Plan détaillé de Dracula de Bram Stoker

INTRO :  

The Gothic Romanesque is an English literary genre, born in 1764.The Gothic Romanesque is part of the logic of a passion for the sentimental and the macabre. The excerpt from the novel that we are going to study is part of the Gothic genre. The novel studied is Dracula. Dracula is an epistolary novel by British writer Bram Stoker published in 1897. It tells the story of Count Dracula, an immortal vampire. In this excerpt we find Jonathan Harker, a notary, going to Transylvania to do business with the Dracula account. But he will soon realize that this meeting will not go as planned, he is no longer considered as a guest but rather as a prisoner. Indeed Dracula is not what he claims to be because he is actually a

vampire. We will therefore study this excerpt by first showing that this text shows an oppressive ambience, then we will analyze the character of Jonathan, a distressed character, and finally we will study the portrait of Dracula and show in particular the evolution that it follows.  

I.        An oppressive atmosphere

a) a mysterious place

From the beginning, the text presents a strange atmosphere with a mysterious and very large place. The character did not expect such an impressive place when arriving at the account He is immediately put in a context where questions arise and there is a description of the outside of the castle.  

-> line 1 « I must..place »  

So it’s a huge, remarkable, impressive place, which proves that it’s not just anyone who can live inside.  

-> line 2 « considerable size »

But yet the place is rather dark and strange. Indeed, everything is dark around the mansion, it is surrounded by dark passages, it is a little isolated from the rest of the houses.

-> line 2 « several dark ways »  

Here we have the characteristics of a castle and gothic architecture, that is to say large, impressive but with a rather dark atmosphere (arches)an unbearable silence

Indeed all along the text there is a heavy silence that marks this strange and oppressive atmosphere. The speeches are short and are not many. For example with the driver there is no dialogue, no speech.  

b)   a unbearable silence

Indeed there is no huge dialogue between the two characters. At first the dialogue is quite easy between the two but the replies remain quite short.  

But after the presentations there is a long silence, we do not know what the two characters feel because there is not much dialogue. This accentuates the strange atmosphere and shows that

Jonathan does not feel very comfortable with this castleII.      

-> « strange » adjective who accentuate this feeling  

c)    a sense of strangeness complemented by illogical oppositions

From the beginning of the text we feel a strange feeling, we do not know the real feelings of the characters. The castle is presented as  

-> « Remarkable » but we do not know if this is a positive or negative feeling.  

This creates a suspicious feeling, of suspense, we have difficulty in visualizing the whole.

But there are things that seem strange at first glance.  

-> « seemed bigger than it really »  

That gives the scene a suspicious side. Will the castle be surrounded by evil forces at night, when the sun sets and evil spirits are out? it reinforces the feeling of strangeness.  

Finally, Dracula claims that his servants are not present

-> « my people are not available »  

Which seems rather strange and illogical that it is a man as socially important as Dracula who has to take care of his guests. Dracula is seen here as the master of the castle, the only figure, the center

II.   Jonathan: a new prisoner?

 a)  a distressed character

Even if Jonathan’s feelings are not clearly explicit in the beginning of the text we feel fast that he is anxious. We see that he does not fully trust the Count because of his dark aspect. There are indications that shows us that he is not comfortable. He also feels this dark atmosphere that reigns around the castle but he tries to ignore it.

=> For example at the beginning he refuses the help of Dracula « I protested » This shows his lack of confidence and his suspicion towards the count. `

b)   an evolution of his feelings

At the beginning of the text, he seemed anxious but as the text progressed he became confident and felt comfortable.  

-> « dissipated all my doubt and fears »  

But when he really began to analyze the count a feeling of terror came to him.  

As he goes along he realizes the evil that reigns in this house. At the end of the text we see that there has been an evolution of his feelings. He went from a rather reassuring feeling to a feeling of fear and total anguish

-> « a horrible feeling of nausea came over me »  

There are also other expressions and adjectives that he pronounces that reinforce this feeling and evolution in relation to the beginning of the text.

-> « There seemed a strange stillness over everything »  « some expression in my face to him ».  c)   a prisoner trapped

By analyzing the text, the two characters, we quickly understand that Dracula possesses all the characteristics of a vampire and Jonathan of a future victim. Indeed, by agreeing to return to this house Jonathan is trapped. It enters a sort of "parallel world" filled with illogical things, atmospheres and strange feelings. We see that he fell into Dracula’s trap.    

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