Dracula As an Outsider Essay -- Literary Analysis

genus Dracula, as it was written by Bram fire fighter, presents to us possibly the about infamous monster in all of literature. Count Dracula, as a fictional character, has come to symbolize the periphery between the majority and being an outlander to that group. Draculas appeal throughout the years and genres no doubt stems from his sense of romanticism and monster. Readers no doubt are attracted to his bad-boy sensibilities, which impart an attraction into the novel. Looking front at his appearance, personality, and behaviour at the beginning of the novel, we can easily see Draculas blurred outsider status, as he occupies the boundaries of human and monster. Related to this is Draculas geographic sense of outsider. For all intents and purposes, Dracula is an immigrant to England, thus placing him further into the realm of outsider. To look at Bram Stokers Dracula as repairly a monster in the well-nigh violent sense of his actions would to be look at a sole aspect of his cha racter, and so we must look at how he interacts with the outside world to genuinely understand him.The purpose of Draculas physical interpretation is to place him against humanity and see how he stacks up. He has various features which obviously make him a vampire, such as a set of great teeth. But there are other peculiarities to his description which mark him as being an outsider. For instance, when Jonathon Harker, and by extension the reader, first meets Dracula, he describes him as being a tall old man, clean shaven save for a long white moustache, and clad in black from head to foot (Stoker 15). At this point, he is a regular looking man, or at least normal enough that nothing elicits a reaction in Jonathon. Later, however, the aberrant constitution of Dracula co... ...elf by taking other shapes and become something that no longer even reveals a human. Every part of Draculas adventure in England is a reaction to his outsider status, but more so because he attacks the reader s, or at least the readers that Stoker was writing for, in their native land. Lastly, and possibly most importantly, Draculas otherness stems from the fact that he is an immigrant from a foreign land, a land that is itself removed from certainty as it is culturally between. This immigrant status first starts out as basic hatred, then turns into a fear as Dracula attempts to colonise England and dominate it. Works CitedStoker, Bram. Dracula. Toronto Project Gutenberg Publishings, 1897.Kane, Michael. Insiders/Outsiders Conrads The Nigger of the Narcissus and Bram Stokers Dracula The new-made Language Review. 92.1 (1997) 1-21. Print.