How did Bram Stoker portray Count Dracula's scent? Did the Vampire smell in the same way the bathe once a year if YOU'RE lucky humans of the era around him smelled, or did he have a faint tell tale stench of the un-dead about him that he had to hide with perfume? Or did he have some other scent all together?
asked Jan 7, 2016 at 1:59
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Here, have an UV to compensate.– Rand al'Thor ♦Commented Jan 7, 2016 at 2:18
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What did you find when you read the book?– GEdgarCommented Jan 7, 2016 at 2:49
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@GEdgar I found it to be a good read with material suitable for the site. How did you find the book, good, bad, indifferent?– Major StackingsCommented Jan 7, 2016 at 5:06
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1 Answer
From Bram Stoker's Dracula, chapter 19:
With a little trouble we found the key on the bunch and opened the door. We were prepared for some unpleasantness, for as we were opening the door a faint, malodorous air seemed to exhale through the gaps, but none of us ever expected such an odour as we encountered. None of the others had met the Count at all at close quarters, and when I had seen him he was either in the fasting stage of his existence in his rooms or, when he was bloated with fresh blood, in a ruined building open to the air, but here the place was small and close, and the long disuse had made the air stagnant and foul. There was an earthy smell, as of some dry miasma, which came through the fouler air. But as to the odour itself, how shall I describe it? It was not alone that it was composed of all the ills of mortality and with the pungent, acrid smell of blood, but it seemed as though corruption had become itself corrupt. Faugh! It sickens me to think of it. Every breath exhaled by that monster seemed to have clung to the place and intensified its loathsomeness.
