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Common Motifs In Dracula By Bram Stoker

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Dracula, written by Bram Stoker, created one of the most terrifying characters in literature--Count Dracula, whose heinous passions are preying upon the innocent, helpless and the beautiful. Not only did Stoker create a memorable villainous character, but he also created one of the most memorable gothic horror novels known today. Gothic horror novels are known for being creatively eerie and entertaining, and they all use more than one common motif. Stoker was able to create an absolute masterpiece using plenty of these common motifs. Three common motifs that are seen within Dracula are cemeteries, dreaming, nightmares or sleepwalking, and shapeshifting. These three motifs were prominent in the novel, and were used to create one of the …show more content…

Our sleepwalker in Dracula is Lucy, and her act of sleepwalking is what causes her vampirism. In chapter eight, Mina records a night of Lucy’s sleepwalking activity and the horrors that follow. Mina wakes up one night with a horrible sense of fright and finds that Lucy is not in her bed. She sets out to find Lucy and discovers her sitting in their favorite seat just across the harbour to the East Cliff. As Mina approaches Lucy, she sees a dark figure with a white face and red eyes leaning over her. Mina runs toward Lucy and finds her with her head lying over the back of the seat, with no living thing about her. Mina soon discovers two red marks on Lucy’s neck and believes that these were caused by her trying to tighten a shawl around her. Little does Mina know that this is just the beginning of Lucy’s transformation into a …show more content…

The reader is always wondering about Lucy’s sleepwalking and where she will end up at in the morning. Sleepwalking not only keeps the reader curious about where Lucy will end up at, but also curious about her health. With Lucy’s sleepwalking, she becomes very ill and eventually needs multiple blood transfusions just to keep her alive. She also appears more beautiful when asleep and more sick when awake. The shapeshifting motif is also seen widely within the gothic horror genre of novels. Stoker uses this motif as the transformation between Dracula and different animals he changes into. Some of the transformations seen are Dracula turning into a bat and wolf, both are significant. Howling wolves are seen throughout the whole novel and foreshadow Dracula’s arrival. Dracula changing into a bat is a widely seen transformation within vampire movies today, however the transformation into a wolf is seen more within

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