The Influence Of Fear In Bram Stoker's Dracula

Ray Bradbury’s, Fahrenheit 451, is an alarming science fiction classic novel and a powerful commentary on humankind’s urge to suppress what it doesn’t understand. In this dystopian fictional world books are illegal; they are burned to a crisp when found. Books are very powerful. They come with knowledge, and knowledge can bring fear. Fear many times is something one cannot understand. To understand, one must know why one fears. Guy Montag in Fahrenheit 451 realizes this importance of the knowledge in books when he meets a young woman; Clarisse McClellan. Clarisse is an outsider, a very different type of girl. When she meets Montag, Clarisse sparks a change in him. Her curiosity and questioning is so unique that Montag is struck by her. He

            Another important element in creating a good horror story is of course mood, and there are many descriptive passages in Dracula that demonstrate mood.  A great example is in the first chapter of the book, "They were a hundred times more terrible in the grim silence which held them than even when they howled.  For myself, I felt a sort of paralysis of fear."  (Stoker, 12).  This takes place still in the first chapter of Jonathan Harker's journal, when the driver calls to the wolves and then "commands" them to become silent.  Here, the event that the last quote was hinting at is at last revealed, and the quote above summarizes the mood of the protagonist at this point.  He was "paralyzed with fear", meaning that he was so fearful that he could not even move.  Stoker is very proficient at including vivid descriptions of mood in order to create a haunted atmosphere.

Placing two opposite people in the same exact situation can reveal truth about how the human mind works. Differing personalities, decisions made, and impulses of each person influence their destiny. The use of the characters Lucy Westerna and Mina Harker in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, give insight into how certain types of humans think and how decisions they make determine their future. Lucy and Mina have such different views and reactions when placed in an uncertain situation such as being bit by a vampire. By examining the psychology of the characters, Lucy and Mina, it is revealed that through their opposing characteristics when placed in the same situation that the factors of fear, fascination, uncertainty, instincts, and capability to

More commonly, in order to represent themes of the unknown, various recurring motifs are used to enhance to further establish fear amongst responders. There are various techniques that are used particularly in Dracula to enhance a fear of the unknown, the use of doors is a prominent example. Doors are used to are used to represent a barrier to what is the unknown. What is behind a door is unknown to both the the character and the responder, creating an overall fear and anxiety as to what it might be. An example of the repetition of this particular motif can be observed in the quotation, “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. 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!” In the course of a single chapter, Harker feels stripped

Stoker’s childhood has caused many conspiracies surrounding the essence of his writing. He was a sick boy, bedridden for the first seven years of his life due to an unknown illness. He was, in a sense, paralyzed and unable to move from his bed with only his mother to entertain him with tales of ghosts, goblins, and demons, with help from the shadows playing on the wall. He later grew out of the illness, went to school and became a star athlete with no serious health problems. He published his first writing, a handbook, in 1879 around the age of forty-two, then gave us the literary classic Dracula in 1897.

In literature there are many different genres, one of the older and more established genre is the horror genre. This genre has been known for beyond centuries. Since humanity has existed we have always had an urge to be scared. It has always been exciting to get a so called “adrenaline shock”. In today’s society there are a lot more options to get the adrenalin pumping such as skydiving or bungee-jumping etc. Before all this technology came in hand people told horror stories to each other. One of the most mentioned horror stories is probably Dracula. The original story is written by Bram Stoker and has been adapted for the screen as an American romantic horror film directed and produced by Francis Ford Coppola. On the following pages, I have analyzed the horror film “Dracula”.

Desire and fear some of the most prominent emotions exhibited in Dracula. Bram Stoker, Nosferatu, F.W. Murnau, Dracula, Tod Browning, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Francis Ford Coppola. “Human characters are caught up in the struggle between these emotions when it comes to vampires; this opposition drives forward the different plots… vampire attributes such as physical attraction, sexuality, power and thoughtless violence are common threads throughout the studied works. Characters in these stories fear the powerful abilities of vampires, yet show an unmistakable pull towards them. The vampires in all of these works incorporate physical attraction, sensuality, and awesome power. They often use this superhuman strength

There are many things a novel or movie can have in it to change or influence the mood of the novel or movie. Like in a scary movie, when you hear the petrifying music, it send chills down your spine and lets the watchers know that something scary is about to happen. In “Dracula” by Bram Stoker, Stoker creates a gothic mood through the whole novel by using ill-fated deaths, unnerving surroundings, and thoughts of fear to influence this mood.

Bram Stoker could of have many reason to write this book, but the number one reason I believe he wrote this book is because of his interest in the supernatural. In the book Dracula Stoker many times speaks about the vampires

In 1897, Bram Stoker took a risk in writing Dracula and become one of the most acclaimed and well-known authors in history. Stoker’s leap of faith help to lead to a whole new genre. Dracula was one of the first horror stories to ever be published. Another way that Stoker chose to be unique is the way that he wrote the stories in first-person journal entries which help the reader to better understand each character and their personal feelings. Bram Stoker will always be remembered because he is the creator of Dracula and Vampirism. The influence that Stoker was able to make through Dracula is phenomenal and will live on until the end of time. Today, everywhere we look we see a little bit of Dracula, from movies to tv series, to books and blogs. The list never ends with vampire and werewolf themes.

As Stoker recognized, classic horror is close to tragedy, and in a work of classic horror, there are elements of pity and fear, pity for the vampire's situation but fear of his menace. Careful readers of Dracula are at the same time sympathetic to and repelled by Dracula. Coppola, despite the best of intentions, creates a work in which there is far more pity than fear; the sympathy finally overwhelms the repulsion. (Holte 85)

Dracula written by Bram Stoker was one of the few very few novels I read that contain a lot of suspense. This novel is typically the book I would avoid because I do not like novels that contain violence. Despite reading this book out of my comfort zone I actually enjoyed reading it more than I thought I would. One thing I liked about the novel was how each Stoker wrote the book as journals or diaries from each character, which was very neat. I also liked that each journal and diary had a date, it made the novel very organized as a whole.

The book Dracula, written by Bram Stoker, is an incredibly gothic novel. Throughout this book there are many elements of gothic horror. Some of these include, Dracula's inexplicable powers, the atmosphere of mystery and suspense, and the settings that take place. These are just some of the examples of why Dracula is a gothic horror book.

A large chapter of Bram’s childhood took place in his bed, where he had a bell to ring his mother’s attention. But as more siblings joined the family, his mother’s attention was forced to be divided. During those first seven years of his life, he heavily depended on his mother’s company. Bram’s mother would tell young Bram scary folklore tales of gothic Ireland. Ireland of the 1850’s was full of superstitious creatures and folk legends, and Bram’s mother knew them all. Many experts from today claim that this period of time in Bram’s life shaped the foundation of all imagination for his future gothic literature. Bram Stoker was introduced to scary stories early, and consistently while growing up in his household isolated in his bed from the outside (Whitelaw,12).

This quote tells us how the author displays horror and tries to show these traits so as to engage the audience in the story, they make the story more interesting and fun to read. Passos Jona in her well credited article Postmodern Gothic: Teen Vampires states “In Gothic Studies, Dracula, 1 has become a classic model of horror stories, granting its main character, Count Dracula, a life of his own outside the scope of the novel as a sort of popular myth or archetype of vampire characters” (Passos 1). This article by Passos explains why Dracula is one of the best Gothic horror novels and how horror is being portrayed in the novel. She talks about how Count Dracula shows horror and different sexual meanings hidden in the story.