The novel starts with the records of Jonathan Harker’s journal. The whole novel is based on letters, diaries, notes, telegrams and newspaper articles. In the very beginning of the novel, we are introduced to Jonathan Harker as he is travelling to Transylvania for business. He is going to visit a customer to finish the purchase of an estate in London. While travelling in the countryside, local people try to persuade him not to go and they give him crucifixes, wild roses and other charms to protect him from the evil. Jonathan does not pay attention to these warnings. The coachman of the Count takes Jonathan from a meeting point and he is directly taken to the castle of Dracula. On his way, he notices the strangeness of the coachman as he is extremely strong and when he whispers to the wolves they calm down. The coachman seems to follow a blue flame and when he reaches to the flame, his body seems translucent.
However, Jonathan thinks his eyes are deceiving him because he is very tired. When they arrive at the castle, the coachman disappears and Jonathan meets the Count.
186 -It’s Your Turn! 2
• Why do you think most of the Dracula’s victims are female? Is it because women are seen as weak? What do you think about the depiction of women in the novel?
• Van Helsing and Dr. Seward are scientists. They use new technologies and are considered as men of logic. At the same time, they use holy water, garlic, and wooden stakes to hunt down the vampires. What do you think about this contradiction?
• When you consider the historical background of Count Dracula, does this give him a noble air? What effect does it create?
• After reading the section about Dracula, do you have a more critical eye towards the events in the novel?
The Count seems so gentle and kind and he welcomes Jonathan to his residence. Jonathan describes the Count in his diary as an old man who speaks perfect English and who is interested in the English culture. As for the physical appearance, he is a tall and thin man with scarlet lips and long white teeth. Although the Count is gentle and displays noble manners towards Jonathan, he soon realizes that he is a prisoner at the Count’s castle. The Count does not let him go out and even warns Jonathan not to pass through the locked doors in case they might be dangerous for him. Count prepares meals for Jonathan and treats him well, but Jonathan plans to find a way to escape from the castle. The Count is planning to move to his estate he bought in London and he asks a lot of questions related to the life in London.
Jonathan discovers that the Count is a supernatural creature. He never eats and does not go out in the daylight. The count also has an ability to crawl downward the castle like a reptile.
Jonathan does not quarrel with the Count and waits for an opportunity for his escape. One day, Jonathan falls asleep in a room in which Count warned him not to fall asleep. Three weird women, supernatural ghostly ones, visit Jonathan after he sleeps and one of them is about to kiss Jonathan when Count saves him in the last minute. Jonathan pretends to sleep, but he hears the Count threaten the women to let Jonathan until he, the Count, is done with him. Jonathan tries to escape and he climbs down the walls and discovers that the Count sleeps in a coffin full of earth.
Meanwhile, Jonathan’s fiancée Mina Murray in England waits for Jonathan to return. She has a friend called Lucy Westenra. Lucy and Mina write each other and from the letters, we learn that Lucy is proposed by three men on the same day: Dr. John Seward who runs a mental institution, Mr. Quincey Morris who is an American adventurer, and Mr. Arthur Holmwood who is a noble English man. Lucy accepts Mr. Holmwood’s proposal. Mina visits Lucy at the seaside town of Whitby. In the meantime, a ship is wrecked near the town and a huge dog is reported to be seen on the dock before it disappears. All crew of the ship is dead and from the Captain’s journal it is understood that the crew disappeared one by one mysteriously. The cargo of the ship includes fifty boxes full of earth sent from the Castle Dracula. Lucy begins sleepwalking and one night Mina realizes that she has gone to the cemetery. Mina thinks she saw a dark and thin figure bending over Lucy, but when she goes near the figure disappears.
Mina sees two tiny red spots on Lucy’s throat and she thinks they are because of the pin she used the previous night while trying to wrap Lucy to keep her warm. Lucy goes on sleepwalking and looks pale and weak. Her condition worsens day by day. After Mina leaves to look after her sick fiancée Jonathan, Dr. Seward calls his mentor Dr. Van Helsing to
mother removes the herbs from the chamber and Lucy becomes vulnerable to further attack.
Van Helsing realizes that Lucy needs blood transfusion. Arthur, Quincey, Dr. Seward and Van Helsing give their blood to Lucy, but unfortunately she dies.
