Dracula (riassunto dell'opera+ descrizione personaggi+ temi principali), Appunti di Letteratura Inglese

Scarica Dracula (riassunto dell'opera+ descrizione personaggi+ temi principali) e più Appunti in PDF di Letteratura Inglese solo su Docsity! DRACULA Author Bram Stoker Year Published 1897 Type Novel Genre Horror Perspective and Narrator Dracula is told through pieces of evidence in the form of letters, newspaper articles, journal entries, and telegrams primarily composed by the characters Jonathan Harker, Mina Murray, Dr. John (Jack) Seward, Lucy Westenra, and Dr. Abraham Van Helsing. Tense Dracula is written mostly in the past tense, although some entries provide present-tense accounts. About the Title Dracula is the name of the story's antagonist, a vampire. The name comes from the Romanian word dracul, meaning "dragon" or perhaps "devil." Dracula is a novel by the Irish writer Bram Stoker and was published in the year 1897. The novel falls within the genre of the gothic novel and is inspired by the figure of Vlad III, the prince of Wallachia. The book is written in the form of a diary and begins to narrate the events starting from the year 1890 when the lawyer Jonathan Harker is sent to Transylvania by the boss Peter Hawkins to deal with the request for sale of an English villa made by a Transylvanian nobleman, Count Dracula. Locals discourage Harker from going to the Earl's home, as terrible rumors circulate about him. The lawyer, however, goes to the home of the count who seems at first sight to be a quiet person. In the following days, Harker actually discovers that the old lord is actually a vampire, who feeds on the blood of living beings. the scene moves to England thanks to the exchange of letters between Mina Murray and Lucy Westenra. We discover new characters such as Mina (Harker's girlfriend) and Lucy, a friend of Mina and John Seward, director of a mental hospital. The story continues with the story of Mina who goes to stay in Whitby with her friend Lucy and her family. Mina tells, again through letters, the strange behavior of Lucy and the arrival of a ship whose captain is found lifeless. At the same time a patient of the director of the asylum, Renfield, also arrives in England, who begins to worsen his mental health, alluding to a phantom Lord. Meanwhile, Lucy wears marks on her neck, as if she had been bitten by a vampire: Dracula has arrived in England. The story continues and Mina discovers that Jonathan has escaped from Dracula's castle and is now hospitalized in Budapest; reaches him, the two marry and return to England. Lucy's condition deteriorates, so Seward decides to call Abraham Van Helsing from Amsterdam to try and save the girl's life. however, the final attack of Dracula causes the death of the girl and her mother. The situation will become increasingly difficult when Lucy, who has become a vampire, begins to attack the chil- dren who play near the cemetery where she was buried. Professor Van Helsing decides to inform his pupil Quincey Morris and Lord Godalming about the affair. The three decide to place Lucy's body in her grave, returning to the cemetery the following day to plant a wooden stake on the girl's heart. The story continues, Van Helsing comes into contact with the young Mina, who makes the professor read the diary of her husband Jonathan about his stay in Transylvania. it turns out that patient Renfield's ravings actually correspond to the truth about the figure of the old Count Dracula. The protagonists decide to go to Carfax, to bless the boxes where Dracula used to rest. Dracula has gone to the asylum, kills Renfield and also vampirizes Mina, Jonathan decides to kill Count Dracula, but failing to do so, he lets him escape, convincing himself that he is a normal person, who for his survival needs blood to be able to feed himself. . Meanwhile, Van Helsing, Seward, Harker, Lord Godalming and Morris sterilize all the old earl's hiding places with consecrated hosts. Dracula escape with the only crate of earth. The group of protagonists venture into the pursuit of Dracula, going to Varna, the place where the ship that holds the chest would arrive. The count reach his castle; the protagonists decide to divide into groups in order to find him. The final scene takes place in the mountains where Dracula's castle is located and is told through Mina's diary. Mina and Van Helsing join up with the rest of the group and besiege the gypsies who are carrying the vampire's chest. Jonathan and Quincey, dying, finally kill Dracula, who ends up turning to dust. The events told refer to seven years earlier, now Jonathan and Mina are happily married and have a son, Quincey. CHARACTERS Dracula Dracula is a vampire with ambitions to command a larger realm than the small area of Transylvania, his ancestral home; proud, intelligent, and determined, he invades London to spread vampirism, perhaps in order to bring about a new order in the then modern world.