An undead monster who must drink human blood to survive, Dracula was difficult to kill, which begs the question: Who killed Count Dracula?
Plot of Dracula (the book)
In the Stoker book, centuries-old monster Count Dracula of Transylvania moves to London with the unwitting help of Jonathan Harker, whose fiancé Mina is friends with socialite Lucy Westenra. Lucy has three suitors: Arthur Holmwood, Quincey Morris and Jonathan Seward. Lucy is turned into a vampire by Dracula and is destroyed by Harker, Holmwood, Morris, Seward and Dutch vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing. The men then turn their attention to Dracula, driving him out of England.
Death of Dracula in Bram Stoker’s Book
In the book, the five men (Harker, Holmwood, Morris, Seward and Van Helsing), along with Mina Harker, chase Dracula all the way back to his castle in Transylvania. At the end it is a dramatic race of horse-drawn carriages through a snowy pass: evil gypsies who defend Dracula try to keep him (in his coffin inside the carriage) away from his pursuers. Harker and the others catch Dracula’s carriage and drive the gypsies off with gunfire. They open the casket just as the sun sets. Mina Harker describes what happened next in her journal:
“As I looked, the eyes saw the sinking sun, and the look of hate in them turned to triumph.
But, on the instant, came the sweep and flash of Jonathan's great knife. I shrieked as I saw it shear through the throat. Whilst at the same moment Mr. Morris's bowie knife plunged into the heart.
It was like a miracle, but before our very eyes, and almost in the drawing of a breath, the whole body crumbled into dust and passed from our sight.
I shall be glad as long as I live that even in that moment of final dissolution, there was in the face a look of peace, such as I never could have imagined might have rested there.”
Death of the Historical Dracula
The character of Count Dracula in Bram Stoker’s epic novel was based on the monstrous Vlad Tepes III, Prince of Wallachia, best known to history as Vlad the Impaler. Vlad’s reign was marked by his constant warring with the Turks of the Ottoman Empire. He was ruthless in his kingdom, ordering the murder of many of his foes. According to legend, he would often order his enemies impaled on long wooden stakes so that they would suffer before dying. Vlad was killed in battle with Ottoman Turks in 1476 and his decapitated head was put on display. Stoker’s Count Dracula would also be impaled by a knife and decapitated before dying.
Death of Dracula in the Movies
Countless movies have been made about Dracula, and he has died a thousand deaths on screen. Perhaps because the character of Quincey Morris is often written out of the screenplays, the death of Dracula is often very different from the book. Here are a few of Dracula’s more memorable exits:
- In the 1973 movie starring Jack Palance as Dracula, Dracula fights Jonathan Harker and Van Helsing in a creepy old house. When Van Helsing opens the drapes, sunlight comes in, weakening Dracula. Van Helsing then finishes him off with a sort of spear.
- In the 1979 version starring Frank Langella, Harker and Van Helsing battle Dracula in a ship’s hold. Dracula manages to grab Van Helsing’s stake and uses it to critically wound him, but Van Helsing manages to catch the vampire on a loading hook. Harker activates the winch, yanking Dracula up, out of the hold and into the sunlight, where he dies.
- The death of Dracula in the 1992 Francis Ford Coppola movie “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” featuring Gary Oldman as the count is closest to the ending of the novel. In the movie, the men chase the count’s carriage through the snowy pass and fight the gypsies, and Harker and Morris manage to severely wound Dracula but not kill him. Mina, who in the movie is the reincarnation of Dracula’s great love, then finishes him off out of love and mercy.
These are just a few: Dracula has been in many movies and dies in most of them. Such a popular villain is not likely to be finished, either: surely he will die in some creative new way in the next movie!
Source of Dracula quote: Literature.org
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