Dracula Gothic Text

Analysis of Gothic Texts
Dracula (Novel)
Bibliographical Information:
Composer: Bram Stocker
Published Text Name: Dracula
Date Published: May 1897
Publisher Details:
First published by Archibald Constable and Company 1897
This edition Published in Penguin Classic 1993
Question 1: Describe the subject matter, i.e. explain what the text is about.
Dracula is an appealing text that has been loved for many years because one of its main themes is a great human conflict, the fight between good and evil. The novel consists of journal entries and letters written by the novel’s main protagonists, including Jonathon Harker and Mina Harker. Sometime in the late nineteenth century a young English lawyer named Jonathan Harker, travels to the Castle
Bram Stocker tells the reader of the dark, mysterious natural world that surrounds the protagonists in “Dracula”. The existence of the vampires and the gloomy setting make this novel gothic and the genre of horror. Bram Stocker used the gothic elements of eternal love, pathetic fallacy, blood to represent the dark setting and how the story is written in the Victoria Era. The element of eternal love is shown with the love that Jonathon and Mina share and how they keep their love despite all the things that happen to them. Pathetic fallacy, was shown in the end of “Dracula” when Dracula acted as if he was completely powerless grabbing money from the floor and fleeing out the window. Dracula had always had the power of everyone and when he loses his power he runs away from troubles. When Mina was in trouble, the men tried desperately to save her soul because they all adore her. The element of blood is shown one part in the novel with the blood that was transferred from the friend’s bodies; this meant Mina was able to survive because she received more than one person’s power. Some quotations in the novel that suggest more gothic elements such as darkness, unnatural beings, death and horror. One quote that tells us of the unnatural beings is “as he spoke he smiled, and the lamplight fell on a hard-looking mouth, with very red lips and sharp-looking teeth, as white as ivory.” Bram Stocker is describing the Count
One technique used a lot in the novel is direct speech, the effect of this is that it is the common people speech for the time in which “Dracula” was set in, and it makes the reader feel like they are in the same time period as the novel. Another technique Bram Stoker used to make the novel more interesting was foreshadowing, he does this when he foreshadows Dracula’s arrival in England. He does this in two ways, one when Lucy discovers puncture wounds on her neck, the readers know that it is from a vampire because back in Transylvania when Jonathon was compelled by the brides they attempted to bite his neck. Another example of how Bram Stocker uses foreshadowing to reveal Dracula’s arrival in England is through the shipwreck. Every one of the crew members dies or disappeared, and the captain was found tied to the wheel of the ship with a crucifix in his hands. This foreshadowing puts suspense in the novel, the reader knows something is going to happen but they don’t know when. Another technique used in this novel a lot is imagery. One example of imagery was the description of Dracula when Jonathan first met him. Jonathan first met Dracula upon his arrival at his castle. “Within, stood a tall old man, clean shaven save for a long white moustache, clad in black from head to foot, without a single speck of colour anywhere.” When describing characters, Stoker uses a lot of detail and description and makes