Toni Hill
Mrs. Norman
English 12 B
7 May 2010

Bram Stoker--Vampires Bloated with Blood, Not Love
Bram Stoker’s greatest literary work is easily Dracula. At the time it was regarded as cheap horror, another dime-a-dozen story. However, this novel has proven to be far more prolific than anyone could have first imagined. Millions of other works and forms of entertainment can trace the roots of the integral parts of their plot to Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The work lives on, the longevity extended to Stoker himself.
Bram Stoker was born in November, 1847. In his younger years he was very frail and sickly. Until he was seven years of age he could not even walk without some from of help he was so weak. He was even bled to improve his condition (Allen 1). That being so, he was often in bed and listened to stories his Mother told him (Haggerty 1). Despite the tribulations he experience when very young, once he grew older and entered prepatory school he became very healthy and even competed in athletics (Allen 1). He continued in his father’s line of work, as was expected of him. He got really into theater and acting, and even did unpaid work as a drama critic. In so being he met his long-lasting friend and actor Henry Irving. He spent a good deal of his adult life with Irving, (In fact, he even named his son Irving!) even though Irving was sometimes very cruel and demeaning to Stoker. Irving also came into possession of a theater which he allowed Stoker to become manager of. Soon after this he married his wife Florence Balcombe, who he didn’t have so warm a relationship with (Allen xx). A year after joining in the theater with Irving, Stoker wrote his first book, The Duties of Clerks of Petty Sessions in Ireland, which was about his career before the theater (Allen 1). In the next few years before Dracula, Stoker accomplished a few other things of note. Including: the Bronze Medal from the Royal Humane Society for trying to prevent a suicide, he also studied law and wrote an essay on America. Before Dracula, Stoker published approximately fifteen stories. Then Stoker started work on his most famous novel, Dracula. Once written it was performed in his theater. There is speculation that he may have even written the role of Count Dracula specifically for Irving to play, as he often played the strong, lead characters (Allen xxi). Irving did not eventually end up playing the role, as he thought it was too small a role since the Count is not onstage quite as much as was Irving’s preference. Henry Irving died in 1905 and with him, died Stoker’s interest in theater. Despite their long friendship, Stoker was not mentioned at all in Irving’s Will (Allen xxii).