Table for comparison(demo)
- 1. Text Information Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897) Terrence Fisher’s Dracula (1958) Running Time Pagination p.29-37 39’45-45’19 Summary In the novel, Lucy’s illness is diagnosed by Dr. Seward, Lucy’s suitor. He transfuses blood to Lucy however to no avail. When Dr. Van Helsing diagnoses Lucy, he asks Dr. Seward to stay up with Lucy for nights and put a wreath of garlic flowers around her neck. After Seward and Van Helsing return to their home leaving Lucy alone with her mother, Mrs. Westenra, everything goes wrong. Lucy becomes weaker than before. Her mother confesses that she took the garlic flowers away and left the window open. Dr. Seward give Lucy blood again and Lucy then recovers. But 4 days later, Lucy when sleeping with her mother, is attacked by a wolf. No sooner after that incident, Lucy dies. The scene of “Lucy Turns into a Vampire” describes how Lucy gradually becomes a vampire when bitten by Dracula. At first, her condition was diagnosed by an old doctor as anemia. However, another doctor, Dr. Van Helsing, observes a bite mark on Lucy’s neck and assumes that Lucy is turning into avampire. Under his instruction, Gerda, the maid, put garlic flowers in Lucy’s bedroom and closed the windows for her. Yet, when Lucy begs Gerda to remove the flowers and open the windows, Gerda obeys. The next morning, Lucy is found dead in her bed. Similarities What are the similarities shared by the novel and its film adaption? 1. Lucy’s illness 2. From Lucy’s symptom, a bite mark on the neck, Dr. Van Helsing assumes that she was bitten and would gradually turn into a vampire. 3. Lucy’s family can hardly believe in Dr. Van Helsing and disobey his instruction—put garlic flowers and close the window in Lucy’s room. 4. Both in the novel and the film, Dr. Seward provide Lucy a more advanced medical cure. Dr. Van Helsing, however, believes both in scientific and traditional therapy. In your opinion, what effects are achieved by this adaption? Differences What are the In the novel, Dr. Seward is a young doctor and also Lucy’s suitor. In the
- 2. differences between the novel and its film adaption? movie, Dr. Seward is an aged man who In your opinion, what effects are achieved by this adaption? Seward and Holmwood are concerned about Lucy’s suddenly failing health. When Van Helsing arrives to find Lucy terribly pale and unable to breathe easily, he transfuses Holmwood’s blood into Lucy. The doctors examine the punctures on Lucy’s neck. Though Seward is convinced that these wounds caused her severe loss of blood, he can offer no explanation for them. Van Helsing orders Seward to stay up with Lucy that night. The young doctor does so, and Lucy awakes feeling much restored. The following night, however, the exhausted Seward falls asleep on his watch. The next morning, he and Van Helsing find Lucy pale and completely drained of strength, her gums shrunken and her lips white. Seward performs another transfusion, this time providing the blood himself. Attempting to sleep, Seward wakes to thoughts of the punctures on Lucy’s neck and the ragged appearance of their edges. That afternoon, a large package arrives for Van Helsing. It contains white garlic flowers, which Van Helsing orders Lucy to wear around her neck. Under the skeptical gaze of Seward, Van Helsing places garlic flowers all around the room and leaves Lucy, assuring Seward that she will now be able to sleep safely. Summary: Chapter XI In the morning, Van Helsing and Dr. Seward return to the Westenra residence. They are greeted by Lucy’s mother, who tells them that during the night she removed all the “horrible, strong-smelling flowers” from Lucy’s room and opened the windows to let in fresh air. After Mrs. Westenra leaves the room, Van Helsing nearly crumbles. He and Seward rush to their patient to find her near death. Only another blood transfusion from Van Helsing resuscitates her. Van Helsing warns Mrs. Westenra never to remove anything from Lucy’s room again. For the next four days all is well, and Lucy reports that she feels much better.
- 3. A clipping from the Pall Mall Gazette reports that a large wolf escaped from the Zoological Gardens. The animal returns the next morning, covered in broken glass. Seward’s September 17 diary entry reports that Renfield attacks the young doctor in his office, and cuts the doctor’s wrist. Renfield proceeds to lick up the blood, and repeats, over and over, the phrase, “The blood is the life!” Van Helsing telegrams Seward that day, advising him to spend the night with Lucy, but there is a delay and the message does not arrive until the following morning. On September 17, the night of the wolf’s escape, Lucy awakens, frightened by a flapping at the window and a howling outside. Mrs. Westenra is also scared by the noise and comes in and joins her daughter in bed. Suddenly, the window shatters and the head of a huge wolf appears. Terrified, Lucy’s mother tears the garlic wreath from her daughter’s neck and suffers a fatal heart attack. As Lucy loses consciousness, she sees the wolf draw his head back from the window. The four household maids enter, horrified by the sight of their dead mistress. The women go into the dining room to have a glass of wine, but the wine is drugged and they all pass out. Left defenseless and alone, Lucy hides her latest diary entry in her bodice, hoping that “they shall find it when they come to lay me out.”