Comparing Dracula and Dorian Gray - Essay Example

Comparing Dracula and Dorian Gray Creatures of darkness in great works of literature are often understood to be little more than evil-doers bent on destroying the innocence and beauty of the world in which they find themselves. These interpretations rarely leave room for any other considerations beyond the negative aspect of the character. This is certainly assumed to be the case with a novel such as Dracula by Bram Stoker. In this tale of darkness and terror, an ancient force of evil has long been terrorizing the local populace of his Transylvania home and begins to work out means of expanding his reach. Hungry for power, control and the bustle of a busy court, Dracula seeks to find dominion and lordship in new lands and has a most terrifying means of obtaining it – by destroying the lives of others as he converts them one drop of blood at a time, into his own personal slaves. However, a closer look at the character of Dracula reveals that the nature of evil is not necessarily the ugly, vile, immediately recognizable thing these types of interpretations suggest. Dracula instead presents himself as a well-mannered country gentleman who can easily charm his way into genteel company. In a similar mix of outward charm and inner brutality, Dorian Gray, the starring character in Oscar Wilde’s Portrait of Dorian Gray, has all the outward appearances of youth and beauty as well as the education, intellect and natural charm to ease his way into any company he wishes to keep, but finds himself also the force of destructive evil in the lives of the young people he knows, eventually leading to the destruction of the one true friend he had ever really had. In each instance, Dorian Gray and Dracula reflect outward beauty and a natural charm yet each is a force of destruction that can only exist on the edges of society, never in the thick of the action. Both Dorian Gray and Dracula are portrayed as among the upper class elite of society in many ways, not the least of which is their appearance or proper use of upper class mannerisms. The words of Lord Henry perhaps best express the outward impression given by the aspect of Dorian Gray to Wilde’s Victorian audience: “Beauty is a form of Genius – is higher, indeed, than Genius as it needs no explanation. It is one of the great facts of the world, like sunlight, or spring-time, or the reflection in dark waters of that silver shell we call the moon. It cannot be questioned. It has its divine right of sovereignty” (Wilde, 1891, p. 23). Such an expression was incarnate in the figure of Dorian Gray and illustrated his exalted status above his fellow creatures, particularly as his dark deeds and age never appeared upon his countenance. While the count isn’t described in as beautiful terms as Dorian, Dracula is portrayed as a man charming enough to set his guest at ease despite a shrieking instinct and misgivings founded on village rumors. He is described as ‘courtly’, ‘charming’ and ‘courteous’ even as he provides his guest with a warm and comfortable luxury suite in which to stay (Stoker, 1897: Ch. 2). He has ruddy red lips that give him an “unexpected air of vitality” (Ch. 2), but the breath that emerges from between those lips is noxious enough to make Harker’s stomach react with a queasy feeling. Thus, despite his courtly demeanor, the evil of Dracula tends to hang around him. Harker comments upon his extremely pale complexion, the unusually pointy teeth that protrude over his bottom lip and the icy cold touch of his hands, which have, incidentally, been manicured to provide him with very pointy fingernails. The difference in the outward description of these two men demonstrates an initial difference among their two characters. While it was seen that Dorian was able to socialize with others of the upper class within the streets of London, Dracula is barred from such company presumably because of the unusual nature of his appearance. As the story continues, it emerges that Dracula is limited by his powers including the restriction that he must sleep on Transylvanian soil alone and he is weakened by the sunlight. These restrictions place strong hampers upon his dreams of conquering other lands. Although Dorian is able to blend into the social sphere, he is only able to pull off his façade for a short length of time despite his unnatural and long-lasting beauty. Only toward the end of the book does Wilde begin giving hints that not everyone remains fooled by Dorian’s good looks, with dark hints regarding sneers in the streets, culminating in Basil’s final confrontation with him: “Staveley curled his lip, and said that you might have the most artistic tastes, but that you were a man whom no pure-minded girl should be allowed to know, and whom no chaste woman should sit in the same room with … Why is your friendship so fatal to young men?” (Wilde, 1891, p. 117). While Dracula’s evil is exposed early on, Dorian’s remains hidden for much of the story, yet each prove fatal to those they know. In addition to their charm and magnetic attraction, both Dorian Gray and Dracula express an extreme narcissism that perhaps grew out of the impressions fed to them by others. It is Lord Henry that first sets Dorian Gray on his path by encouraging him to take pleasure in existence, in the narcissistic appeal of concentrating on one’s own self-development and pleasure: “I believe that if one man were to live out his life fully and completely, were to give form to every feeling, expression to every thought, reality to every dream – I believe that the world would gain such a fresh impulse of joy that we would forget all the maladies of medievalism, and return to the Hellenic ideal” (Wilde, 1891, p. 20). Realizing after his