dracula 3
Sex. Power. Mystery. Darkness. Beauty. Elegance. Evil. The vampire encompasses all of these aspects and more. No other monster enjoys the same status as the vampire. Dracula, the most popular of the species, is a cultural icon. From movies to toys to breakfast cereals, he occupies a place in our imaginations. Scattered in almost every major city, exist movements of those who either wish to be vampires, or even believe themselves to be such. How is it that the vampire has risen to dominance over other, far older monsters such as Polyphemus or Medusa? There is no one answer to this question. Is it his role as a sexual figure? After all, the vampire decidedly goes against society's sexual mores. He sneaks into a young, beautiful woman's room in the dead of night, and without her knowledge or consent maneuvers close enough to her to bite her neck. He seduces his victims to the point where once bitten, they return and return again until their doom descends upon them. Is it his role as an incarnation of 'gentleman death', a dark figure in the night who slays without remorse? "Death kills indescriminantly, and so shall we." Is it due to the inversion of the standard Self / Other dialectic found in most Western literat
No mortal could support the horror of that countenance. A mummy again endued with In this manner, the vampire once again inverts the norms of the Self - Other dialectic, acting in what appears to be a normal and benign manner before the kill. This aspect is especially unnerving since the victims have no idea, until it is too late, that the agent of their death has been watching and interacting with them in their ignorance. In one scene from this book Lestat brings two hired prostitutes back to the vampires' town house in New Orleans. After drinking and a slight amorous interlude, he silently and swiftly drains one of the girls of blood. With the newfound body warmth from the fresh intake of blood, he easily allays the other prostitute's suspicions derived from his coldness. Lestat toys with his victim for some time before he finally kills her as well. The horror of this stems from the sick irony of the victims' situation. With monsters such as Polyphemus, the victims, already terrified by his appearance, realize the death in store for them. In a situation such as this however, due to the physical attractiveness of the vampire, combined with a suave and seductive demeanor the victim maintains a state of false security until it is too late for any chance of survival. She assumes that Lestat is a part of her world, not the shadow-world of the Other. Another interesting inversion of the standard Self / Other dialectic is the child-vampire Claudia from Interview With the Vampire. became a thing such as even Dante could not have conceived. the temples, but profusely elsewhere. His eyebrows were very massive, and with bushy The circumstances of the two settings regarding the two monsters' introductions contrast greatly as well. The Creature awakes into consciousness in a setting unfamiliar and hostile to it, with no initial control over his own fate at the moment - the Other lost in the world of the Self. Victor Frankenstein immediately greets his creation with horror, a feeling which lasts the remainder of the story. Conversely, Count Dracula is at home in his own environment, Castle Dracula: an extension of its master's consciousness. It embodies both th
Some common words found in the essay are:
Polyphemus Medusa, Claudia Lestat, Monster Dracula, Eastern European, Castle Dracula, Frankenstein Caliban, Elegance Evil, Harker Dracula's, Count Dracula, Dracula Louis, nose peculiarly arched, standard self /, self / dialectic, / dialectic, self /, nose peculiarly, thin nose, bridge thin, seduces victims, inversion standard, bridge thin nose, thin nose peculiarly, peculiarly arched, standard self, western literature,
Approximate Word count = 1480
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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