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The Five Literary Elements In Dracula By Bram Stoker

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What is the true meaning of Dracula? What purpose was it written for? In the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, there are many literary elements that fall into the tome. Many of which can be detected with ease and some of which that are trying to recognize. Bram Stoker intended the novel to be this way and wrote it so the reader would find more elements with each endeavor. Five of them in particular stuck out among many evaluations: symbol, motif, character, conflict, and theme are the five main literary elements that portrayed themselves highly among reading. For what is a book without these five elements? This analysis will dive deeper into the Dracula novel and better explain some of the hidden elements that may not appear upon the first or second …show more content…

This can be seen and interpreted throughout many chapters in the novel. “As he [Van Helsing] placed the wafer on Mina’s forehead, it had seared it – had burned into the flesh as though it had been a piece of white hot metal” (Stoker 327). This quotation from the novel just goes to show how Stoker uses religious sacraments to repel or deter vampirism and also as a way to defeat it. “Thus are we ministers of Gods own wish: that the world, and men for whom His Son die, will not be given over to the monsters, whose very existence would defame Him. He have allowed us to redeem one soul already, and we go out as the old knights of the Cross to redeem more. Like them we shall travel towards the sunrise; and like them, if we fall, we fall in good cause” (Stoker 340). In this quote Van Helsing imagines that their struggle is analogous to the Crusades, and this empowers him to carry on his task and defeat Dracula. This excerpt alone shows Stokers opinion towards Christianity and also how much he incorporates its symbolization into the book and its characters shows this as well. Most of the symbols within this novel have to do with God or the good He brings. “Isn’t vampirism just a twisted version of Christianity’s sacred rituals? That makes vampirism pretty unholy…maybe that’s why the sacred wafers work” (The Sacred Wafers 1). This quote was taken from an article about Dracula’s ungodliness and why the religious sacraments succeeded. Upon breaking down this quote, you can definitely understand why the wafers and crosses work. They undermine Dracula’s powers and his hellish

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