Dracula vs Vampire--- the True extent of his powers

There are so many occurences in the novel that point to Dracula's doings, whether it be signs of his participation or actually encountered by characters in the book... so what is the extent of Dracula's powers? It is interesting (and new to me) to see that in chapter seven he can shape shift so i thought I would look into this topic, as well as attempting to distinguish the difference between dracula and an ordinary vampire...

Count Dracula's supernatural powers:

• he is potentially immortal
• he drinks the blood of others to survive
• he has the strength of twenty men
• he can shape-shift into the form of a wolf or a bat!! << did NOT know this
• he can appear as mist or elemental dust
• he has no reflection in a mirror
• he casts no shadow
• he has hypnotic power over his victims
• he can turn victims into vampires

How about Dracula's weaknesses?

• he may not enter a household unless he is invited in
• he loses his supernatural powers during daylight hours
• he must sleep on the soil of his native land
• he can cross running water only at the slack or the flood of the tide
• he is repelled by garlic and holy symbols (crucifix, holy water)
• he can be destroyed by driving a stake through his heart and decapitating him

Origins of Vampires and Dracula
Vampires – the first instance of the word vampire in European literature is thought to be found in 11th century Russia. It referred to undead spirits that needed to be eradicated from the corpses of loved one. However, comparative mythologist have unearthed vampire like believes in Hebrew, Greek, Mesopotamian, Indian, Japanese, and South American cultures.

Dracula – has his historic roots in Vlad the Impaler (see my blog on Dracula's roots), a medieval Romanian lord who gained notoriety for impaling up to 100,000 people on sharp spike, his favorite method of execution. This real life figure was turned into an undead vampire by novelist Bram Stoker in 1897.


 so after searching, i found that dracula is simply the most famous vampire... opinions vary. Is he the king of vampires? does he have extra powers than that of a 'normal' vampire... or technically, Dracula could be made up but vampires are real... it remains a myth...

Dracula Origins

Like the comic franchise, there are many 'vampire' sub-plots; spin-off of characters (Van Helsing's travels) that show vampire stories from a variety of perspectives but all are linked to their predecessor plot... I wanted to take some time to look at the origins of 'Dracula' and vampires.

I searched some sites and was learnt the 'theory of cain'.

Cain and Able

Cain is claimed to be the first born son of Adam and Eve. Cain killed his brother Able
in a jealous rage and was thus banished and given a mark.


Genesis 4:10-15
10. What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood
crith unto me from the ground.
11. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened
her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;
12. When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield
unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou
be in the earth.
15. And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain,
vengeance shall be taken on him seven fold. And the LORD set
a mark on Cain, lest any finding him shall kill him.

According to vampire legend, Cain wondered until he found Lilith
(Adams supposed first wife) by the Red Sea. Lilith showed him the power
of blood which may be considered to be the tree of life. It is said that
this is why the Jewish drain all blood from their meat before cooking
and eating it. From this union between Cain and Lilith came forth a host
of demons and vampires in myths across the globe. Cain is said to have
had legitimate children with an unnamed woman. Some of his children are
regarded for inventing the harp and metal working. However, Cain’s
children are almost erased from further mention in the Bible past
Genesis 4:26. Cain is referred to only twice more after in the New
Testament as the prototype of wicked man. Cain is then what seems to be
stricken from the good book. Lilith appears only in Jewish apocrypha
texts, not mentioned in the Bible or the Torah. Cain and Lilith’s spawn
may be read in the epic poem Beowulf.

Beowulf
Till the monster stirred, that demon, that fiend,
Grendel, who haunted the moors, the wild
Marshes, and made his home in a hell
Not hell but earth. He was spawned in that slime,
Conceived by a pair of those monsters born
Of Cain, murderous creatures banished
By God, punished forever for the crime
Of Abel's death. The Almighty drove

Those demons out, and their exile was bitter,
Shut away from men; they split
Into a thousand forms of evil-- spirits
And fiends, goblins, monsters, giants,
A brood forever opposing the Lord's
Will, and again and again defeated.
(Ll. 101-114)...Cain had killed his only
Brother, slain his father's son
With an angry sword, God drove him off,

Outlawed him to the dry and barren desert,
And branded him with a murder's mark. And he bore
A race of fiends accursed like their father...
(Ll. 1261-1266)

