inmate of a lunatic asylum raves about the imminent arrival of his 'Master'. In the ensuing battle of wits between the sinister Count Dracula and a determined group of adversaries, Bram Stoker created a masterpiece of the horror genre.

Dracula has been attributed to many literary genres including vampire literature, horror fiction, the gothic novel and invasion literature. Structurally it is an epistolary novel, that is, told as a series of diary entries and letters. Literary critics have examined many themes in the novel, such as the role of women in Victorian culture, conventional and conservative sexuality, immigration, colonialism, postcolonialism and folklore. Although Stoker did not invent the vampire, the novel's influence on the popularity of vampires has been singularly responsible for many theatrical and film interpretations throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.

10/10 Bram Stoker created a masterpiece of the horror genre.

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Review by Floresiensis

12 positive reader review(s) for Dracula

Bram Stoker biography

Malar Maran from India

Dracula was one of the greatest horror novel ever written.

Oliver from England

iI read this book as a child and it was amazing, I am now reading it again and it is still brilliant.

Gadha Biju from India

Dracula is the first and only book that I had even read in my life. Bram Stoker had written in a way that the reader becomes anxious to read, to know what happens next. Dracula is a milestone in the sphere of literature world.

Tiffany from United States

This book is a true literary work, with stunning use of language to portray the fascinating romanticism of this gothic horror novel. To me this book was more about philosophical meanings of life and death, and the meaning of true friendship, loyalty, and love. Although sprinkled with several graphic horror scenes, this book was not written as some attempt solely to scare people in some shallow way. It has so much depth to it, and I found myself admiring Mina, a main character, for her courage and faith throughout the novel. Beautifully crafted, this novel pieces together diaries and letters in a way that keeps the reader engaged. The relationships these characters build with one another is very special. I felt I went in a time machine back to a place where people truly cared for one another and built intimate relationships based on true trust and friendships. I recommend this book for mature Christians, since a common theme seemed to be relying on God for strength and hope throughout the story.

Johnny English from Bahrain

I liked the book and the movie too. It is neither scary nor boring. And I am fond of horror books.

Jakob from Germany

Dracula by Bram Stoker is a wonderful book full of exciting action, suspense and horror. A great book for all generations, not too scary and not too boring. And the thrill leaves you lying on the edge of the seat.

Devasis from India

Read this book again. Horror yes but the Victorian nod to women’s nobility and suffering robs the pace of this yarn. How did Jonathan Harker escape from the castle not known! Again East Europeans are a tad less civilized than the British. A yarn but very very slow in unfolding.

Chris from Bangladesh

It is good because it builds up tension.

Lily from London

The book is very enjoyable and builds a lot of tension it is not predictable like other books.

Zeynep from Turkey

A satisfying read for the ones who have an appetite for horror and fantasy in a classical way. Basically it’s Victorian Era merging with peculiarity and wickedness.

Ishmael from USA

This was one of the first books I remember reading that used the epistolary type of writing. Bram Stoker managed to convey the story so eloquently and with tension using the ships logs, letters and diaries and newspaper articles. It has,of course become a classic and although others have written about vampires there is good reason why this is the book the popularized it.

Gunish from India

The perfect blend of horror and adventure is seen in this fantastic book. Kept it simple which you will not find in the classics and I'm sure Bram Stoker was happy about it. The readers felt it more comfortable than other classics as it comes straight to the point and doesn't beat around the bush. Even though Mary Shelly enjoyed 69 years of success after writing Frankenstein it should have been difficult for him to write a book of the same genre. Still he achieved it and prooved that if there is determination,,nothing is impossible. One of my all time favorites.

Racso from United States

This is a classic novel that I always wanted to read and after putting it off, I finally finished it. Please, allow me to provide a little background about my reading experience. I am a 90's guy and my first exposure to Bram Stoker's Dracula (For better or for worse) was a movie released in 1992. I cannot help but to have imagines of the movie re-play in my mind as I read the novel. I am afraid that I contaminated my imagination with pre-imposed images, characters and situations. As a result, I find myself comparing the novel to the movie at all times. In my humble opinion, the movie does justice to the novel. I couldn't find any disturbing discrepancies between the two. I enjoyed this novel although, at times I felt too much time was dedicated to Lucy's illness and also on Renfield’s mental condition. However, that didn't spoil the novel for me. The characters are a delight, the plot is interesting, the flow is smooth and the Victorian lifestyle described is just the icing on the cake. I strongly recommend this novel.

Ryan from Newcastle, Australia

Finally crossed this book off the list. The style is fantastic, I think its great how the majority of the story is told through journal entries and newspaper clippings, feels almost like you are ready a study guide at university. The story is original, and it is easy to see why a lot of recent books are derivative of Dracula. The characters are a bit different but that may just be because this story was written in the 1890's, but they are well developed and you do get to see a different side of them through their journal entries. Great book, one that everyone should take the time to read.

9.1 /10 from 15 reviews

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Dracula (AmazonClassics Edition)

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Dracula by Bram Stoker - review

I was apprehensive when I first opened Dracula. Almost everyone I knew was immersed in the Twilight books or something else very similar, and I had absolutely no wish to read these books. I simply hoped the original Dracula would not be one of them.

I need not have been worried. It was nothing like anything I had read or, indeed, seen before: I found it very original and exciting.

From the very beginning, it is clear something very strange is going on: all the villagers seem very apprehensive and frightened of the large castle up on the hillside.

You then journey, seeing through the eyes of Jonathan Harker, to meet the mysterious owner of the castle. From this point, the book is like an intrepid explorer! It goes full speed ahead but then slows down and concentrates on the suspense of the exploration.

What first struck me when I read Dracula was the layout of the story. It is not in chapters, as most books are, but in the form of the characters' diaries and letters. This set-up gives you an accurate idea of what everyone thinks of each other and allows you to regularly see different sides of the situation.

For this reason, you may be able to put together the clues more quickly and more accurately than the actual characters which is very fun because it means you are constantly second guessing and debating with yourself.

If I speak truthfully, Dracula is rather sexist. You must remember, however, that it was published in 1897, and for this reason is rather old fashioned when it comes to ideas about women.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone searching for a vampire book with a fascinating plot, a spooky aura, and a challenging read that is not, Twilight!

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