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Dracula and his literary predecessors

Unarguably Dracula is one of the most popular literary characters of our time. According to the Internet Movie Database he is certainly the most adapted with over 200 credited appearances on the silver screen. This makes the 75 appearances of Sherlock Holmes, who ranks second on the list, seem humble. So, it comes as no surprise that many people believe Bram Stoker's Dracula to be the first vampire of formal literature, detached from vampire mythology of eastern Europe.
But Dracula was not the first literary vampire by a long shot.
Bram Stoker's novel was published in 1897, but the genre of vampire fiction began almost a century earlier: In 1819 with a short story titled The Vampyre - a tale by John William Polidori (although often miscredited to Lord Byron). From here the vampire as a literary character quickly gained popularity as a trope in gothic novels and penny dreadfuls.
Perhaps most notable in Dracula's ancestry is the 1873 novella Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. Bram Stoker's notebooks show that Le Fanu's tale of a female vampire terrorizing Styria had great influence on Stoker's own vampire tale.
It is therefore worth comparing these literary predecessors, as well as a brief glimpse on the mythology they all draw upon to a degree, with the world's most famous vampire.

The bloodsucking aristocrat
In mythology the vampires terrorizing the villages of eastern Europe are their own. They are typically deceased members of the community and thus peasants.
Polidori however changed this. His vampire - Lord Ruthven - is a nobleman, stalking the salons of London high society rather than the barns of rural Hungary or Romania.
While Le Fanu's Carmilla is clearly tied to the region she acts in, she too, used to be a noblewoman before joining the ranks of the undead: Mircalla, the countess of Karnstein.
"The grave of the Countes Mircalla was opened; and the General and my father recognized each his perfidious and beautiful guest, in the face now disclosed to view. (LeFanu 2020, p. 99.)
And of course, Dracula himself is famously a count as well:
"Here I am a noble. I am boyar, the common people know me, and I am master.( Stoker 2011, p. 21.)

Bitten maidens
Looking to mythology again, we see that vampires of eastern Europe typically rise from the grave to harm their own families. Not so their literary counterparts. The vampires of Victorian literature show other preferences than family relations: Their victims are typically young, beautiful women of good moral and (often) social standing.
All three of them - Ruthven, Carmilla and Dracula - mainly pursue two victims throughout their stories. While Carmilla and Dracula additionally feast on a couple of unnamed villagers and sailors, these victims are, however, somewhat neglected by the authors und thus considered irrelevant for this analysis.
Ruthven kills both Ianthe, the protagonist's love interest, and the protagonist's unnamed sister and gets away with it. Carmilla and Dracula on the other hand only get to kill one each. Presumably this is to make them appear more dangerous by showing that they won't have mercy before being brought to a permanent end by the respective band of heroes.
A notable difference however is the fact that Ruthven's and Carmilla's victims stay dead whereas Dracula's first victim, Lucy Westenra, turns into a vampire herself. Dracula's second and arguably more famous victim, Mina Harker, shows signs of vampirism too, but does not complete her transformation.
Lucy's choice of victims differs greatly from the others: She pursues children.
"[Van Helsing] pointed, and far down the avenue of yews we saw a white figure advance, a dim white figure, which held something dark at its breast.
[...]
My own heart grew cold as ice, and I could hear the gasp of Arthur, as we recognized the features of Lucy Westenra. Lucy Westenra, but yet how changed. The sweetness was turned to adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous wantonness.
[...]
By the concentrated light that fell on Lucy's face we could see that the lips were crimson with fresh blood, and that the stream had trickled over her chin and stained the purity of her lawn death robe.
[...]
With a careless motion, she flung to the ground, callous as a devil, the child that up to now she had clutched strenuously to her breast, growling over it as a dog growls over a bone. The child gave a sharp cry, and lay there moaning. (Stoker 2011, p. 221-222.)
One could argue that - being a fledgling vampire herself - she opts to go after easy prey. Or that Stoker's vampire ladies in general have a different taste. Dracula offers a baby to his "brides to persuade them to leave Jonathan Harker, who would arguably make a heartier meal for 3 full grown vampires than an infant, alone after all.
Or maybe the inspiration comes once again from Le Fanu's Carmilla, where Laura, the protagonist, recounts an encounter with Carmilla prior to the events of the novella, when she was only six years old:
"I saw a solemn, but very pretty face looking at me from the side of the bed. It was that of a young lady who was kneeling, with her hands under the coverlet. I looked at her with a kind of pleased wonder, and ceased whimpering. She caressed me with her hands, and lay down beside me on the bed, and drew me towards her, smiling; I felt immediately delightfully soothed, and fell asleep again. I was wakened by a sensation as if two needles ran into my breast very deep at the same moment, and I cried loudly. The lady started back, with her eyes fixed on me, and then slipped down upon the floor, and, as I thought, hid herself under the bed. (LeFanu 2020, p. 8.)
However, from a literary point of view, a woman utterly devoid of motherly feelings, the epitome of womanhood in Victorian society, must have been horrifying. By having Lucy reject this core aspect of femininity Stoker cements the image of the vampire as a monster.

