Brett Bergeron
Gothic Literature
Mr. Nokes
Dracula Essay
27 May 2013
Conveying difficult times and strange stories is often hard but with reliable narrators the stories are able to be layered together allowing the reader to make their own judgments. In the novel, Dracula by Bram Stoker, we are introduced to many narrators. Stoker did this to create a feeling of authenticity. By switching the narrator from character to character we are able to create our own judgments and thoughts on what is happening in the novel. There is a lot of activity going on through the reliable narrator as we are getting an unbiased prospect. By Stoker including journals, letters, diaries and newspaper clippings, he has created an unbiased standpoint.
With the use of all the various entries, it creates a more realistic setting. For example when Jonathan goes to Transylvania, Mina believes that he has gone on a business trip, but it is only later through reading Jonathan’s journal entries that she discovers the extent of the horrors that he’s experienced. On May 8, within Jonathan’s journal entries where he describes “the castle [as] a veritable prison, and [he is the] prisoner” (Stoker pg 28)! By using a reliable narrator we are able to see the viewpoints perceived through the protagonist eyes. Within the time that Jonathan spent at Count Dracula’s castle he had never seen him eat nor drink. After he went to his room one night and was laying in bed he thought he heard a whisper at this door. “[He] went to it softy and listened. Unless [his] ears deceived [him], [he] heard the voice of the Count: - ‘back, back, to your own place! Your time is not yet come. Wait! Have patience! To-night is mine. To-morrow night is yours!’ (pg 54).” At that moment Jonathan realized that he would never escape and that there was a reason that he never saw Count Dracula eat or drink. By Stoker using first person narrators, he created the most reliable and believable story. The reader is...