Dracula was inspired by Beauty and the Beast

Everyone is familiar with the tale of the 1740 French Fairy Tale La Belle Et La Bete by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot De Villeneuve which was rewritten by Jeanne-Marie Leprince De Beaumont. When it was adapted by Scottish writer Andrew Lang and later the Brothers Grimm, its proper English translated title was Beauty and the Beast, the story of a merchant who owes a debt to a hideous beast for taking a rose from him, the bargain being that he will send his daughter Beauty who wanted the rose to the beast. The woman goes of her own free will and after gradually coming to love him, this act restores him as a handsome prince who was cursed by a fairy who he refused to shelter that he would be a beast until a woman he loved could see him with her heart and not her eyes. Another popular story by Irish author Bram Stoker is the 1897 novel Dracula about a 600-year old evil vampire of the name who plans for world domination although he is up against property solicitor Jonathan Harker, Harker’s fiancée Mina, Professor Van Helsing, Texan Quincey Morris, Lord Arthur Holmwood and Helsing’s apprentice John ‘Jack’ Seward who wish to destroy him. Both of these stories for the most part, are different with Beauty and the Beast being mostly a love story and Dracula being a gothic-horror story. There are however a number of co-incidences between the two






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. He suffered from a disease known as hypertrichosis which is an abnormal amount of hair growth on any part of the body in excess of the regular amount present in people of the same race, age and gender which is what happened to Golsalvus. The fear that the public had for him and the abuse wreaked upon him as if he was an animal such as caging him, referring to him as ‘man of the forest’ or feeding him raw meat, caused him to be placed under the protection of King Henry II of France who was able to recognize that Golsalvus was no threat due to the man’s calm demeanour and decided he would work on reintroducing Golsalvus into the world as any proper person was and allowed him to keep his birth name ‘Pedro’ as long as he used its Latin name. As he grew, his illiteracy transformed into and ability to speak, read and write (amazingly in three languages) which earned him the respect and admiration of the royal court although he was viewed as less of a human. He eventually married a woman called Catherine who was found by King Henry’s wife also called Catherine after she lost her husband to a jousting match and took it upon herself to continue his mission to see Petrus settle as an ordinary man. The woman found by the Queen was the daughter of a servant of the royal court and was one of the many people who gave respect and admiration to Petrus so inevitably she fell in love with him although there was a substantial amount of minor controversy from the public when they married. Petrus and his wife went onto have seven children and four like thier father were also affected by hypertrichosis and as a result were exploited by the duke and taken away, being treated like animal pets since to own something odd was a sign of one's status

What is known to almost every person familiar with the facts surrounding Dracula is that the name came from a Prince called Vlad Teppes who as a Voivode or ruler belonged to an order known as ‘Dracula’ meaning ‘Son of the Dragon’ in Romanian as the Dragon was an order under which Vlad much like his father and his grandfather before him fought although for Vlad, the name Dracula became a part of his full name unlike his predecessors. It is commonly though wrongly believed that Dracula means ‘Son of the Devil’ although the true Romanian translation for this would be ‘Fiul Diavolului’ although some Romanians believe that dragons are associated with the devil. However there has always been a debate as to whether Bram Stoker really based his title villain on Vlad as there is no mention of the Voivode ruler anywhere in Stoker’s working notes for Dracula. Most scholars argue that Stoker knew very little of Vlad Teppes and may have only come across the name while doing research on Romanian History when it came to various settings for his gothic-horror story and while only replacing his villain’s original name ‘Count Wampyr’ with Vlad’s title and simply took the account of this historical figure as a kind of window dressing or atmosphere. Also, while Stoker’s character claims to be a Szekely descended from a Hun leader known as ‘Atilla’, the historical Dracula was a Voivode of Wallachia yet this does not rule out the notion that much as Vlad Teppes fought against the Turks only to be betrayed by his brother, the same thing is mentioned by Stoker’s Dracula as having happened to him when he tells Jonathan Harker about his history. Theatre director Henry Irving who Stoker worked with for the stage shortly before ascending into his career as an author is also thought to be an inspiration for Dracula although much like Vlad Dracula’s questionable inspiration for Stoker’s novel, there is no evidence to support this. Another important element is the difference between Stoker’s Dracula and the historical Dracula since the latter was referred to as ‘Vlad the Impaler’ for impaling his enemies on iron spikes and there are false rumours that he drank the blood of his enemies. Stoker’s Dracula on the other hand despite longing for blood makes no mention of impaling his enemies on any kind of weapon although it is known that when Vlad Dracula’s tomb was excavated over a 100 years after his death, his coffin was surprisingly empty and while this is not confirmed it is possible that Stoker might have incorporated this into his novel apart from just using Vlad’s name as the title and character of his novel. A relatively rare inspiration that Stoker had for Dracula was his fascination with vampires and as a result dreamt about three vampire women and their groom who terrorized him. Upon waking up, Stoker decided that he would write a book born out of his fascination with vampires and the vampires in his dream

