Chapter One
As an introductory chapter in Bram Stokers novel; it typically sets the scene (physically) but maintains the reader in an unknown state, oblivious to many things. The main question I found myself pondering was that of what is Jonathan Harker's 'important business' he has set himself upon.
    It is at this, that i decided to base my blog on the setting of the novel, to hopefully find out some interesting, perhaps useful (in gaining knowledge on the gothic) information and to delve into some of the secrets that linger in the First Chapter.

I decided to begin my search on the Carpathians, as that is where Harker is travelling and there may also be those in the class who actually don't know what the Carpathians is, as I didn't.

The Carpathians

The carpathians is the second largest mountain range in Europe, (in which lies transylvannia) which is an interesting setting for the novel as although substantial in size, in can also cause extreme isolation...lets just say not the best place to be running away from a vampire...

Stoker’s original intention was to use Styria (in Austria) as Count Dracula’s homeland, but as a result of his research, he made the change to Transylvania. One of his chief sources was “Transylvanian Superstitions” published in July 1885 in The Nineteenth Century and written by Emily Gerard, the Scottish wife of a Hungarian cavalryman. “Nowhere else,” Gerard writes, “does this crooked plant of delusion flourish as persistently and in such bewildering variety.”

Gerard’s article also provided Stoker with some of the folklore surrounding Dracula and his castle: St. George’s Day, “the eve of which is still frequently kept by occult meetings taking place at night in lonely caverns or within ruined walls”; hidden treasures and “the light they give forth, described as a bluish flame”; and the wolf that “continues to haunt the Transylvanian forests.”

The sentence written in pink was extremely interesting as the old lady from the inn explained that it was St.George's Eve to Harker in distress...

The best part of chapter 1 was pages 8-9 when the 'shadows of evening began to creep' and the settings, along with the style of writing egan to transform. Page 8 had strong reference to the snake with phrases such as, 'tongues of flame', 'snake-like' and 'serpentine'. Serpent is a word that is commonly used in a specifically mythic or religious context and is the symbolism for deceit. The snake represents temptation and evil. Perhaps this is forshadowing a transformation of the seemingly 'harmless' characters that Harker has come across, including the Counts kindness through his hospitality and letters.



Castle in Transylvannia