Representations of Vlad Tepes in Western Media: Dracula by Bram Stoker
The most infamous depiction of Vlad Tepes in western media and the one that has tied image of the Romanian ruler to that of Dracula is given by the Irish writer Bram Stoker, although the name Vald Tepes, or Vlad the Imaler never comes up it is well known that Stoker used the vaivode as his source of inspiration and the physical description of the Dracula in the novel does seem to fit with that of the paintings of Tepes, even if some of them are emphasized for stylistic effect.
“His face was a strong, a very strong, aquiline, with high bridge of the thin nose and peculiarly arched nostrils, with lofty domed forehead, and hair growing scantily round the temples but profusely elsewhere. His eyebrows were very massive, almost meeting over the nose, and with bushy hair that seemed to curl in its own profusion. The mouth, so far as I could see it under the heavy moustache, was fixed and rather cruel-looking, with peculiarly sharp white teeth. These protruded over the lips, whose remarkable ruddiness showed astonishing vitality in a man of his years. For the rest, his ears were pale, and at the tops extremely pointed. The chin was broad and strong, and the cheeks firm though thin. The general effect was one of extraordinary pallor. Hitherto I had noticed the backs of his hands as they lay on his knees in the firelight, and they had seemed rather white and fine. But seeing them now close to me, I could not but notice that they were rather coarse, broad, with squat fingers. Strange to say, there were hairs in the centre of the palm. The nails were long and fine, and cut to a sharp point. As the Count leaned over me and his hands touched me, I could not repress a shudder. It may have been that his breath was rank, but a horrible feeling of nausea came over me, which, do what I would, I could not conceal.” (Stoker, 26-27).
This description seems to be a general one for those inhabiting the Balkans, save for the ones pertaining to the vampirism (pointy ears, protruding fangs), however the bushiness of the hair and coarseness of the hands do call to mind the savage and barbaric depictions of the locals and match descriptions Stoker gives through Harker’s journal on his way to Dracula’s castle.
This novel depicts Dracula as a creature of evil that delights in its wickedness, the same way it was rumored that Vlad Tepes delighted in the torturing of his enemies, one such rumor said that he would even dip his bread in their blood. Stoker used these rumors and superstitions about Tepes, as well as his torturing methods, and embellished them in order to give birth to the iconic Dracula.
The fame of Dracula created a plethora of adaptations through which the vampire has become an attractive and seductive creature, the complete opposite of what Stoker delivered, but which has increased the fame of Tepes as well and even made people knowledgeable about Romania and Transylvania, although for the wrong reasons, instilling in them an even greater essence of the supernatural with which the country has been labeled in works like Goldsworthy’s Inventing Ruritania.
