Abstract

This essay analyzes Francis Ford Coppola’s portrayal of Dracula from a psychoanalytic and ethical perspective, integrating the theories of Freud, Lacan, and Leclaire. Unlike Bram Stoker’s original novel, in which the vampiric count lacks a complex psychological background, Coppola’s film version presents a fallen hero, marked by the loss of his beloved and the subsequent renunciation of divine law. This reinterpretation of the character allows us to read him as a melancholic being, trapped in unresolved grief and deprived of the possibility of death. Following Freud’s distinction between mourning and melancholia, Dracula remains fixated on the lost object, unable to free himself from its absence. Lacan and Leclaire contribute new dimensions: the absence of a reflection in the mirror symbolizes the impossibility of a unified identity, while the denial of the paternal function and the symbolic law forges a universe without moral boundaries. Immortality stands as a metaphor for the suspension of all ethical boundaries, leaving the vampire devoid of responsibility and trapped in the repetitive compulsion of unfulfillable desire. This analysis places the vampire myth in a contemporary dialogue with other works, showing that the figure of the vampire remains a valid lens through which to explore the tensions between life, death, love, desire, and law. Thus, Coppola’s Dracula emerges as a powerful cultural archetype for reflecting on the human condition, the acceptance of finitude, and the constitution of moral order.

Keywords: Dracula | Mourning and Melancholy | Immortality | Symbolic Law