Dracula was written by Bram Stroker (1847 – 1912) in 1897 and has become one of the most famous horror stories of all time.
The story describes the events surrounding the vampire, Count Dracula and a small group of people who challenge him. The novel is written in the form of letters and journal entries between the main protagonists. This literary style not common anymore and makes the story somewhat difficult to follow.
The story begins with attorney, Jonathan Harker traveling from
England to the Carpathian Mountains in Transylvania. Jonathan has been hired to assist Count Dracula in legal matters related to the purchase of real estate in England. Initially, Harker is favorably impressed with the apparent culture and education of Dracula, but soon realizes that he has become a prisoner.
Harker witnesses strange events in the castle of Dracula, including three female vampires. Realizing the danger, he barely escapes with his life and returns to England. He
eventually believes that he simply imagined the sinister events in the castle.
Some time later, a Russian cargo vessel, the Detemer runs aground in England not far from Harker’s home. The entire crew is missing or dead. The only living creature on board was a wolf that jumped off the vessel and disappeared into the night.
Soon, Harker’s fiancée, Mina Murray and her friend Lucy Westenra are menaced by Count Dracula. Lucy eventually becomes ill and apparently dies. However, after her death, strange apparitions are seen around the graveyard. It is now evident that Lucy had become a vampire.
Harker and his allies (Dr. Seward, Mr. Quincey Morris, Arthur Holmwood and Dr. Van Helsing) track Lucy down and kill her in the only manner that is effective against a vampire: they drive a stake through her heart and behead her.
The small group of men plot to destroy Dracula and the Count flees back to Transylvania. The group follows him to his castle, but Mina continues to grow weaker and is beginning to succumb to Dracula’s power. Eventually, the men track Dracula down and destroy him in his castle, but not before Quincey Morris has been killed. Dracula’s hold over Mina has been broken.
Bram Stoker did a significant amount of research when writing this novel. He performed in depth studies of Eastern European vampire legends and folklore. He performed actual historical research on the region as well. The character “Count Dracula” is loosely based on an actual historical figure: Vlad the Impaler. Vlad’s descendents eventually took the family name of “Dracul”.
This story has been made into no less than 200 movies, with an additional 650 that include a reference to Dracula (source: IMDB). Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” has certainly survived the test of time.