Why is Dracula such a great horror story? Essay -- English Literature

Why is Dracula such a great horror story? In my opinion 'Dracula' is a great horror story because it is highly entertaining in its idea of vampirism, its atmospheric descriptions, powerful characterisation and the horrific death of Lucy. The novel is also interesting because of the religious perspectives, such as the use of garlic, holy water and the crucifix as weapons against evil. Jonathan Harker's journey to Count Dracula's home is described in great detail. The atmosphere not only adds to the dangerous ride to Dracula's Castle, but also comes alive as we're reading it. The atmosphere surrounding Harker is incredibly frightening but the detail and descriptions used are so astounding that we can feel the 'strange chills'. I felt like I was sitting beside Jonathan Harker. I 'shared' his 'fear'. Harker is travelling in a Caleche, a small, open, horse drawn carriage which is obviously dangerous. It adds suspense to the story, which makes the reader automatically think something terrible is going to occur. The 'long, agonized wailing' of the dogs seem to go on forever. As the journey takes longer it becomes more fearsome. Harker feels 'lonely'. Harker's driver is a strange, mysterious character, with his 'gleaming smile' as he steers the Caleche without revealing his face to Harker, or talking much. At this point the reader is thrilled and excited, feeling like a character in the story. The historical detail of the journey is also what makes this novel brilliant. Harker is very uncomfortable, 'caught my arm in a grip of steel.' I didn't realise how dangerous and uncomfortable the Caleches were back a hundred years ago until I read Harker's account of his journey. As the 'horses began to strain' and... ...hough to find out what people used to believe in. Stoker has used imaginative and gruesome details, which interested me a lot. I think this novel is wonderful mainly because of Lucy's death and how her fiancà © killed her. It shows how much Arthur loved Lucy. He killed her vampire form and bought back Lucy's soul so it could go to heaven. This dreadful part of the story is brilliant. I found it heartbreaking but I was amazed at Arthur's strong character. I think the novel was fascinating but it dragged and became boring in places. The journey to Transylvania, for example, was very well described and extremely spooky. However, this section could be shortened to maintain tension. I also think some of the character's diary entries could have been more focused on moving the story forward rather than offering lots of information, which we didn't really need.