Real–life inspiration
What is unknown to most familiar with Beauty and the Beast is that the story was inspired by a Spanish nobleman known as Petrus Golsalvus who suffered from a rare condition called hypertrichosis. Due to the excessive hair growth caused by this condition, he faced mistreatment and abuse from the public. However, King Henry II of France recognized Golsalvus’ calm demeanour and decided to protect him. Golsalvus eventually overcame being illiterate by learning to speak, read, and write in three languages, gaining respect from the royal court. He married Catherine, a woman who shared the mission of helping him live a normal life. They had seven children, four of whom also had hypertrichosis and were sadly exploited by the duke.
The name “Dracula” is commonly associated with Vlad Teppes, a Romanian ruler belonging to the “Dracula” order, meaning “Son of the Dragon.” Some mistakenly believe it means “Son of the Devil,” but the true Romanian translation for this is “Fiul Diavolului” (even if the dragon is sometimes viewed as evil in Romanian culture). Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula, may have come across Vlad’s name during his research on Romanian history and used it as inspiration, although there is no evidence to support this from his working notes. Stoker’s character, Dracula, claims to be descended from Atilla the Hun, while the historical Dracula was a Voivode of Wallachia. Stoker’s Dracula differs from the historical figure, as the he does not mention impaling enemies or drinking their blood. Stoker’s fascination with vampires and a dream he had about vampire women and their groom also influenced the creation of his novel. Some suggest he may have drawn inspiration from Countess Elizabeth Bathory, a Hungarian noblewoman and serial killer.
Genre
While both Beauty and the Beast and Dracula are both stories involving monstrous characters, the former is a tragic romance with a happy ending for the main title character, while Dracula portrays its main character as a villain. In Beauty and the Beast, the focus is on seeing beyond physical appearances, while Dracula is a gothic horror novel. Most adaptations of both stories are serious and devoid of comedy, although a few Dracula films, such as Mel Brooks’ Dracula: Dead and Loving It, incorporate comedic elements. In contrast, Beauty and the Beast has never been parodied or adapted as a comedy, although there are minor comedic moments in the 1991 Disney film.
Shrouded backstories
The main characters of Beauty and the Beast and Dracula reveal little about their pasts. The Beast, restored to a prince at the end of the story, explains his transformation and how he became a beast, while Dracula only hints at his involvement in battles against the Turks. Jonathan Harker deduces that Dracula is referring to himself (despite Dracula trying to talk as if it is an ancestor of his that he is refering to), and Van Helsing confirms that Dracula was once a Szekely who became a vampire when he died in battle. Beauty’s love frees the Beast from the curse, but Dracula is killed by Jonathan Harker (as well as Quincey Morris), ending his threat of vampirism.
Association with Love
Love is a common theme in both Beauty and the Beast and Dracula, but takes different paths. In Beauty and the Beast, the Beast gradually reveals his affection for Beauty. Despite initially refusing his marriage proposals, she eventually reciprocates his love. However, her prolonged absence, due to her sisters’ trickery, causes the Beast to fall ill when she goes to visit her father. When she finally returns, it is too late, but her love restores him to human form. They marry soon after. Beauty and the Beast may have influenced the 1933 film King Kong, where a giant ape falls in love with a human woman named Anne Darrow, paralleling Dracula, where a native tribe admires him just as the natives of Kong’s home Skull Island revere (and fear) Kong.
Dracula, though not entirely a romantic character (despite his creator’s background in Romantic and Gothic fiction), employs his three women to seduce and pass on the curse of vampirism, much like his own attempts to seduce women. These women serve as harbingers of Dracula’s impending attacks, particularly when they target Jonathan Harker. While Harker is initially saved by Dracula himself, the encounter reveals Dracula’s intention to gather information about London, the city where he recently acquired property, and indirectly informs his women that he can love as he has before. He present an infant to his women much to Harker’s horror, signifying the reality of Dracula’s women (while Dracula has a pack of wolves kill the infant’s mother). Upon reaching the English coast, Dracula transforms Mina’s best friend, Lucy Westenra, into a vampire by draining her blood nightly in his bat and wolf forms. To lift the curse of vampirism that she has brought upon a few children, Professor Abraham Van Helsing and Lucy’s suitors—Arthur Holmwood, Quincey Morris, and John ‘Jack’ Seward—put her soul to rest by staking her heart and severing her head. As the group embarks on a quest to find Dracula, Mina is bitten and experiences alternating states of humanity and vampirism. Van Helsing eliminates Dracula’s women, who fail to entice Mina, and ultimately, Jonathan Harker and Quincey Morris destroy Dracula himself. However, Morris succumbs to death due to being wounded during the battle shortly afterward. Freed from Dracula’s curse, Mina and Jonathan have a son named after Quincey.
