Jun Lee
Tara Thomas
Writing 2
31 January 2021
In Dracula (1897) by Bram Stoker, the main antagonist Dracula possesses supernatural powers that overpower the story’s protagonists. His powers are not limited to physical strength and therefore cause numerous incidents to occur. Without his powers, the protagonists can easily combat Dracula without much suspense. However, as Dracula possesses supernatural powers unheard of to many people, each incident feels like a suspenseful movie scene. Many scenes encompass Dracula’s power as the primary pillar and revolve around the character, Dracula.
This critical scene where Jonathan meets with the three vampire sisters exemplifies Dracula’s demeaning aura, “His eyes were positively blazing. The red light in them was lurid, as if the flames of hell fire blazed behind them. His face was deathly pale, and the lines of it were hard like drawn wires. The thick eyebrows that met over the nose now seemed like a heaving bar of white-hot metal. With a fierce sweep of his arm, he hurled the woman from him, and then motioned to the others, as though he were beating them back” (Stoker 36). This passage describes Dracula’s powers but also his superiority over the other characters. The vampire sister trio’s fear for Dracula is also instilled into Jonathan who was only a bystander to Dracula’s actions. Dracula’s powers naturally make sense as he’s an important and powerful figure for controlling the scene. Dracula’s presence in this scene dominates Jonathan forcing his mentality to deteriorate immensely. Ultimately leading to Jonathan forgetting information regarding Dracula, who is consistently controlling the incident’s direction.
Later on, Dracula is caught using many of his supernatural powers that the witnesses gathered to discuss them in more detail. “He has the strength of many of his hand, witness again Jonathan when he shut the door against the wolves, and when he help him from the diligence too. He can transform himself to wolf, as we gather from the ship arrival in Whitby, when he tear open the dog, he can be as bat, as Madam Mina saw him on the window at Whitby, and as friend John saw him fly from this so near house, and as my friend Quincey saw him at the window of Miss Lucy” (Stoker 215–216). This scene can be taken into many different perspectives, one of which is where Dracula is too powerful in the protagonist’s eyes while another one is where all the protagonists are merely confirming Dracula’s supernatural powers. However, the perspective in which Dracula was present throughout every character’s journey is the most logical view. As Dracula appeared in front of Jonathan since the start of the novel and in front of all the other protagonists, one can conclude that Dracula’s presence plays the most significant role in the plot. Dracula even met with Lucy as she became a vampire before she died. Dracula, presumably being present in his castle with Jonathan while Lucy’s spell was ongoing, is spectacularly thorough in his big picture plan. This quote portrays an example of Dracula’s big picture, “He calculated a minute, and then said, “The first should be June 12, the second June 19, and the third June 29” (Stoker 39).
Dracula’s early action of corrupting Jonathan caused a chain reaction, eventually involving everyone close to him. Stoker uses this chain reaction of actions to justify the logic behind Dracula’s powers. In addition, Dracula’s nobility origin affects how he acts in front of other characters, especially in the beginning. He cares to uphold his image and shows respect as if a noble would but as Jonathan states, “This looked like some new scheme of villainy…” (Stoker 40). Dracula purposely showed Jonathan a part of his powers “as he swept his long arms, as though brushing aside some impalpable obstacle, the wolves fell back and back further still” (Stoker 14) while also displaying furious rage through “his eyes blazed with a sort of demoniac fury” (Stoker 25). In response, Jonathan became fearful of the count and his paranoia started. Jonathan’s mentality couldn’t escape the painful past Dracula inflicted upon him even though his body escaped, which leads the readers to question whether Dracula let him run on purpose.
Dracula, the mastermind behind all the chaos, affects the story on a deeper scale than a simple accident. Many of the protagonist’s testimonies help confirm Dracula’s supernatural powers and therefore are not far off to claim him as a powerful antagonist. As such, Dracula’s powers deserve to be the pillar and source in creating the novel’s plot.
Works Cited:
Stoker, Bram, et al. Dracula. W.W. Norton, 1997.