Against the undead
When it comes to opposition to the vampire, Polidori has not much to offer. His main character Aubrey does discover the vampiric nature of Ruthven yet is unable to do anything about it. He falls ill and is driven into temporary madness, unable to share his discovery.
It would be easy to compare Stoker's Dr. Abraham van Helsing with Le Fanu's Dr Martin Hesselius, a character eluding to the trope of the occult detective, that features in multiple of Le Fanu's works. However, Hesselius does not actually make an appearance in the novella. He only appears in the prologue as a collector of supernatural cases.
Instead, the force that drives the discovery and eventual termination of Carmilla's vampiric nature is Baron Vordenburg. This character, however, comes in rather late in the story and seems to only exist to give the main characters the exposition necessary before the vampire is killed.

Van Helsing on the other hand, is not only just as famous as his adversary, Dracula, he is also far more firmly planted into the novel's structure than Vordenburg. While both Vordenburg and van Helsing serve as a source of information about vampires and how to destroy them, van Helsing offers more personal investment. He is brought in to save the life of Lucy, which he has a genuine interest in, as well as saving Mina Harker later. In comparison Baron Vordenburg seems more like a mercenary, hunting Carmilla not out of the concern about her intended victim, Laura, or as a revenge for her former victim, Bertha, but because Bertha's uncle hired him to do so.
Unlike Vordenburg, who comes into the narrative last minute with all the answers ready to give to the protagonist, we also see van Helsing figuring it out as the story progresses. Being well educated van Helsing is familiar with the myths about vampires, yet it is still his first encounter with the supernatural. For Vordenburg dealing with the occult and the supernatural seems like a somewhat regular occurrence, given that his family has a history with vampires.

Raising the stakes
Famously vampires die by the stake. Except when they're not.
In mythology staking is but one of several methods to get rid of an undead. It is, however, the most popular one, therefore it's easy to assume this is the end Dracula meets. And it also seems rather fitting, seeing Dracula's alleged connection to Vlad the Impaler.

It might thus come as a surprise that Draculas un-life is not ended by a wooden stake. Nor is he burned to a pile of ash by the rays of the morning sun. In fact, none of the vampires of 19th century literature are. Although this trope has its connections to Dracula: While Dracula is explicitly shown walking in bright daylight, Count Orlok from the 1922 german silent film Nosferatu - eine Symphonie des Grauens, an unauthorized adaption of Stoker's Novel, enjoys no such perks. As the light of day falls upon him, he simply vanishes.
Instead, Dracula is stabbed in the heart by Texan cowboy Quincey P. Morris with a bowie knife, while Jonathan Harker simultaneously deploys another popular method for dealing with mythological vampires: Decapitation.
"But, on the instant, came the sweep and flash of Jonathan's great knife. I shrieked as I saw it shear through the throat. Whilst at the same moment Mr. Morris's bowie knife plunged into the heart.
It was like a miracle, but before our very eyes, and almost in the drawing of a breath, the whole body crumbled into dust and passed from our sight. (Stoker 2011, p. 397.)
However, the stake is used to end the lives of both Lucy Westenra and Camilla.
Both are also decapitated and Carmilla even is burned to ashes for good measure. Better safe than sorry.
"The body, therefore, in accordance with the ancient practice, was raised, and a sharp stake driven through the heart of the vampire, who uttered a piercing shriek at the moment, in all respects such as might escape from a living person in the last agony. Then the head was struck off, and a torrent of blood flowed from the severed neck. The body and head was next placed on a pile of wood, and reduced to ashes, which were thrown upon the river and borne away, and that territory has never since been plagued by the visits of a vampire. (LeFanu 2020, p. 99.)

Supernatural powers...
While Polidori doesn't give many details about his vampire's special powers, both Le Fanu and Stoker arm their undead with a similar array of supernatural skills.

