Bram Stoker Research Paper

Throughout history, several intellectual and cultural movements have shaped the way that humanity thinks and, subsequently, the formation of our modern society as a whole. Perhaps one of the most remarkable of these movements is simply known as Gothicism. An offshoot of the movement known as Romanticism, the emergence of Gothicism introduced unconventional literary tropes for its time and it introduced many legendary novelists, poets, and storytellers whose works continue to inspire modern authors today.

To understand the emergence of Gothicism, we must delve back several hundred years to the fall of Rome. In 410 A.D., a Germanic tribe of barbarians known as the Goths sacked Rome, which subsequently led to the collapse of the Roman Empire.

Europeans blamed the Goths for the destruction of Rome and Europe’s Dark Age. Eventually, the word “Goth” became synonymous with the word “barbarism” (Ellis 22). Despite this, during the 18th century, the word “Gothic” changed to a more positive connotation as a greater importance was placed on the past rather than the future, leading to a greater interest in Gothic culture. Gothic culture, in turn, directly inspired the literature, architecture, political theory, and religion of the 18th century (Ellis 23). When the Romantic movement arrived in America, the stereotypes and myths of Native Americans, along with the spread of diseases amongst Native Americans due to manifest destiny and the recent societal uptake of horror, led to Romantics exaggerating the plight of Native Americans and eventually forming the macabre literary style that most scholars associate with Gothic literature today (Conn 132).
Gothic literature in its earliest days was at best an idea produced by Romanticism rather than a standalone literary archetype. Through the help of skilled writers, however, modern Gothic literature began to develop. Gothic literature was also surprisingly boosted by the support of women. However, female writers were prone to personal attacks from male literary critics due to the subpar social status of women during the 18th century (Ellis 48). Despite these injustices, one of the earliest and most influential Gothic writers was a woman named Ann Radcliffe. Radcliff was born into a family of dissenters in London in 1764 and was married twenty years later in 1784. After marrying, Radcliffe took up her time by writing, publishing three novels one after the other with The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne (1789), A Sicilian Romance (1790), and The Romance of the Forest (1791). Her later novels, The Mysteries of Undolpho (1794) and The Italian (1797) made her a small fortune (Ellis 49). However, Radcliffe claimed to enjoy domestic life rather than commercial success and retreated into domesticity after harsh attacks from male literary critics and a sudden rise in popularity (Ellis 49).Radcliffe’s novels served to characterize the Gothic genre by focusing on terror, specifically those terrors pertaining to her female audience, and forced readers to question the societal position of women (Ellis 50). However, early Gothic writers were not limited to Europe. Many American writers became established as early Gothics, including a novelist named Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne’s works focused on Puritan settings and retold history in a way previously foreign to the Gothic writers of that time period (Savoy 176). Born in 1804, Hawthorne grew up reading literary classics in Salem village. His family moved from Salem in 1816, but a young Hawthorne was sent back to Salem for his education. It was during this period in Salem that Hawthorne developed a solid love for literature (Martin 3). Hawthorne was the first of his family to go to college and did so at Boudoin College in the class of 1821 with only 114 classmates. It was around this time that Hawthorne began reading many of the earliest Gothic classics including Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Undolpho. He graduated from Boudoin in 1825 and spent most of his time after graduation travelling around sightseeing the various New England villages (Martin 9). In 1828, Hawthorne published his first work, Fanshawe, anonymously and at his own expense. Hawthorne was disgusted with his work in Fanshawe and almost immediately recalled and burned most copies of the book, never telling anyone of his authorship of the book (Martin 12). Starting in 1850, Hawthorne, similarly to Radcliffe, published his most popular works in rapid succession including: The Scarlet Letter (1850), The House of Seven Gables (1851), and The Blithesdale Romance (1852) (Martin 21). All of these novels solidified Hawthorne’s place as an early Gothic writer.
Gothic literature’s most legendary authors still remain in the eyes of pop culture buffs.

