The Supernatural And Reality In Bram Stoker's Dracula

In the novel Dracula, author Bram Stoker creates a peculiar situation that pushes the main characters to decipher the supernatural from reality. Originally thought of as a myth, Dracula quickly becomes something more than the supernatural. By slowly building the conflict of Dracula himself, Stoker depicts all stages of the change from believing that Dracula is a fictitious character to being face to face with Dracula himself. As he terrorizes the lives of the characters in the novel, they soon come to the realization that Dracula is more than what they formerly believed, and in actuality he is their harsh reality. As Jonathan found himself lying in a hospital bed after being held prisoner by Dracula, he was thought to be delirious by his doctors and nurses. Jonathan was acting in strange ways and saying strange things, which led the nurses to assumed that it was due to his presumed illness. This is exactly what one of the nurses wrote to Mina in a letter, “He has had some fearful shock—so says our doctor—and in his delirium his ravings have been dreadful; of wolves and poison and blood; of ghosts and demons; and I fear to say of what. Be careful with him always that there may be nothing to excite him of this kind for a long time to come; the traces of such an illness as his do not lightly die away” (page 86). The nurse believes that the possibility of wolves, poison, blood, ghosts, and demons existing is inconceivable and absolutely preposterous. She down plays Jonathan’s