Count Dracula example essay topic

Can I Be You Dracula? Have you ever caught yourself amidst a fantasy? One where you hold all the power? Where you are the epitome of everything and anything everyone around you want to be? Where these very same people who revere you, fear you because you are what they want to be?

In this fantasy, you have no conscious, no morals, no ethics, and no values- you are carefree. You do as you please when you deem it so, and no one will say a word, because you are you, and they all want to be you. Do you recall thinking this... ever? Welcome to the wonderful world of Bram Stoker's Dracula. If you were to equate the scenario I depicted to the book, you'd be Dracula, Satan's little prot " eg'e. In Bram Stoker's book, all of the protagonists subconsciously yearn to be like the infamous Count Dracula.

However, it is a two way street, for Dracula does want something that these men have- a relationship, of any kind. Jonathan Harker, the first of the band of protagonists introduced, subconsciously envies Dracula. The Count lives in a massive castle, is known to be the culmination of "class" in the East, and has a mesmerizing sort of power over Mr. Harker. Ideally, Dracula could provide for a thousand of Jonathan's Minas, and still have funds to spare- something Jonathan is conscious he doesn't have, and worries about. Later on, when the women find Jonathan, and begin to seduce him, he wishes he didn't feel compelled to be disgusted by their forthright sexuality. He yearns to be like the Count, to have the ability to be surrounded by beautiful women, who hold the phallus, and feel no guilt for betraying a loved one, even if it were only a mental betrayal.

Mina Murray-Harker, Jonathan's eventual wife, dislikes the Count because he takes Jonathan away from her, nearly forever. She also sees that Dracula is very willing to share the phallus with everyone except her, until the very end, and she never benefits from it, because by then she is too strong willed of a character. She envies Dracula's constant benefit from the world surrounding him- be it the blood he is sustained from or the fear he produces in humans that he feeds off of. It makes a lot of sense that Lucy Western a was the Count's first victim in the book of which we are fully aware, after all, she was most like the count, despite her apparent humanity.

She was highly promiscuous, even if nowadays it only seemed like a harmless flirtatious manner. She craved attention, at quite a many expense, in particular, the feelings of those who she cared for. It was her blatant sexuality that drew her the Dracula, and that allowed him to fully transform her. Lucy was also a way for Dracula to seek revenge on the male protagonists for having something with this young girl that he could never really have. Dr. Seward, one of three of Lucy's suitors and another protagonist in the book, desired to be carefree and powerful, much like the Count.

He didn't want to feel the horrid heart wrenching pain of rejection from his dear sweet Lucy. When he was able to give her something, which she couldn't refuse, his blood, he felt powerful, almost a connection to Dracula, because it was his blood the Count drank. When it came time to kill Lucy in her grave, as Arthur stabbed her through the heart with the stake, I think that Dr. Seward was very please to give back (indirectly) a fraction of the pain she caused him. Arthur Holm wood (a. k. a Lord Godalming), the successful of the three of Lucy's suitors, wanted to be Dracula for the simple reason that he took Lucy away. He had "deflowered" her, and stripped her of her purity.

Instead of becoming Lord Arthur's Lady, she had become Count Dracula's little whore. How humiliating could that be, to lose your lady to a few hundred-year-old bloodsucker? The only revenge Arthur got to take on the Count, was stealing his newest toy back from him, and putting her soul out of eternal misery. Quincy Morris, yet another unsuccessful suitor of Lucy's and a protagonist, wanted to be as comfortable as our dear Count did in this foreign land. Quincy was a stranger just as Dracula was in England; they both came from places that the English deemed uncivilized, and both proved the English wrong on that count. Quincy, like the other suitors, envies Dracula's conquering of Lucy, and wishes that she could be his.

Mr. Renfield, a patient of Dr. Seward, wants to be Dracula in every which way possible. He wants to consume lives, be immortal, and serve the father of all immortals. When Renfield walks around discussing all of these things, pertaining to "the master", everyone thinks he's a madman. If Dracula were to walk around and greet people saying, "hi, I'm Count Dracula, an immortal blood sucking creature, who can turn into mist, fog, a wolf or a bat on a whim, how do you do?" chances are, you'd lock him up as soon as humanly possible. However, no one would do that to Dracula, even if he did walk around saying hello to people in that manner. This is what Renfield wants- the notoriety, respect and fear people give to Dracula, the immortal.

Professor Abraham van Helsing, Dr. Seward's mentor, does not want to be like Dracula. He only wants to know him, through and through, so that he might beat him at his own game. He cares for each of the rest of the protagonist band members as if they were his children, and would do anything for them. He is the true equal but opposite to the Count, for he knows exactly how to destroy him. Though most of the characters in this book ache to hold a single quality that Dracula the antagonist, holds, our dear friend the Count longs for something these mere mortals have the ability to have, and that some of our protagonists actually have- a relationship. Between what sexes makes no difference, for Dracula tries to establish a friendship (or perhaps more) of sorts with Jonathan, during his forced stay at the castle Dracula.

The Count takes away Lucy from Arthur, Dr. Seward, and Quincy, and towards the end of the book almost manages to take away Mina from all of them, but is unsuccessful. Dracula is a lonely immortal, who reminds me to a certain extent of Lenny from Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. He yearns for companionship, but destroys everything he picks for a companion, turning it into something dark and evil. Dracula's ultimate demise is momentous for all characters involved.

To the protagonist band, it restores Mina to them, as well as gives them a sense of closure. It also puts Satan's little prot " eg'e out of his eternal (or not so eternal) misery. Next time you catch yourself fantasizing about being an immoral, unethical, valueless, careless fool, who people revere and fear, remember the pain and horror of Dracula's tale, and think about whether you really want that life, or if you'd be willing to settle for a human existence, filled with painful decisions, love, loss, and the rest of whatever we come in contact with in our lives. Seriously contemplate that the next time you ask, "Can I be you Dracula?".