The Theme Of Fear In Dracula

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Have you ever been faced with a danger so fierce that your mind became clouded with fear? What are some thoughts you may have if you were in a situation like this? Imagine being trapped in a place with no visible way out, succumbed to intimidating surroundings. In Bram Stoker’s, Dracula, the central idea is fear. Bram Stoker demonstrates this idea by using the literary devices of conflict and point of view. Conflict is when drama is added into the story. Point of view is the perspective that the story is being told in. These two strategies allow the author to convey a clear theme of fear.

The author utilizes the literary device of conflict in order to convey the central idea of fear. The narrator finds himself in a castle, with no
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In this story, the perspective shown is first person, and we are able to see the thoughts, actions, and feelings of the main character from their own mind. In the final paragraph, the narrator states, “I feel the dread of this horrible place overpowering me; I am in fear - in awful fear - and there is no escape for me; I am encompassed about with terrors that I dare not think of…” (Stoker, Lines 55-56) From this perspective, we are given the ability to feel connected to how this person is feeling in a much greater way. In this case, the feelings of overpowered fear and terror is overwhelming the narrator. This answers the question from earlier, what would you be feeling if you were in a situation like this? You would be feeling fear. Another example in this text in which the author uses this literary device in order to show the central idea of fear is when the narrator states, “When I found out I was a prisoner a sort of wild feeling came over me.” (Stoker, Line 1) This quote allows us to understand how the narrator was feeling at this point, how he was overwhelmed with the overpowering fear that everything is going wrong. If this was not told in his perspective, we might not have been able to understand exactly his thoughts. He feels like a prisoner, even though he might not even actually be one, these are his feelings, and we can only truly understand his dread if we are seeing …show more content…
Conflict was used in a Man vs Self format. In the passage, the narrator becomes so overwhelmed that he begins to jump to outrageous conclusions. These conclusions are most likely due to his mind being succumbed to fear. Point of view was used in a first person format. Seeing the story through his eyes allows readers to understand how overwhelming the fear is, and how terrifying it is for him. What if you were a prisoner? What if you were trapped and alone? These two literary devices allowed for these questions to be answered, and the answer was your emotions would be filled with fear. The author’s purpose was to entertain the reader and allow them to delve further into the thoughts of someone who is full of fear. The reader can be pulled into this story because of the central idea of fear, which was influenced by the literary devices of conflict and point of

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