Suspense in Bram Stoker's Epistolary Novel 'Dracula'

Dracula by Bram Stoker is a horror story about a hero’s quest to rid the world of vampires from the Victorian era. Readers are horrified by his graphic descriptions and horrifying struggles. However, Dracula is much more than just a vampire fantasy; in this novel, Bram Stoker explores the unconscious sexual desires repressed during the Victorian era and the controversy surrounding sexuality.

Dracula is a horror vampire novel written by Bram Stoker. It starts off with Harker's journey from England to Europe to deal with business that Renfield had failed to finish. Harker meets the Count and stays with him for a while. While he is there he notices how trapped he feels in the castle. He is starting to notice very strange things happening around the castle. Once he realizes he is trapped he tries to escape. He does this successfully. Dracula first takes Lucy under his spell. Mina wakes to find Lucy gone from her bed and goes to search for her. Mina finds her and says, ““when I told her to come at once with me home, she rose without a word, with the obedience of a child.” (Dracula, page 135). Mina is Harker's fiance that becomes Dracula's second innocent victim. Dracula takes Mina under his spell and she falls in love with

How Bram Stoker Uses Gothic Conventions to Create an Atmosphere of Suspense and Fear for the Reader

Here, Harker has fallen victim to the vampire’s lustful attraction. This also demonstrates an undertone of eroticism within the story since the three vampires “get much closer to Jonathan Harker than proper Victorian ladies should” (Pikula 291).

When a person mentions the novel Dracula, the first thing that comes to mind is an image of a pale skinned creature in human form that lives off of the blood of innocent people who do not know they are in danger until he flashes his long white fangs at them. The second is how long it takes to get to the point that Dracula actually comes into the story and begins to horrify every word of the novel. Bram Stoker uses foreshadowing throughout the first one hundred pages of Dracula so that readers can get caught up in all of the anxiety and horror that comes with meeting The Count. Bram Stoker’s infamous foreshadowing in his novel Dracula leaves readers anticipating the moment when the dreaded Count Dracula will arrive in England and what kind of havoc he will wreak on its people.

Jonathan Harker starts off the book with his journal of his travels to meet count Dracula, and begins to regret ever leaving home soon after. Jonathan is very observant, noting details throughout his journey; he remembers foreign words to look up, many details of the journey to the castle, and sees “a faint flickering blue flame” many times off in the distance

Many gothic novels have tried to create an unsettling feeling within their audiences. None have achieved this quite as well as Dracula. The jarring transitions of action, and the sharp cliffhangers create many moments of suspense and unease. Using epistolary format is also a way of creating nervousness in the readers, as it not only make the story “believable”, but introduces many stories woven into one large mystery. However, the transitions of story is not the only factor creating the feeling of apprehension within the book. To create these feelings to his greatest potential, in Dracula, Bram Stoker uses symbolism to reinforce the uneasy atmosphere.

This theme of deception is also present when analyzing Dracula’s behaviour throughout the novel, as he hides his true intentions from protagonist Jonathan Harker. This young man narrates the majority of the beginning of the novel, and reveals a major change in Dracula’s behaviour. First, Jonathan describes Dracula as a distinguished businessman, who has a welcoming and caring attitude: “I asked him a few questions on Transylvania history, and he warmed up to the subject wonderfully” (Stoker 28). As Jonathan discovers more about Dracula’s true nature, however, this character is gradually exposed as a villain. Jonathan describes, “. . .[the

Dracula by Bram Stoker is the original vampire book, the one that started it all. From it derived the now so beloved and famous teen-romance vampire genre, with novels like Twilight. However, Dracula is not remotely like the sparkle-in-the-sunlight, falling-in-love-with-mortals vampire any more than Harry Potter is like the Wicked Witch of the West. Dracula is a gothic horror novel set in Transylvania and England during the Victorian Era. Letters, diary entries, and newspaper clippings from the viewpoint of several characters tell the story, allowing for a wide variety of viewpoints that highlight happenings in Dracula as well as present the social issues pertained within. While it contains action, suspense, horror, and romance, it also displays the corruption within the everyday society. The way the women are presented, interacted with, and how Count Dracula affects them brings forth the issues within the Victorian society, especially the men’s treatment of women and the different social and gender roles, which Stoker uses to highlight the situational irony found within the novel.

Bram Stoker`s “Dracula” is one of his most prominent work, originally published in 1897. Forming part of the gothic literature; the novel focuses, through the character of Dracula, on the theme of Supernatural and Religion in an era largely dominated by Science and Rationality. This critical essay, will therefore demonstrate how Dracula, portrayed as the “other,” is essentially different from the rest and, how he subtly manage to incite people and challenge values and ideals of the British Society.

he is also held back by this as he knows he doesn't want to betray his

Despite the plot’s complete failure in inciting interest within me, I was intrigued by Stoker’s style and storytelling capabilities. I was constantly curious as to why Stoker was revealing a vast amount of information about the scenery and internal feelings of each character while developing the plot in such a dull manner. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that Stoker is attempting to use rich imagery about both settings and the characters’ emotions to emphasize Count Dracula. While reading each chapter, clear mental images of the settings and the characters’ feelings are formed. Through the story being told from extremely

on the place; this makes us feel anxious to find out where he is going

Bram Stoker’s ingenious piece of work on writing Dracula has set the expectation for gothic novels all over the world and time to come. The mindset of writing Dracula through the Victorian Era really sets the tone for the reader by creating a spine-tingling sensation right through the novel. With this in mind, Stoker wouldn’t have been able to succeed his masterpiece without the effective uses of symbolism, imagery, foreshadowing, and its overall theme.

“He speaks in perfect English and welcomes Harker inside, shaking his hand with an ice-cold, vice-like grip” (Dracula, 55). Dracula explains to him that he will no be able to make the trip to London, but one of his trusted servants will be going along with Harker back to London. After supper Jonathan analyzes Dracula and notices one very strange feature, his mouth is thick and white; they cover sharp white teeth, which stick out over his lip. What Jonathan does not know is that those teeth are canine teeth only found in animals. There are exceptions, for instance, vampires have these teeth so they can puncture the human’s carotid vessel in their neck and suck their blood. The first time that Jonathan sees Dracula’s cannibal teeth grow is when Harker starts shaving. He accidentally cuts himself and Dracula leaps for his throat so he can suck his blood. Harker touches his crucifix and Dracula’s “demonic fury” vanishes. The strangest event that Harker notices in Dracula’s castle is “Dracula emerge from his room on the floor below, slither out, head downward, in lizard fashion, with his cloak spread out around him like great wings” (Dracula, 179). This shows that “Dracula is not a person. He is a presence, an absence that requires concealing” (Wolf, 368). This tells Harker that something is very wrong with this man. He recalls how the peasants behaved