Dracula - Blog #4

"...the silver light of the moon struck a half-reclining figure, snowy white. The coming of the cloud was too quick for me to see much, for shadow shut down on light almost immediately; but it seemed to me as though something dark stood behind the seat where the white figure shone, and bent over it. What it was, whether man or beast, I could not tell; I did not wait to catch another glance, but flew down the steep steps...The time and distance seemed endless, and my knees trembled and my breath came laboured as I toiled up the endless steps to the Abbey. I must have gone fast, and yet it seemed to me as if my feet were weighted with lead, and as though every joint in my body were rusty" (102).

This scene is one of the freakest scenes of the novel thus far. Basically, Lucy went out sleepwalking, and Mina found her with a dark figure standing nearby. The horror and excitement of this scene is effectively conveyed through Mina's description of the event. First of all, she repeatedly describes Lucy as being "white," which gives her a pale and ghostly image. The dark figure standing over Lucy directly contrasts her--the darkness gives it an evil connotation. The darkness of the scene in general, as pointed out in the phrase "for shadow shut down on light almost immediately" (notice the direct contrast between "shadow" and "light") really gives this passage a particularly gloomy and horrifying mood.

The sense of urgency that Mina conveys also makes the passage horrific but exciting. Her description of time as "endless" shows how time just seemed to go on forever as she raced to help her friend. The physical details Mina gives about herself shows how much she is struggling to get to Lucy, and the excellent simile at the end of the passage further emphasizes the struggle. Mina's struggle to get to Lucy through a seemingly endless passage of time gives this part of the novel a sense of urgency. Mina's struggle to get to Lucy in the face of danger is what really makes this part of the novel exciting.

Overall, the most intense scenes of the novel thus far have been described using a variety of devices which invoke fear, horror, and/or urgency in the reader. Stoker's effective method of illustrating these scary situations is what really gives this novel a horrific feel.