Stories written during the Gothic Era have a dark nature to them. One story that highlights the prime elements of the Gothic Era is Dracula by Bram Stoker. Dracula incorporates the themes of the Gothic Era all throughout the book. Dracula is filled with settings that are isolated, dark, and sinister which are important characteristics of the Gothic Era. It
Throughout the novel, Stoker keeps Count Dracula in the shadows, both literally and figuratively. This essay will describe these appearances and analyze Stoker’s use of them to determine what effect they might have on the impression of the character and the novel overall. It will be claimed that by keeping his title character hidden for much of the novel, Stoker’s Dracula is made much more frightening to the reader. Human beings tend to fear the unknown, and by leaving Dracula to the imagination,
Adrianna Helms EN031 Mid term The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe The Fall of the House of Usher written by Edgar Allen Poe was a gothic horror story. It tells the tale of sickness,madness,incest and danger of the family with unrestrained creativity which was Poe's most popular and critically examined horror stories. While Poe provides the recognizable building blocks of the Gothic tale, he contrasts this standard form with a plot that is inexplicable, sudden, and full of unexpected disruptions. The story begins without complete explanation of the narrator’s motives are for arriving at the house of Usher, and this ambiguity sets the
A good answer is given by Carol A. Senf in his book The Vampire in the 19th Century English Literature where he notes that such beliefs go far beyond the place itself, and that “the vampire was simply one more example of a mysterious subject that appealed” (1988: 21) by virtue of its Orientalism. As he explains it Dracula symbolized an idea of the sensational that attracted the reader, and not the essence of Transylvania or its historical
Introduction Literature has proved to be throughout time a powerful tool for creating enduring myths, legendary characters and fictional stories, making thus the truth irrelevant as long as the narrative was gripping. Such aspects, together with the context and period into which a novel was written brought to life stories that have become immortal and are going to last for eternity. This seems to be the case of the 19th century author Bram Stoker, who, upon fact, legend and fiction brought to life his eponymous vampire: Count Dracula, a sinister and monstrous predator who thrived on the blood of living souls. Regarded by many as the defining work of Gothic fiction, Stoker’s fin-de-sìecle novel achieved a pervasive hold on Western imagination, transforming it into one of the most lasting literary myths of all times. Hence, it comes as no surprise that when we say “vampire” we immediately think of Dracula, and such has been the superstition created around this character that nowadays it is impossible to allude to Romania, and particularly to Transylvania, without thinking of it as the home of Dracula.
“Then the mere consciousness of existence, without thought – a condition which lasted long. Then, very suddenly, thought, and shuddering terror, and earnest endeavor to comprehend my true state.” Poe uses the detailed outlook and description of everything his characters feel and experience, to communicate the feeling of fear and horror to his readers. Poe’s special twist on the gothic element of fear and horror, adds a dark, metacognitive feel to “The Pit and the Pendulum” which makes you, the reader, consider what humanity is, as a whole, truly afraid of. Poe understands what the human race truly fears, and uses that as an advantage, everything his character feels, is so
Twenty-first century female-authored US vampire romances such as the film Twilight, it differed greatly from nineteenth-century male-authored English and Irish vampire classics, for example the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. Edward Cullen, the beloved Gothic vampire, and his love for the human Bella Swan, Meyer spins a romantic narrative that configures racialized gender roles in a way that the contemporary US mainstream reading public would not be inclined to accept unless veiled with the cloak of the supernatural. Twilight, like other contemporary vampire romances, employs the haunted genre of the Gothic not only to promote conservative gender roles that
In the early 18th century a new genre of fiction prose, named "Gothic Novel" was introduced. The term ”Gothic” used to refer to the German tribe of the Goths, and later on signified ”Germanic”, then ”medieval”. The Gothic novel spread over the 19th century and had the popular theme of haunted places such as castles, crypts, gloomy mansions and convents; supernatural elements having the role to intensify the atmosphere. The characteristic motifs of the gothic genre were the strange places, the supernatural, magic objects, monsters, demons, science used for bad purposes. And many of them appears also in "The Picture of Dorian Gray" The protagonist is both good and bad, both handsome and ungly by his character and the picture, his own portrait, represents Dorian 's inner soul.
Bram Stoker had six siblings and was born to upper-middle-class Irish Protestant parents on 8th November 1947. His most famous work is considered to be ‘Dracula’ which overshadowed his other works and claimed the throne of his masterpiece. The gothic masterpiece published in the late nineteenth century in 1897 still retains its title of classic with its representation of the accumulated Carpathian Mountains folklores and myths through the presentation of the story in the form of letters, Journal entries and clippings of the newspaper articles by one of the character from the story Mina exhibits the gothic element of dread and mysteriousness through its first person perspective linking the reader with the events in the present time thus making the exploration and the expansion of the plot to occur at the same time as the character unfolds them. The novel ‘Dracula’ established the concept of vampires though not original holistically but still its eminent creation of the vampires in the catalogue of the eerie and ghostly creatures can be seen still in the modern society, where people who have not even read this novel knows about the superstitions of how to kill a vampire and the list of things that could protect them like Christian cross and garlic, etc. The modern day vampire adaptations repeats on the original motifs created by Bram stoker and thus makes the presence of the Dracula in the classic fiction as an indispensable status.
Since Dracula was written in the Victorian era it’s important to acknowledge the differences between our societal hierarchies. This major difference allows certain people to have more control over one another which leads to conflicts. Allowing people to have control leads to dehumanization which further causes inequality. Bram Stoker introduces Dracula 's character as a noble count who enjoys staying in Transylvania due to his well known fame. This position of power ultimately allows Dracula to plot monstrous schemes revolving Jonathan Harker, however, Harkers living testimony reveals Dracula 's true nature as a bloodthirsty vampire.