Dracula, Bram Stoker’s most well known novel, was written during the Gothic Era (1800-1865). Writers of gothic literature often created feelings of fear and mystery by focusing the plot on an ancient house that was used to harbor secrets or a place of refuge from a dangerous character. (Kennedy n. p. ). Stoker used some characteristics of the Gothic Era, such as descriptions of gloomy settings and the use of supernatural events, (Marinaro n. p. ). in addition to using the social conventions of London, England in the 1890s in order to write a piece of literature that will remain a prime example of the Gothic Era.
Stoker’s use of multiple dismal environments created a sense of angst in the reader, which helped lead to the classification of Dracula as a Gothic novel. Jonathan Harker’s encounters with the town’s people while on his way to Count Dracula’s castle was the first time the reader felt uneasy. The innkeeper at the hotel explained to Harker it was the eve of St. George’s Day, the night where “all the evil things in the world will have full sway” (Stoker 7). Multiple guests stared at Harker as he left for the coach, while others proceeded to give him gifts as forms of protection from whatever may try and harm him.
When we started, the crowd round the inn door, which had by this time swelled to a considerable size, all made the sign of the cross and pointed two fingers towards me … he [a fellow passenger] explained that it was a charm or guard against the evil eye. ” (Stoker 9-10). His experience riding in the coach left Harker frozen with fear when he finally reached the castle. “It grew colder and colder still, and fine, powdery snow began to fall, so that soon we and all around us were covered with a white blanket.
The keen wind still carried the howling of the dogs, … I grew dreadfully afraid, and the horses shared my fear. The driver, however, was not in the least disturbed. He kept turning his head to [the] left and right, but I could not see anything through the darkness. ” (Stoker 18). Harker noticed the amount of wealth that surrounded him as he was exploring the castle, but took note there were no mirrors and the sound of wolves could always be heard. “But still in none of the rooms is there a mirror. There is not even a toilet glass on my table, and I had to get the little shaving glass from my bag before I could either shave or brush my hair.
I have not seen a servant anywhere, or heard a sound near the castle except the howling of wolves. ” (Stoker 29). During his second walkthrough of the castle, Harker discovered a dark stairwell leading from the count’s bedroom. He eventually came across the count lying in a box of earth after following an odor at the bottom of the stairs. “I descended, minding carefully where | went for the stairs were dark, being only lit by loopholes in the heavy masonry. At the bottom there was a dark, tunnel-like passage, … There, in one of the great boxes, of where there were fifty in all, on a pile of newly dug earth, lar the Count!
He was either dead or asleep. I could not say which, … no beating of the heart. ” (Stoker 69-70). The suspense the audience felt while reading about dreary surroundings helped people accept Dracula as a Gothic novel. Supernatural activities, events that happen in nature that cannot be explained or man cannot control, (Marinaro n. p. ). were often the main components of Gothic literature. Not only was one of the main characters a vampire, he attempted to turn other characters into van with the help of his three assistant female vampires.
Although the reader most likely knew Count Dracula was a vampire from prior knowledge, Harker realized this during a shaving incident with the count. “This time there could be no error, for the man [the count] was close to me, and I could see him over my shoulder. But there was no reflection of him in the mirror! … I saw that the cut had bled a little, and the blood was trickling over my chin … his [the count’s] eyes blazed with a sort of demoniac fury, and he suddenly made a grab at my throat. ” (Stoker 38). One of the turning points in the novel ccurred when Harker’s fiancee, Mina, noticed two red points on Lucy’s neck after seeing a dark figure leaning over her. This incident foreshadowed Lucy’s transformation into a vampire.
“There was undoubtedly something, long and black, bending over the half-reclining white figure. I called in fright, ‘Lucy! Lucy! ‘ and something raised a head, and from where I was I could see a white face and red, gleaming eyes. ” (Stoker 132). Lucy’s transition to the un-dead continued as Dracula visited her at night and slowly drank her blood. The results of her extensive amounts of blood loss were seen when friends checked on her in the morning. She was ghastly, chalkily pale. The red seemed to have gone even from her lips and gus, and the bones of her face stood out prominently … Lucy lay motionless, and did not seem to have strength to speak, so for a while we were all silent. ” (Stoker 173). After Lucy’s death, Dracula needed another to transform another woman, Mina, into a vampire in order to gain further access to the men of England.
The main character’s burst into the bedroom to see Harker laid out on the bed and Dracula forcing Mina to suck the blood from his own chest. With that he [the count] pulled open his shirt, and with his long sharp nails opened a vein in his breast. When the blood began to spurt out, he took my hands in one of his, holding them tight, and with the other seized my neck and pressed my mouth to the wound, so that I must either suffocate or swallow some of the … ” (Stoker 413). Harker was almost turned to an un-dead after he fell asleep in one of the locked rooms of the castle and was visited by the three female vampires. “The girl went on her knees, and bent over me, …
Lower and lower went her head as the lips went below the range of my mouth and chin and seemed to fasten on my throat. ” (Stoker 55-56). The idea of separate spheres, men belong at work and outside the house while the women were at home completing chores, was very prominent during nineteenth century London. Although men have always been known to have jobs and were the main providers for the family, jobs for women outside the home became popular during the late 1800s. (Emsley n. p. ).
An example of separate spheres took place when Van Helsing was adamant about Mina uninvolved with the plan to kill Dracula. She [Mina] has man’s brain, a brain that a man should have were he much gifted, and a woman’s heart … But it is no part for a woman. ” (Stoker 335). Stoker also makes it clear that Harker is the main breadwinner between him and Mina. While Mina works as an assistant schoolmistress, Jonathan works and travels for a real estate firm. “We went thoroughly into the business of the purchase of the estate at Purflect. When I had told him the facts and got his signature to the necessary papers … ” (Stoker 34).