Essay Dracula the Impaled Reputation - 1995 Words

Dracula: a name that inspires thoughts of intrigue, fear, romance and in some a life style that is all its own. Yet one thing that is not always known is that there is a true story hidden behind the legend of Dracula. More than one actually, one in which a man is a demon who executes a hundred thousand men, impaling them, and dinning on their blood. Then there is the story of a patriot who cares for his people and is only doing what he must to protect them from the invading armies. The latter of which is less known, yet in the most famous book about Dracula, Bram Stoker brings forth many of the true facts about Vlad ÈšepeÈ™ also known as Vlad the Impaler. The tricky thing comes when we look at why Bram Stoker chose what he did for the†¦show more content†¦As we continue to discuss the remarkable similarities of a vampire and Vlad there is one myth that comes to the forefront and that is one of Vlad drinking the blood of his victims at his dinner table, Beresford elabor ates on the where this belief came from and what the true translation is â€Å"it is alleged, in Michael Beheim’s fifteenth-century poem ‘A bloodthirsty tyrant named Dracula from Wallachia’†¦Beheim described Dracula as dipping his bread in the blood of his victims, which technically makes him a living vampire†(Beresford 91). While this at face value is clear cut, the problem is that later historians from independent sources retranslated the original text and according to Beresford this is what the came up with, It was his pleasure and gave him courage To see human blood flow [And] it was his custom to wash his hands in it, As it [or he] was brought to the dinner table (Miller qtd. in Beresford 93). Miller allows us to see a translation that is from an unbiased time that is one focused on the truth that is less concerned with fanciful tails of blood drinking and demonization of a prince in a time of war, while this translation is more accurate Stoker only had the translation that said he dined on their blood, and Coppola stuck with the Stoker legend. When looking at how in the world Bram Stoker was able to make such an