Dracula has been described as a novel of Gothic horror(TM) " considering in detail one or two passages, explain why this is true (P.44-47).

Authors Avatar

Dracula has been described as a ‘novel of Gothic horror’ – considering in detail one or two passages, explain why this is true (P.44-47).

The vampiresses scene is one of the key points in the novel, as Jonathan Harker is beginning to realise the dangers which he faces at Castle Dracula. The Protagonist has recently observed Dracula crawling face down, down the castle wall and is now bewildered as to the true nature of the Count. When finding his guest wandering the castle one night, Dracula warns him never to fall asleep anywhere in the castle other than his own room. One evening soon thereafter, Harker forces a locked room open and falls asleep, not heeding the count’s warning. This extract is taken from Jonathan’s journal and opens with his reflection on ‘the Count’s mysterious warning’; he claims to take ‘a pleasure in disobeying it.’ Throughout the beginning of this passage, Jonathan repeatedly comments on the ‘long accumulation of dust.’ Though Harker considers himself to be a modern man of the nineteenth century, here there is a sense that things have remained unchanged for centuries. The descriptions of the castle are laced with a sense of history and the reader is given a feeling that the past continually haunts the present. Like the count himself, the Castle is degenerate and corrupt; we feel a great sense of decay which is revealed through the descriptions of the house. This is linked to the idea of Dracula being ageless and immortal. He is a kind of reverent who aught to be dead. Through this we see the Gothic’s function to create anxiety and unease, which is reiterated in the appearance of the vampiresses, who share the Count’s undead qualities.  Chris Baldick cited that ‘The Gothic house is legible to our post-Freudian culture…we can also recognise…the crypts and cellars of repressed desire.’ The setting of the castle, with its locked rooms and dark corners, initially induces terror and apprehension, but the setting here is also linked to the concerns of the gothic, and to the novel itself. Jonathan finds the three vampire women inside a locked room, and as sexually predatory beings, this is perhaps significant of the protagonists repressed desires.

Join now!

        As the protagonist begins to recall the events which happened whilst in the room, use of the short sentence, ‘I was not alone’ adds to the build up of suspense and terror. Drifting in and out of consciousness, Harker is visited by the three female vampires. The motif of the three evil women alludes to the witches in Macbeth. The use of a familiar motif imbues the vampires with myth and folklore. Harker spends a lot of time wondering whether what he experiences and the visions of both repulsion and delight are real. He is unsure whether the women actually ...

This is a preview of the whole essay