Key Facts
full title · Dracula
author · Bram Stoker
type of work · Novel
genre · Gothic, horror
language · English
time and place written · 1891–1897;
London, England
date of first publication · 1897
publisher · Constable
narrator · Dracula is told primarily through
a collection of journal entries, letters, and telegrams written
or recorded by its main characters: Jonathan Harker, Mina Murray,
Dr. John Seward, Lucy Westenra, and Dr. Van Helsing.
point of view · Shifts among the first-person perspectives of several
characters
tone · Gothic, dark, melodramatic, righteous
tense · Though some of the entries record the thoughts and
observations of the characters in the present tense, most incidents
in the novel are recounted in the past tense.
setting (time) · End of the nineteenth century
setting (place) · England and Eastern Europe
protagonist · The members of Van Helsing's gang—Van Helsing, Jonathan Harker,
John Seward, Arthur Holmwood, Mina Murray, and Quincey Morris —might
be considered the novel's collective protagonist.
major conflict · A vampire with diabolical ambitions preys upon a group
of English and American do-gooders, threatening the foundations of
their society until they dedicate themselves to ridding the Earth
of his evil.
rising action · Jonathan Harker learns of Dracula's evil while visiting
his castle to complete a real estate transaction; Lucy Westenra
becomes increasingly ill under Dracula's spell
climax · Lucy is transformed into a vampire; Van Helsing and
his comrades mercifully destroy her
falling action · Van Helsing and company chase Dracula across Eastern
Europe, where they eventually destroy him.
themes · The promise of Christian salvation; the consequences
of modernity; the dangers of female sexual expression
motifs · Blood; Christian iconography; science and superstition
symbols · The “weird sisters”; the stake driven through Lucy's
heart; the Czarina Catherine
foreshadowing · The initially unidentifiable wounds on Lucy's neck
foreshadow her fall to the dark side by confirming Dracula's presence
in England.