Other authors or historians have also said that Stoker might have been inspired by Hungarian noblewoman Countess Elizabeth Bathory who had similar traits to Vlad Teppes although unlike the historical Dracula she was a serial killer of innocent women whose blood she bathed in believing it would preserve her youth. Her crimes not only led to the stripping of her title but also to her execution








Genre
While both Beauty and the Beast and Dracula concern monstrous people Beauty and the Beast is more in a tragic romance although it has a happy outcome in the end. It may be about a beastly figure but the focus is more about being able to see him with the heart and not the physicality of him as done by Beauty, the romantic object of his desire. Since its translation by English authors, most notably the Brothers Grimm, the genre of the Beauty and the Beast even its in theatre or film adaptations has always been considered a fairy tale, a fantastical one for the adult audience from the point of view of the story’s original author,  Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot De Villeneuveand and a didactic one for children from the point of view of Jeanne-Marie Leprince De Beaumont, the first to translate the story. In addition to being a horror novel, Dracula is also Gothic. While Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula wrote romantic fiction, the novel that made him famous was not a romantic one even though there are minor instances of it in the story while Beauty and the Beast in any version more in the English version by The Brothers Grim is romantic. However while Dracula is told through mainly letters and diaries only being told in proper stance later on, Beauty and the Beast is told from a first person point of view. Most adaptations of both novels have always been on a serious and uncomplicated note and rarely without a hint of comedy although a few Dracula films have had instances of comedy, the most notable one being Mel Brooks’ 1995 film Dracula: Dead and Loving It which took inspiration from the 1931 Dracula film and Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 Dracula film, the latter of which was very faithful to Stoker’s novel. While Dead and Loving It did not do well when released, it has since been regarded as a cult film although not as much as other Dracula films. On the other hand, Beauty and the Beast has never had any spoofs or comedies although there have been minor hints of it in the 1991 Disney film as well as its 1997 midquel








Shrouded backstories
The eponymous main characters of Beauty and the Beast and Dracula when introduced reveal none or little of their past histories respectively. However while the royalty of the Beast as a handsome prince is revealed upon his restoration to human form thanks to the love of Beauty at the end of the story, regarding Dracula, the Count only gives slight hints and details about his involvement with battles against the Turks which confuses Jonathan Harker who as he listens to these anecdotes wonders if Dracula is referring to an ancestor or really talking about himself upon which Harker immediately deduces the latter. Van Helsing after rallying Jonathan, Harker’s wife Mina and his other allies together then rightly confirms that Dracula once was a Szekely who fought wars against Turks and due to practicing dark magic came back to life as a vampire when he was killed in battle. While the Beast is free from the curse that has been imposed upon him thanks to the love of Beauty, Dracula is simply killed by his enemies and his curse of vampirism stops spreading after a look of peace is seen on his face in his dying moments







