Marlon Maloney May 10, 2005 Section 3

Religion and Dracula Bram Stoker’s Dracula

In modern day society pretty much everyone has heard of and/or seen an interpretation of vampires and, the supposed king of all vampires, Count Dracula, whether it be in all the several different variations and interpretations that can be seen in movies (most recently the series of Blade movies starring Wesley Snipes) that have been released over the last few decades all the way to “The Count” on “Sesame Street” the long running children’s television show) or “Count Chocula” (on the cover of a children’s cereal box). When people hear either the word vampires or Dracula, most of the time people tend to think about the mythical blood sucking race of immortals called vampires and also some people that know a little more than the average person does about vampires may think about several of their stereotypical characteristics such as: they are from a place called Transylvania, they have sharp, pointy teeth to draw blood from the necks of humans, they can not come outside during the day, they sleep in coffins, turn into bats, and they are killed by pure silver, garlic, and several religious artifacts. However, people do not really think about all the connections between the vampires and all of the religious artifacts that are said to kill them. Religion plays a major role in the story of Dracula, because when one looks closely enough to what vampires and Dracula are all about one can see that vampires are basically the antichrist. Without religion the alternative ways of killing a vampire would make them seem almost as though they are regular humans. “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”, which was first published in the year 1897, was not the first story of vampires written in Literature but it most certainly did become the most famous world wide, the idea