Dracula takes place in the late 19th century and is set in London and Transylvania. The novel is mapped out in the form of letters and journal entrys written by the major characters in the book. Our story begins with Jonathan Harker's journal. He is a young British solicitor who has been sent by his law firm to Transylvania to meet Count Dracula who lives in a castle high up in the Carpathian Mountains. Dracula is planning to purchase an estate in London and Jonathan Harker will be staying at the castle to complete the paper work. But shortly after he arrives in Transylvania it becomes clear that the villagers are terrified of the mysterious Count and they plead with Harker to return home and once Jonathan arrives at Dracula's estate it becomes clear that he has made a big mistake:
"I saw the whole man slowly emerge from the window and crawl down the castle wall over that dreadful abyss, face down, with his cloak spreading out around him like great wings. At first I could not believe my eyes. I thought it was some trick of the moonlight, some weird effect of shadow, but I kept looking and it could be no delusion ... What manner of man is this, or what manner of creature is it in the semblance of man? I feel the dread of this horrible place overpowering me ; I am in fear -- in awful fear -- and there is no escape for me".
The novel then shifts to London where we meet Mina Murray who is Jonathan Harker's fiance and her best friend Lucy Westerna who is also engaged to be married. Mina and Lucy are good hearted young woman and Lucy must be quite ravishing since she receives three proposals of marriage, one from Dr. John Seward who runs a hospital nearby, another from Quincy Morris a wealthy Texan, and finally from the Hon Arthur Holmwood whose proposal Lucy accepts.
Lucy is not a flirt. She has a tender heart and though she chooses Arthur Holmwood she feels terrible about hurting Dr. Seward and Quincey Morris. Mina and Lucy are great friends but they are different. Its been said by critics that Mina with her practicality, her job as a school mistress and her shorthand skills represents the new woman who was emerging in late Victorian England whereas Lucy with her innocence and sheltered knowledge of the world represents the young ladies of an earlier age.
And then Lucy becomes ill, growing more pale and sleeping all the time. Mina is concerned. She is also concerned about her fiance Jonathan Harker who she hasn't heard from recently. Dr. Seward is called in to help Lucy. Albert Holmwood and Quincey Morris are called in as well. One would think that these three men who were rivals for Lucy's affection would be at each other's throats, so to speak, but their love for Lucy gives them a shared purpose and they become very good friends. Dr. Seward stumped at what is wrong with Lucy calls in his old professor and mentor from Denmark, Dr. Abraham Van Helsing who is a brilliant diagnostician. He begins to piece things together and realizes that something very old and evil is at work.
Meanwhile, Mina Harker and her husband Jonathan, who was able to escape Dracula's castle, are back in London and horrified to learn of what has happened to Lucy. They join forces with Dr Seward, Quincey Morris, Albert Holmwood and Van Helsing to track down Count Dracula, who after the start of the book doesn't appear in the novel as often as one might think. Instead Dracula is the story of these six friends who consult each other's journals and letters to piece together Dracula's whereabouts and put an end to his plans to create an army of monsters like himself.
Dracula is a classic of horror literature but what suprised me is that it's also a very good Victorian novel. If you are a fan of the Vampire genre, this book is where it all began. I'm glad I read Dracula and I encourage others to give this book a try as well.
I read this book a few years ago and on the whole, I found it very entertaining. I know some readers lament Mina’s reduced role in the book but I thought, for a Victorian novel, she was great and showed a lot of agency and intelligence. And I really liked the way the story was told, in l letters, clippings and journal entries.
ReplyDeleteI think my favorite part was the story of the ghost ship arriving in Whitby. I found it legitimately frightening.
Also, the image of that one asylum inmate who ate flies while waiting for his master to liberate him. After reading it, I realized I had seen iterations of that kind of mesmerized zombie waiting for their “master” in films and T.V. before, I just didn’t know the source!
Hi Ruthiella, I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about this novel when I finished it but I enjoyed it a great deal too. I also liked Mina and I considered her a smart and very courageous woman who didn't fall apart when things turned very bad for her but joined with her friends to hunt down Dracula.
DeleteI like this but boon a lot. Though some of its themes seem to be old fashioned, its plot seems to have held up over the years.
ReplyDeleteI have now become curious about some of the other early vampire novels.
Hi Brian, I too would like to read Camilla now that I have read Dracula. I thought the first part of Dracula was interesting too when Harker arrives in Transylvania and sees the countryside and stays at the inn. It seemed like an interesting town to write about and I kept thinking where are the 19th century Eastern European novels set in Romania, Poland, Hungary and for that matter Greece, Spain, Italy etc. I am sure local novels were being written in all of these countries and yet when it comes to 19th century European literature we know of Britain, France, Russia and it ends there. We get a glimpse of what life was like in Transylvania in the late 19th century but an entire novel set in that location and what the people were like would be fascinating.
ReplyDeleteI love this book! I love the way it's told, and the quiet building of suspense throughout. And Mina is such a strong heroine! This is definitely one of my favorite classics. :D
ReplyDeleteHi Lark, I liked this book too. It certainly builds suspense and though there are some scenes that are gory the bulk of the book is not and Mina was a really strong heroine. I also liked the way the six friends joined together as a group to stop Dracula and Renfield too did his part to save the day.
DeleteI've read Dracula many times, partly because I taught it. I've also loved several pastiches based on the original. Even the criticisms of the book are interesting, as my students discovered.
ReplyDeleteHi Jenclair, Agree the criticisms of Dracula are very interesting and the Oxford World Classics edition contains a marvelous introduction by Roger Luckhurst. He really goes into detail about what the author might have been trying to say and he really knows Gothic literature and 19th century Victorian England.
DeleteSo glad you picked this for your abandoned classic. I loved it when I read it and have been meaning to reread it. I liked the way Stoker told the story--the bits of newspaper articles, the diaries, the medical notes, etc. all gave it such a real feel to me. And, the cast of characters was great.
ReplyDeleteI found The Historian, which is a fairly recent sort of sequel to Dracula, to be really good as well.
Now, I have to decide if I will actually try to tackle one of my abandons for the challenge, or just miss that category. I'm sort of running out of time!
Hi Jane, I too enjoy novels told in diary and letter form if its done well and I felt that in Dracula it was done very well. With the exception of the Count, the characters were a brave and honorable group. I would like to check out The Historian some time next year. I know what you mean about running out of time to complete the Challenge. Is there an abandoned classic that you have wanted to read under 200 pages? That might be the way to go.
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