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.
