“There is reason that all things are as they are… ” (Stoker 17). Outlasting countless other tales of its time, Bram Stoker’s lore of “Dracula” began as and still continues to be a classic, frightening novel and despite how some would classify it on only a single one end of the spectrum, it holds true elements of both literary and commercial fiction. He uses various techniques of writing, such as the epistolary plot structure and dramatic irony, and elements, including suspense, to present an unexpected, fearinducing concept based on the xenophobic idea of the Victorian era.
In its time, Dracula’s specific aspects were deemed horrific to the xenophobic Victorian society as it entered into the realm of the unknown and completely went against everyday values that the Victorian readers circulated around. The fact of Dracula being described so out of norm with his the pale skin, distinct reptilian features, reverse aging, and the unlikeliness of a host (Dracula) leaving a guest (Jonathan) alone overall would have given a creepy, skin-crawling sensation to any reader.
One unique feature of “Dracula” that would have especially terrified the middle class Victorians is that the dangerous circumstances all happened to the nobles and those of better reputations in society. These readers had a central idea that wealth and reputation brings more power and protection. Thus, when Stoker introduced the characters of “Dracula” with such high hierarchical roles, it placed the idea in their minds that much more frightful problems and a worse outcome could arise if they happen to be in the same situation themselves.
For over a century now, the compelling original story and character of Dracula never ceased to exist. Other than being remade into other forms such as movies and cartoons, Dracula was a relatively new concept during the time of its publication and had a major impact to its surrounding society. Today, the novel’s uses of multiple unique elements of writing such as dramatic irony, the everyman, and suspense/mystery continues to speak to interests of readers.
In addition, the character itself, like any other supernatural beings including ghosts and witches, naturally intriguing us just based on many people’s love of getting scared; Dracula is portrayed in the novel as a completely evil and manipulative character that feasts upon the lives of mortals for his survival. Throughout the course of “Dracula,” Stoker used an epistolary form of writing not only for its prevalence in the Victorian era, but also for its effectiveness in portraying first person point-of-views and first-hand accounts for multiple characters.
By doing so, he was able to make readers feel as if they themselves could have been in the characters’ shoes. Because it was an epistolary format and readers knew exactly what each character knew and did not know, his application of dramatic irony became clearer than other literary pieces as well. Dramatic irony was used in the course of the novel in multiple ways. The Victorian readers already knew of the vampire concept by the 18th century and Dracula was written in the early-mid 19th century.
As they read the novel, they generally would have known what Dracula was, and had a similar idea to what we think now, before Jonathan Harker’s realization of Dracula’s intentions (Stoker 22). Another way dramatic irony was added in the novel was the placement of each journal. For instance, readers were notified first of Jonathan’s experiences in his journal and then Mina’s journal was revealed with her wondering about the condition of her finace (Stoker 27, 62).
One might argue that “Dracula” is commercial due to its fine line between good and evil with good always prevailing as a result of outstanding coincidences and another might defend it as literary because of its underlying meanings that outline the words appearing page by page; both are correct. Dracula was a fascinating novel that unites both types of fictions. As a piece of social commentary regarding Western European xenophobia, the entire story was centered around a foreign, unknown life form, or creature, that was terrorizing the characters which, although bringing commercial fiction-type feature, also created a rather unified theme, as we might expect in a literary fiction, of good ultimately triumphing over evil. Each character had a strong sense of moral purpose, an element of commercial fiction, as well which strengthened the theme.
When dealing with Lucy’s choice of marriage, even after she chose Arthur, all of the remaining suitors still remained genuinely loyal to and supported each other without a single hint badwill in the proceeding pages. Adding on, Quincy Morris was one of the least involved characters yet he willfully gave his life in order to dispel Dracula and save Mina to whom he no connection with prior to Lucy’s death (Stoker 324).
The outer simplicity of this conventional storyline that originated from the lasting theme and plot structure appears predominantly in commercial fiction. There were no surprises of the conclusion and readers knew that Dracula was bound to be defeated, and Mina would be saved. The journals were relatively in order and at the end of nearly all of them, were descriptions of the crew of light’s next steps in defeating Dracula, all of which ended on a high note.
In “Dracula,” the characters are not nearly as important as the plot itself, an aspect that more frequently appears in literary fiction; they are mainly stock characters classified through indirect characterization and who do not have clear distinctive voices. The characters all come from the same region so they all have the same manners and dialects of writing, but most importantly when writing a journal entry, the characters all have the same general mindset of goodness and vanishing the evil from the world.
For decades before and years to come, readers remain captivated by the story and by the original character of Dracula. It satisfies a wide range of readers whether it being those that prefer scanning the uses of english textbook elements or purely for thrills, and whether they feel intuitive for literary fiction or a lust for commercial fiction, or even for those that show interest in historical time periods. Bram Stoker’s work has become the “everliving” Dracula.