"There, on our favourite seat, the silver light of the moon struck a half-reclining figure, snowy white... something dark stood behind the seat where the white figure shone, and bent over it. What it was, whether man or beast, I could not tell." -Bram Stoker, Dracula
Book: Dracula
Author: Bram Stoker
Year Published: 1897
Analysis
Dracula is a strangely beautiful, and endearing work of horror. It is composed of the narratives of five characters, the diaries and letters of Jonathan Harker, Mina Harker, Dr. John Seward, Dr. Abraham Vanhelsing, and Lucy Westerna. The book begins with the diary of Jonathan Harker, a London solicitor who travels to the home of Count Dracula to complete a business transaction. Count Dracula's house, an ancient mansion hidden deep within the Carpathian mountains, quickly becomes a prison for poor Jonathan. Stoker's description of the Count, and his brides is hauntingly realistic. Through pop culture, vampires have sort of lost their ability to evoke fear, and become cliched, even ridiculous. However, Dracula is where the icon originated. Dracula is a true horror story, and it is quite capable of inciting fear, and wonder, even in a generation that has become all but jaded with "the vampire". Dracula in many ways seems to be Bram Stoker's idea of the devil incarnate, an image that the modern reader will find in sharp contrast to Stephanie Meyer's sparkly romantic hero, Edward Cullen. However, the novel is not solely a horror story. It is a portrait of 6 fine people that are drawn together by a fearful series of events. The characters are the force that motivates the story and makes it so immensely readable. Stoker develops his characters to a level that many writers neglect, and this is what makes Dracula so enjoyable for a horror story. The story begins with Jonathan Harker, and works its way through the stories of Lucy, Mina and Dr. Seward and eventually these individuals, along with Dr. Van Helsing, Lord Godalming, and Quincey Morris, are pulled together by a common thread. In the process Stoker knits a warm, wonderful group of friends that mitigate the darkness of the novel. The only flaw I found was that the language could be a bit repetitive in some places, however, the endearing characters more than made up for this minor defect. While Dracula is filled with plenty of eerie moments that have an uncanny disturbing your peace, it is also brimming with admirable, noble characters that will linger in your heart longer than the fear.
*Spoiler Alert*
Thoughts about the ending:
I was thoroughly relieved that Dracula ended happily. Of course, there were a few deaths, but that couldn't have been avoided. I was just pleased that there wasn't a bleak, haunting ending. Everyone finds peace at the novel's conclusion, including the reader.
Favorite Passage
"Today is a gray day, and the sun as I write is hidden in thick clouds, high over Kettleness. Everything is grey except the green grass, which seems like emerald amongst it, gray earth rock, gray clouds, tinged with the sunburst at the far edge, hang over the gray sea, into which the sandpoints stretch like gray figures. The sea is tumbling in over the shallows and the sandy flats with a roar, muffled in the sea-mists drifting inland. The horizon is lost in a gray mist. Al vastness, the clouds are piled up like giant rocks, and there is a 'brool' over the sea that sounds like some passage of doom." Bram Stoker, Dracula, Chapter 6: Mina Murray's Journal
