Lucy's Final Move example essay topic

Throughout many types of literature, violence exists to enhance the reader's interest in order to add a sense of excitement or conflict to a novel. This statement withholds much truthfulness due to the fact that without violence in a piece of literature such as Dracula by Bram Stoker, the plot would not have the same impact if it were lacking violence. So to holds true to that of the movie. The movie bares different characteristics then that of the book.

First off, the whole ordeal with the wolf escaping and jumping into Lucy's, room and Lucy's mom having a heart attacked is never even mention in the movie. Second, The night when the four men go to Lucy's grave and find it empty is stated both in the book and in the movie however what unfolds after this is different. Finally, the end of the book differs severely from what Francis Ford Copola rendition and that of the Bram Stoker see it to be. The differences are as follows... A newspaper clipping from September 18 reports that a large wolf escaped from its cage for a night and returned the next morning, On the night of the 17th, Lucy records how she awakes, frightened by a flapping at the window and a howling outside. Her mother comes in, frightened by the noise, and joins her in bed.

Suddenly, the window is broken, and a huge wolf leaps in. Terrified, Lucy's mother tears the garlic wreath from her daughter's neck and then suffers a heart attack and dies. Lucy loses consciousness, and when she regains it, the wolf is gone. The four household maids come in and are terrified by the sight of the body; they go to have a glass of wine, but the liquid is drugged and they pass out. Lucy is left alone, and she hides her diary, writing at the end that the 'air seems full of specks, floating and circling... and the lights burn blue and dim. (Stoker 117) ' This part in the book keeps the reader on the edge of his seat to read as to what will occur next.

Is baffling to me as to why Copola decided not to include it in the movie. I think that this primarily had to do with the fact that in the movie Dracula was to be a loving person of sorts and not a monster as thought of in the book. I feel that Copola decided not to include this part because society would see a mothers death and think that Dracula Is a monster, he was trying to make the film more like a love story then a scary movie. He wanted to grab the reader's imagination and hoped in doing so that society would feel more at ease, Hence more people would want to watch the movie. In Chapter 16, the four men go to Lucy Westenra's grave and find it empty. Van Helsing seals the tomb's door with communion wafers to prevent the vampire from re-entering, and they hide in a nearby patch of trees and wait.

After a while they see a figure, moving through the cemetery carrying a child. It is Lucy -- or rather, a thing that looks like Lucy, with eyes that are 'unclean and full of hellfire,' (Stoker 191) The men surround her, and she drops the child and calls out to Arthur Holm wood to come to her. He begins to move, but Van Helsing leaps between them holding a crucifix and Lucy recoils. Van Helsing then quickly removes the wafers, and the vampire slips through the door and disappears into her tomb. Having witnessed this horror, Arthur agrees to perform the necessary rites, and the following evening they hammer a stake through her body; the corpse then returns to the 'sweetness and purity' (Stoker 211) In the movie, Lucy is loved by many men because of her flirt like features.

This was a perfect choice for Copola during the making of his movie. Copola wanted to appeal more to a love crowd then any other, so by making the viewers perceive Lucy as being a pure innocent girl they would fall more in love with her. In the movie, when the four men arrived and found Lucy not there, they immediately blamed Van Helsing. Almost immediately following this Lucy appears holding a crying little girl. They rescue the girl and Lucy tries to seduce Arthur.

This was simply brilliant by both Copola and Stoker. With Lucy's final move she tries to do what she is best at and her actions are cut short thanks to her untimely death. In the closing chapters, is where the sheer brilliance of both Copola and Stoker come into play, From Myna Hackers journal the final pages are unfolded. At sunset on November 6, they see below them a large cart, driven by gypsies, carrying a box of earth and being driven at a gallop.

There are four men converging on the gypsies: Seward and Quincy from the south, and Jonathan and Arthur from the north. The sun is rapidly sinking as they intercept the cart, and the gypsies move to defend their cargo. Jonathan and Quincy force their way through the defenders, and with 'strength that seemed incredible,' (Stoker 321) This is very ironic for both the movie and the story, because Harker is not really seen as being a courageous strong individual but more weak me able soul. With all his strength Jon flings the box to the ground. Quincy has been wounded, but together the two men fling back the lid just as Seward and Arthur reach them. From her vantage point, Mina can see Dracula's face contorted in hate, and then the sunsets, and the 'look of hate... turned to triumph.

' (Stoker 324) This quote is probably the most appealing quote in the book, Because no matter weather you read the book, or watch the movie everyone knows that Dracula is a creature of the night and holds almost all his power then. Dracula jumps out of the box and almost immediately Jonathan slashes through the Count's throat and Quincey plunges his bowie knife into the vampire's heart. Dracula dies, and as his body crumbles, Mina writes that 'in that moment of final dissolution there was in the face a look of peace, such as I never could have imagined might have rested there. ' (Stoker 325) Quincey is fatally wounded, but before he dies he points out that the mark has vanished from Mina's forehead. To many people Dracula is as being a devil of sorts. However with a devil there must be a God.

So to is said between good and evil. If you were to relate the burn mark upon Mina's head to a biblical scripture, then you could compare the mark as being the mark of the beast, as found in Revolution. The mark of evil it seems as been lifted from her head and so to does evil become lifted from the world. All in all, violence in certain forms of literature is crucial to the readers understanding and interest in any situation. Hence, no scene of violence in literature exists for its own sake. There must be some method to this mayhem that is established, and it is found numerous times in the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker.

Violence existing for its own sake in literature is like a fire without heat. The importance of it is much deeper than the incident at hand. Although both Stoker and Copula's rendition of Dracula differs in many ways both is true, without evil there could be no good.