Romance in Dracula films was only explicitly shown although taken to a higher level in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 adaptation of the novel titled Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Starring Gary Oldman as Dracula (as well as Winona Ryder as Mina, Keanu Reeves as Jonathan Harker and Anthony Hopkins as Van Helsing), the film remained seemingly faithful to the novel and included romance as a genre. It portrayed Vlad Teppes as Dracula, who became a vampire after his wife’s suicide. In 1897, Dracula seeks Mina who he realizes is his reincarnated love which leads to a confrontation between him and Jonathan and Van Helsing.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula received positive reviews, with one critic comparing it to Disney’s successful 1991 version of Beauty and the Beast released a year earlier. Both films explore the theme of love’s importance, as the absence or loss of it turns the protagonist into a monster. In Beauty and the Beast, the Prince’s arrogance leads to his transformation into a beast, while Dracula becomes undead in his pursuit to reunite with his deceased wife. Coppola drew inspiration from the 1946 French film adaptation of Beauty and the Beast to bring Dracula to life, similarly exploring the origin of the characters. In the 1992 Dracula, Vlad Teppes transforms into Dracula after his wife’s death, while Disney’s Beauty and the Beast depicts the character’s origin through stained glass imagery. The full origin story is revealed in the 1997 midquel, Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas.
Coppola filmed his version of Dracula when Disney’s Beauty and the Beast premiered, and both film scores boosted their respective composers’ careers, Alan Menken (for Beauty and the Beast) and Wojiech Kilar (for Dracula). Menken, already established in Hollywood through Disney, composed for Beauty and the Beast, while Kilar gained international recognition through Dracula. Menken along with Howard Ashman wrote the theme song for Beauty and the Beast, performed by Celine Dion, while Annie Lennox sang and produced the theme song for Dracula known as ‘Love Song for a Vampire’. Interestingly, Golden Films released their own versions of Disney films, including Beauty and the Beast, before Coppola’s Dracula. Another parallel is the dance scenes in both films, with Mina and Dracula mirroring Belle and the Beast.
In the 1992 Dracula, the Count is defeated, seeking peace in a chapel where he renounced God to avenge his dead wife. Mina, his wife’s reincarnation, grants him peace and God’s forgiveness as he reunites with his wife. This ending pays homage to the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale, where Beauty tends to her sick father and finds the dying Beast when she returns. In contrast, Mina ends Dracula’s suffering, while Beauty’s love confession transforms the Beast into a human Prince who marries her.
Disney’s Beauty and the Beast won two Oscars for Best Sound and Best Original Song, while Bram Stoker’s Dracula won three Oscars for Costume Design, Sound Editing, and Makeup. Beauty and the Beast was also nominated for Sound Editing, but did not win. Both films were pioneering adaptations of their stories, being among the first to receive Oscar nominations or wins.
Cursed Castles and their Hosts
Both the Beast and Dracula inhabit castles although in the case of the latter his castle is rather old and decaying whereas the former’s castle despite the curse bestowed upon it and its master, still retains an enchanted feel to it yet both castles have an eerie feel due to grey gothic statue heads as well as idols of demonic creatures adorning the castles. Even the forests surrounding the castle are unwelcoming and haunted due to their fauna especially wolves although while the beast hates wolves, Dracula admires them and often sends them to seek out people lost in the woods such as when they follow and surround the carriage carrying Jonathan Harker to Dracula’s castle. However while wolves are a common occurrence in Dracula mostly while they follow Jonathan Harker who is travelling to Dracula’s castle to bestow ownership of Carfax Abbey upon Dracula who he does not realize is the coach bringing him to the castle, Beauty and the Beast made very little reference to using wolves as antagonistic and seeking out people lost in the woods. This notion was invented in the 1991 Disney film wherein Maurice, the father of Beauty known as Belle in the film is lost in the woods on his way to a fair to display his invention and upon disturbing a flock of bats, is almost thrown off a cliff while his horse escapes. Maurice is then at the mercy of the wolves but is saved when he finds the Beast’s castle, only to be imprisoned by its master but is released when Belle offers herself in her father’s place. The wolves again appear when Belle is scared off by the Beast but he saves her life before they return to the castle.
