I feel Bram Stoker’s Dracula is “the next step” for Gothic Literature. The novels we have read in class have been chronological (perhaps on purpose?), and when I read Dracula, I can’t help but feel it takes all the tropes, and designs one step further. Lets talk about Count Dracula. It has a Gothic Villain, but he has this sense of… Class about him. In the first few chapters, he is well reserved. As he gets younger (which is presumed through feeding), he becomes more good looking. It is as if he is a mixture of Victor Frankenstein and the monster. He is both of them combined into one being. We did not start Jekyll and Hyde yet, but I feel Dracula is a mix of them as well. The setting is also similar to the previous novels, dark and somewhat primitive. Although the Protagonist, Jonathan Harker, is from a more “evolved” way a life, the first few chapters take place in the backward town of Transylvania. I feel this was intentional to show a difference of moods and tone by the author, as the next few chapters take place in England where its quite the opposite setting. We also have the usual tropes such as Harker looking down on those who live in the east, as if they are cavemen (and cavewomen), Dracula having power and I would imagine come from a background of nobility. As for what time period, I can’t be sure. In any case, the aforementioned reasons are why I feel this is “the next step” in Gothic literature. Oh, and its a fun read!
On a related note, I can’t help but wonder: If Dracula drank the blood of someone with AIDS, would he catch it too? Would he eventually die? These are the tough questions, right here.
