ABRAHAM STOKER

An Irish novelist and an amazing short story writer. He

attended Trinity College, he also studied mathematics and
when he was a business manager for the world famous
Lyceum Theatre in London, he started to write a lot of
sensational novels and stories, which later were published
in magazines.He married the twenty-year-old Florence
Balcombe, winning her hand from her other suitor, a young
Irish playwright called Oscar Wilde.He travelled a lot in
America and Canada.Reading Romanian history, he was
influenced a lot by the personality of Vlad the Impalerand
also by Transylvanian superstitions and folklore, which
made him to write the Dracula legend, published in
May,1897. He died in April 1912 in London, survived by his
wife and only one child, Noel.
The title
Dracula is a metaphorical title,
which means the son of the
dragon, has a strong connection
with the story, because the story
is about Count Dracula, the most
cruel vampire of all the times
from Tansylvania.
Plot Structure
This story is told through diaries entries, newspaper
articles and personal letters.
SETTING comprises a brief description of the
courtyard of the Counts castle: May 5
th
In the
gloom the courtyard looked of considerable size,
and as several dark ways led from it under great
round arches it perhaps seemed bigger than it
really is.
I stood close to a great door, old and studded with
large iron nails, and set in a projecting doorway
of massive stone.

Rising action
The author describes Johnathan uneasy feelings, caused by that strange place, who was a young
solicitor on the way to Transylvania to give information to the Count Dracula about his new estate
in London.
The door was opened by a tall old man, with a white moustache, and all dressed in black.
The author introduces Draculas character as an wonderful host, who even carried Johnathans
luggage and comfort the guest. He spoke an excellent English, but he never smoke or dined with
Johnathan, just chatted till the morning, before the crow of the cock.
There is also the physical description of the Count Dracula:
His face was a strong a very strong aquiline, with high bridge of the thin nose and peculiarly
arched nostrils; with lofty domed forehead, and hair growing scantily round the temples, but
profusely elsewhere. His eyebrows were very massive, almost meeting over the nose, and with
bushy hair that seemed to curl in its own profusion. The mouth, so far as I could see it under the
heavy moustache, was fixed and rather cruel-looking, with peculiarly sharp white teeth; these
protruded over the lips, whose remarkable ruddiness showed astonishing vitality in a man of his
years. For the rest, his ears were pale and at the tops extremely pointed; the chin was broad and
strong, and the cheeks firm though thin.
His hands had seemed rather white and fine, but seeing now them close to me, I could not but notice
that they were rather coarse broad, with squat fingers.Strange to say , there were hairs in the
centre of the palm.
It may have been that his breath was rank, but a horrible feeling of nausea came over me, which, do
what I do, I could not conceal.
Johnathan Harker
There is given the
description of
Johnathan from the
letter of agent Peter
Hawkins: a young
man, full of energy,
talent in his own way,
discreet, silent.
He spent all the time in Draculas library, he
couldnt walk through the castle, because all
the doors were locked and, many times he
was stopped by the appearance of Count
Dracula in a not appropriate moment.They
spoke a lot about the new house of Dracula
in London, which looked more than an old
chapel from the medieval times.
CLIMAX
The climax is when Johnathan was shaving in front
of his shaving-glass and heard Counts
voice:Good Morning behind him, but there was
no reflection of Count Dracula in the mirror,
except Johnathans.
The evil qualities are brought upin the following
situation:When Count saw my face, because
Johnathans blood was trickling over his chin, his
eyes blazed with a sort of demoniac fury, and he
suddenly made a grab at my throat.
FALLING ACTION
But his fury passed when his hand touched the
Johnathans crucifix. Then, the Count Dracula,
with his terrible hands openned the heavy
window and threw out the shave-glass, which
was a wretched thing for him.there were no
mirrors in his castle.
Denouement
The story ends, how Johnathan had his breakfast
again alone and he came to the conclusion
that he was a prisoner: The castle is a
veritable prison and I am a prisoner!
There were no chance of escape, because all the
doors were locked and the castle was built on
the corner of great rock.
The main idea is do not judge by
appearance.
The themes:
Emigration, because
Count Dracula was
looking for more
human bodies in
another place.
Obsession, his obsession
for sucking the blood of
living people.
The message is to avoid
peculiar people and to
survive in this world full
of unexpected events
and unpredictable
moments of our life.
Conflicts
EXTERNAL
The conflict between
Count Dracula and
Johnathan, who was
feeling as a toy in the
hands of Dracula.
INTERNAL
The conflict inside of
Count Dracula, who was
fighting with his
obsession for blood and
desire for having a
house in London.
STYLISTIC DEVICES
METONYMY:wolves children of the night;
ENUMERATION:to share its life, its change, its
death and all that makes it what it is;
DIRECT METAPHOR: The castle is a veritable
prison
METAPHOR:bright voluptuousness of much
sunshine;
EPITHETS:sparklings waters;preternatural
shrilness;prodigious help.
DETACHMENTS:Presently, with an excuse, he left
me;Moreover, the walls of my castle are
broken;It is not, however, visible from the
grounds
REPETITION:We are in Transylvania; and
Transylvania is not England; our ways are not
your ways;But I am not in heart to describe
beauty, for when I had seen the view I explored
further; doors,doors,doors everywhere, and all
locked and bolted.
INTERJECTIONS: But,alas!;Aha!
POLYSYDENTON:When I came in, he cleared the
books and papers from the table; and with him
I went into plans and deeds and figures of all
sorts.
CONCLUSION
The legendary horror novel
DRACULA never will be forgotten
and will remain the subject of many
movies, because a masterpiece
never disappears.