‘The impression I had that we were leaving the West and entering the East’.
Here the writer portrays an image in the readers mind of the Eastern world, the writer is trying to convey the message that he is entering the ‘unknown’, which is being very gothic. The writer also describes Transylvania as being ‘one of the wildest and least known parts of Europe’; this composes a very mysterious setting to the story. ‘Transylvania’ means ‘the land beyond the forest’. By naming his imaginative world Transylvania, he creates the impression that Jonathan is travelling to a part of the world beyond the reach of an ordinary Victorian person. At the time the novel was written, this may have had an impact on the reader, because the idea of the ‘unknown’ world draws them in.
By using the diary and journals the writer finds the use of conventions very effective, later on in chapter one of the story, the character describes a very unnatural atmosphere.
‘There was a dog howling all night under my window’,
This creates a lot of unsettledness in the characters mind and he also states that ‘I had all sorts of queer dreams’. This is typical of Bram Stoker, as he wants to get gothic conventions to work to full effect and excite the reader. By the use of journals and diaries to describe his conventions, Bram Stoker is able to personalise the story and in effect it draws the reader in.
In chapter 2 Jonathan arrives in the so-called ‘unknown world’ of Eastern Europe. When he reaches Dracula’s castle in Transylvania he feels very nervous at his surroundings.
‘For there was a dread loneliness in the pace which chilled my heart and made my nerves tremble’
This quote deals with Jonathan’s description of the remoteness and inaccessibility of Dracula’s gothic castle. This quote is very effective as the writer uses ideas of a very scary and lonely place, where the character feels he is in prison as his starts to become a nervous wreck. Effectively, this has a major impact on the readers as it begins to unsettle them and also it gives an insight of what the ‘unknown’ world is a reminiscent of. Gothic novels tend to feature strong supernatural elements juxtaposed with familiar backdrops: dark and stormy nights and ruined castles riddled with secret passages. Stoker echoes these conventions in this chapter, ‘the cold and desolate mountain pass’, and Harker’s disorienting and threatening ride to Dracula’s castle combine to create a mood of doom and dread.
The description of the castle is where the gothic conventions are introduced; the writer uses adjectives such as ‘hugeness’ and ‘cruelty’ to describe the landscape as being almost human. The valley, the mountains and the castle are all ‘great’; the crags are, ‘jagged; slopes are ‘sheer’ and ‘studded’ these are classic descriptions used to describe the gothic element in the castle and surroundings. The writer creates a sort of a cold and neglected image in the reader’s mind, when he describes the castle.
‘The castle is grim and dark with frowning walls’
This quote suggests that the atmosphere in the surrounding of the castle seem enclosed and very unfriendly, this is a prime example of personification used to create gothic conventions. When he describes these dark places, he creates dramatic situations, which make the reader feel insecure.
Taken from the end of Chapter II, this passage exemplifies the dark and gloomy tone Stoker creates in the novel. The tone of Harker’s journal changes with amazing rapidity as his stay in Castle Dracula progresses. In the course of a single chapter, Jonathan feels ‘stripped of the robes’ of honoured houseguest and considers himself ‘bound like a prisoner’.
Here, Stoker demonstrates his ability to put together the conventions of the Gothic novel, by ‘evoking the ruined castle, the beautiful but overpowering landscape’.
Stoker has mostly introduced gothic conventions when he describes Dracula’s unusual appearances and supernatural abilities; this in effect has some sort of impact on the reader. The most astonishing thing about Dracula is that he has amazing abilities to transform himself into strange creatures, ‘direct the elements: the storm, the fog, the thunder; he can command all the meaner things’. This quote was actually taken from an extract from the speech of Dr Van Helsing. It is very amazing how the author has made someone describes as being so ‘sceptic’ like Dr Van Helsing to believe in Dracula.
More evidence of how Bram Stoker describes Dracula’s supernatural abilities are shown when he writes, ‘he throws no shadow; he make in the mirror no reflect and has the strength of many in his hand’.
The author uses these quotes to describe how Dracula’s supernatural abilities make him so inhumane and different to man. This must have a great deal of an impact on the reader as it adds a lot of excitement in the story and his fictional abilities also add suspense to the story by making it more exhilarating.
The author has introduced many gothic conventions here because he associates Dracula with the creatures of the night, bats, owls and rats. A wolf is also chosen because at the time of Victorians, it would have been associated with the wilderness.
At times we find that Dracula’s behaviour is very rapacious and uncivilised, this is reflected when he is associated with wolves, which are very wild and untamed creatures. So in effect Dracula’s behaviour represents this, he does not have the behaviour of an Englishman but an uncivilised foreigner more akin to a beast then man. In a way this is very gothic because it is beyond the normal and involves very barbarous behaviour.
Examples of this are when he confronts Mina; he approaches her in a very unacceptable manner, which in Victorian society would be considered as being very upsetting and an outrage. In one of the extracts Bram Stoker describes Dracula’s gothic behaviour very effectively,
‘There was something so panther-like in the movement –something so unhuman, that it seemed to sober us all from the shock of his coming’.
Here the reader shares the sense of fear with the narrator because he is telling the story himself, and he gives a very gothic feeling to it. To give the reader a bit of a fright due to the impact of the situation, the author describes Dracula, as ‘the expression on the count’s face was so hellish’. Here the word hellish is the key word because it gives a really strong impact on the reader, and also adds to the gothic atmosphere in the story.
Already we can see that Dracula’s appearance shows that it is very gothic, to try to make a very serious impact on the reader, Bram stoker uses very effective metaphorical language, ‘ His waxen hue became greenish-yellow by the contrast of his burning eyes’ and ‘the red scar on his forehead showed on his pallid skin like a palpitating wound’. These quotes are very effective, the writer has gone in to a lot of detail to describe his features, his burning eyes suggest that there is a great deal of evil inside him and also the simile to describe his wound creates a very vivid image in the readers mind.
In conclusion, Bram Stoker's Dracula turned out to be a very exciting and fascinating novel. The plot was well structured and was very suspenseful. So basically we find out that Bram stoker uses gothic conventions at the right times to create a certain level of fear as well as suspense. One may argue that when Bram Stoker shows Gothic conventions throughout the novel, it determines the changes in familial and social structures taking place throughout the early eighteenth century.
In his descriptions of the castle we find out that he uses many similes and personification to describe the atmosphere he generates. The book probed deeply into people’s superstitions, fears, and beliefs of the supernatural, and how others are sceptic of them are sometimes proved wrong. In all, Dracula is a clever, exciting, and suspenseful novel that uses a ruthless villain to terrify you but forces you to read more.
