Renfield is connected to Dracula by an unseen power, which not only foretells the attempted invasion by Dracula, but also the final outcome. Renfield parallels Dracula need for life (blood) throughout the novel. The novel as a whole is centered on the complex, mysterious creature Dracula. Stoker’s use of the character Renfield functions as an abstract representation for a better understanding of Dracula. The idea of an omnipotent vampire is unbelievable and Renfield provides clarity through his madness.
Bram’s novel is written in a gothic style sometimes referred to as a gothic romance (Garen 3). Bram’s use of the supernatural and the vampyric character as the main character. Dracula’s specific attributes underscore Dracula’s inhumanity. “[… After witnessing Dracula scale the castle wall like a lizard” (1). While Jonathan is struggling in the beginning, when he is trapped within the seemingly inescapability is typical of the Gothic style also the various settings including ghostly landscape of Transylvania, graveyards and Lucy’s tomb in London.
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla: Bram Stoker’s Inspiration for Dracula “3 May. Bistritz. Left Munich at 8:35 p.m.” Abraham Stoker in this unassuming way begins his Gothic masterpiece, Dracula (The Annotated Dracula 1). Dracula has been called ‘imaginative’ and ‘original.’ , and Harry Ludlam calls it “the product of his own vivid imagination and imaginative research” (Senf 41). However, the originality of Stoker's Dracula is in doubt.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a classic example of Gothic writing. Gothic writing was very popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the early centuries, Gothic writing would frighten the audience and it was also used as a style of architecture. Dracula, which was first published in 1897, would definitely cause a shock as there was a supernatural being, roaming around sucking people’s blood by the neck. Gothic literature usually includes vampires, monsters or some type of ancient mystical creature.
Bram Stoker’s fiction novel Dracula is an iconic literary work that still greatly influences the portrayal of vampirism in modern television. For example, aspects of the CW’s drama TV series, The Vampire Diaries, are loosely based on Dracula’s plotline and character constructs. The show is an adapted interpretation of L.J. Smith’s young adult novels, The Vampire Diaries. Both the TV show and the book series feature renditions of original ideas in Dracula that have become popularized, such as the concept of a supernatural, vampiric love triangle.
C. Thesis Statement: Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula, is filled to the brim with gothic elements which gives the reader an atmosphere of mystery and horror. II. BP1/Topic Sentence: Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula, contains many elements of gothic literature pertaining to the setting. A. According to the report written by David De Vore, Anne Domenic, Alexandra Kwan, and Nicole Reidy at UC Davis, “The setting is greatly influential in Gothic novels.
In the late 18th and early 19th century, gothic ways of living were very common in the Eastern part of Europe, especially in the medieval times. A convention can be described as a standard feature or an ingredient of a particular sort of writing and in Dracula Bram stoker uses many Gothic conventions to excite the reader. Bram Stoker uses many Gothic conventions throughout his novel in forms of journeys and quests, the use of diaries, letters and journals, sinister buildings and most importantly strange creatures. Stoker also relies heavily on the conventions of Gothic fiction, a genre that was extremely popular in the early nineteenth century. Gothic fiction traditionally includes elements such as gloomy castles, sublime landscapes, and innocent maidens threatened by indescribable evil.
The existence of vampires is significant to occultism as it is the element of the supernatural. There are also references to religion from the start as the first few chapters of the text explains that there are religious symbols such as crucifixes and the church are also mentioned numerous times. The setting of Dracula’s home is described as a mansion which is an archetypal scene for a gothic novel. In both of the novels, it appears that the want to be young and immortal is always linked with evil, for example with Dorian Grey he starts with being a good character and once he becomes obsessed with his youth, he turns evil. With Dracula he is a vampire and is immortal and seeks other people to also become vampires, which shows that the people are being controlled against their own will and shows Dracula to also be evil.
Fictional literature can be categorized into many different genres: drama, romance, science fiction, tragedy, comedy, horror, and gothic. Gothic fiction borrows from horror by sampling mystery, dire setting, and chilling architecture. Romance is sampled in gothic fiction by the use of characters, firm emotions, and misguided love. Greenblatt writes, " Gothic became a label for the macabre, mysterious, supernatural, and terrifying, especially the pleasurably terrifying, in literature generally; the link that Romantic-period writers had forged between the Gothic and antiquated spaces was eventually loosened" (584). Horace Walpole wrote The Castle of Otranto in 1764.
Anyone who has ever seen one of the several adaptations of Dracula as a movie will know that it was intended to be a horror story. Stoker goes to great lengths in order to create an atmosphere of terror and villainy, while hinting at exciting things to come. Straight from the beginning of the book, foreshadowing is utilized to hint at horrifying future events. As Jonathan Harker was about to depart for Castle Dracula, an old lady accosted him and said, "It is the eve of St. George's Day. Do you not know that to-night when the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things in the world will have full sway?"