Dracula and Pandemic
The 21st century just began not long ago, the end of January The world Health Organization declared Coronavirus as a global health emergency. Accordinging to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on December 10, 2020 the total cases around the world were 15,932,116 and total deaths were 296,818. This is a bigger number than we were expected to be true. No one knows what will happen after you just cele
ated a new year and welcome life to a new century. Watching the news that the Covid started in Wuhan China in November, it turned out three months later this disease became epidemic worldwide. Isn’t a new thing in our world? Apparently it was not, throughout the history back to the influenza pandemic of 1918. “Many predictions of the economic and social costs of a modern-day pandemic are based on the effects of the influenza pandemic of 1918. Despite killing 675,000 people in the United States and 40 million worldwide” (Pandemic Economics) The influenza was just one of many pandemics and this could show us how bad pandemics will cause humans whether health or economy.
The pandemic could remind us about the dracula’s story. The story was written by Bram Stoker; Irish writer best known as the author of Gothic ho
or tale Dracula. When
Dracula published at the first time it was not successful, but sooner the story became a well-known story until this present time. In Dracula story’s Jonathan Harker is a new lawyer who is full of energy with his new position as a lawyer. The company assigns him to meet a client named Count Dracula, his enthusiasm is higher than his hesitation; he soon rides a train head forward to Transylvanian where Count Dracula resides. During his journey, many strangers that Harker met give him odd reactions after he is telling where his destination is. Undoubtedly, Harker continued his journey until he a
ived in Count Dracula castle.
“and I felt doubts and fears crowding upon me. What sort of place had I come to, and among what kind of people? What sort of grim adventure was it on which I had embarked? Was this
a customary incident in the life of a solicitor’s clerk sent out to explain the purchase of a London estate to a foreigner? Solicitor’s clerk!” (Dracula 23)
Soon, somehow Harker realized after he saw the castle where he should rather be home instead of standing here.
“Welcome to my house! Enter freely and of your own free will!’ He made no motion of stepping to meet me, but stood like a statue, as though his gesture of welcome had fixed him into stone. “ (Dracula 24)
Count Dracula welcomes Harker into his castle, Harker could sense somehow strange is going to happen with him. It seems almost too late when he learns that he is in a dangerous situation, after that, he becomes ill and has a fever. Later, in Harker's mind he only thinks
how he can escape this awful castle. Meanwhile Count Dracula prepares himself for London, this is where his vampire disease begins.
In Gothic literature, vampires represent preternatural beings of a malignant nature who seek nourishment and cause bodily harm by sucking the blood of the living. Count Dracula has a strong personality at the same time he also has a weakness. He has supernatural power which he could control animals or everythings and if he bites people, they will become vampires. Vampire is an iconic character but moreover this could represent the spread of disease. From Transyvanian to London only an overnight Count Dracula could spread his vampire disease to people around the town. Compare this to Covid-19 or the other diseases that have been spreaded around the world. What could this Dracula teach us the lesson? The scientists and doctors try to find out how to cure all diseases in this world, unfortunately the longer life lives, the more diseases will come. For instance, the world used to have Polio, Tetanus, Hepatitis or Chickenpox but now those are almost forgotten and nearly no longer exist. Instead the world comes with a new disease willingly or unwillingly, what is the right question we should ask about our human health. Do we really learn how to prevent or because too much development causes all the new disease? Keep inventing the new vaccine might not be the right solution in the future of the world, or the question what was really the cause of the disease or how history overcomes the pandemic while they have not good technology like nowadays.
The hiding that Stoker wrote in his Dracula’s story about the spreading of vampire disease, it seems unreal and absolutely impossible. Likewise, Vampire and disease work almost the same way for how fast they can spread to the other.
“She will die for sheer want of blood to keep the heart’s action as it should be. There must be a transfusion of blood at once” (Dracula174)
Dr. Van Helsing provides transfusion of blood to Lucy in the story, in the history transfusion of blood the first document records around the mid-17th century.(Blood Transfusion) It was before the Dracula story public, but the first time when it started to use this procedure many people have died from the resulting and was banned in France, English, and Italy. The deeper information, which could lead to cure many diseases in our world by using blood transfusion. In the 1970s it was discovered that blood transfusion provides a risk for the transmission of life-threatening viruses. Later on, during the 1970s and early 1980s testing of donors for infectious makers of Hepatitis B virus provided better results and reduced the risk of using blood transfusion. Moreover, from Hepatitis virus to HIV have used blood transfusion and all the results were great effective and reduced a lot of risk.
In addition, the story provides garlic as the weakness of Count Dracula. Garlic is one of the ingredients that people around the world use, and this is not new but the fact is garlic actually has been used all over the world for thousands of years. Furthermore, from the Giza pyramids were built to Pakistan and on the way to China, garlic was actually spreading around the world for more than 5,000 years. Garlic does not only take the vampire away but gives more benefits in many things such as better taste in food or traditional medicine purpose
to the human body. Van Helsing knows that the vampire does not like garlic, and he puts garlic to protect Lucy on her neck while she is unconscious. In ancient times, garlic was prized for its medicinal properties and was ca
ied as a charm against vampires and other evils. More reliable evidence has shown the garlic used in traditional medicine in many countries. According to Oregon State University. “In a small, placebo-controlled intervention study in 50 patients with cancer supplementation with 500 mg/day. Providing the active treatment limited the decline in natural killer cell count and activity that accompanies digestive cancer progression and reduces patient survival.” And there is more evidence that garlic may help prevent heart disease. (Garlic plant)
In the story, Count Dracula is more than 100 years old and still alive. As well as disease more than century the disease still exists in our modern world. In history, when we do not have so much convenience of transportation. The disease might not spread as fast as nowadays but positively we might have so much better technology that can help to fight with the pandemic better. The scientists and doctors believed “The majority of highly infectious illnesses that occur in humans are caused by diseases that first arise in animals.” (Pandemic) On the other hand, we can see the disadvantage of our modern world. We are living in a society where time management is most important and at this point we are too hu
y and this could put our life in a more dangerous situation. The Covid-19 could be a great example to people in our modern world because this virus did not tell you immediately after you got an infection.
In conclusion, at an urgent time during a pandemic, we must stay home as much as possible. Social distancing is significant and business trips or family vacations must be avoided, people try to spend the same lifestyle as before pandemic but this is probably the reason why everyday the number of cases is increasing. Similar to, Harker refuses to listen to all the strangers warning him during the trip to Transylvania, until the result of his stu
ornness
ings Dracula to move to London and spread the vampire disease. Images of sickness and infection are everywhere, the workers in the medical field devote their life to patients. This
ings us to remind the cu
ent uncontrolled COVID-19 and the fear of what next will be like.
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12/13/2020 Essay 3: Research Paper Final Draft
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Essay 3: Research Paper Final Draft
Due Sunday by 11:59pm Points 300 Submitting a file upload
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Background
The goal of this essay is to synthesize research into a relevant discussion connecting Bram Stoker’s
Dracula to contemporary issues. This essay will allow you the chance to evaluate sources based on
elevance, credibility, and value, and synthesize multiple researched sources into a coherent argument
that uses evidence and analysis.
The Assignment
For this essay, you will conduct individual research to relate