How Dracula Is The Most Famous Literary Vampire - 1658 Words

An Immortal Soul: Why Dracula is the Most Famous Literary Vampire The title character and antagonist of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula is an easily recognizable character in the Western canon. Without ever reading the book or watching any of the countless movie adaptations, people will craft vampire characters with feelings and behaviors nearly identical to those of Dracula. However, Dracula’s success is not because it was the first novel of its kind. Vampiric literature had been around for at least a century, and two works, Varney the Vampire and Carmilla, were popular at the time of Dracula’s publication. Why has Dracula become the stereotypical vampire figure when there are other well-rounded characters of the type? The answer†¦show more content†¦In their article, they compare and contrast the characters of Dracula and Carmilla. Their argument emphasized the prototype theory, which can explain why some figures are more important than others in tropes. Carmilla is less thought of a prototypical vampire because she is unfathomably beautiful by human standards, is only able to become animalistic by turning into a panther, and valued sexual intimacy over blood. Dracula is the target in a monster-slaying narrative, a plot that fosters more creativity. Audiences were intrigued by a story where humans kill monsters instead of the other way around. Dracula became more famous than Carmilla and its other predecessors because the former was one of the first books to conform to the plot of monster-hunting narratives, and because humans are afraid of ugly, nefarious beings (par. 6-7, 13-14 ). A critic may, however, use their own perspective to counteract the argument about why Dracula is a better monster. Fans of other classic vampiric figures would be swift in defending their beloved characters if such a situation arose. Le Fanu’s Carmilla, unfortunately, does not get the recognition it deserves. The book has many adaptations as does Dracula, but is not as universally recognizable. It can be argued as a more enjoyable text using the same explanations Saler and Ziegler used to denounce it. While Carmilla is not the prototype for all vampires, she is