The Influence Of Stoker’s Descriptions Of Settings In Dracula

Dracula is a novel set in Transylvania at the end of 19th century. A period of rapid change that witnessed modernization. From rural east Europe to Victorian England to the industrial Revolution. The scientific revolution and its revolutionary theories have been a threat to the traditional religious beliefs and practices. Bram Stoker raises the problem of blindly following scientific theories as well as religious doctrines. The truth we think of today may not be true tomorrow. We should not forget the lessons of rural history. They might teach us something we may need.

It is compelling to look at the setting and time because they offer a unique view of history that allows us to see divergence between cultures and how they compare. It was a period of great confusion in Victorian England 19th century. Many women died from unknown diseases (tuberculosis). You will also experience lethargy, vomiting, and paleness. The book contains almost identical symptoms to vampirism. This could be what inspired Lucy Westenra to afflict Mina Harker. In the book sexuality is also discussed. Victorian women expected their females to be gentle, pure and beautiful. The unclean affliction that is seductive vampirism is another contentious topic. Castle Dracula’s home is in Transylvania. The distance that separates England from Transylvania goes beyond the literal. It represents the gap between progress and the outlook to superstition in these two countries. Transylvania signifies the tradition past, and England represents the modern secular world. Bram Stoker uses setting to establish key elements of Dracula’s gothic world. This is crucial for creating suspenseful and intriguing characters. This can also be seen through Mina Harker’s description Whitby as well as Jonathan Harker’s account of Harker’s journey into Carpathian mountains. Both of these passages emphasize the beauty and mystery of the area, which creates heightened tension. Jonathan Harker’s account reveals this better. His description of Whitby as a wild and unknown area of Europe is filled with myths and legends. In fact, Whitby Abbey is perceived as a ruin that holds in the “white woman” and this perception persists throughout the novel. As Mina and Jonathan face imminent terror, they are repeatedly reminded of the darkness and “grim” of Transylvania’s nightfall. These two passages prefigure the arrival and departure of Count Dracula. Setting is a great way to create suspense. The result is a feeling of excitement about an “atmosphere” which will soon transform into an “opressive sensation of thunder.” This forces the reader to acknowledge the fear of what lies ahead.

Jonathan Harker begins his journey through Transylvania to the Carpathian Mountaines with reassuringly beautiful scenery. Stoker quickly exploits the illusion of security created by “a bewildering masses of fruit blossom” on a “green sloped land”. He leaves the reader in complete awe of this mysterious and far-away place. “The mighty hills” are said “to have toered” Harker. While the “jagged stone” and “pointed rock” of Harker’s mountains make Harker seem more daunting than his homeland of Britain, the mountain landscape is frightening and highlights its differences.

The book’s central theme is the unknown and foreign land of the East. Transylvania was described as an “imaginative whirlpool”, while Harker noted that “everything known about superstition in this world is gathered within the horseshoes of the Carpathians.” In other words, a place created by Stoker is neither material nor locatable, and therefore unnerving to Victorian audiences who had previously seen imperialism’s boundaries across the globe. In the first chapters of the novel, Harker admits that the West has lost its civilized and comforts.

There were many things I didn’t know. Hay-ricks in the trees and, where appropriate, weeping Birch masses.” Stoker used Emily Gerard’s The Land Beyond the Forest (the English translation to “Transylvania”) for factual information. Because Victorians wanted to discover and gain knowledge of remote lands, the setting of books was important to their overall disposition.

Stoker suddenly refers to the setting in a different way, which causes a significant shift in mood. Although the Carpathians’ setting was once both exotic and beautiful, it is now eerie and mysterious. Harker observes that “the night’s shadows began to creep around” him. This is an indication of the changes that occur when daytime ends. Stoker ensures the reader is aware Harker’s increasing fear about “the shadows and the night began to creep around us.” This is proof of the strange change that occurs when daytime ends. The “ghostlike clouds” (and later, the “dark and rolling clouds”) glide “ceaselessly across the valleys” to create an enclosing effect.

Stoker wants to create the metonymy between gloom and terror, which is a hallmark of gothic drama. Metonymy, which is a subtype or type of metaphor, uses one thing -here, darkness and gloom -to signify something else -here, mystery, and the supernatural. The novel’s first chapter is set in darkness for a long time. The horror is expected to culminate in darkness. The plot is heightened like a lot in gothic literature, including The Mysterious Stranger (1860), believed to have influenced Stoker. The entire text contributes towards the author’s intentions, including metaphors, such “snakelike vertebra…of the roads” — all used for gothic intrigue and suspense.

Mina Harker describes Whitby’s most distinctive gothic features. To allow suspense to build up, it is important to ease the tension. The “beautiful scene” in Whitby Abbey’s churchyard and the “romantic pieces” at Whitby Abbey soothe the nerves. Whitby’s setting is therefore similar to that of the Carpathians. Mina, however, emphasizes the homely atmosphere by saying, “This beautiful place is beautiful.”

Whitby’s setting is crucial in understanding gothic tragedy. Its mysterious history and “legend” of Whitby Abbey are key to understanding it. Stoker makes reference to the influence the sea exerts on Whitby. This becomes apparent when Dracula arrives in Whitby under a severe tempest.

Stoker creates an atmosphere of fear and dread that emphasizes the danger of the unknown. Whitby is clearly concerned with the unanswered legends and the eerie cries of its sea. Stoker’s character Mina Harker, which is a fictionalized English village, intrigues one.

The foundations of Dracula were laid by Stoker’s technical use of setting. Stoker creates a mood change through setting and the effects of darkness. The claustrophobic anticipation and suspense of gothic drama is evident in Harker’s Carpathians narrative. Mina Harker’s narration of the Carpathians suggests history and an ancient legend.

Whitby’s account shows that Whitby isn’t comfortable with his surroundings. It is a sign that terror will follow.

Victorian audiences were attracted to the notion of the supernatural and the mysterious because of their fear of the unknown. Setting up a background to support the action was one of these key elements. Both selected passages explore these ideas to great effect. Readers are left intrigued and drawn in to a plot that promises terror, anxiety, and fear.