Van Helsing explains to the others that Lucy is now an UnDead and she becomes an evil like creature. At first, the others do not believe Van Helsing but after they see Lucy walking in the cemetery at midnight trying to suck the blood of an infant they are convinced. They decide to destroy Lucy, and Van Helsing tells them that the only way is to plunge a steak through her hearth and cut off her head. They successfully destroy Lucy and the crew pledge to destroy Dracula himself. Van Helsing leads the group and they begin to make plans. Mina helps Van Helsing collect the various diary and journal entries that Harker, Seward, and the others have written, in order to arrive at a narrative that will lead them to the Count. As a result, they decide to destroy the boxes full of earth to destroy the Count since he uses these boxes as a sanctuary. In the meantime, Dr. Seward has a patient called Renfield and he continuously talks about a master. It is realized that the Count is the master and he lives nearby at an estate he bought. Van Helsing, Jonathan, Dr. Seward, Quincey Morris and Arthur Holmwood go to the Count’s estate while Mina stays behind at Dr. Seward’s asylum.
Renfield lets Dracula inside and he preys upon Mina while the others are searching Dracula’s estate. Mina slowly starts to turn into a vampire and others find out that Mina, like Lucy, became the victim of the Count. The crew starts to sterilize the boxes of the Count by visiting the places the Count bought. They destroy all the boxes except one and Dracula manages to escape from them. They soon find out that the last box is shipped to Eastern Europe.
The men pursue the Count to his castle with the help of the hypnosis sessions Van Helsing conducts on Mina as she is bound up with the Count. The men decide to divide their forces to catch the Count. Van Helsing takes Mina with him and they travel to the Castle Dracula.
Vah Helsing kills three vampire women whom Jonathan met in the early chapters. Count Dracula is about to reach his castle when the rest of the men, Dr. Seward, Quincey Morris and Arthur Holmwood arrive. The count is killed, but Quincey also dies as a result of his deadly wounds. Mina is saved and she does not turn into a vampire. Later on we learn that seven years have passed and it is clear that Mina is saved. Mina and Jonathan have a boy named Quincey and they travel to Transylvania this time for a trip.
188 -It’s Your Turn! 3
• Do you think the plot of the novel is exciting? Is there any moment you think that Count Dracula will win?
• How do you think the writer create suspense throughout the novel?
GENRE
Dracula is an example of Gothic fiction which was very popular especially in the 18thand 19thcenturies. The Gothic fiction involves supernatural elements such as ghosts, demons, monsters, goblins and vampires. The settings in Gothic fiction are generally dark and deserted castles, ancient remnants and haunted houses. Although the genre appeared in literature a century before Dracula, it is Dracula that often used as a symbol for Gothic fiction. The Gothic atmosphere created through the Count Dracula’s castle continues throughout the novel. In the first chapters, Jonathan Harker describes the castle as a gloomy and dark castle with many locked doors. The castle is located at the edge of a high hill and is in a deserted landscape. Jonathan describes the castle as:
“The castle is on the very edge of a terrific precipice. A stone falling from the window would fall a thousand feet without touching anything!.... Doors, doors, doors everywhere, and all locked and bolted. In no place save from the windows in the castle walls is there an available exit. The castle is a veritable prison, and I am a prisoner!”
The dark atmosphere of the castle is also visible in the Count’s new estate in London. The house is old, dark and a creepy place similar to the castle in Transylvania. Moreover, the mist and dark weather accompanying the existence of Dracula also serves for the creation of the Gothic atmosphere. The evil deeds of the Count take place at night and the description of the places such as the cemeteries, Dr. Seward’s asylum, Carfax at night helps to bestow horror and fear. In this respect, Stoker modernizes the Gothic literature genre since the Gothic elements are not limited to the dark castle of Dracula. Even in the modern London the Gothic elements are visible.
Other than the elements of Gothic genre, the novel also displays elements of epistolary novel.
In this novel type, the main events are told through the letters of the characters. In Dracula, in addition to the letters all events are told through a variety of documents such as diary or journal entries, newspaper articles, telegrams and so on. As a result, there is no central narrator in the story. The events are told from multiple perspectives and the reader is informed about the character’s secrets, feelings and thoughts with the help of all these documents. The shift among the narrators also creates suspense throughout the novel. The main characters such as Jonathan, Mina, Lucy, Van Helsing and Dr. Seward are all involved in the narration and it is Dracula whom we do not know anything about his real thoughts,