In the Anime version of Beauty and the Beast, Beauty (Maria) is allowed by the Beast to visit her sick father, but he dies soon after, finding solace in his daughter’s well-being. In Dracula, Lucy Westenra deteriorates due to Dracula’s nightly bloodsucking on her, while Van Helsing and Lucy’s suitors try to save her through blood transfusions, wolfbane, and garlic. Lucy’s mother gets involved in protecting her daughter, but when Dracula enters Lucy’s room as a bat and transforms into a wolf during his attack, Lucy’s mother tears off the garlic from her neck to fend him off. Sadly, Dracula attacks both of them, resulting in the deaths of Lucy and her mother. Lucy rises as a vampire but is eventually laid to rest by Van Helsing, her suitors. Jonathan Harker, and his wife Mina later join them to stop Dracula.
The castle of Dracula (known as Castle Dracula) in Bram Stoker’s novel is likely based on various castles, including Scotland’s Slains Castle, where the author visited as a guest. Stoker was also inspired to create Kyllion Castle for his other novel, The Jewel of Seven Stars, which later influenced Mummy Movies. While Stoker never visited Transylvania, he believed it to be the ideal setting for Dracula’s residence, along with the Balkan hills. London and Whitby were also significant locations in the story due to Stoker’s visits and historical references. The Bran Castle, often associated with Dracula, bears little resemblance to the iconic Castle Dracula and is wrongly believed to have been the historical Dracula’s residence.
Despite the Beast’s castle becoming more atmospheric and positive after his transformation due to Beauty’s love, the fate of Dracula’s castle remains undisclosed. However, after seven years, Jonathan Harker and his friends, who were responsible for Dracula’s demise, visit Transylvania only to find the castle in a deteriorating state of desolation. Bram Stoker initially wrote an alternative ending where the castle is consumed by a volcanic cataclysm immediately after Dracula’s death, concealing its vampiric history. Stoker ultimately rejected this ending, as he felt it resembled the climax of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. It is commonly misunderstood that Stoker intended to leave room for a sequel, although this was never his intention.
Beastly Symbolism
Both Beauty and the Beast and Dracula utilize devil-associated animals, particularly wolves and bats. The forests surrounding their castles are infested with these creatures. Unlike the Beast, Dracula can transform into wolves and bats, while the Beast, being an animal himself, does not change form. However, the Beast displays predatory traits until his bond with Beauty strengthens, often halted by her. In some versions of Beauty and the Beast, like the Disney film, the character crawls down castle walls like a bat or carries himself like a wolf, possibly inspiring the characterestics of Dracula.
The Beast despises wolves, as shown in the 1991 Disney film where he saves Beauty from an attack by wolves after scaring her off into the woods accidentally. Dracula, on the other hand, has a great affinity for wolves, referring to them as ‘children of the night’ to Jonathan Harker. In contemporary culture, Dracula is often depicted as turning into a bat, except in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 version, where he takes humanoid forms of both bat and wolf. Before his transformation, Dracula’s animalistic side is portrayed as wolf-like. When Dracula arrives on the English coast and bites Lucy who is sleepwalking but abandons her when he realizes Mina is watching, a wolf breaks loose from the zoo, and later, he tames the escaped wolf at a science fair while in Mina’s company. This concept was introduced as a reference to one version of the novel where Dracula interacts with a wolf from a zoo who later escapes but is recaptures.
In the 1992 film, there are multiple references to wolves as a symbol of Dracula. When Dracula learns about Mina’s marriage to Jonathan, he is heartbroken and transforms Lucy, whom he has bitten, into a vampire while in the form of a wolf. Despite attempts by her suitors to protect her, they are unsuccessful, leading Van Helsing and the others to lay her soul to rest and focus on finding and destroying Dracula. In contrast to other Dracula films, where bats are typically associated with the title character, wolves are strongly linked to Dracula in Coppola’s film. Even in promotional posters, the vampire’s head is depicted with wolves’ heads. Dracula himself, before becoming a vampire, wore armor with a wolf-shaped helmet. Wolves have long held a fearsome reputation, due to stories like “Little Red Riding Hood” depicting them as bloodthirsty killers. The Beast of Gevaudan, a wolf-like animal responsible for attacking hundreds of people in France, further solidified this perception prior to the beast’s destruction at least three times. Experts now believe the attacks may have been carried out by a pack of wolves, considering the area’s existing conflicts between wolves and humans over livestock.
