The Settings of Dracula

With castles, hidden streets, waterways, recurring rainy weather, interesting European architecture, and mystique, capital of the United Kingdom is the undefiled location for Bram Stokers genus Dracula. capital of the United Kingdom The capital of Great Britain, and the center of prudence in the nineteenth century, due to the many an(prenominal) incidents that were going on at the time. The bracing includes many daunting scenes, such as when Dracula heaves a sack withholding a deceased child before lead female vampires.It is no surprise why he choose London to be the backdrop of his novel. London is exotic and unknown. Stoker is obviously shake up by Londons castles, hidden streets, and church yards. Because of on the whole of these manoeuvers, London is the perfect gothic setting for Stokers Dracula. London is recognized for its grand castles. Stoker may pee-pee been motivated to use these in his novel describing Draculas estate in London, Carfax and as vigorous as his castle in Transylvania. This is illustrated when Mr.Harker arrives at Draculas home up a coarse winding stair, and along another great passage great passage, on whose stone floor our steps rang heavily. At the end of this he threw wanton a heavy door, and I rejoiced to see within a well-lit manner in which a table was spread for supper and whose mighty hearth a great fire of logs, freshly replenished, flamed and fl ared. (Stoker,13). High pure windows, arched ceilings, and solidity stone walls are to a fault typical for the gothic architecture. These characteristics make the construction cold, dark, and forbidding.For example, the text says about the castle in Transylvania that The Count halted, putting smoothen my bags, closed the door, and crossing the room, opened another door, which led into a small octagonal room lit by a single lamp, and on the face of it without a window of any sort (13) and . .. a vast done for(p) castle, from those tall black windows came no ray of light and whose broken battlements showed a jagged line against the moonlight sky (11). Everything is difficult to see. For example, dimming lights and dark obtuse walls are characteristics of this type of architecture.Overall the counts castle looks like the cathedrals in the 13th century. It is a copy of a medieval building. London is also a perfect location for this novel not only because of its buildings, but also because of its weather and its scenery. London (or Great Britain in general) is an island, therefore, it is surrounded by water. This makes it set-apart from the main land. It makes it problematic to reach. This is why Dracula has to go by enthral when he leaves Transylvania to go to London. People often connect harbors with something frightening and you dissolve see harbors in many horror movies.Because of the skirt water and the vehement European climate, there is a lot mist and rain. These are the precedent conditions for Dracula to follow through with hi s killings. He can call for the fog and the rain. In the nineteenth century, London streets were very small and hidden with itty-bitty lighting. This helps to bring to pass the fearsome setting for the novel. Smoke is realised by enormous factories make a creepy backdrop for the terrible things to come. Numerous churches and cathedrals also create a fear-provoking flair. These churches are built in gothic dark style. For example, the capital of Zimbabwe Cathedral from the Meadows, is built in this medieval manner. London also includes a considerable amount of beautiful, but creepy, churchyards. Ffor example, in the part when Lucy is constantly somnambulation and Mina finds her in the churchyard talking about his red eyeball, . .. from where I was I ran on to the entrance of the churchyard (79). Of course these churchyards are used as a scary setting, like in many horror books or movies.The House of Commons was non-democratically elected. The Bill, caused by the temperance mov ement, didnt create a democracy in England, but it did enfranchise the Britishs middle class. The self-control movement was typical for the Victorian era. It surround the desire that the middle-class should bewilder self-control and self-denial. These values were shaped both by Evangelicalism and by Utilitarianism. There were also contemporary views on the Reform exploit in 1832. So the Reform Bill and the issues on the Reform conduct got everybodys attention, what makesLondon up to now more interesting. In 1854 there were also several(prenominal) law for women passed. This could be the reason for Mina Harker and her friend, Lucy, to play such an valuable role in Stokers book. In this time era, women believed that they should always be protected by the strong men. Because of this, Bram Stoker maybe wanted to draw the attention on the women. The marriage of Mina Harker and Jonathan Harker could may have been a firmness of the Chancellor Cranworths Marriage and Divorce Bill p assed in 1955. other point of attention was also the Peterloo Massacre in 1899. A public clashing took set up at Westminster on March 28th and in June. Another important piece of information is that London became a massive place with book-keepers, authors, and clerks. This is why many newspaper presses came to London. Stoker could have been stimulated by this and wrote the part, where Mina did research about this article, where the mysterious ship came into the harbor (how already mentioned above).Or it could have been the growth of shipping, caused by the famous clippers, which made it thinkable to import tea from China to the Thames. The whole story of Dracula could have been also been caused by the widespread poverty and crime in this time. Because of all these facts about London, the castles, the hidden streets, the waterways, the recurring raining weather, the interesting European architecture, and the mystique surrounding this city, Bram Stoker chose this special and fascin ating city as the setting for his novel.London is just like made for settings in scary novels or even movies. Especially in the nineteenth century, with all the gothic buildings and all its frightening churchyards. Of course, everybody in this time knew London for this. London was not only well known because of these aspects, but also because London was the capital of its whole empire. So Bram Stoker could not have selected a better gothic setting for his disturbing novel Dracula. Works cited -Wolffg. , John. Gothic 2002. Online. 5-20-03 www. clc. edu/wolffg/gateway/gothic. html -Roumpou, Eleni. Is Dracula a gothic novel? 9-19-00. Online. 5-20-02. www. hausarbeiten. de/faecher/hausarbeit/anl/1106. html -Jackson, Lee. Victorian London-Architecture-Victorian Architecture 2000. Online. 5-20-03 www. victorianlondon. org -Halsall, Paul. nineteenth Century Britain 1-30-99. Online. 5-21-03. www. fordham. edu/halsaall/mod/modsbook20. html -Johnson, Jane. 19th Century London 2001. Online. 5-21-03. www. Britannia. com -Smith, Rebecca. The Temperance Movement and class struggle in Victorian England 1993. Online. 5-21-03. www. loyno. edu/history/journal/1992-3/smith. html