Bram Stoker’s Dracula is one of the most read immortal novels in history. While Dracula was not the first vampire story ever written, and not even the first immortal vampire book, but what Dracula achieved was a brand name. To some, Dracula and Vampire became synonyms as Dracula became a success.
There are debates about whether or not Dracula was a fictional character resembling Vlad the Impaler aka Vlad Dracula. In reality, the Transylvanian background of Dracula makes him different from the Wallachian ruler Vlad. Dracula's claim about his pride of ancestry: "We Szekelys have a right to be proud, for in our veins flows the blood of many brave races who fought as the lion fights..." - again here it might be noted that Vlad was not a Szekely. Hence the resemblance probably ends here. The only certainty is that Stoker had certainly come across the name Dracula, and borrowed it for his vampire because his source said that the name meant "devil."
The levels of horror generated in Bram Stoker's novel Dracula reaches a number of peaks at different points of time. Would Jonathan ever escape from Castle Dracula at Transylvania, from the three vampire females? Would Lucy survive Dracula's systematic assault? Would the babies be saved from Lucy? Would Dracula be killed before he reached his castle before the four brave men caught up with him and killed him, or would Mina become a Vampire on death? Too many questions - all immensely tension-provoking, and all that get resolved at the fag end of the book with an "Amen" and death of a brave young man. Castle Dracula (aka Bran Castle) is finally cleaned up from the blood-thirsty undead menace.
Dracula creates an aura of culture of the Victorian era. The characters - men and women - their behavior, lifestyle, ethics and aesthetics - all are deeply and truly Victorian. The personality of Van Helsing, the gentle wifely and motherly demeanors of Mina, the red voluptuous Lucy, the four lion-hearted young men – everything is classically Victorian in every detailed essence. Added the fact that Bram Stoker presented Dracula as a novel written in form of letters, journals, diaries, phonographs and similar other unconventional forms of personal expressions of the characters in the novel, Dracula has been an unconventional and yet favorite novel for many, across years and geographies. There have been many movies related to Dracula including some famous ones such as Dracula (1931) and Dracula (1992). But the original novel remains as dark and horrifying as the enigma of its main character - Count Dracula.
Although mistaken by many as Castle Dracula, Bran Castle is not the real Castle Dracula. Stoker locates his Castle Dracula (a product of his imagination) in the Borgo Pass, in north-eastern Transylvania - a long way from the Wallachian border. As for Bran, it is a great castle otherwise - but is in no way connected it to Stoker. However, Dracula tourism has become a popular trend today, including Transylvania and Whitby. The QueensLand Bed and Breakfast, Whitby group is a good option for Dracula tourists visiting Whitby.
Elizabeth Miller's Dracula Sites also offer a great read on Dracula references, and is recommended by WebLiterature. We also thank her profoundly for sharing her deep expertise in this matter with WebLiterature.
Les Klinger's works explores different resources on Dracula and even goes to the extent of examining the original manuscript of Dracula, among other avenues, to find evidences on Dracula, and caters his authentic work on Dracula to the world.
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