Cain is said to be a sinner but in the Bible Cain is said to
build the city of Enoch and his descendents become great inventors. For
some reason the Author of Beowulf speaks horribly about Cain while the
Bible speaks of him as a great sinner and then just doesn’t speak of him
anymore. It is also said that Grendel’s ancestors were driven out of
Eden and Cain and Lilith were the only two driven out by God. “The
Almighty drove those demons out.” The only other mention of sin in Eden
is when Lilith is mentioned. Lilith said the holy name of God and was
thence forth banished from Eden forever. In Jewish mythology she is said
to be the mother of demons. This is one theory to the origin of
vampires.
Judas Iscariot
Some theories claim that the original vampire might be Judas
Iscariot who is the betrayer of Jesus Christ. Because Judas betrayed
Jesus to the Romans, he and his family were cursed for this evil deed.
The Bible states that Judas committed suicide because of his guilt.
Vampire folklore claims that those who commit suicide are doomed to come
back as vampires. Judas is told to have had red hair and this was the
identifying trait of his descendents. The Greeks are told to have
thought that all who had red hair were vampires. It is also said that
vampires may detest silver for this reason also. Judas betrayed Jesus
for 30 pieces of silver. Judas tried to return the silver but couldn’t
so he threw it away in disgust.
Matthew 27:3-5
3. Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was
condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty
pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
4. Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent
blood. And they said, What is that to us? See thou to that.
5. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and
departed, and went and hanged himself.

a website with this same information also contains an individual opinion... see it for yourself http://www.mythicalcreaturesguide.com/page/Vampire+Origins

I also looked into the rogin of 'dracula' and found that most people believe that 'dracula' was based upon Vlad Tepes the Impaler. Check out this website http://www.donlinke.com/drakula/vlad.htm#Myth and particularly look at the first section and the section titled 'The origins of the vampire Myth'

The 'brides' of Dracula

The best part of chapter 3 that caught my attention was that of Harker's encounter with the three female vampires (Dracula's 'three brides' as they are usually reffered to as).
The three brides add sexuality to the novel, which appears commonly in the gothic genre. As a famous concept in the book I decided to research the three brides and this is some of my findings out...

By making the women a trio, Stoker creates a resonance with established patterns in folklore and mythology. The motif of the three evil women alludes to the Weird Sisters in Macbeth, as well as to the three witch sisters in the Greek myth of Perseus.

In the second chapter we discovered Harker Jonathan...sorry....i mean Jonathan Harker's business; which is to 'explain the purchase of a London estate to a foreigner (Dracula).

Throughout the chapter we learn the ways of Transylvannia through Dracula's explanations and actions himself. The author ("Harker") adds an air of suspense and errieness through his detailed explanations of the characters and his surroundings. On meeting Dracula for the first time he explains how shaking his hand was like shaking 'the hand of a dead (rather) than a living man'. 

It’s funny, reading the book KNOWING that the count is a vampire, so it almost makes the story altogether less frightening and perhaps less ‘shocking’ (but still absorbing nonetheless as the author writes well). It meant that as I read the second chapter, there were signs that stood out to me that proved Dracula to be a vampire, such as there being no mirrors in his home, and the real reason as to why he disappears in the daylight and stays up throughout the night. However, what DOES make me want to continue reading is that I actually do not know what happens in this original Dracula novel.

Vampire Slayers tools?

Chapter One
As an introductory chapter in Bram Stokers novel; it typically sets the scene (physically) but maintains the reader in an unknown state, oblivious to many things. The main question I found myself pondering was that of what is Jonathan Harker's 'important business' he has set himself upon.
    It is at this, that i decided to base my blog on the setting of the novel, to hopefully find out some interesting, perhaps useful (in gaining knowledge on the gothic) information and to delve into some of the secrets that linger in the First Chapter.

I decided to begin my search on the Carpathians, as that is where Harker is travelling and there may also be those in the class who actually don't know what the Carpathians is, as I didn't.

The Carpathians

The carpathians is the second largest mountain range in Europe, (in which lies transylvannia) which is an interesting setting for the novel as although substantial in size, in can also cause extreme isolation...lets just say not the best place to be running away from a vampire...

Stoker’s original intention was to use Styria (in Austria) as Count Dracula’s homeland, but as a result of his research, he made the change to Transylvania. One of his chief sources was “Transylvanian Superstitions” published in July 1885 in The Nineteenth Century and written by Emily Gerard, the Scottish wife of a Hungarian cavalryman. “Nowhere else,” Gerard writes, “does this crooked plant of delusion flourish as persistently and in such bewildering variety.”

Gerard’s article also provided Stoker with some of the folklore surrounding Dracula and his castle: St. George’s Day, “the eve of which is still frequently kept by occult meetings taking place at night in lonely caverns or within ruined walls”; hidden treasures and “the light they give forth, described as a bluish flame”; and the wolf that “continues to haunt the Transylvanian forests.”

The sentence written in pink was extremely interesting as the old lady from the inn explained that it was St.George's Eve to Harker in distress...

The best part of chapter 1 was pages 8-9 when the 'shadows of evening began to creep' and the settings, along with the style of writing egan to transform. Page 8 had strong reference to the snake with phrases such as, 'tongues of flame', 'snake-like' and 'serpentine'. Serpent is a word that is commonly used in a specifically mythic or religious context and is the symbolism for deceit. The snake represents temptation and evil. Perhaps this is forshadowing a transformation of the seemingly 'harmless' characters that Harker has come across, including the Counts kindness through his hospitality and letters.



Castle in Transylvannia