Dracula By Bram Stoker: The Elements Of Gothic Literature

A classic, written in 1897, that depicts the elements of gothic literature with the ideas of the Victorian Era, is a horror story called Dracula. Written by Bram Stoker, the adventure is told in an epistolary format, narrated in multiple perspectives through journals, letters, and newspaper articles. Dracula was based off of a real life ruler of Romania, named Vlad Dracul III. It takes place mainly in England, but also in other various places of Europe. Moreover, it is about a group of seven people – Jonathan Harker, Mina Murray, Abraham Van Helsing, Dr. John Seward, Quincey Morris, and Arthur Holmwood – who goes on an expedition to end Dracula’s raid of killing off young women and children for his sake. The book carries many parts of suspense
Gothic elements tend to have these common characteristics. Few of them include: “The Gothic, a literary movement that focused on ruin, decay, death, terror, and chaos, and privileged irrationality and passion over rationality and reason…” (“Gothic Literature” 281). These are some of the elements that were common in the late 18th and early 19th century literature. One example of a gothic element evident in the novel is the use of a doppelganger. The carriage driver and Dracula were the same person because of the description of their strengths by Jonathan Harker. “…the driver helping me with a hand which caught my arm in a grip of steel; his strength must have been prodigious” (Stoker 11). Also, the strength of Dracula is described as “The strength of the handshake was so much akin to that which I had noticed in the driver…” (16). Jonathan Harker had not yet noticed, but the person driving the carriage to the castle in Transylvania was the same devil that had greeted him from inside the castle: Dracula. Throughout the plot, there is the buildup of suspense, which is another gothic
Another gothic element in the story is the death of a young woman. The young woman mentioned in the story of Dracula is Lucy Westerna. She dies primarily as a normal, innocent young woman: “And then Lucy’s breathing became stertorous again, and all at once it ceased” (Stoker 173). After her death, she comes back to life as a vampire, but again dies. “Arthur placed the point over the heart, and as I looked I could see its dint in the white flesh. Then he struck with al hiss might” (231). Arthur Holmwood had killed the Un-Dead, which was Lucy, for the final time to set her tainted soul free. Furthermore, another major gothic element in the story is the darkness and decay description of the castle of Dracula. “Gothic writers generally set their novels in wild landscapes; in large, often ruined, castles…” (“Gothic Literature” 290). The darkness is described by Jonathan when he says: “…a vast ruined castle, from whose tall black windows came no ray of light, from whose broken battlements showed a jagged line against the moonlit sky” (Stoker 14). This description also gives us a little taste of the decay of the castle, but is more obvious from the description by the Count: “Moreover, the walls my castle are broker; the shadows are many, and the wind breathes cold through the broken battlements and casements” (25). These descriptions gives and image of the darkness and the state of decay the castle is