Dracula and the Little Stranger Comparative

Janal Rajput

Compare the ways in which the writers of your two chosen texts create a sense of fear in their works

Both Bram Stokers’ classic Gothic novel ‘Dracula’ and Sarah Waters’ contemporary Gothic novel ‘The Little Stranger’ use gothic tropes to create a sense of fear in their audiences. However, the ending juxtapose each other in the sense that Stoker vanquishes all evil while Waters’ leaves her ending ambiguously fearful and sinister.         

With a disguised Dracula accompanying Johnathon to his Castle on a black horse drawn carriage, Stoker introduces the gothic nature of his novel in his eerily use of setting. Harker notices that he was soon “hemmed with trees” and the “frowning” rocks “guarded” him “boldly”. Stokers’ use of the Gothic trope of isolation could suggest that Harker is not safe in the unknown Transylvania, creating a terrifying atmosphere as the reader realizes that he is so isolated from the modern society of London, that he is completely helpless and trapped within the first chapter of Stokers’ novel. This could further imply that Stoker is utilising his setting of the archaic Transylvania to illustrate the boundary of the British Empire- Harker’s lack of “audience survey maps”- so his Victorian audience would be fearful from the start of Stokers’ novel as the unknown nature of the setting makes Dracula, and all its inhabitants, unpredictably fearful. Stokers’ use of the adverb “boldly” could imply ideas of defiance and hatred of the setting towards Harker. It is clear that Stoker crafts this chapter to make the reader, who would naturally relate to Harker as a fellow Englishman, feel unwelcome in Transylvania through Stokers’ use of character. This creates an intensely unnerving fear for readers as they become continuously apprehensive the deeper they travel into Transylvania through Harker. In a similar way, Waters’ utilises her gothic setting to have an isolating effect injecting intense fear and dread into her audience. When Mrs. Ayres is ‘lured’ to the nursery supposedly by her dead child Susan, she soon finds herself the victim of a paranormal attack by a poltergeist of some sort. She “hammered” on the panels, then tried the “simple latch” until it cut her. Waters’ use of the gothic trope of isolation could suggest that the house, like Transylvania, does not welcome the protagonists creating fear for the audience. This could further suggest that even though Mrs. Ayres has lived in Hundreds all her life, she was never welcome in its halls. Waters’ use of the violent adverb “hammered” serves to illustrate Mrs. Ayres desperation and fear of the house, similar to how Harker became fearful of the forest surrounding the Counts’ Castle. Alternatively, Waters’ use of the violent adverb “hammered” could be seen as a link to the gothic poltergeist and how it feeds off repressed urges and feelings. Mrs. Ayres “cut” her finger, bleeding on the panels essentially feeding the house with both her blood and desperation to escape its isolating effect. The house is crafted by Waters’ to feed off this gothic blood imagery. This could also be seen as a use of foreshadow, similar to Stoker foreshadowing Harker’s entrapment by the Count later in the novel by using the gothic setting of the woods, of Mrs. Ayres demise and death as she gave the poltergeist enough negative energy to start killing off the Ayres family, creating intense and sinister fear within the audience of both the house and the poltergeist who haunts it- we cannot judge which is the more sinister and fearful force.

Johnathon later realises he is at the mercy of the Count, stranded in the uncharted Transylvania, Stoker uses his use of character to instil further fear into his audience. Exploring the Castle Harker finds a window, effectively showing the gothic setting of the castle in the night’s sky; he sees Dracula “emerge” from a window over the Castle wall, a “dreadful abyss” with a cloak spreading about him “like great wings”. Stokers’ use of gothic simile may imply that the Count is uncanny and inhuman, which would inject fear into the Victorian audience. Alternatively, this use of simile could have connotations of demons as the Count’s “great” wings are not specifically described by Stoker, which could have been crafted to let his deeply religious audience believe there was something ungodly and demonic- much like a fallen angel- about the Count thus inspiring a sinister and fearful persona for the Count utilised by Stoker throughout the novel, creating continuous fear and suspense. Stokers’ use of the word “abyss” could have connotations of nothingness, a void of darkness of which the Count effortlessly crawls across. This could further imply that the Count is a being that is on the boundary of Hell, the “abyss”, but still very much alive- in a uncanny undead way- creating fear in the audience as their religious beliefs would influence them to see the Count as a sort of demon from Hell to prey on the innocent Englishmen and women, represented by Harker and Mina. Waters also uses gothic monsters like vampires from Stokers’ ‘Dracula’ to create fear, crafting the encounters with the poltergeist to have a chilling and unnerving effect for her readers. When Roderick is shaving in preparation for the party at Hundreds, strange and paranormal occurrences began to occur as his shaving mirror “inch its way across the washing stand”. Waters’ use of personification creates a gothic sense of fear in her audience as the uncanny occurrence is out of the realm of possibility for Roderick and reader, freezing them both in fear as they await to see what happens next- much like how Harker was froze staring at the Count “crawling” across the Castle. Alternatively, Waters’ use of personification could be a device used to illustrate Roderick’s unhinged mind as he is a victim of PTSD, a mental disorder only recently recognised post WW2. The reader cannot be certain in the assumption that it is a poltergeist, as Waters’ cleverly never admits its existence in her contemporary Gothic novel, starting this sense of ambiguous fear she utilises throughout her novel to keep her readers in suspense and tension. Waters use of the verb “inch” builds fearful tension in the reader- this use of gothic motions can be seen in the Counts “crawling”- suggesting that both Waters and Stoker crafted their main gothic antagonists (supposed antagonist in ‘The Little Strangers’ pushing the mirror) to inject a sense fear even through their movements.