Day walking
As previously stated, neither Dracula nor his predecessors die from sunlight. Yet Dracula is clearly a creature of the night:
"All at once we heard the crow of the cock coming up with preternatual shrillness trough the clear morning air; Count Dracula, jumping to his feet, said:-
'Why, there is the morning again! How remiss I am to let you stay up so long! You must make your conversation regarding my dear new country of England less interesting, so that I may not forget how time flies by us,' and, with a courtly bow, he left me. (Stoker 2011, p. 26.)
And for good reason, as the light of day prevents him from using his supernatural powers. Similarly, Carmilla is languid and quickly exhausted physically by day, but appears much more powerful during the hours of night.
Ruthven, too, is unfazed by sunlight. He is fatally wounded by a gunshot during the story and even appears to die but reappears when protagonist Aubrey returns to London. The following paragraph suggests that moonlight has a healing effect on Ruthven:
"Rising early in the morning, he was about to enter the hovel in which he had left the corpse, when a robber met him, and informed him that it was no longer there, having been conveyed by himself and comrades, upon his retiring, to the pinnacle of a neighbouring mount, according to a promise they had given his lordship, that it should be exposed to the first cold ray of the moon that rose after his death. (Polidori 1819, p. 55-56.)

Shapeshifting and influence over animals
Most notable among these powers is perhaps the ability to shapeshift. Carmilla presents herself in the form of a black cat.
"I saw, or fancied I saw, the room and its furniture just as I had seen it last, except that it was very dark, and I saw something moving round the foot of the bed, which at first I could not accurately distinguish. But I soon saw that it was a sooty-black animal that resembled a monstrous cat. It appeared to me about four or five feet long for it measured fully the length of the hearthrug as it passed over it; and it continued to-ing and fro-ing with the lithe, sinister restlessness of a beast in a cage. (LeFanu 2020, p. 48-49.)
Dracula on the other hand takes on the appearance of a massive black dog or wolf.
In the posthumously published short story Dracula's Guest, which is believed to be an initial first chapter for Dracula, Jonathan Harker is saved by a large wolf from a storm and an undead "Countess Dolingen of Gratz (Stoker 1914) that might even have been a stand-in for Le Fanu's Carmilla.
"Some great animal was lying on me and now licking my throat. [...] Through my eyelashes I saw above me the two great flaming eyes of a gigantic wolf. Its sharp white teeth gleamed in the gaping red mouth, and I could feel its hot breath fierce and acrid upon me. (Stoker 1914)
Stoker never discloses whether said wolf is a mere animal serving Dracula or indeed the Count himself. The engraving "The dead travel fast. (Stoker 1914) might not be just a nod to Gottfried August Bürger's gothic ballad Lenore, which Stoker also directly quotes in Dracula, but also a clue to his title character's supernatural powers.
In the novel itself, Dracula turns into a wolf, which is seen on multiple occasions, most notably to leave the Demeter, the ship he took to England.
"There was of course a considerable concussion as the vessel drove up on the sand heap. Every spar, rope, and stay was strained, and some of the `top-hamper' came crashing down. But, strangest of all, the very instant the shore was touched, an immense dog sprang up on deck from below, as if shot up by the concussion, and running forward, jumped from the bow on the sand. (Stoker 2011, p. 83)
Jonathan Harker also entertains the thought that Dracula might be controlling the wolves that roam the woods of Transylvania:
"This is a terrible thought; for if so, what does it mean that he could control the wolves, as he did, by only holding up his hand in silence? (Stoker 2011, p. 29)
Similarly, the Character Renfield claims that Dracula sent flies and rats to him.
There is also an instance that might indicate that Dracula can turn into a bat as well. The wolf as an animal avatar is, however, far more prevalent.

Incorporeal form
In addition to animal forms Dracula can also turn into mist.
"And when the gaslight sprang up under Quincey's match, we saw nothing but a faint vapour. This, as we looked, trailed under the door, which with the recoil from its bursting open, had swung back to its old position.(Stoker 2011, p. 298)
We are to assume that Carmilla, too, is able to take on an incorporeal form, given that she seems unfazed by locked doors.

Physical strenght
Both Dracula and Carmilla exhibit strength greater than one would expect from them.
"[...] his hand grasped mine with a strenght which made me wince. (Stoker 2011, p. 16)

"One sign of the vampire is the power of the hand. The slender hand of Mircalla [=Carmilla] closed like a vice of steel on the General's wrist when he raised the hatchet to strike. But its power is not confined to its grasp; it leaves a numbness in the limb it seizes, which is slowly, if ever, recovered from. (LeFanu 2020, p. 104)

...and weaknesses
Tied to the grave
Both, Carmilla and Dracula, are intrinsically tied to the land of their origins. They must rest in their grave or - in Dracula's case - the earth he initially was buried in. Carmilla does so by disappearing from the home she resides in to sleep in her nearby grave. Dracula forgoes this intrinsic link by having multiple crates of earth from Transylvania shipped to England.