Association with Love
Love is a common theme in both Beauty and the Beast and Dracula although it goes in different ways. Until the end of Beauty and the Beast, the Beast starts to show his affection for Beauty and even though she says she cannot marry him when he asks her on numerous night to be his wife, she slowly starts to return his affection only for her father to take ill and when her request to see her father is granted she is tricked by her sisters into staying longer which causes the Beast to take ill, something he told her if she were not back soon. This causes her to go and see him too late although her love for him restores him to human form wherein he reveals that his foolishness at not sheltering a fairy from the rain resulted in her turning him into a beast and that the spell could be broken only if a woman came to see through his hideousness and love him. The two are married shortly after

However, while Dracula is not entirely a romantic character (even though his creator was known for Romantic fiction in addition to Gothic fiction), his three women (disputed to be either his brides or his sisters) seem to seduce men in order to pass the curse of vampirism onto them much as easily as he tries to seduce women to do the same. Women in (the story of) Dracula always seem to be harbingers that Dracula is about to strike; his three women seem to foreshadow his threat of vampirism especially when they molest Jonathan Harker who is saved by Dracula himself although this is only to rely on information from the solicitor about London which he has purchased a property in and indirectly informs his women through Harker that he can love as he has loved before when they tell him that he has never loved before giving them an infant to feast on much to the horror of Harker who later realizes he has been dreaming but knows that the women of Dracula are as real as their mate. Later on, upon arriving on the English coast, the Count bites Mina’s best friend Lucy Westenra and night by night drains her of her blood in animal form as a bat and wolf separately, transforming her into a vampire which causes Professor Abraham Van Helsing and her suitors, Arthur Holmwood, Quincey Morris and John ‘Jack’ Seward to lay her soul to rest by driving a stake through her heart and cutting off her head to uplift the curse of vampirism that she has brought upon a few children. Later on while the four men, joined by Jonathan Harker and Mina set out to find Dracula, the Count bites Mina and along the way to the Count’s lair, she switches back and fourth, between being a human and being a vampire although once Dracula’s women who unsuccessfully tried to beckon her to join them are destroyed by Van Helsing, Dracula himself is destroyed by Jonathan Harker and Quincey Morris, the latter of whom dies soon afterward and Mina is free from Dracula’s curse after which she and Jonathan have a son whom they name after Quincey

Although minorly hinted at in previous Dracula films, romance, especially giving a love interest to Dracula was not explicitly shown in film adaptations about the famous vampire until 1992 when Francis Ford Coppola directed and released his version of Dracula titled Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Starring Gary Oldman in the titular role along with Keanu Reeves as Jonathan Harker, Winona Ryder as Mina Murray and (Sir) Anthony Hopkins as Van Helsing, the film was more faithful to the novel than other Dracula films up to that point and also included romance amongst its genre of gothic-horror. The film establishes one of the inspirations for Stoker’s novel, the Voivode Prince Vlad Teppes as Dracula in the film. In reality, Vlad fought to uphold Christianity although his methods of self-defence in war were so brutal that his wife, unable to mend her husband’s ways committed suicide although this just aggravated his attitude. In the film, Vlad and Dracula are one and the same with Vlad becoming a vampire due to his wife’s death as Coppola wanted a triggering factor for Dracula transforming into the undead Count although in the film she falsely believes he died due to a message sent to her by the Turks and commits suicide, resulting in Vlad’s transformation into Dracula upon hearing that her soul cannot enter heaven and is damned. While renouncing God, Vlad vows to rise from his own death to avenge the death of his wife with all the powers of darkness. Over 400 years later in 1897, Vlad is revealed through the course of the movie to have survived and has risen as a vampire named Dracula. He later seeks to find his reincarnated love in 1897 when he meets Jonathan Harker and rightly deduces that Harker’s soon-to-be wife is the reincarnation of his wife and seeks out to find her resulting in Harker and Mina teaming up with Van Helsing and his comrades to stop him