The title character in Beauty and the Beast is based on hypertrichosis, a condition causing excessive body hair, also known as ‘werewolf syndrome.’ By co-incidence the concept of the werewolf is linked to vampires in European folklore. The 1941 film The Wolf Man introduced the idea that being bitten by a werewolf turns a person into one, which influenced later werewolf films like Werewolf of London in 1941. The film also connected wolves with werewolves and inspired An American Werewolf in London and Michael Jackson’s Thriller music video. Disney’s Beauty and the Beast combines elements of various mythical and real animals, such as the Minotaur, lion, gorilla, and yak into the title character. Modern versions of the fairy tale draw more from the Disney film than the original tale, where the Beast is portrayed as a lion or gorilla or wild boar.
Bats play a recurring role in both stories, they appear before Beauty’s father arrives at the castle in both the Disney version, where he accidentally disturbs a flock of bats when lost, and in Dracula, where bats inhabit the forests surrounding the Count’s castle and the castle itself. In Mel Brooks’ film Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Dracula humorously refers to bats as “children of the night” when one flutters around upon Renfield’s arrival. Bats became associated with vampires through Bram Stoker’s book, inspired by the South American bats that feed on animal blood. Stoker merged the vampire and bat by giving his villain the ability to transform into one. Vampire bats, though not as vicious as depicted, can spread rabies and have bitten humans unknowingly. In South and Central America, people take precautions to prevent bats from reaching them during sleep due to their prevalence. The addition of bats to the vampire legend is also influenced by a belief that the Romanian Prince Vlad Teppes allowed bats to roost in his castle.
In most Dracula films, the Count transforms into a bat more than a wolf. However, in Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula, the character is associated with both bats and wolves, primarily the former. There is a brief moment when Dracula appears as a bat in front of Van Helsing after a blood transfusion from Arthur Holmwood to Lucy Westenra. Dracula interacts with a wolf but not bats, although Van Helsing presents a bat during a medical lecture on blood infection. Ultimately, the group joins forces to destroy Dracula after he claims Lucy’s soul in wolf form and they lay her soul to rest before setting out to confront the Count.
In the novel, Dracula is portrayed with a moustache, but this is not always the case elsewhere. Bela Lugosi’s portrayal in 1931 is the most well-known, despite other actors like Gary Oldman as well as the late (Sir) Christopher Lee playing the role. Lugosi’s image is often associated with Dracula, even when other actors portray the character. The first film appearance of Dracula was in the 1922 silent film Nosferatu, which gave the character a repulsing deathly appearance and changed his name to Orlock to avoid copyright issues. The film was later sued by Bram Stoker’s wife for not acquiring the rights to the novel. In contrast, the title character of Beauty and the Beast takes on various animal forms, with the 1991 version depicting him as a blend of different animals.
Repulsion
Both Beauty and the Beast and Dracula explore the theme of repulsion. The Beast is repulsed by his own reflection due to his horrifying appearance, while Dracula is repulsed by holy objects like the crucifix although he is additionally repulsed by mirrors due to casting no reflection in them. In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the Count, who was once the historical Vlad Teppes is still repelled by mirrors. His transformation into a vampire severed his passion for Christ, causing pain in the presence of holy objects. However, he can mention the name of Christ without feeling any pain. Throughout the story, Dracula encounters crucifixes; his brides also melt one belonging to Jonathan Harker when they encounter him and Dracula burns another crucifix wielded against him by Van Helsing. In the Beauty and the Beast sequel, The Enchanted Christmas, the Beast is haunted by a rose that symbolizes his curse much like in the film’s predecessor. Similarly, Dracula is repulsed by roses, withering them as he preys on his victims. The 2017 version of Beauty and the Beast contradicts the original film, suggesting that the Beast’s roses hold sentimental value, leading him to fiercely object when one is taken from his garden much like the original fairy tale.
In Beauty and the Beast, there is only implied desire to destroy the Beast in some versions of the tale, while in Dracula, various characters actively seek to destroy him. In one version of Beauty and the Beast, Beauty’s brothers offer to confront the Beast, but she objects due to his power and her own role in her father’s predicament. In Dracula, action is taken to destroy the vampire after he turns Lucy into a vampire and Van Helsing releases her from the curse, laying her soul to rest in the process. Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 Dracula film faithfully depicts the pursuit of Dracula by Van Helsing and his team as it occurred in the book.
