The term Gothic originates from the Northern tribes that invaded Europe in the 4th, 5th, and 6th centuries. When founded, Gothic writings were created to express new feelings toward order, nature, and emotion. Resulting from connecting all key elements together, Bram Stoker created one of the most well written Gothic novels of all time. Stoker includes gothic elements in his characterization, setting, and plot to expand the consciousness of his characters and readers, while simultaneously expanding the boundaries of the Victorian World.
A close analysis of characters in Dracula reveals that Stoker relieved heavily on gothic elements. Several characters in the novel, experience unusual states of mind. For example, when Jonathon Harker first meets Dracula, he is often confused about reality. The young man describes how he “only slept a few hours” (Stoker 26). Since Jonathon barely sleeps in his stay, he feels disoriented, as if he were in a haze. While shaving the next morning, Jonathon cuts himself when he notices “there was no reflection of [Dracula] in the mirror” (Stoker 27). Linda Bayer-Berenbaum explains how sleeplessness makes an individual “less analytical or rational, less strictly controlled” (78). Stoker introduces familiar examples before exploring more radical mental states such as hypnosis. Dracula is considered a grotesque character, which can be “created through exaggeration rather than by a complete departure from normality” (Bayer- Berenbaum 80). Examples that may follow this side of the definition are the counts “protuberant teeth” or the many other peculiar body parts on him. A second way to characterize someone as grotesque is to use uncommon ways to mislead someone until one is pleased. As Jonathon first arriv...
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...rful and continue his attacks, mainly on Jonathon and his friends in this novel. The intertwined journal entries from the characters create the story of Dracula and the decayed structures help Count Dracula get the name that he lives with.
Stoker’s movement away from the Victorian World and into a new era gave him the ability to expand his characters’ consciousness within a suitable setting and plot. Dracula is considered to be amongst one of the top Gothic novels written because of the Stoker’s ability to be able to combine all Gothic elements together. This novel was one of the reasons that Romanticism was able to rise up with the success that it had.
Works Cited
Bayer-Berenbaum, Linda. “Elements of the Gothic”. Horror. Ed. Michael Stuprich. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2001. 73-83
Stoker, Bram, and George Stade. Dracula. New York: Bantam Dell, 2004. Print.
Gothic Literature was a natural progression from romanticism, which had existed in the 18th Century. Initially, such a ‘unique’ style of literature was met with a somewhat mixed response; although it was greeted with enthusiasm from members of the public, literary critics were much more dubious and sceptical.
... period where there was a mix of different feeling and ideas coming about. Religion was the core of his tale, and also modeled it. On one side were the humans and on the other Dracula. Through their struggles to defeat the monster they experienced changes in gender roles, which was also present in real time. Women were becoming more free and working. The only way this change happened was because of the trust and the love between family members; that led to good stable home and ultimately success in life. Stoker wrote Dracula later on his career, this way he had more experience and knowledge of life and grew to believe in common universal truth. Dracula was a hit because it had truth and history in it, and it turned the ordinary good beats bad story into a compelling and interesting narrative, and if readers read carefully they could even find themselves in the book.
The late nineteenth century Irish novelist, Bram Stoker is most famous for creating Dracula, one of the most popular and well-known vampire stories ever written. Dracula is a gothic, “horror novel about a vampire named Count Dracula who is looking to move from his native country of Transylvania to England” (Shmoop Editorial Team). Unbeknownst of Dracula’s plans, Jonathan Harker, a young English lawyer, traveled to Castle Dracula to help the count with his plans and talk to him about all his options. At first Jonathan was surprised by the Count’s knowledge, politeness, and overall hospitality. However, the longer Jonathan remained in the castle the more uneasy and suspicious he became as he began to realize just how strange and different Dracula was. As the story unfolded, Jonathan realized he is not just a guest, but a prisoner as well. The horror in the novel not only focuses on the “vampiric nature” (Soyokaze), but also on the fear and threat of female sexual expression and aggression in such a conservative Victorian society.
The novel is so great because of the irony and suspense that is built in every chapter. One of the main reasons Stoker is able to create such suspense because of his style of writing. Dracula’s style is an epistolary novel which is a series of journals or diaries put into one book. When Stoker jumps from character to character he always leaves us on a cliffhanger as he switches locations to another character. This keeps the audience engaged and makes them want to keep reading. It is a deeply engaging novel and that is why it has become so popular. The story also develops dramatic irony, which means that the audience knows what is happening but the characters do not. An example of irony is when Mina thinks she pricks Lucy to cause bite marks on her neck, but the audience knows it was Dracula “I must have pinched up a piece of loose skin and have transfixed it, for there are two little red points like pin-pricks” (Stoker 100). Lucy becomes pale and ill later on in the novel which leads to them calling Van Helsing for help. Van Helsing knows what happened to Lucy but does not tell Mina or Dr. Seward because they will think he is crazy. There is more irony later on when Van Helsing puts garlic flowers all around Lucy’s room and her mom throws them out because of the smell. The audience knows that the garlic was there to protect Lucy and keep Dracula away
Dracula, as it was written by Bram Stoker, presents to us possibly the most infamous monster in all of literature. Count Dracula, as a fictional character, has come to symbolize the periphery between the majority and being an outsider to that group. Dracula’s appeal throughout the years and genres no doubt stems from his sense of romanticism and monster. Reader’s no doubt are attracted to his “bad-boy” sensibilities, which provide an attraction into the novel. Looking first at his appearance, personality, and behaviour at the beginning of the novel, we can easily see Dracula’s blurred outsider status, as he occupies the boundaries of human and monster. Related to this is Dracula’s geographic sense of outsider. For all intents and purposes, Dracula is an immigrant to England, thus placing him further into the realm of outsider. To look at Bram Stoker’s Dracula as solely a monster in the most violent sense of his actions would to be look at a sole aspect of his character, and so we must look at how he interacts with the outside world to genuinely understand him.
In Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, Stoker’s use of inverted gender roles allows readers to grasp the sense of obscureness throughout, eventually leading to the reader’s realization that these characters are rather similar to the “monster” which they call Dracula. Despite being in the Victorian era, Stoker’s use of sexuality in the novel contributes to the reasoning of obscureness going against the Victorian morals and values. Throughout the novel the stereotypical roles of the Victorian man and woman are inverted to draw attention to the similarities between Dracula and the characters. Vague to a majority of readers, Bram Stoker uses Dracula as a negative connotation on society being that the values of the Victorian culture are inverted amongst the sexes of characters, thus pointing out the similarities of the characters and the so called “monster” which they call Dracula.
Punter David, ‘The Literature of Terror’, in A History of Gothic Fictions from 1765 to the Present Day, The Modern Gothic. Harlow, eds. (UK: Pearson Education, 1996)
The Victorian England setting and culture of “Dracula” by: Bram Stoker attributes to many stylistic components and character behaviours in the novel. One of which is the behaviour and actions characters express that are a result of sexual repression. In Dracula, sexual repression is best expressed by the character’s desire to create. This desire is exemplified by the way Dracula creates other vampires, Lucy’s sexual desires, and the men’s expression of aggression. The creation of other Vampires is evident through events including Dracula’s aggressive encounters with Lucy and Mina, and the fact the Dracula is building up a Vampire army. Lucy’s sexual desires are exemplified through her longing to have sex with multiple men and how she compares
Stoker uses phenomenal imagery to produce a late nineteenth century setting, located somewhere within eastern Europe. Transylvania, the infamous home to Dracula himself, is described in great detail in Harker’s journal. There, Stoker purposely and meticulously outlines Dracula’s castle and the surrounding town. Stoker manages to do this with a very gothic tone, immediately lowering the societal status of women. In conjunction with Dracula’s gothic tone comes the understanding of male and female traditional roles of the era. The reader sees that there is no hesitation differentiating between the two, as Stoker “ cast[s] men as rational, strong, protective and decisive…[and] women as emotional (irrational), weak, nurturing and submissive.” (Tyson, 82).
Vampires, they have sharp teeth, black capes, perfect skin and black hair, one of the key inspirations to how we see the vampire today is Bram Stoker's book Dracula, written in 1897. Over time the idea of a vampire has evolved from the standard can't go out in the sun and can only drink human blood to sparkling in the sun and can live off of a animal's blood. Either the change occurred from the evolution of writing styles or just written in a way to make a book as popular as possible. This essay will explore the idea of a vampire before and after the book Dracula was made as well as the key inspirations for the book itself. Including comparisons of how we see vampires today versus how they were seen back when Dracula was originally written.
Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” was written the year after Stevenson released his book. Dracula follows Byron’s idea of being alluring and of magical ability, but differs in that he is unpleasant in ...
The Gothic name developed because the novel's setting had been usually in Gothic architecture such as castles. In Dracula when Jonathan arrives to the ruined castle of Count Dracula, Jonathan describes the castle. It had detailed carving that “had been much worn by time and weather” (Stoker 16). These descriptions help the reader picture something old and mysterious. Castles often hold a lot of history which help give that eerie tone that no one knows what
Dracula, by Bram Stoker, is a classic tale of Gothicism. Traditionally, gothic tales only carried single theme of horror. Through Dracula, Stoker breaks this single theme barrier. The theme throughout Dracula is clearly displayed through the characters as they step from ignorance to realization in this tale of horror.
Gothic imagery and themes include castles, coffins, monsters and strange lands and pose the background of the classic Gothic novel. The Gothic element is synonymous with the horror and uncanny- a feeling rather than form, in which transgression is the central topic (Wisker 7). The vampire is a figure that transgresses society’s limits to form the central dynamic of the Gothic. “We enjoy seeing the limit transgressed- it horrifies us and reinforces our sense of boundaries and normalcy” (Halberstam 13). Assuming that Bram Stoker’s Dracula sets the archetype of the vampire, it is clear that modern vampires have demonstrated a decrease in the Gothic horror despite similarities in the Gothic imagery
Jack Morgan, The Biology of Horror: Gothic Literature and Film (Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 2002) null03, Questia, Web, 29 May 2010.