Jonathan Harker - chapter 1

Question 1

‘I did not sleep well, though my bed was comfortable enough, for I had all sorts of queer dreams. There was a dog howling all night under my window, which have had something to do with it’

Answer 1

• establishes motif of sleep, nightmares and somnambulism
• supernatural / superstitious setting
• idea of the gothic - foreboding and animal instinct reacting t surrounding evil of Dracula in unfamiliar lands before Harker and the reader meet him

Question 2

‘It seems that the further East you go the more unpunctual are the trains. What ought they to be in China?’

‘At every station there were groups of people, sometimes crowds, and in al sorts of attire’

Answer 2

• explains how culture becomes more relaxed by crossing cultural / geographical boundaries
• Victorian era - most had little travel experience, likely to be unaware of differing customs
• mocking / ignorance - would suggest a difference in class (class boundary)
• mocking of foreign land becomes somewhat ironic when Harker becomes a prisoner of Dracula later
• rational thinking of a Victorian man

Question 3

‘she went down on her knees and implored me not to go’

‘taking a crucifix from her neck offered it to me’

Answer 3

• religious imagery - reinforces gothic genre and religious attitudes in victorian era despite enlightenment
• woman acts as a warning sign for Harker’s travels to Castle Dracula, warning him that continuing his journey would be the wrong decision
• foreshadows Harker’s later trauma
• suggests female hysteria - attitudes towards women at the time, although Harker dismisses the woman the fact that she predicted danger could portray both aspects of the supernatural but also Stoker’s progressive attitudes towards women.

Question 4

‘this was all so strange and uncanny that a dreadful fear came upon me, and I was afraid to speak or move’

Answer 4

• subversion of gender roles early into novel (exposure of emotions) - fin de sieclé
• semantic field of threat and uncertainty- reinforces gothic genre
• foreshadows threat of Dracula towards Harker and others later on