Bram Stoker's Dracula received positive reviews upon its release and one critic compared it to Beauty and the Beast, especially the equally-successful version Disney released a year ago in 1991 due to the fact that both films concern an important person who has something to do with love and without it or if he loses it, that turns him into a monster although in the case of Beauty and the Beast, the Prince is rather spoilt and arrogant, lacking any feelings of love and when he refuses to shelter an enchantress from the cold, she turns him into a beast and using a rose she gifts him, tells him that the rose will bloom until his 21^st birthday and every petal falling is a reminder of the progress he makes in finding love for if he learns to love and be loved in return, the spell will be broken or he will remain a beast forever. In the case of Dracula, the title character is an undead being whose reason for becoming so is because he has lost his wife who was his greatest love and seeks to reunite with her again. Interestingly, Coppola relied more on the 1946 French film version of Beauty and the Beast while bringing Stoker’s classic novel to life albeit introducing how Dracula became Dracula, clearly inspired by how Prince Adam became a Beast in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast since both the original Beauty and the Beast and the original Dracula do not showcase the origin of the title characters entirely although the former does so at the end while the latter is only deduced correctly at the start and middle of the story. While the 1992 Dracula shows Vlad Teppes transforming into Dracula upon the death of his wife, Disney’s version of Beauty and the Beast shows the origin of the title character through stained glass although the entire version is shown as a whole in a flashback in the 1997 midquel Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas. Another co-incidence is that Coppola began filming his version of Dracula the month that Disney's version of Beauty and the Beast released after its two-month prior premiere. Both the musical scores for each film by Alan Menken and Wojciech Kilar boosted the careers of each composer although unlike the latter who is the senior of the two, the former had already established himself in Hollywood through Disney itself when he was hired to provide music for Disney's The Little Mermaid. Kilar unlike Menken was not known internationally until he worked on Dracula. When it came to music, Beauty and the Beast and Bram Stoker's Dracula also had theme songs yet while Alan Menken wrote and produced Beauty and the Beast's eponymous theme song with the help of lyricist Howard Ashman who had already worked with him on The Little Mermaid, the theme song to Dracula known as Love Song for a Vampire written by the woman who sung it, Annie Lennox and its producer was Stephen Lipson. The theme song to Beauty and the Beast is sung in the film by Angela Lansbury who voices Mrs Potts and during the end credits where it is sung by Celine Dion whereas Love Song for a Vampire plays during the end credits of Dracula. Ironically six months few months before the 1992 Dracula released in November, Golden Films released its own version of Beauty and the Beast  in May which was faithful to the fairy tale despite the fact that it clearly attempted to do a better version of Disney's tale, something repeated by their versions of The Little Mermaid, Hercules and Tarzan, all of which Disney made films about. Another irony is, in Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula, one element not shown in the novel but created for the film is Mina dancing with Dracula, a clear mirror image to Belle's dance with the Beast in Disney's Beauty and the Beast

The ending of the 1992 Dracula where the Count is finally defeated and struggles to the chapel where he renounced God for the sake of avenging his dead wife and is given peace by his wife's reincarnation Mina as well as the forgiveness of God is clearly a homage to the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale wherein Beauty returns to the Beast's palace after tending to her ill father and sees the Beast dying and tends to him. The difference is Dracula is put out of his misery by Mina while Beauty's confession of her love for the Beast restores him to human form and the Prince who was once the Beast marries Beauty

 

While Disney’s version of Beauty and the Beast won two Oscars in musical categories, sound and original song, Bram Stoker’s Dracula won three Oscars for Costume Design, Sound Editing and Makeup. Beauty and the Beast was also nominated for Sound Editing in the Oscar category but did not actually win it. However, both films were among the first adaptations of their respective stories to win or be nominated for Oscars






