GCSE English Coursework Gothic Prose Stokers Dracula versus Shelleys

Perhaps one of the most dramatic genres of literature, the gothic genre, already set in unpredictable and unsettling times of revolution ingeniously set the stage for such horror stories as were never before seen by modern society. Artists like Bram Stoker, who was bedridden until the age of seven, and Mary Shelley, whose mother died giving birth flourished, and produced literary pieces that, in the midst of revolution, started their own revolution. Bram Stoker, born in 1847, was a sickly child, and was bedridden until the age of seven. Naturally, due to his being bedridden for such a long period of time, Stoker developed a sense of drama and literature at a young age, and wrote stories all through his life. However, as if to make up for his childhood, Stoker became a superior athlete, and after university, he went on to work in civil service. During his civil work, Stoker continued to write, and his first story, â€Å"The Crystal Cup†, was published in 1872. One of Stoker’s many short stories, â€Å"Dracula’s Guest†, is an example of the gothic brilliance that Stoker brought to dark times. Stoker used the elements of fiction perceptively to his advantage, and created a gothic masterpiece. Stoker’s protagonist, an innocent and adventurous Englishman, is spending â€Å"Walpurgis Night† (the mythical night of the devil) in Germany. Interestingly, all is not as it seems, as the first dialogue from the protagonist is the imploring question, â€Å"Tell me Johann, what is tonight?†, implying that the adventurous Englishman is more ignorant than innocent and foreshadowing his later vulnerability. In addition, the weather and development of increasingly suspicious landmarks become gradually more threatening throughout the story. Stoker uses setting i... ...and so are human, which shows the reader the inhumanity of the protagonist. This creates horror, because human readers can no longer relate to the protagonist, and he becomes increasingly more inhuman to the reader. Both Stoker and Shelley use setting, character and plot in their stories for the development of horror and suspense. While Stoker’s story is more physically frightening in its nature, following a terrified, ignorant protagonist on his journey through a city of the damned, Shelley’s story is equally as horrific as it traces the metamorphosis of a human being into an inhuman immortal who is caught in eternal life. Both authors use dramatic irony and an increasing threat to the protagonist to develop horror and suspense in their stories, and although the two stories use different techniques, both authors succeed in creating unfailingly gothic prose.