Theoretical Conventions In Bram Stoker's Dracula

In this passage of Dracula, Stoker uses important diction and imagery to portray the image of Lucy. The character Lucy had died a while back, however she is found to be alive again after obviously dying. Written in Seward’s perspective, Lucy coming back alive goes against logical thinking that Seward and most people cannot comprehend. Lucy’s appearance is described through various literary devices. The use of literary devices such as imagery and diction contrast each other to signify the changes of Lucy from having pure morals as a human to having evil intentions as a vampire.

Vampires have been around for centuries, they represent the fear of many things such as sexuality, race, gender, etc. and above all, they stand for the fear of diseases. Vampires have once been the symbol of horror due to their terrific depictions and were described as a threat to the humanity. Throughout time, the image of vampire has changed dramatically from a monstrous, inhumanely creature that doesn’t belong to human society to such an attractive and adaptive figure that expresses more of the human side than the evil. They developed human feelings, senses, and live within our society. Modern vampire movies are often more romantic and “sympathetic” comparing to the past. Vampires have abandoned their horror and evolved to a more

A product of the contextual values of the Victorian Era, the epistolary novel, “Dracula” written by Bram Stoker, explores the societal anxieties of the erosion of traditional Victorian values. With the onset of the Industrial Revolution and Modernism, along with the declining value of the Christian faith, Stoker challenges the contextual values of religion and female sexuality, along with the repercussions for the individual who strays away from societal constructs and expectations. 19th century England had its foundations built by the Church, where Christian ethics and morals were imbedded and intertwined within the social fabric of society. Despite this, religious influence was plummeting with the development of technology and science. New

Bram Stoker's Dracula is highly acclaimed and has received many different interpretations which deal with complex symbolisms and metaphors. These interpretations often require a great deal of knowledge in psychology, political science, anthropology, and other non-literary disciplines. These interpretations may be valid, as they are related to the disciplines on which their arguments are based, but the true power of the novel is due to a very simple theme that lies beneath the other, more convoluted interpretations. This theme is the universal concept of identity: us versus them. This criticism sets aside outside disciplines and focuses on the literary motif of identity. John

Bram Stoker’s use of characterization and imagery to convey one of his many themes in the book Dracula. In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the author uses characterization and imagery to convey the theme, Follow your instincts.

Bram Stoker makes the argument that technological advancements are ineffective through his representation of Harker’s use of shorthand. Stoker portrays how Harker attempts to challenge the Count by using shorthand, but yet remains vulnerable to his power due to the ineffectiveness of modern advancements. While Harker is trapped in Dracula’s castle at the beginning of the novel, he writes in his journal in shorthand. This abbreviated form of writing allows Harker to write more swiftly and most importantly, it ensures that his writing is unintelligible to Dracula, who is unable to decipher the symbols and abbreviations that he uses. While Harker is confined within Dracula’s castle, the Count requests that he writes letters to his friends back

    Perhaps no work of literature has ever been composed without being a product of its era, mainly because the human being responsible for writing it develops their worldview within a particular era.  Thus, with Bram Stoker's Dracula, though we have a vampire myth novel filled with terror, horror, and evil, the story is a thinly veiled disguise of the repressed sexual mores of the Victorian era.  If we look to critical interpretation and commentary to win support for such a thesis, we find it aplenty "For erotic Dracula certainly is.  'Quasi-pornography' one critic labels it.  Another describes it as a 'kind of incestuous, necrophilious, oral-anal-sadistic all-in-wrestling matching'.  A

The novel Dracula had, and still has an immense effect on horror through its use of literary elements which are observable in horror movies. Bram Stoker's Dracula was revolutionary in its use of literary devices such as dramatic irony, to convey suspense, and the use of sexuality in literature. These devices were adapted to film in early horror movies and continue to appear till today. Dracula was very influential to the film industry when it comes to horror movies because horror movies draw a lot of devices used in Dracula and use them in their movies, this can be seen in movies such as Halloween, Friday the 13th, and the movie adaptation of Dracula.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a story of horror, suspense, and repulsion. The main antagonist, Count Dracula, is depicted as an evil, repulsive creature that ends and perverts life to keep himself alive and youthful. To most onlookers that may be the case, but most people fail to see one crucial element to this character. Dracula is a character that, though it may be long gone, was once human, and thus has many human emotions and motives still within him. Let us delve into these emotions of a historically based monster.

Vampire stories introduce the reader to mystery and suspense and also very interesting effects, but did you know that the story of Dracula has plenty of literary elements that better help the reader analyze and understand the story better than before. Dracula is a Vampire/Victorian book that expresses a lot of elements for example: symbolism. Literary terms such as gothic and romantics are terms used to discuss, classify, and analyze novels, poetry, and books like Dracula. These terms are the most important aspects in a piece of work. Throughout the book: Dracula many terms are present to discuss or classify the author’s work that will lift the reader knowledge. Literary terms are defined as: the writer’s message in a simple manner to the

Gothic literature is dominated by gothic horror, for instance dark and mysterious objects or events. It is a type of literature that combines fiction, horror, and romanticism. As Bram Stoker wrote his famous novel, Dracula he makes sure to include many different characteristics of gothic literature. Three important motifs that are stated in Dracula which also fit into the gothic literature category would be; blood, dreaming or nightmares, and superstition. This particular novel has many gothic motifs, but these are three that I believe really stand out.

Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ appears to be a novel predicated upon a racist worldview. 1897, its publication year, was marked by anxieties resulting from the decline of the British Empire from its previous position of hegemony. The ‘increasing unrest in British colonies’ endangered British imperialism, race, and its cultural conventions, rendering society susceptible to the fear of ‘reverse colonization:’ the infiltration and influence of former territories. Dracula, travelling to England from Romania, is employed to symbolise this threat. Arata’s most thought-provoking note is that vampires as an entity are ‘generated by racial enervation and the decline of empire.’

The play-script book “Dracula”, adapted by David Calcutt, is a captivating reword of the iconic epistolary horror novel of a same name which was written by Bram Stoker, The author outlines the power struggle between good and evil in the text through messages and symbols. The author focuses on Dracula and a group of friend’s actions and emotions in which he uses narrative conventions to convey key messages in the book. The messages I found that were prominent were “evilness is an infection”, “greed is consuming” and “good always prevail”.

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.

In comparison to modern perversions of the vampire genre, Bram Stoker’s Dracula was slower in progression, yet deeper in meaning. In modern interpretations of the genre, such as Twilight, Vampire Diaries, and The Originals, which are all stories I enjoyed, the plot progresses quickly and vampires are portrayed as redeemable. Contrasting these stories, Dracula progresses sluggishly with Stoker giving “too much information” throughout the entire novel. Moreover, Count Dracula is seen as an irredeemable, soulless monster. Since I was accustomed to modern perversions of the genre, Dracula was extremely dull. At various points in the story, I expected stronger plot development or suspense but the story lacked both. The climax of the plot is reached when the story is nearly over, when the main characters decide to hunt down Count Dracula. Due to the late climax, I was constantly expecting the story to climax throughout my reading, yet it seemed like it would never come. Holistically, the story lacked cohesion as the vast imagery and explanations of the character’s internal thoughts contributed nothing to the plot.