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

While Dracula seeks to leave his castle and take over the world by spreading his vampiric curse, the Beast is too ashamed to leave his castle for fear of the world shunning or fearing him even though he means no harm despite his formidable and terrifying appearance. When Beauty’s father plucks a rose from the Beast’s garden for her and the Beast is ready to punish him for it, he tells the merchant to send Beauty to him since she wanted the rose. In some versions the Beast threatens the merchant that if neither him nor Beauty comes to the castle, he will seek them out although this is never done due to Beauty willingly going. However, in the Anime series Grimm’s Fairy Tale Classics, a series of adaptations of notable Fairy tales, Beauty and the Beast was one of the fairy tales covered and this version had the Beast confronting the merchant over his rose being stolen on the same day that he arrived (like a most versions of the fairy tale) and instead of bargaining with him, threatens the merchant to send Beauty to him in 8 days. The merchant returns and makes no mention of the Beast to his daughters until the Beast himself turns up on the merchant’s doorstep 8 days later, barging in aggressively to remind the merchant of his promise at which Beauty (called Maria in the film) surrenders herself to him. The similarity between the two stories is while the Beast indirectly offers his hospitality to the merchant and later to Beauty more directly, Dracula only invites Jonathan Harker into his castle and offers him both his hospitality and later imprisonment before Harker manages to escape the castle. Both the Beast and the Count never eat or drink but in the case of the latter, it is only because it is blood he wants whereas the former states that he must eat as a Beast does until later when he and Beauty finally form a great relation with each other in the days leading to his restoration as a human. Unlike Dracula who is weakened by daylight, the Beast is active during both day and night but more during the night than the day. In differentiation to Dracula who displays himself with an aristocratic charm to man, the Beast despite being dressed in similar clothes is unable to hide his animalistic appearance


In the Anime version of Beauty and the Beast, Beauty known as Maria is given permission by the Beast to visit her ailing father but he dies shortly after he takes comfort in knowing that his daughter is well. In Dracula the loss of a family member occurs when Lucy Westenra deteriorates due to Dracula biting her and preying on her for blood night by night. While Van Helsing and Lucy's suitors struggle to preserve her life through blood transfusions and laying wolfbane and garlic around her, despite her changing, Lucy's mother also becomes involved in the safety of her daughter although one night Dracula flies towards Lucy's room as a bat and transforms into a wolf on entering her room, causing Lucy's mother to tear a garland of garlic from her daughter's neck and attempt to ward off Dracula in his wolf form only for Dracula to attack them both which leads to the death of Lucy and her mother although Lucy rises as a Vampire but is laid to rest by Van Helsing and her suitors who team up with Jonathan Harker and his wife Mina to stop Dracula

Unlike the castle of the Beast in Beauty and the Beast, the castle of the eponymous villain of Dracula is probably based on several castles including the Slains Castle in Scotland that the author of Dracula, Bram Stoker visited as a guest of the 19th Earl of Errol. It was here that he was also inspired to create Kyllion Castle for his other novel The Jewel of Seven Stars which inspired many classic Mummy Movies with film adaptations of this novel releasing in 1971 and 1998. Stoker never actually visited Transylvania and only read about it, believing it to be the perfect setting for the residence of Dracula as well as in the Balkan hills although many of his main settings include London where he visited and chose Whitby as Dracula's arrival on the English coast as a reference to the Synod of Whitby wherein King Oswui (612-670) of Northubbria ruled that his kingdom would calculate Easter and observe the Monastic tonsure according to the customs of Romer rather than customs practiced by the Irish Monks thus resulting in a belief of preoccupation with timekeeping and calendar disputes in the novel. Another castle, the Bran Castle is although thought to be an inspiration for the residence of Stoker's villain although it bears little resemblance to Castle Dracula as Dracula's castle has come to be known and it is wrongly believed that it was the residence the the historical Dracula Vlad Tepees

But be that as it may, while the Beast's castle is more positively atmospheric following his return to human form thanks to Beauty's love for him, the fate of Dracula's castle after it's owner's death is not revealed although Jonathan Harker and his friends who are responsible for the death of Dracula, journey to Transylvania after seven years and find the castle in a deteriorating state of desolation. Bram Stoker did write an original ending where just after the death of Dracula, the castle is swallowed up by a volcanic cataclysm hiding the fact that it was ever home to vampires. Stoker did not favour this ending because he thought it was similar to the climax of The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe and it is erroneously believed that he wanted to leave open an option for a sequel which of course was never on his mind



