What influenced Bram Stoker to write Dracula?

Answer 1

There are many things that inspired Stoker:

- Stoker could not walk during the first seven years of his life. His mother often told him Horror stories about a cholera epidemic she had witnessed as a child to entertain him at that time.

- It is also said that Stoker had a dream in which a young man slept on a sofa when suddenly a man in black clothes appeared, saying: "This man belongs to me!"

- Like many others, Stoker was interested in spiritualism, visited séances, was the owner of some tarot cards,...

- Around 1890, he met a Hungarian scientist called Arminius Vámbéry. This man is said to have inspired him for ´his´ book character Professor Abraham van Helsing.

- As a playwright and theatre critic, Stoker met Henry Irving, an actor who was very successful at that time. He inspired him for Count Dracula.

- Stoker read about Vlad III Draculea, a Walachian prince from 15th century, and decided to let him become the antagonist (Count Dracula) of his novel.

- Stoker loved to be on holiday in Whitby, England. In Whitby library, he read an old newspaper report about a ghost ship that had stranded there some years ago.

Answer 2

Many people say that the idea stemmed from his relationship with is employer and friend, Henry Irving. The overbearing, threatening, sometimes repulsive, "vampiric" character of Count Dracula represents those characteristics of Irving himself, and the timid, following character of Johnathan Harker does the same respect for Stoker. What he did was take an already known, but too much so, legend and twisted it to fit his life; including the impact of Dracula/Irving's decisions on Harker/Stoker's relationships and life (i.e., Mina, Lucy, etc.).

Hope that helps!

Answer 3

He wrote it. He most likely liked all parts of it, otherwise he would have changed them...