To what extent is Dracula a conventional Gothic protagonist

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To what extent is Dracula a conventional Gothic protagonist?

Within the Gothic genre, features of the Gothic protagonist include sharply contrasting character traits, some degree of tragic stature, a striking physical presence, an element of the sexual, and an association with the bestial. Stoker presents Dracula with greatly contrasting traits, from the impeccably polite and courteous host who greets Harker at the door, to a raging psychopathic monster. The aristocratic and noble nature of Dracula’s heritage gives him charisma and credibility, on first encounter he seems strange but eccentric, however this lulls Harker, and obviously his female victims, into a false sense of security: “The light and warmth of the Count’s courteous welcome seemed to have dissipated all my doubts and fears.” Stoker reveals Dracula’s true self slowly and subtly, so as to build tension, such as when Dracula touches Harker and he feels: “a horrible feeling of nausea.” This imagery hints at the horror of Dracula’s true character, which is finally revealed when he encounters the Brides: “But the count! Never did I imagine such wraths of fury, even in the demons of the pit!” Stoker presents the count as being: “lapped in a storm of fury,” foreshadowing the terrible storm at Whitby when Dracula arrives on English soil. Stoker’s uses the imagery of hell to describe Dracula’s rage, writing: “his eyes were positively blazing…as if the flames of hell-fire blazed in them.”  This imagery of a fiery furnace is similar to Milton’s description of Satan in Paradise Lost’ as “the infernal serpent,” dwelling in a “penal fire.” However despite Satan’s high status and charisma, he does not have the extreme contrast in personality, and the genteel almost awkward persona that Dracula has.  

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Stoker presents Dracula as having tragic stature through his loneliness and sadness that his once noble family have been destroyed. Dracula tells Harker that he longs: “to be in the midst of the whirl and rush of humanity, to share its life, its change, its death, and all that makes it what it is. But alas!” This desire demonstrates how isolated Dracula feels, as he has been left behind, an unwanted remnant of the ancient world. His immortality means he cannot relate to modernity, and the fast pace of life, and he is stuck in an endless cycle, a ...

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I'm not the biggest fan of the structure here. The introduction is used to analyse, whereas I feel it should be wholly setting up a strong and convincing starting point for the argument. Similarly, there is no conclusion, and this essay misses the opportunity to directly address "to what extent" Dracula is a conventional protagonist. The style, however, is strong, and I like how there is always reference to Stoker constructing the novel. Some essays tend to retell the story as if events actually happened, whereas this essay has a clear appreciation of Stoker's role. Spelling, punctuation and grammar are fine.

The analysis here is strong, but there needs to be more focus on the response of the reader. After looking at techniques, the discussion is sustained with comments such as "Reflecting Dracula's release from his eternal suffering, showing that despite Vampire's intrinsic evil, they did not relish their life of pain and death." However, to reach the top bands at A-Level, I feel this essay needs to go further to discuss what effect this technique has. I would be asking myself "Why has Stoker constructed Dracula like this?", looking directly at the reception of the novel. There are some comparisons to Milton's Satan, but I don't feel there is enough textual evidence. There are some great quotes in Dracula such as "demonaic fury", "devil in callous" and "a grimace which would hold its own in the nethermost of hell" which would allow a detailed discussion around his image as a devil. Sometimes the best quotes are not used here, and this prevents this essay from reaching the top bands.

This essay responds strongly to the task. There is a clear appreciation of what characteristics build a gothic protagonist. I would've liked to have seen some appreciation that Dracula is the villain in the novel, and how this affects the reader's perceptions of him. It can be argued that the reader should sympathise with the curse of vampirism, and this critique could've been weaved into the essay. I liked the intertextuality used, as this shows a thorough understanding of the gothic as a genre.