Paraphernalia of Christianity
Both are repelled and even hurt by religious rites and imagery such as crosses or hymns.
"Peasants walking two-and-two came behind, they were singing a funeral hymn.
I rose to mark my respect as they passed, and joined in the hymn they were very sweetly singing.
My companion shook me a little roughly, and I turned surprised.
She said brusquely, 'Don't you perceive how discordant that is? '
'I think it very sweet, on the contrary, 'I answered, vexed at the interruption, and very uncomfortable, lest the people who composed the little procession should observe and resent what was passing.
I resumed, therefore, instantly, and was again interrupted. 'You pierce my ears', said Carmilla, almost angrily, and stopping her ears with her tiny fingers. 'Besides, how can you tell that your religion and mine are the same; your forms wound me, and I hate funerals. What a fuss! Why you must die everyone must die; and all are happier when they do. Come home.' LeFanu 2020, p. 33.)
Van Helsing, who in contrast to the other characters is a catholic, also uses communion wafers on multiple occasions throughout the story to repel vampires.
"[Dracula] turned and sprang at us. But by this time the Professor had gained his feet, and was holding towards him the envelope which contained the Sacred Wafer. The Count suddenly stopped, just as poor Lucy had done outside the tomb, and cowered back. Further and further back he cowered, as we, lifting our crucifixes, advanced. ( Stoker 2011, p. 298.)

No entry without invitation
"I wouldn't ask Him to come in at first, though I knew He wanted to - just as He had wanted all along. (Stoker 2011, p. 294)
Dracula must be invited into a house in order to enter it.
Carmilla on the other hand stages a carriage accident whereas a woman - presumably another vampire - posing as her mother entrusts her to Laura's father because she's in a hurry and Carmilla, seemingly injured, is not fit to travel. Even though Carmilla and her "mother manage to get invited into the home of Carmilla's victim of choice, Le Fanu does not outright state this as a requirement.

Garlic
Lastly the world's most famous vampire repellent - Garlic - is not mentioned in Carmilla. Instead, a peddler sells charms to Laura and Carmilla that obviously do not work, given that Carmilla does not only seem unperturbed but also does not hesitate to buy one.
"'Will your ladyships be pleased to buy an amulet against the oupire, which is going like the wolf, I hear, through these woods,' he said dropping his hat on the pavement. 'They are dying of it right and left and here is a charm that never fails; only pinned to the pillow, and you may laugh in his face'.
These charms consisted of oblong slips of vellum, with cabalistic ciphers and diagrams upon them.
Carmilla instantly purchased one, and so did I. (LeFanu 2020, p. 36)
However, Stoker's van Helsing uses garlic flowers rather than bulbs in an attempt to shield Lucy from Dracula's attacks, which is almost successful, but fails due to interference of Lucy's mother.
Formal Aspects
While Polidori's Vampyre employs a more traditional third-person narrative, Camilla and Dracula both make use of the first-person narrator in an interesting way.
Carmilla greets us with a prologue, written in the style of an editor's note:
"Upon a paper attached to the Narrative which follows, Doctor Hesselius has written a rather elaborate note, which he accompanies with a reference to his Essay on the strange subject which the MS. illuminates. (LeFanu 2020, p. 4.)
This fictitious editor continues to explain that the following narrative has been written by Laura, the main character of the novella, to be added to Dr Martin Hesselius' collection of occult cases. Le Fanu thus gives the appearance of relaying real-life events rather than fiction.
Stoker later expands on this illusion of reality by writing Dracula as an epistolary novel, consisting of diary entries, letters and newspaper clippings. Dracula, too, claims that these writings have been collected, arranged and edited by the characters themselves in order to give a concise narrative to the reader as an outside spectator:
"How these papers have been placed in sequence will be made manifest in the reading of them. All needless matters have been eliminated, so that a history almost at variance with the possibilities of later-day belief may stand forth as simple fact. There is throughout no statement of past things wherein memory may err, for all the records chosen are exactly contemporary, given from the standpoints and within range of knowledge of those who made them. (Stoker 2011)
Furthermore, Stoker initially wanted to set his novel in Styria, same as Carmilla, before opting for the more exotic location of Transylvania.

Conclusion
Many Ideas have been borrowed and expanded upon by Stoker, but Dracula's literary origins become clearly visible when compared to his predecessors. Especially with Carmilla it seems almost easier to highlight their differences rather than their numerous similarities.

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