Beastly Symbolism
Both Beauty and the Beast and Dracula make use of animals that are associated with the devil himself, (particularly) wolves and bats and the forests surrounding the castles of the title characters are normally infested with both of the above. Unlike the title character of Beauty and the Beast however, Dracula is able to take on the shape of animals, wolves and bats in particular while the Beast being an animal himself, does not take the form of any animal and until his bond with Beauty becomes strong, does display the traits of a predatory animal and often is about to act on them only to be stopped by Beauty. In some versions of Beauty and the Beast however, the title character does crawl down castle walls like a bat or carry himself like a huge wolf which is something that may have inspired Dracula to do the same

The Beast is often shown to despise wolves as seen in the 1991 Disney film where he saves Beauty (named Belle in the film) from an attack by wolves after scaring her off into the woods accidentally due to going into a room in his castle where she was forbidden due to the reminder of the curse bestowed upon the Beast by the enchantress when he was human through the enchanted rose that she gave him. Dracula on the other hand, has a great affinity for wolves and refers to them as ‘children of the night’ to Jonathan Harker when the two hear a pack howling outside his castle. In contemporary culture, Dracula has been depicted as turning into a bat although the most notable exception to this was Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 version of Dracula which is very faithful to Bram Stoker’s novel as well as making the title character and inspiration, the Voivode Prince Vlad Teppes one and the same, the Count after his transformation from a princely ruler into an undead vampire takes more humanoid forms of bat and wolf. By and large though, before this turn of events Dracula's animalistic side is always depicted to be wolf-like given the strong bond between both the vampire and the wolf, depicted through his arrival on the English coast which triggers a wolf (probably due to sensing him despite the distance between the two) to break lose from the local zoo and later in the form of a humanoid wolf, bites the sleepwalking Lucy before vanishing when Mina sees what is happening. The following day when Mina is giving a tour of London to Dracula, she takes him to a science fair where the wolf that escaped from the zoo appears and he tames the animal for Mina and him to stroke while everyone else flees in terror although while the fate of the wolf is unknown this concept was not part of the novel and only introduced as a reference to one version of the novel wherein, Dracula visits the London Zoo and interacts with one of the wolves there through the bars, much to the frustration and discomfort of one of the zookeepers. The wolf breaks free the following day only to be recaptured. A further wolf reference to the vampire in the film is when he receives word that Mina is marrying Jonathan and heartbroken, corrupts the ailing Lucy (whom he has bitten) into a vampire in the form of a wolf after getting by all her suitors who unsuccessfully try to protect her, prompting them and Van Helsing to lay her soul to rest before turning their attention to Dracula with the help of Jonathan and Mina. Unlike most Dracula films where the bat has always been associated with the title character, in Coppola's film wolves are strongly associated with Dracula, especially in promotional posters where the logo depicts a vampire's head adorned with wolves' heads and even Dracula prior to becoming a vampire as a prince of Transylvania wore armour whose helmet was shaped like that of a wolf's. Wolves have had a notorious reputation, even older than that of Dracula in the place that Beauty and the Beast originated in: France. During the middle ages people feared wolves for taking their livestock or attacking them which led to stories such as Little Red Riding Hood that depicted wolves as bloodthirsty killers.  This was especially evident between 1764 and 1767 when a wolf-like animal was responsible for attacks on 610 people which killed 500 of those victims. The animal became known as the Beast of Gevaudan after the location of the attacks in Gevaudan and during hunts for the animal was killed several times before the attacks finally stopped. Today, experts say that the attacks may have been carried out by a pack of wolves' members on separate occasions and it is known that during the attacks, hundreds of wolves were roaming the area and during the timeframe that the killings occurred were already at man-animal conflict against people due to taking cattle so it is not surprising that the strange animal or animals might have been wolves. Wolves however despite killing domestic animals will hardly ever attack humans and a wolf attack on a person comes from the animal having no choice or feeling provoked into doing so

