![]() ![]() Hubie Marsten was a horrible man who killed many, many people, and the novel suggests that that evil lives on after him, that all of his unspeakable acts left a ‘dry charge’. Moreover, much like the vampires, the Marsten House is a symbol of evil. ![]() This is effective as it highlights King using norms of gothic literature despite the differences in eras. King uses a traditional characteristic of ruined and abandon buildings but adds a modern twist to it “the paint had been weathered away//windstorms had ripped many of the shingles off”. Its “witch grass grew wild and tall in the front yard” – the adjective wild gives it a sense of untameable evilness, this is emphasised by using ‘witch’ as an adjective as witches have been seen as links to the devil throughout history. It acts as a motif for the eeriness of Salem’s lot. In particular, the use of the “haunted” Marsten house as a safe house for the supernatural villains is key in this novel. In Salem’s lot, King implemented the gothic style into a small town – the novel would not be the same without that as it helped place an emphasis of things are not always what they seem.ĭrawing on inspiration from Dracula, the small-town atmosphere provided a place for fear to grow in the minds of the reader and helped the reader form a connection with the characters in the novel. This is effective in creating a mood of eeriness as the description adds fear in the readers mind, the simile “like a roaring and devouring monster” mirrors the villain in the play, Dracula, and how his presence affects all elements of life as nothing is safe from his wrath. For example, in Mina’s journal, she describes “the waves rose in growing fury, each overtopping its fellow, till in a very few minutes the lately glassy sea was like a roaring and devouring monster”. Furthermore, Stoker uses pathetic fallacy in the weather to create a suspenseful atmosphere. Harker’s description of the castle is strongly suggestive of the idea of entrapment and evil, which assists in building an atmosphere for dread and fear.Īdditionally, the dark, poorly lit rooms of Lucy’s crypt, Dracula’s castle and Dracula’s abode in London take advantage of the human fear of the unknown, the darkness foreshadows the supernatural horrors the characters see. The ominous repetition of “doors, doors, doors everywhere” helps to demonstrate the frightful tone in Harker’s narrative which highlights the gothic nature of the castle, and how it is a “veritable prison”. A contemporary reader questions as to who exactly the count is, which would have added to the underlying fear during the Victorian era of the supernatural, and what he wants. This juxtaposition between the overpowering free landscape and the trapped castle is effective in creating tension for the reader as an uneasy atmosphere is created. In Dracula, Harker originally describes the counts castle as having “a sea of green tree tops, with occasionally a deep rift where there is a chasm” and there are “silver threads where the river wind in deep gorges through the forests”, but straight after concludes that when he explored further there were “doors, doors, doors everywhere and all locked and bolted” and that “the castle is a veritable prison, and a prisoner”. In both Dracula and Salem’s Lot, the writers adhere to the traditional norms through the use of eerie, isolated settings. The two novels are grounded in a similar storyline, with a key focus on vampires and the clash between good and evil, as well as the exploration of reality, duality and madness. The basic essence of horror and mystery are further emphasised by gothic conventions and motifs. ![]() Stoker’s Dracula (1897) and King’s Salem’s Lot (1975) both follow the traditional norms of gothic literature, despite their different publication eras and audiences. In more modern times, King and Rice have continued to adapt gothic conventions by merging them with contemporary fears and anxieties. Starting with Walpole’s Castle of Otranto, the gothic genre gained its popularity during the Victorian era, with writers such as Stoker and Stevenson continuing to develop stories in the late 19th Century. The gothic genre, largely developed during Romanticism in Britain, has been associated with the combination of mystery, the supernatural, horror and, at times, romance. ![]()
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