Chapter One: Themes and Conventions
This chapter introduces key themes and literary conventions in Bram Stoker's Dracula, setting the stage for the gothic horror that unfolds throughout the novel.
Themes Introduced
The chapter highlights several major themes that will be explored throughout the novel:
- Writing, journaling, and messaging
- Illness, madness, and confinement
- Life, death, and the undead
Highlight: These themes are central to the gothic genre and Victorian literature, reflecting the anxieties and preoccupations of the time period.
Conventions of a Diary
The novel employs the diary format, which is characterized by:
- First-person narration
- Homodiegetic narrative (narrator participates in the story)
- Inclusion of times and dates
- Expression of thoughts and feelings
- Use of personal deixis (words that indicate the speaker's perspective)
- Frequent use of mental verbs
Example: The use of diary entries allows readers to experience the story through the characters' immediate perspectives, creating a sense of intimacy and immediacy.
Victorian Context: Women's Objectification
The chapter touches on the objectification of women during the Victorian period:
"The women looked pretty except when you got near them, but they were very clumsy about the waist."
Highlight: This quote reflects the Victorian period women objectification in Dracula, a theme that persists throughout the novel.
The summary provides context for this objectification:
- During the Victorian period, suffragettes campaigned for greater equality
- People questioned women's roles in society beyond childrearing and maternal care
Definition: Suffragettes were members of women's organizations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries who advocated for women's right to vote.
Key Points in Chapter One
- Jonathan Harker keeps detailed notes of his journey from London to Transylvania
- On St. George's Day, Jonathan is collected by the Count's driver and travels alone
- Jonathan experiences strange occurrences during his journey
- He is gripped by dreadful fear as they arrive at Castle Dracula
- Jonathan encounters blue flames and is threatened by wolves
Quote: "I had visited the British Museum..."
This quote introduces the theme of colonialism and Eurocentrism, reflecting the middle-class tendency to travel the globe and the belief in Western Christian civilization's superiority.
Gothic Elements
The chapter employs gothic conventions, particularly through the use of darkness:
- A semantic field of darkness is established with phrases like "coal-black," "brown-black darkness," and "mantle of darkness"
- Darkness foreshadows dark omens and alerts readers to impending danger
Vocabulary: Semantic field refers to a set of words related to a specific subject or theme.
