Stoker’s Dracula in

Film Adaptations

Mohammed Abdulrahman Al-Hasoon

Student Number: 19131306935

Course: Adaptation Studies ELL570

Lecturer: Dr. Olgahan Bakşi Yalçın

 Before writing Dracula, Stoker was always interested in vampires due to their mystery
and their relationship with science and medicine. He was also interested in the folklore of
eastern Europe. It’s also rumored that Bram Stoker was gay. Perhaps he wanted to express
his feelings when writing the novel as vampires’ actions are somehow similar to the
sexual activities and they represent the power of sexuality. The direct blood sucking from
the neck of Harker that Count Dracula yearns for in the novel, his asking from him to stay
in his castle, and keeping him for himself are all but obvious indications to homosexual
themes in the novel. Stoker did well in his novel when choosing the characteristics of the
vampires in that regard. According to folklore, they have long teeth on the sides that help
them bite the victim and the do it directly from the neck where the veins transporting
blood to the head are exist. However, he added some of these characteristics from modern
sources at that time and not from the eastern folklore, like the ability to turn into a wolf or
bat and having hairy palms. We see these features clearly in Coppola’s 1992 film but they
are not present in Nosferatu. Of course, the technology wasn’t there as in 1992 as well as
the budget. Dracula is described in the novel as a creepy tall guy with thick eye-brows and
pale white skin. In Nosferatu, we see the exact same characteristics in Count Orlok. In
Bram Stoker’s Dracula, we see Dracula undergoes a lot of changes in shape and he
appears young and elegant in a lot of scenes during the film, which is probably because of
the romantic theme that is dominating the film. Vampires in general are mostly active at
night, with limited power during the day. In Nosferatu, Dracula literally dies by only
getting exposed to direct sunlight. According to traditions, vampires also have the ability
to read minds having control over other humans. We see that clearly in the novel and in
Coppola’s film when Dracula being able to know the locations of the protagonists hunting
him down through the mind of Mina. He also sends wind in order to obstruct their sailing
ship in the sea. In the folklore, vampires could be repelled by garlic and any Christian
symbols such as the cross. Dr. Van Helsing uses garlic in the novel and in the film to
protect Lucy from the power of Dracula and he also uses the cross many times to seek
protection from Dracula’s brides as well as other forms of vampires.

In 1992 director Francis Coppola adapted Dracula novel into a movie and wanted it to
as faithful as possible to the novel. However, Coppola added a backstory to Count
Dracula linking him directly to Vlad the Impaler. The movie begins as Vlad preparing to
go and fight against the Ottoman Turks with his beloved wife begging him to stay. He
While he’s on the battlefield, his wife, Elezabeta receives a fake letter sent by the Turks
telling her that her husband died in the battle. She freaks out and throws herself from the
top of the castle killing herself. When Dracula returns to his castle, he finds his wife lying
dead and the priests tell him that she died committing the sin of suicide. He feels like
being betrayed and not rewarded by God as he renounces his religion only to become a
cursed vampire who lives on the blood of others. This action adds romance to the film
which the novel misses. The movie moves on pretty accurately with the novel; however,
we notice a lot of sexuality in the film, a thing probably Stoker wanted to add in the novel
but decided not due to the restrictions at the time of writing the novel in the 19th century.
In the film we get to see Dracula looking at a portrait of Mina, Harker’s fiancée when
Harker visits him in the castle. This triggers a feeling of nostalgia to Dracula, giving him
a feeling like he knows this woman. This sets up the whole point of the movie, that Mina
is Elezabeta incarnated and Dracula finally gets to meet her again. We also have this see
where Dracula in his youthful appearance roaming the streets of London starting to chase
Mina. Mina starts to have feelings for him and eventually they spend some time watching
the newly-invented motion pictures. Perhaps Coppola wanted to thank Edison for this life-
changing invention, a thing that Stoker admired during his life. Throughout the film we
see Mina hesitant between Dracula and Harker even after marrying the later. Then she is
convinced to be with him when she willingly drinks blood from his chest. Towards the
end of the movie, when Dracula is stabbed, Mina rushes towards him, has a last
conversation with him and kisses him before cutting his head off, a thing which is not in
the novel. This of course cement the romantic theme in the movie which changed the
story from gothic horror to a romantic gothic. Coppola’s movie considered as the most
honest Dracula adaptation. The amazing use of costumes and the breath-taking motion
effects really contributed to the fact that the movie was a masterpiece.

