'The Settings of Dracula\r'

'With castles, inscrutable streets, water systemways, recurring rainy weather, elicit European architecture, and mystique, capital of the United Kingdom is the perfect location for Bram Stokers genus Dracula. capital of the United Kingdom: The capital of Great Britain, and the center of attention in the nineteenth century, due to the legion(predicate) incidents that were going on at the time. The novel includes many daunting scenes, such(prenominal) as when Dracula heaves a throw out withholding a deceased child before three female vampires.\r\nIt is no surprise why he choose capital of the United Kingdom to be the tantrum of his novel. capital of the United Kingdom is â€Å"exotic” and unknown. Stoker is obviously godly by capital of the United Kingdoms castles, hidden streets, and church yards. Because of alone of these points, London is the perfect gothic screen background for Stokers â€Å"Dracula. ” London is recognised for its grand castles. Stoker may ha ve been propel to use these in his novel describing Draculas estate in London, â€Å"Carfax” and to a fault his castle in Transylvania. This is illustrated when Mr.\r\nHarker arrives at Draculas stead â€Å"up a great winding stair, and along a nonher great passage great passage, on whose stone floor our steps rang heavily. At the termination of this he threw open a heavy door, and I rejoiced to collar within a well-lit room in which a table was spread for supper and whose mighty home a great fire of logs, freshly replenished, flamed and fl bed. ” (Stoker,13). postgraduate scurvy windows, arched ceilings, and solid stone walls are as well as typical for the gothic architecture. These characteristics make the twist cold, dark, and forbidding.\r\nFor example, the text says about the castle in Transylvania that â€Å"The attend halted, putting down my bags, closed the door, and crossing the room, unfastened another door, which led into a small octangular room lit by a champion lamp, and seemingly without a window of any port” (13) and . â€Å".. a vast ruined castle, from those tall smutty windows came no ray of light and whose broken battlements showed a jagged line against the moonlight sky” (11). Everything is embarrassing to see. For example, dimming lights and dark thick walls are characteristics of this type of architecture.\r\n general the counts castle looks like the cathedrals in the thirteenth century. It is a copy of a medieval building. London is also a perfect location for this novel not only because of its buildings, nevertheless 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 â€Å" detached” from the main land. It makes it problematic to reach. This is why Dracula has to go by venture when he leaves Transylvania to go to London. heap often connect harbors with something frightening and you can se e harbors in many horror movies.\r\nBecause of the adjoin water and the rough European climate, there is a hand befog and rain. These are the ideal conditions for Dracula to prolong through with his killings. He can â€Å"call” for the fog and the rain. In the nineteenth century, London streets were very small and hidden with little lighting. This helps to shit the fearsome setting for the novel. Smoke is created by enormous factories making a creepy backdrop for the terrible things to come. Numerous churches and cathedrals also create a fear-provoking â€Å"flair. These churches are built in gothic â€Å"dark” style. For example, the â€Å"Salisbury 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 break when Lucy is constantly sleepwalking and Mina finds her in the churchyard talking about â€Å"his red eyes”, . â€Å".. from wher e I was I ran on to the entrance of the churchyard… ” (79). Of hang these churchyards are used as a alarming setting, like in many horror books or movies.\r\nThe House of Commons was non-democratically elected. The Bill, caused by the temperance forepart, didnt create a democracy in England, but it did set free the British’s middle row. The Temperance movement was typical for the Victorian era. It surround the idea that the bourgeoisie should have self-control and self-denial. These values were shaped twain by Evangelicalism and by Utilitarianism. There were also contemporary views on the Reform manage in 1832. So the Reform Bill and the issues on the Reform Act got everybodys attention, what makes\r\nLondon even more interesting. In 1854 there were also several law for women passed. This could be the priming coat for Mina Harker and her friend, Lucy, to play such an logical implicationant portion in Stokers book. In this time era, women believed that t hey should always be protected by the strong men. Because of this, Bram Stoker mayhap wanted to draw the attention on the women. The spousals of Mina Harker and Jonathan Harker could may have been a issuing of the Chancellor Cranworths Marriage and Divorce Bill passed in 1955.\r\nAnother point of attention was also the Peterloo carnage in 1899. A public meeting took aspire 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).\r\nOr it could have been the proceeds of shipping, caused by the famous clippers, which make it possible to import tea from China to the Thames. The whole story of Dracula could have been also been caused by the widespread pauperization 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 fascinating city as the setting for his novel.\r\nLondon is just like made for settings in scary novels or even movies. particularly 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 smash gothic setting for his disturbing novel â€Å"Dracula. ” kit and boodle cited: -Wolffg. , John. â€Å"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. â€Å"Victorian London- architecture-Victorian Architecture” 2000. Online. 5-20-03 www. victorianlondon. org -Halsall, Paul. â€Å"nineteenth Century Britain” 1-30-99. Online. 5-21-03. www. fordham. edu/halsaall/mod/modsbook20. html -Johnson, Jane. â€Å"19th Century London” 2001. Online. 5-21-03. www. Britannia. com -Smith, Rebecca. â€Å"The Temperance Movement and class struggle in Victorian England” 1993. Online. 5-21-03. www. loyno. edu/~history/journal/1992-3/smith. html\r\n'