Bram Stoker’s Dracula

The setting of the story begins in 19th century Europe, in the eerie

country of Transylvania. A solicitor from England named Jonathan Harker is

sent by a business man to meet with an old Count named Dracula at his

castle located far from civilization. Residents of Transylvania who become

aware of his destination begin crossing themselves and giving him garlic

and blessings. As a result of these gestures, Mr. Harker soon develops an

uneasy feeling about visiting the mysterious Count. He arrives at Castle

Dracula regardless, and makes his acquaintances with Dracula. He soon

realizes that the count is no normal human, but an evil, blood-sucking

vampire, who can command animals and elements with the wave of his hand.

Harker escapes but the Count has devised an intricate plan to move to

London and exercise his evil forces on innocent people there. However, a

group of friends, including an open-minded but ingenious professor, a

psychologist, an American, a rich man, as well as Jon an Harker and his

wife Mina, learn of the Count’s sinister plan and pledge to destroy him

before he can create an army of un-dead vampires. They systematically

destroy his coffins with holy wafers and chase him out of England back to

Castle Dracula. There they carry out an ultimate plan to destroy Dracula.

The Author uses suspense as a storytelling device rather effectively

throughout the story. There are a fair number of parts in which the reader

is left suspended on the edge of seat, eager to find out what is to happen

next. However, there were parts where suspense could be used in a manner

that would enhance the gravity of the plot. Nonetheless, The book is

written in a unique way that allows suspense to be used easily and

effectively built up. Dracula is written in first person like many other

novels but then it differs slightly. The book starts off as a first person

Journal of the first character describing his experiences. But then it

switches to someone else’s journal, and then to letters between two

characters, and later to a newspaper article. It follows this pattern