Love and Romance is the only major difference between the novel of Dracula and the
Bram Stoker’s Dracula film. Francis Coppola shifts the whole genre of Bram Stoker’s
Dracula from a mere gothic horror to a romantic gothic right from the beginning of the
movie. His movie starts with back story of Dracula losing his beloved wife back in the
medieval ages, which sets the rhythm for the whole movie as a passionate and erotic love
story between Dracula and Elezabeta, or the incarnation version of her, Mina. He is
portrayed as a faithful servant of Christianity, standing in the face of the Ottoman
offensive who then renounces God and destroy the Cross only because of losing his
beloved wife. He feels cheated and not rewarded for his fierce efforts in defending his
religion. Coppola’s movie is actually the first one giving Dracula a soul, emotions, and
even a soulmate. This theme of love really attracted many viewers for the movie, unlike
the previous adaptations. Coppola also adds the scene where Dracula sees Mina, in
portrait belonging to Harker, which never happened in the novel. He falls in love with the
picture immediately as his memory went back hundreds of times thinking of the death of
his wife Elezabeta. In Coppola’s movie, Dracula is complicated creature with mixture of
personalities being in one body. He is a seducer for Lucy and a passionate lover for Mina.
Unlike other adaptations, Coppola shows the human and good looking version of Dracula
when he arrives at London, and despite her love and waiting for Harker, she seems to
admire Dracula and the movie make them spend the afternoon watching the newly-
invented motion pictures which is like a date that couples go on in cinemas in modern
times. This ignition of love gains more heat after Mina marries Harker. Coppola’s adds a
kind of conflict of feelings in Mina’s heart as she feels bad for Dracula, then she sends
him a letter telling him that she’s sorry for not being his partner which turns Dracula into
a complete monster that is willing to devour everything, which is kind of a similar rage to
the one when he first saw Elezabeta lying dead between his hands. Also close to the end,
Dracula visits Mina while she’s asleep. In the movie, she realizes what appears to be a
love for centuries towards Dracula, which confirms the incarnation of Elizabeta. In the
movie, Mina wants to be with Dracula and she willingly drinks blood from his own chest
despite being the killer of her friend Lucy. This passionate scene by Coppola is a big
difference than the simple attack from Dracula on Mina in the novel. Blood representing
emotions and life being sucked by Mina as she oozes in lust and passion is a clear sign of
her love and devotion to Dracula which makes the movie has these complex feelings of
love, guilt, lust, faith, and horror. At the end of the novel, Quincy stabs Dracula in his
heart which perishes him, in the movie, however, Coppola adds scene where Mina saying
good-bye to Dracula dying in her own arms at the castle, similar to the beginning of the
movie where the opposite happens with Elezabeta, but this doesn’t prevent Mina from
stabbing Dracula in his heart and beheading him, perhaps only to set him free from the
curse he’s under for centuries, especially when she looks at the painting on the ceiling
showing the prince and his beloved wife.

In the novel, we have two female protagonists, Lucy and Mina, both are targets for
Dracula. However, he successfully lures Lucy into his will way too easily. Lucy is
portrayed as a lustful and naughty character therefore she becomes a monster herself who
lost her purity to an outsider because she went against the realm of Victorian England and
therefore, she must be killed. The other version of women, Mina, survives the aggression
of the outsider due to her purity and obedience to the men in charge. Stoker wants to show
us the perspective of female sexuality from a male point of view in that era. We also have
the three brides of Dracula who may refer to the tolerance towards men when having
more than one partner, lover, mistresses, or even sex slaves. These three madwomen and
monsters are beheaded just like the mythical Medusa by Van Helsing, a male that is
seeking to halt the intruder Dracula in the name of society and religion. Stoker couldn’t
go deep in details when it comes to sexuality, a thing he probably wanted by couldn’t due
to the times he lived it. However, Francis Coppola, feeling he owes Stoker for the story,
adds a lot of erotic scenes full of kissing and sucking in a way that the viewer feels like
that is how really Stoker wanted the novel to be. Lucy with her red hair and always-
present red lipstick represent her personality as red represents blood (she turns into a
vampire), passion, love, and lust. We also see her dressing transparent red at night when
she’s making love with the monster which again represents her character. We also have
the three brides of Dracula who were very well selected as all of them have the look of
eastern or Mediterranean women which kind of connects with the history of Dracula.

