The different aspects of Dracula's monstrosity

Count Dracula is a monster in Stoker’s novel Dracula that incorporates many different aspects of his monstrosity. He is described as a monster that is nothing more than an evil entity. Evil is often represented as an “individual” with inhuman capabilities and sinister objective; these qualities are strongly associated to being a monster that brings out central conflict in the story. He is a vampire in England who sucks the blood out of his female victims who eventually become vampires themselves, ‘passing on’ his monstrosity to other people. The vampire does possess a lot of human-like characteristics in terms of looks, and feelings, when Count Dracula admits his loneliness by saying “loneliness will sit over out roofs with brooding wings” (pg. 200). Despite that, he is a well-defined instance of a monster due to his inhuman abilities, and malicious acts toward people.

              However, a monster does not have to resemble a beastly-related figure. A monster can also be a man, corrupted by greed or ill intentions, which take over their lives. The acts of causing death and destruction to many people can be achievable by people in this world today, and that makes them no less of a monster. The disregard for human survival is a factor that adds horrific elements to their monstrosity.

Another instance of Count Dracula’s monstrous behavior is when he presents alluring, seducing vampires to John Harker. He appears to lose all control, and willpower as he submits to the sexual intentions of the vampires. At that point, Harker is vulnerable to any ill-intentions Count Dracula wishes, but not through his violent acts, but by using the body of other female vampires. This unique aspect of monstrosity is similar to Zemeckis 2007 film Beowulf and how Grendel's mother was sexualized herself to seduce the male character and get what she wanted. Not only does Count Dracula use sexualized female vampires as his weapon, but also turns female victims into the anti-mother in that society – by eating children. This possibly shows Count Dracula’s most repulsive acts as not even children are spared. Claiming that Dracula is not a monster at this point after committing such despicable acts would be absurd.

              A more terrifying aspect is his ability to possess other humans as they submit to his powers. He uses is mind-controlling capabilities are used for showing his supremacy over others. A good example is Renfield, the madman from the asylum, showing his allegiance by saying "I am here to do Your bidding, Master. I am Your slave, and You will reward me." (pg. 95) However, later in the novel it is shown that Dracula in fact possessed him this whole time, and admits to him being controlled by the vampire. He also has Harker’s wife, Mina, under a trance and ultimately makes her drink his blood. Both instances show his manipulative intentions for power and malice.

              It becomes very evident of Dracula’s cruel intentions deeper into the novel. What I feel is the most scariest form of monstrosity is turning people who were sane to the "dark side" as he did with Lucy. This comparison reminded me of the movie Narnia where the evil witch-queen tempted Edmund to eat turkish delight only if he did what she wanted, not to mention her mind-controlling powers. Moreover, along with Count Dracula's inhuman abilities of animal shape-shifting, his contempt for the human race, and his gruesome behavior toward humanity support his many different aspects of his monstrosity.