first act of evil toward Sybil Vane and that he will be able to retain his beauty while his portrait takes on the stain of his sins, Dorian resolves to experience pleasure as deeply and fully as he can in whatever form he can, giving in completely to the concept of hedonism without the control of conscience. Because he is intent on the selfish exploration of his own impressions and experiences, he actively shuts out any impressions of the feelings, emotions and experiences of others. He is incapable of any compassion and unwilling to make the effort to develop it. This absence in his character prevents him from participating fully in the give and take exchange of his society. In his direct action of killing Basil, Dorian finally crosses completely over the threshold that separates day-dwellers from night-stalkers. Likewise, Dracula exists in a conscience-free state, heedless of the concerns, feelings and emotions of those he victimizes, needing only the justification of hunger and a lust for power. He reveals this aspect of his nature in chapter 3, when he discusses the “brave races who fought as the lion fights, for lordship.” Throughout the history of Transylvania, Dracula indicates the pride and glory of his race and obviously thirsts for such power and glory again. This is perhaps most evident when he indicates how he (or a previous Dracula) heedlessly continued the battle regardless of the cost in ages past: “when he was beaten back, came again, and again, though he had to come alone from the bloody field where his troops were being slaughtered, since he knew that he alone could ultimately triumph! They said he thought only of himself” (Stoker, 1897: Ch. 3). Within this speech, Dracula reveals not only his inability to care for others at all, but also the understanding of the people around him that he was self-centered to an extreme degree as well as his willingness to allow all of his contemporaries die at his feet rather than concede an inch of what he wanted. In this respect, Dorian Gray and Dracula share an even closer similarity. Both are ruled only by their passions with no concern for morals, ethics or the welfare of others. Both are removed from social circles by their willingness to allow their friends to die as a direct result of either Dorian’s or Dracula’s pursuit of their goals. While each is aware of this aspect of their being, they each perceive it as a positive and exalted status. For Dorian, it is in his ability to truly experience the pleasures of the living and therefore to stand as testament to all the hedonistic pursuits a man can strive after. For Dracula, it is revenge upon those inferior races that once drove him back and limited his powers, weakened his forces and brought shame to his family name. Finally, both desire to re-establish human connections but remain unable to do so thanks to the evils they have committed. Despite their evil, though, both Dorian Gray and Dracula remain characters that inspire a certain sense of sympathy from their audience. After Basil’s murder and the suicide of Alan Campbell, Dorian confesses to Henry that he wants to reform and become virtuous. He uses as proof of his reformation his decision not to dishonor a young country girl he’d been seducing, yet Henry points out that this in itself was an evil conceit by suggesting not only that Dorian has broken the poor girl’s heart by leaving her to return to her family, but also spoiled for wanting any men of her own station now that she has managed to capture the eye of the elegant and elite Dorian. “From a moral point of view, I cannot say that I think much of your great renunciation. Even as a beginning, it is poor. Besides, how do you know that Hetty isn’t floating at the present moment in some starlit mill-pond, with lovely water-lilies round her, like Ophelia?” (Wilde, 1891: Ch. 19). Dorian regrets having confided in Henry and realizes, too late, that the one person who may have been able to help him was murdered by his own hands. Dracula, too, indicates a strong desire to return to the social life he must have once enjoyed. As he indicates the years he has spent alone with just his books for company, and Harker realizes Dracula has always been the only individual in attendance at the castle, an impression of the extreme loneliness such an existence would hold. This yearning can also be heard as he discusses Harker’s own home. “I long . . . to be in the midst of the whirl and rush of humanity, to share its life, its change, its death, and all that makes it what it is. But alas!” (Ch. 2). In each situation, an uprising of pity is evoked in the reader’s breast as the conditions each man finds himself in prove too massive to overcome in the time they have left, regardless of the reasons they have landed in such a position to begin with. In this comparison of Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Oscar Wilde’s Picture of Dorian Gray, it can be seen that while the two characters have distinct differences from each other, they each remain capable of entering only the fringes of society rather than integrating with it fully. Despite any supernatural powers they might have been given, they are each powerless to comprehend the damage they are inflicting upon themselves as they pursue their selfish actions and interests. While they each come to realize that their true hopes and desires have already been thwarted as a result of their own actions, these evil creatures nevertheless manage to evoke a sense of sympathy out of their readers. Works Cited Stoker, Bram. Dracula. (1897). Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. Donald L. Lawler (Ed.). A Norton Critical Edition. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, (1891; reprnt. 1988). Read More