To study the major differences between the novel and the film adaptations, we take a
look at two film adaptations: Nosferatu and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. In Nosferatu, we see
a totally different setting and character names in the film because the producers of the
film could not obtain the copywrites to adapt the novel into a film. The name of the film
has a general meaning of “vampire” that didn’t refer directly to the novel nor its author,
the characters didn’t have the same names as in the novel, and many adjustments were
made to the plot. In the movie we see Hutter (the film version of Jonathan Harker) is
already married and not engaged. The movie has a short list of characters. We observe the
absence of Lucy, Quincy, Dr. Seward and Arthur, who are considered as main characters
in the novel. Ellen, Hutter’s wife is doing combined actions of Mina and Lucy of the
novel in the film. In the film Ellen is the partner of Hutter but she also sleepwalks at night
affected by the power of the vampire, an action which is carried out by Lucy in the novel.
We also notice the absence of the three female vampires in the count’s castle. Towards
the end of the movie, Orlok moves along with his dust coffins to a resident next to
Hutter’s where he begins to lure Ellen to his side. He then gets to her room to suck blood
from her neck, then, by getting exposed to the direct sunlight due to the open windows, he
vanishes into a mere smoke and dies. Shortly Ellen dies with him and the movie ends. The
movie a straight forward gothic horror with no multiple plots, themes, or variety of
characters. In the novel, we have Lucy, a young playful beauty with men wanting to
marry her which really adds some romantic aspect in the setting. We also have Mina uses
the typewriter which quite a detail Stoker added in the novel which also refers to the
recent technology of that time and the fact that women have enterred the jobs sphere. In
the novel, Dracula is tracked down and chased back towards his castle in Transylvania by
the company of Mina, Harker, Van Helsing, and the three admirers of Lucy, then gets
killed by a stab in the heart after which they cut his head off. Moreover, Harker’s wife
Mina (Nosferatu’s Ellen) doesn’t recover from the vampire bite and lives. In the film we
see the mention of the deadly plague invading Germany quite often. Perhaps it is referring
to the mass deaths tolls during the first World War or even the later epidemic of Spanish
Flu. Both of these terrible incidents took the life of millions of people across Europe.

When it comes to science and technology, we notice that Bram Stoker seemed to have a
lot of interest in science and technology at that time. His brother was a surgeon and
throughout the novel we follow scientific and medical procedures as he added a doctor in
his novel along with his senior mentor Dr. Van Helsing who also has knowledge in
supernaturalism, a thing was always interesting for Stoker during his life. In the novel we
come to see multiple medical procedures beginning with Lucy’s illness and Van Helsing
trying to know what caused the marks on her neck. He also does blood transfusion to her
in an attempt to save her life. In Francis Coppola’s movie we get to see the same incidents
but with the addition of the scene when Dracula spends time with Mina watching the
motion-pictures, the newest technology of the late 19th century, an invention that Stoker
really admired at that time. It is considered as a tribute from Coppola to the author of the
novel. Both in the novel and in Coppola’s film, Mina uses the typewriter to communicate
with Harker, the pursuers of Dracula use the trains and steamships to travel to
Transylvania. For Nosferatu, we don’t see most of those scenes since the it is a straight up
and shortened horror film.
REFERENCES:

Coppola, Francis. “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”. 1992.

Murnau, Friedrich. “Nosferatu”. 1922.

Stoker, Bram. Dracula. 1897. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.