Dracula Characters Essay Example

Personification; the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to represent something abstract quality in human form. In writing, authors use personification to give human characteristics, such as emotions and behaviors to non-human things, animals, and ideas. The characters of Dracula represent many different attributes including evil, loyalty, wisdom, love, and sacrifice. In Dracula, Bram Stoker uses personification to connect with the reader in ways they can find relatable. 

The first character, Dracula, matches the attribute of evil. When thinking of vampires, the first thought is terror and evil, exactly how Dracula is displayed throughout the story. Dracula does not show his evil side right away, however. The bad side only comes out when Jonathan Harker becomes suspicious of his actions. The most common act of vampires is sucking blood from living things, especially humans. Dracula first gets his hands on Lucy Westerna. Dracula has the power to put her in a “trance” and led her into the cemetery where he firsts attacks her. Dracula repeatedly comes back for Lucy to drink the rest of her blood and turning her into an “un-dead.” The men must kill Lucy after she is already dead to free her soul from being under the wrath of Dracula for the rest of her second-life. Next, Dracula gets his hands on Renfield, Dr. Seward’s patient. However, Dracula is different with Renfield. Renfield disobeys Dracula, causing Dracula to beat Renfield’s head into the floor and breaks his back. Lastly, Dracula gets his hands on precious Mina Harker. Not only does Dracula suck Mina’s blood, he slits open his chest and makes Mina drink his blood. Dracula was taking innocent lives and distributed the loved ones of these people as well. When the men first see Dracula all he says is “My revenge is just begun! I spread it over centuries, and time is on my side. Your girls that you all love are mine already; and through them you and others shall yet be mine--my creatures, to do my bidding and to be my jackals when I want to feed.” Overall, Dracula clearly matches protrays the attribute of evil in Dracula. 

Next, Dr. Seward matches the attribute of loyalty. In the earlier chapters of Dracula, Dr. Seward confesses his love and proposes to Lucy Westenra; Lucy denies the offer. Despite being turned down by the love of his life, he remains loyal to her throughout the story. When Lucy is sick, Seward is by her side throughout the duration of her sickness and even gives Lucy a part of him. Dr. Seward said, “No man knows till he experiences it...how to own lifeblood drawn away into the veins of the woman he loves.” Not only is Dr. Seward to Lucy, but he is also loyal to his patient, Renfield. When Lucy, the love of Seward’s life got sick, he could have dropped everything and only focused on her. However, Seward becomes even more attached to Renfield than before. Dr. Seward is consistently checking on Renfield and being basically a caretaker for him. Lastly, Dr. Seward remains loyal to Dr. Van Helsing and the group of men. Seward could have backed out of the plan at any time, but he never did. Dr. Seward did not have to risk his life for Lucy, Mina, and the men, but he remained loyal and performed to the best of his abilities to help complete the task. 

The next character, Dr. Van Helsing, matches wisdom. Van Helsing is the brain of the whole operation. If it was not for his research and prior knowledge of vampires, the group would have not been able to defeat Dracula. For example, Dr. Van Helsing was the one that knew that to kill the “un-dead” they must stab a stake through their heart and cut off their heads. If it was not for Dr. Van Helsing’s knowledge of the “un-dead” the men would have tried to use regular weapons to defeat Dracula, which would have been unsuccessful. Dr. Van Helsing also matches the attribute of wisdom because of his dialect. Van Helsing has a very strong and philosophical dialect. One quote from Van Helsing that truly shows his wisdom is “Do you not think that there are things which you cannot understand, and yet which are; that some people see things that others cannot? But there are things old and new which must not be contemplated by men’s eyes, because they know--or think they know-- some things which other men have them. Ah, it is the fault of our science that it wants to explain it all; and if it explain not, then it says there is nothing to explain.” 

The second to last character is Lucy Westerna, who matches the attribute of love. When readers are first introduced to Lucy, she is talking about all three men who proposed to her in one day. From the start, readers get the idea that Lucy is a very loving and affectionate person. When talking to the men in Dracula, Lucy gives off a very flirtatious dialect. When writing to back to Mina, Lucy wrote “I am very, very happy, and I do not know what I have done to deserve it. I must only try in the future to show that I am ungrateful to God for all His goodness to me in sending me such a lover, husband, such a friend.” This quote shows not only how much Lucy values relationships, but the amount of love she has for both her husband, Arthur, and Mina. 

The last character to demonstrate personification is Mina (Murray) Harker, matching the attribute of sacrafice. After everything Jonathan experiences at Dracula’s Castle, Mina does not leave Jonathan. Jonathan is sick and has an extensive amount of trauma. Mina sacrifices her sanity for the love of her life. Mina also experiences some trauma herself. As mentioned above, Dracula not only sucks Mina’s blood, he makes her suck his as well. After this horrid incident, Mina could have avoided anything to do with Dracula and stayed out of the men’s operation. However, Mina was one of the main reason the men were successful in defeating Dracula. Considering Mina kept dealing with the agony of dealing with Dracula, she was sacraficing herself. Mina even told the men at one point to kill her if she changes into a vampire and cannot be saved. Mina sacarfices her life for the men to defeat Dracula.

The attributes of evil, loyalty, wisdom, love, and sacrafice are clearly displayed throughout the story from the five characters listed above. The use of personification in Dracula allows the readers to make a personal connections with the characters and attaches the reader to the story. The way Bram Stoker illustrates Dracula, Dr. Seward, Van Helsing, Lucy Westerna, and Mina matching different attributes, allows the reader to make a person connection and find the reading that the relatable.