The title character of Beauty and the Beast may have been based on hypertrichosis, a condition which causes and excessive amount of body hair also known as ‘werewolf syndrome’ due to being associated with the mythical werewolf. In European folklore, the idea of the werewolf was intimately linked with the legend of the vampire and in Stoker’s novel, Dracula is thought to have inspired werewolf legends. It is co-incidence only that four years after Universal Studios released its version of Dracula, the 1935 film Werewolf of London by the studio not only gave the public its first mainstream werewolf film, but also introduced in proper terms the notion that anyone bitten by a werewolf becomes one themselves which would be repeated in Universal's The Wolf Man in 1941 since up to that point legends of becoming werewolves could only be done by either drinking from a wolf's pawprint, eating part of a sheep killed by a wolf or wearing a wolf's skin. The film also established the connection between the wolf and the werewolf, inspiring the 1981 movie An American Werewolf of London which in turn inspired the music video of Michael Jackson's Thriller. Disney’s version of the title character of Beauty and the Beast is a mixture of many a mythical animal such as the Minotaur of Greek Myths and the werewolf as well as real animals such as the lion, the gorilla and even the yak. As a result modern version of the fairy tale rely more on elements from the Disney film rather than taking on the traits of the original Fairy Tale where the Beast is depicted as either a lion or a gorilla or a wild boar

While the bat is another recurring animal in both stories, it is much like the case of the wolf; bats only appear just before Beauty’s father comes to the castle, especially in the Disney version wherein he accidently disturbs a flock of bats when lost and in Dracula bats inhabit both the forests surrounding the Count’s castle and the castle itself as portrayed in one version of the novel when Jonathan Harker arrives at Dracula's castle and as Dracula opens the door to welcome him in, a few bats fly out. In Mel Brooks' 1995 film Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Dracula also refers to bats as 'children of the night' when one flutters around Renfield upon his arrival at the Count's castle although this is more in a sense of humour unlike the original Dracula who says the howl of the wolf is a sign of music while in Mel Brooks' Dracula film, the Count says that the defecation of bats is a sign of messiness. Regarding Dracula however, bats never became associated with vampires until the publication of Bram Stoker's book when during writing the novel, he heard about vampire bats in South America that fed on the blood of animals. Yet bats were (and sometimes still are) associated with the devil which is something that triggered Stoker to make the vampire and the bat one by giving his villain the ability to transform into a bat. An indirect reference to boost this is that most vampires in mythology preferred the blood of animals to the blood of humans which is the case with vampire bats although unlike Dracula and his kin, vampire bats do not actually suck the blood of their prey but instead using their tongue lap up the flowing of blood from a wound they have created on an animal. However, vampire bats are timid and shy animals and are not as vicious as the novel depicts although their ability to spread rabies during feasting on animal blood like that of a donkey is a reminder of the novel wherein the bite of a vampire or a vampire bat in addition to the former being able to transform a human into a vampire also infects the blood if it is not taken out of the body entirely and vampire bats have also bitten humans who were not even aware that they were being attacked by them, something also common during a vampire attack on a person as depicted when Dracula first bites Lucy shortly after arriving on the English coast although in this case she is sleepwalking so is not entirely asleep. To this day, many people in South and Central America where vampire bats are common will often sleep with firmly closed windows or strong nets or rooftops above their heads to prevent bats getting at them. Another aspect to Stoker adding the bat to the vampire legend is boosted by Dracula's inspirational namesake, the Romanian Prince Vlad Teppes who is known to have let bats roost in his castle

As mentioned earlier, in most Dracula films, the Count is often seen transforming into a bat and rarely into a wolf yet in Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula film, the animal associations and manifestations of the title character are both bats and wolves though mainly the former. However, he is seen briefly as a full bat in passing in the presence of Van Helsing after Helsing does a blood transfusion on Lucy Westenra from Arthur Holmwood after Lucy who has lost some of her blood to Dracula before Helsing gives minor details as to how Lucy lost her blood but does not reveal the details outright. However while Dracula is seen interacting with a wolf, he does not do so with bats although apart from the Count flying fast in the form of a bat, before this a bat was seen being presented by Abraham Van Helsing at a medical lecture about blood infection shortly before the professor is summoned by Lucy's suitors to try to save her before Dracula claims her (in the form of a wolf), prompting them to destroy the vampire in her and lay her soul to rest following which they join forces with Jonathan Harker and his wife Mina to stamp out and destroy Dracula.

