Bram Stoker's Dracula - An Early Review from 1897
From Messrs. Archibald Constable & Co.-- 'Dracula,' by Bram Stoker published on May 26th, 1897 In ' Dracula' Mr. Bram Stoker hits given us one of the must weird and gruesome tales of modem times ; in fact, after reading it. we might almost term him the Edgar Allan Poe of the 'nineties.
'Dracula' is a story which takes hold of the reader soon after the opening pages. The story is told by way of extracts front diaries kept by various people, the first being the journal kept by Jonathan Harker, solicitor, of Exeter, who is on his way to the Carpathians to visit Count Dracula at his castle of Dracula, to complete certain documents connected with the purchase by the Count of a mush property near London.
Jonathan Harker undergoes some awful experiences in the castle, and finally escapes from it alive. but In a fever, which attacks his brain and keeps him to his bed for many weeks. It turns out that Dracula is a human
vampire, and now that Harker has escaped be tries to wreak his vengeance on him. not by attacking him and killing him outright, but by planning a series of tortures on those nearest and dearest to him.
The first one attacked is Lucy, friend of Mina Murray. Mina is engaged to Harker and marries hint. 'Amy dies a vampire, and thereafter leaves her coffin at sundown and returns at dawn. Every night she claims a victim until Harr. ker, 'tided by a Dutch doctor, Van Bening, and Dr. Seward of a lunatic asylum near London, and two other men, overcome the wiles of the Count and secure peace for Lucy's body.
Mina is the next to fall a victim and is discovered by Van Reining gloating over her husband who is asleep. She has just begun her feast of blood when the doctor stops her. The struggle against the fiendish Count continues, till he is forced to fly from England.
The group of heroes, with Mina, pursue him to his dreaded castle, in the Carpathians, and here the final blow is struck and the terrible vampire's power is shattered. Mr. Bram Stoker shows remarkable skill in the management of the story, which is the best he has written. It is certainly the cleverest book of the kind we have come across for a long time. and we confess to having sat up to en unconscionable hour of the early morning to finish it.
Historical Perspective: The Rules of Vampires
Based on Bram Stoker's Dracula
- Every vampire must lie in consecrated ground during daylight. He can be stumped when in his ground, not when out of it.
- During the day vampires lie in state
- No vampire may enter a house uninvited
- No vampire may cross salt water except at ebb tide and full tide
- Every person bitten by a vampire becomes a vampire
- No vampire can vamp a person protected by garlic
- A vampire can be destroyed if staked through the heart with a sharp piece of wood
- Every man should stake his own young woman if she is a vampire
