Prompt #7 Unique Characters

Thomas Foster addresses the dastardly deeds of one monster, Dracula, whose literary intent is actually to inspire abstinence. What makes antagonists unique is that are more complex than what they appear to be.  Foster does not see a monster's role as a character to be a  complete savage.  Instead, they are the lessons parents teach put into form. Dracula’s character  merits discussion because he appears to have bad intentions in books, but outside of the words he is trying to inspire good from the readers.

I think it is fascinating that Dracula is a symbol for abstinence before marriage. He rapes his victims of their purity, their usefulness, their marriageability. What is even more interesting is that premarital sex is extremely rampant in the 21st century, but so are vampires. If vampires still carry this symbol of ravishing purity, then why is it that teenage girls fall victim to them and partake in premarital sex. In some sense, we hate what the vampire is doing, but we are condoning it. It is the same in theory that people will tell themselves premarital sex is bad, but in the end they find themselves doing it anyways. Overall, I believe the use of vampires has changed completely since the days of Dracula. Today’s vampires seem to warrant inappropriate behavior and sexual desires, while Dracula was inadvertently trying to discourage sex before marriage. Vampires carry more than just a sexual undertone, because there is a more important meaning to vampires. Vampires represent society and the ideals that are forced onto people. The impurity of society breaches its way into the minds of younger generations just like Dracula ruins the innocence of the young women he devours. In the end, the strategies by filmmakers and writers are hidden behind the vampire's cape and are hard to pick up on. If I did not have someone point out to me this effect used by writers, then I would not be able to decipher it for myself, and that makes Dracula remarkable. While Dracula is a prime example of a unique character, he is only a specific example of a larger group of characters that are monsters. The characteristics that make monsters special are that they are trying to scare the reader strait, which despite being the villain, is a admirable quality.