One of these authors, Bram Stoker, and his prolific monster known as Dracula, are quite frequently referenced in modern media. Bram Stoker was born in Ireland as the third of seven children in 1847, staying bedridden from a childhood illness until the age of seven. His father’s civil service job did not make enough to support the family of nine and thus Stoker grew up very poor (“Bram Stoker” 1). Stoker was formally taught by a tutor until entering Trinity College in 1864, where he became the auditor of the Historical Society and president of the Philosophical Society (“Bram Stoker” 2). During his childhood, Stoker developed an intense love for theater and constantly attended the Theatre Royale in Dublin while enrolled in Trinity. It was here he would see Henry Irving, a man so integral to his life, perform for the first time. Stoker graduated from Trinity in 1868 and gained a job as a civil service clerk, although he found the job very tedious (“Bram Stoker” 3). Stoker had noticed that plays received no recognition in newspapers and thus offered his services as a drama critic for the Dublin Mail. Stoker obtained the job, although he received no pay for his services. Sometime after this, Stoker became the editor of The Halfpenny Press and published his first horror tale, “The Chain of Destiny”, from 1866 to 1920 (“Bram Stoker” 4). Stoker was invited to meet Henry Irving after writing a

glowing review on Irving’s production of Hamlet. From this meeting, Stoker and Irving became lifelong friends. However, soon after his meeting with Irving, Stoker would quit his job as a drama critic to focus on the new duties of his civil service job that he had been recently promoted in (“Bram Stoker” 5). In 1877, Stoker received a job offer from Irving to become the acting manager for Irving’s new theater, the Lyceaum. Stoker immediately accepted the job, working under Irving and entertaining many famous names until his death (“Bram Stoker” 6). Despite the time-consuming effort his job took, Stoker still found the time to publish two novels: The Snake’s Pass in 1890 and Dracula in 1897. Stoker would die soon after in 1912, only six years after Irving (“Bram Stoker” 8). As with the early Gothic writers, the most prolific Gothic writers were not limited to Europe. The most recognizable author of Gothic literature was an American known as Edgar Allan Poe. Born in 1809, Poe’s birth brought great financial stress to his family, which in turn caused his father to leave (Meyers 4). Because of his mother’s busy acting career, Poe was nursed by an old maid who constantly drugged him with gin and opium (Meyers 5). The desertion of her husband and being left to support her family with a demanding acting job left Poe’s mother with a lot of stress, which might have caused her to become sick. Poe’s mother died of tuberculosis at the age of twenty-four (Meyers 6). After his mother’s death, Poe was adopted by John Allan and his wife Francis. During his childhood with the Allan family, Poe had a knack for reciting poetry (Meyers 9). However, Poe’s foster father never supported his literary dreams, and was downright cruel to the young Poe when upset (Meyers 19). In 1826, Poe entered The University of Virginia (Meyers 22). He was forced to leave the university fearing debtor’s jail after being forced to borrow and gamble for money due to lack of funding from John Allan. After a short-lived yet honorable military career, Poe published his second book of poetry in 1829 (Meyers 41). Poe published The Raven and Other Poems in 1845. However, in the book’s preface, Poe described the poverty he had suffered and described poetry as “unsalable” in America. He also stated his intentions of no longer writing poetry (Meyers 183). Poe died in 1849 after an alcohol overdose from his self-destructive alcoholism (Meyers 254).
The ideals of Gothicism spread to many modern horror writers, including Stephen King and H.P.

Lovecraft. Gothicism was also popular enough to produce its own offshoot called Southern Gothicism. Southern Gothicism focused primarily on antisocial behavior and southern settings. It also produced many great literary creators, including Tennessee Williams, Flannery O’Connell, and Truman Capote (Gothic Literature). However the most popular Southern Gothic is a novelist named Harper Lee. Lee was born in Monroeville, Alabama and became interested in writing at age 7. Lee left the University of Alabama to pursue a writing career in New York. Lee soon published To Kill a Mockingbird in 1960, which won several prizes including a Pulitzer Prize. It was also adapted into an Academy Award winning movie (Altman). In 2015, shortly before dying, Lee published the first draft of To Kill a Mockingbird as a sequel entitled Go Set a Watchman, although it received terrible reviews from

critics.
In conclusion, Gothicism has rooted itself into our culture. Gothic literature in particular is alluded to in popular media, and was even popular enough to spark its own literary offshoot. Gothic literature and its most popular authors have directly inspired our culture, media, education, and even other popular modern writers.