Unlike the novel, where Stoker depicted Dracula with a moustache, the character does not always appear that way, the most notable example being the portrayal of the character by Bela Lugosi in 1931. Despite other popular actors such as Gary Oldman and Leslie Nielsen essaying the role, the typical image of Dracula is often associated with Lugosi who is invoked to mind when other actors play Dracula. The first film appearance of Dracula however was in the 1922 silent film Nosferatu which was set in Germany and paid tribute to vampires in mythology by giving Dracula, named Orlock in the film a repulsing deathly appearance. The film changed its characters names to avoid copyright but the film was sued for just that by Bram Stoker's wife since the company that made the film did not purchase the rights to her husband's novel although when Universal was making a film about Dracula, she granted permission for the rights to the novel. On the other hand, the title character of Beauty and the Beast is depicted in many different animal forms although the 1991 Beauty and the Beast portrays the Beast as a mixture of many animals, earthly and otherworldly




Repulsion
A common theme in both Beauty and the Beast and Dracula is repulsion. While the Beast is repulsed only by looking at himself in the mirror or any reflection given his ghastly appearance, Dracula is repulsed by holy objects such as the crucifix, sacramental bread and wolfbane. However, the Count cannot stand the presence of mirrors as well given that vampires like himself cast no reflection. In the 1992 film Bram Stoker’s Dracula which is a more faithful version of the novel, Dracula before his transformation into an undead vampire was the historical Vlad Teppes (one of the real life inspirations for Dracula's name and background) who fought invading Turks to uphold Christianity and renounced God when his wife committed suicide believing he died during battle. His reaction to his wife’s death not only resulted in his transformation into one of the undead but also severed his passion for Christ and as a result gave him pain in the presence of holy objects. Still it is implied that Dracula is not all vulnerable to daylight or the presence of God as demonstrated when his women appear in Jonathan Harker's nightmare and before attempting to feast on him, melt a crucifix that was given to him and later when in London, he steps out into the city shortly before the sun sets. Later when Van Helsing, Jonathan Harker, Arthur Holmwood, Jack Seward and Quincey Morros start to storm Carfax Abbey and burn Dracula's boxes of soil Dracula himself visits Mina Harker, Jonathan's wife to make her his bride as she was in her previous life but when interrupted by Van Helsing, Jonathan and the others, sets fire to a crucifix that is held at him by Van Helsing before claiming Mina as his bride and escaping by transforming into an escaping horde of rats which leads to the rest of the story when Dracula and his women are defeated and Mina is free from her curse

While not brought about in previous Beauty and the Beast films, the 1997 Disney film Beauty and the Beast: The enchanted Christmas which is a sequel to the 1991 Beauty and the Beast film is actually set during the events of the first film; in it the Beast is unable to bear the mention or thought of Christmas since it was the very day he was cursed to be in animal form and forbids it in his kingdom. Much like in Disney's Beauty and the Beast, the title character is haunted by the rose given to him by the enchantress who cursed him for his foolishness that determines whether or not he will remain a beast based on whether or not he has found love and will be loved in turn, Dracula in the 1992 film based on Bram Stoker's novel in addition to being repulsed by holy objects cannot stand the presence of roses either as shown when he is preying on Lucy Westernra and withers roses while getting at her for blood before escaping when her suitors arrive on the scene. Later on when he is heartbroken about Mina marrying Jonathan, he makes his way to turn Lucy into a potential bride and blackens a rose prior to killing a passer-by and throwing aside Lucy's protectors and biting her into the undead while in the form of a wolf. The 2017 version of Beauty and the Beast contradicts the original film and simply hints that while the Beast is helpless against the curse of the enchantresses' rose, his roses are precious to him which causes him to savagely object to Beauty's father, named Maurice in the film taking a rose from his garden. This ironically references the original tale when he savagely objects to Beauty's father taking one of his roses

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 20^th 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

The End