Theatre and Film
While there are no confirmations as to theatre versions of Beauty and the Beast, it is possible that since the fairy tale was born, there were a lot of theatre versions although the first recorded one La Belle et la Bête which took its title from the French version of the film which in turn had its title taken from the original tale’s French name is the first confirmed version of the fairy tale reaching the theatre. In 1994, three years after the Disney version of the film, a musical came to the stage written by Alan Menken and Linda Woolverton. Later in 2011, the 20th anniversary of the film came a ballet about the film. Thanks to the Disney film, the original fairy tale was attached to the Disney film and newer versions of the original story in some way or another always borrowed inspiration from the Disney film. The Disney film was also part of an era known as the ‘Disney Renaissance’ between 1989 and 1999 where Disney invested a tremendous amount of money and animation into bringing classic fairy tales to life, something that began with Snow White and the Seven Dwarves in 1937 after Disney was established with its mascot and Walt Disney’s most notable creation, Mickey Mouse. Other Disney films released during that era were The Little Mermaid (1989), The Lion King (1994), Hercules (1997), the sequel to Beauty and the Beast known as Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (1997), The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride (1998), a sequel to The Lion King and Tarzan (1999). Alan Menken who started his association with Disney at the start of the Renaissance went on to score three films from that era and when Disney announced its live-action version of Beauty and the Beast which was released in 2017, Menken reprised his role as composer for that film as well. The 2017 version of Beauty and the Beast was praised for being faithful to the original Disney film of which it was a remake while also making minor references to the original French fairy tale. Ironically, following the release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves in 1937, Walt Disney, the creator of Disney as an enterprise wanted to adapt Beauty and the Beast for his next project but despite numerous attempts in the late 1930s and early 1950s to conceive it, he felt he was unable to do it although following his death, his brother took over at the helm when he revived his late brother’s interest in bringing the fairy tale to life for the big screen and was successful in doing so.
During the start of his career as an author (although Dracula was not his first novel and the 1890 novel The Snake’s Pass was), Bram Stoker simultaneously worked for the Lyceum Theatre as an assistant to actor Henry Irving who is believed though debated to be more of an inspiration for the character of Count Dracula than Romanian ruler Vlad Teppes whose name was only borrowed for the title and character of the novel. When Dracula first came to the American stage, its script was adapted by John L. Balderston and Hamilton Deane and when it came to the Fulton theatre Hungarian-American actor Bela Lugosi essayed the title role and his performance convinced Universal Studios to hire the him for their 1931 film version of the play where he reprised his role. The film was loosely based on Bram Stoker’s novel and omitted important parts of the it. The film outdated the 1922 version of Dracula known as ‘Nosferatu’ which was only loosely based on the novel due to Dracula being named ‘Orlock’ although it took place in the 1830s in Germany. Stoker’s widow filed for copyright since rights to her husband’s novel ten years after his death was never granted and Universal’s film was the first authorised version of her husband’s work for Carl Laemmle Jr. the creator of Universal who was a fan of Stoker’s novel and always wanted to make a movie of it. Since then many actors such as Christopher Lee, Gary Oldman and Leslie Nielsen have gone on to play Dracula but they always end up bringing Lugosi to mind. Yet Oldman’s version of the character in Francis Ford Coppola’s film about Stoker’s character created a new look for Dracula and strengthened the connection between him as well as the man who gave his name to the vampire, Vlad Teppes. One of Stoker’s last novels, The Jewel of Seven Stars, an Egyptian horror novel about a centuries-dead queen of Egypt may have been an inspiration for the 1932 film The Mummy which was also a Universal film and that film too in a way may have been inspired by the 1931 Dracula due to its themes and circumstances especially an undead person with a strong romantic overtone as well the power to hypnotize. There are also various objects that are used for defence against evil, in the case of Dracula, it is the Crucifix while in The Mummy it is the figure of the Goddess Isis. John Balderston who wrote the play version of Dracula for the American stage also worked on the script for The Mummy and may have unconsciously worded the film in a way that matched his version of Dracula. Karl Freund who was an assistant director and cinematographer for Dracula made his full directorial debut with The Mummy (1932). Both The Mummy and Dracula were also part of a franchise known as ‘Universal Monsters’ which included Frankenstein (also 1931), The Invisible Man (1933), The Wolf Man (1941) and the ‘Gill–Man‘ or The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954-1956)Apart from the United States, Beauty and the Beast and Dracula are also popular in the United Kingdom, from where the latter originated while the former originated in France and some versions of the fairy tale take place in the United Kingdom as well. Modern versions of both classic fairy tales in terms of film have been released in Singapore and New Zealand apart from the United States and the United Kingdom although it is unknown if any have come to Kenya or Southern Africa at all.