Dracula by Bram Stoker

Dracula, by Bram Stoker, is one of the defining novels of its genre. First published in 1897, Dracula employs the medium of letters exchanged between primary characters and their journals as the medium of story-telling, popularly known as epistolary. Frankenstein, published by Mary Shelley 69 years before the first publication of Dracula, is also written using the same enthralling format. Needless to say, this form of story-telling allows the readers to peek into the inner thoughts of primary characters through their private journals, and follow the rest of the events through the medium of letters exchanged between them, rendering the story much more credible.
The chilling story opens on a cold dark night. Jonathan Harker, a young man employed with a law firm, travels by night to visit a client, Count Dracula, who lives on an isolated hill in Transylvania in Eastern Europe. At first, disarmed by the Count’s hospitality and grace, Jonathan finds the castle and its surroundings strange, yet charming. His meals are served hot and his bedroom is always tidy, yet Jonathan fails to spot another soul in the castle, apart from the Count himself. Over long dinners in front of a cozy fireplace, the Count and Jonathan have many conversations, sometimes lasting through the night, although the Count never joins Jonathan for any of the meals. Every morning at dawn, like clockwork, the Count takes leave of his guest and disappears, apparently to take care of business.
Things begin to turn awry after a few weeks when Jonathan realizes that he is actually a prisoner in the castle. He is not permitted to leave the castle, or wander through the rooms without permission. Despite his growing uneasiness, Jonathan plays along, answering every one of the Count’s innumerable questions about life in a city like London, where the Count has purchased property through Jonathan’s law firm. All the proceedings are recorded by Jonathan in his journal without fail. One dark night when the Count is out, Jonathan wanders through the forbidden part of the castle and has a chance encounter with three breathtakingly beautiful women, only they are after his blood. The Count intervenes at the moment, saving Jonathan’s life, for he still needs some more information from the poor man. Eventually, Jonathan finds an escape, even though he almost loses his mind in the process.
Jonathan’s fiancée Mina Murray is residing with her friend Lucy and her old mother in another part of Europe, completely unaware of the ill fate that has befallen her beloved. She yearns for and awaits the arrival of Jonathan, from whom she has received no correspondence for a while, and is naturally worried for his safety. Miss Lucy meanwhile has received three proposals for marriage in a single day – from Arthur, Dr. Seward and Morris, three brave young men who love Lucy dearly. While she accepts Arthur’s proposal, Lucy continues to be friends with the other two, who also remain very good friends with Arthur.
The trouble begins with the arrival of a wrecked ship on the harbor, the entire crew of which has died or jumped off the ship under mysterious circumstances, as evidenced by the journal of the captain which is found among the wreckage. Soon, Lucy begins sleep-walking and her health deteriorates rapidly. Often enough, a bat is seen flapping its wings against Lucy’s window. Dr. Van Helsing, a renowned doctor is summoned by Dr. Seward to look after Lucy, who wakes up every morning pale, and as if drained of a large amount of blood. Despite the combined efforts of Van Helsing, Dr. Seward, Arthur and Morris, Lucy passes away, and so does her ill mother.
Soon afterwards, strange incidents plague the entire city, of children disappearing at night and appearing the next day with tiny punctures on their throats. Dr. Van Helsing wastes no time as he keeps guard at Lucy’s grave, which is found inexplicably empty on some occasions. In the face of mounting evidence, Dr. Helsing convinces Arthur and the others of the horrible truth he knows – Lucy has become the ‘Un-dead’, joining ranks with the Count. Every night, she wakes from her grave and roams the city in search of defenseless young children whose blood she drinks until her cheeks flush with color. The following day, Dr. Helsing along with the others, enter Lucy’s tomb during the day, for the Un-dead have absolutely no power between sunrise and sunset, and drive a stake through her heart, and decapitate her body, to release her from the curse.
Meanwhile, Jonathan has been located at a hospital where he is recovering from what has been termed as ‘brain fever’, having lost all memory of what transpired at the castle. He and Mina are married shortly and he gives her his journal, urging her to read it only if absolutely necessary. On a trip to London, Jonathan spots a tall ghastly man, and falls into a bout of panic and hysteria, causing Mina to open his journal and read about his horrifying experience in Transylvania.
Dr. Van Helsing informs Mina of the sad demise of her friend, and Mina requests Dr. Helsing’s help to fully restore her husband. Both parties share their stories and recognize the common enemy, the monster, who not only killed Lucy, but is also on the loose in the city of London, where he has bought not one, but several properties through different law firms. He has also shipped forty cases of earth to different addresses in the city, where he plans to rest during the day.
One by one, Dr. Helsing along with Arthur, Dr. Seward, Morris, Jonathan and Mina, uncover the addresses of each of the Count’s residences and sanctify the cases of earth, making them unsuitable for the Count to lie in. The idea is to destroy his havens one by one, and drive him back to his castle, and somewhere along the way, kill the monster between sunrise and sunset, when Dracula must lie in a case of earth, powerless and unconscious. Meanwhile, Dracula has infected Mina and the only way to save her soul is to destroy the Count before he disappears. From here on, the pursuit becomes a matter of life and death, with the resolute team chasing the vampire on its way back to the castle.
While the market has been inundated with a pouring of vampire tales, Dracula is and will remain the most chilling, engaging and original story told about vampires. I think one of the best things about the book is that it scares you, and it scares you in a way that you do not realize. The horror and the fright of the story are very subtle and build in your mind slowly as the tale unfolds in all its brilliance. There is no single heart-stopping moment in the story, but as a shroud it surrounds and envelops you in its horror, slowly but surely. Even though the vampire legend is old as the hills, Dracula is a gripping tale, right from page one.
On the flip side, I did not find the characterization very strong, despite reading the private journals of most of the primary characters. Except for the characters of Dr. Helsing and Mina Murray, the rest of the characters do not have any distinguishing traits and their dialogues may as well be interchanged without much consequence to the story. The climax of the story is a little bit of an anti-climax, and before you realize it, the story is over. The end is predictable, but its execution is not. After reading 450 pages of an enthralling novel, I was expecting a little bit more from the climax. I think the author may have hurried over the ending a little bit.
All in all, a defining novel of its genre, a masterpiece of brilliant writing and engaging story-telling, Dracula is a book that would occupy a permanent space in my mind’s bookshelf for a long, long time.
P.S. – Warning! Reading this book may make sleeping a tad difficult at night.