Analyzing the Greatest Horror Novel - Dracula by Bram Stoker - The Black Rider
And the question of who is he?
The answer to the question of who is the Coach-Rider who commandeers the coach Jonathan Harker climbs into and that escorts him up to Castle-Dracul is none other than Vlad Dracul/Dracula himself. How is it this can be? No one has ever asked this question, and yet I must ask myself this nonetheless for argument’s sake and to jump start this here essay.
The thing about Dracula is that to start with he has no servants, sure he has Renfield over in England but that’s only after he lands there, it seems. At present he has his 3 brides and that’s it, and they sure aren’t going to do any work. I imagine he’s also quite afraid of letting them out too often, as a Vampire’s strength seems directly connected to how much blood they’ve drank and what they’ve eaten.
Lucy as a Vampire had to go after children but was clearly working her way up towards trying her luck at adult men. And given how the Brides were all keen to take a chunk out of Harker when the time came, later in the story and how mighty Dracula later proves himself it is likely that the strength of a Vampire is directly linked to how much he has ‘drunk’. It is thus possible to say that the Brides are weaker than he becomes they are starved of the blood of young men and young women, and are fed only babies who can’t have a great deal blood to strengthen them with.
What must be remarked though is that the Brides prove themselves fairly formidable later, at the end of the story when they haunt Mina and Van Helsing.
At present though, Dracula who is without servants and unlikely to trust his Brides, ventures out from his castle-keep to find himself his unwitting tool. As he needs the youth, the ancient warlord for this reason spirits him away, and there really is no better word for it. A century and change later and Miyazaki would re-use some of the themes, tone and ideas of how to portray this sort of thing in his Howl and Spirited Away movies.
There is a sense as Jonathan is riding away from where he was dropped off, and as he’s led to the castle that he is leaving the ordinary world. And this has been really skilfully explaiend by Morgoth, in one of his most brilliant videos out there that I still return to every few days and weeks, as there truly is a sense that one is being wisked away.
And this is precisely where one finds the horror in Spirited Away after the parents become pigs and the lead Sin is isolated and cut off from the ordinary world that she once knew. Even the journey into the village before they are metamorphosed, feels eerie and unsettling and this sensation is to be found in every quote and line in the lead up to and during the carriage-ride to the castle.
“On this were sure to be seated quite a group of home-coming peasants, the Cszeks with their white, and the Slovaks with their coloured, sheepskins, the latter carrying lance-fashion their long staves, with axe at end. As the evening fell it began to get very cold, and the growing twilight seemed to merge into one dark mistiness the gloom of the trees, oak, beech, and pine, though in the valleys which ran deep between the spurs of the hills, as we ascended through the Pass, the dark firs stood out here and there against the background of late-lying snow.”
So we’ve the day that is veering, one might even go as far as to say ‘careening’ to an end as we’ve continuous references to weapons of a myriad kind just before it.
The evening is not described romantically as one would find later in the Call of the Wild, but rather unpleasantly. It is cold, and unpleasant with the growing twilight one that brings with it a great deal of fog and mists.
The fog that overwhelms the landscape is one that seems more oppressive, more foreboding and like a great weight that hangs over the land. Denying her and the people that live there, and are part of the world the remotest possibility of seemingly lifting their heads properly, so heavy is the atmosphere that looms over the nation. Even the trees which in almost every other piece of literature out there seem pleasant and appealing are somehow made unappealing, so that one cannot help but feel as though they are glowering down at Harker and seeking to undo him.
“Sometimes, as the road was cut through the pine woods that seemed in the darkness to be closing down upon us, great masses of greyness, which here and there bestrewed the trees, produced a peculiarly weird and solemn effect, which carried on the thoughts and grim fancies engendered earlier in the evening, when the falling sunset threw into strange relief the ghost-like clouds which amongst the Carpathians seem to wind ceaselessly through the valleys. Sometimes the hills were so steep that, despite our driver’s haste, the horses could only go slowly. I wished to get down and walk up them, as we do at home, but the driver would not hear of it. “No, no,” he said; “you must not walk here; the dogs are too fierce”; and then he added, with what he evidently meant for grim pleasantry—”
The hills are steep and the wind whistles endlessly, with the haunting voice of the past echoing through the valleys and hills. The hills for their part are steep and Harker is told not to walk up them with the driver stopping him. Stopped from making a mistake that would likely cost him his life, due to the ‘dogs’ which are apparently too fierce.
We have to assume this refers to wild-dogs that are rampant in the area due to the darkness that looms over the land. The shadows that rule there are attributed if subtly to the likes of Dracula whom looms large as a Titan might have in ancient Greek Mythology.
“There is no carriage here. The Herr is not expected after all. He will now come on to Bukovina, and return to-morrow or the next day; better the next day.”
Is the conclusion that the gentleman who has accompanied Harker up part of the way, if by happenstance, and bad luck rather than by any willful design on the part of our hero. He is a little over-hasty and over-eager to be out of there, and speaks apparently worse German than Jonathan Harker himself. His desire to rescue the young man from the peril that surely awaits him in Castle-Dracula, is evident as he demonstrates a good natured will that is as commendable as it is dangerous.
A man with long ears so to speak, it is near impossible for the Count not to hear of the warning and the attempted rescue implied by the actions and words of the man. So that though a side-character one cannot help but admire him for his courage, as he seeks to do something few of us would have the courage to do for a complete stranger; stick our necks out for him.
“Whilst he was speaking the horses began to neigh and snort and plunge wildly, so that the driver had to hold them up. Then, amongst a chorus of screams from the peasants and a universal crossing of themselves, a calèche, with four horses, drove up behind us, overtook us, and drew up beside the coach. I could see from the flash of our lamps, as the rays fell on them, that the horses were coal-black and splendid animals.”
Suddenly from the shadows erupt four horses that seem reminiscent of bats flying out from the bowels of Hell, or akin to those horses driven by Hades in the ancient myths. Except where Hades was much more of a benevolent force, the likes of Dracula cannot be anything but evil, as he tears his way upon the seen with a venom and a passion that leaves the reader breathless.
Black as coal, one cannot also help but wonder if the horses’ shouldn’t be described as having dark wings.
“They were driven by a tall man, with a long brown beard and a great black hat, which seemed to hide his face from us. I could only see the gleam of a pair of very bright eyes, which seemed red in the lamplight, as he turned to us.”
A tall figure with a long beard and a great big black hat, and a pair of burning red eyes. This cannot be but anyone else but Dracula. The trouble is with the brownness of his beard that said it could be that he appears young at the moment, because he is still ‘young’ so to speak, as he had fed some time in the recent past but that he allows the vigour that the blood instilled in him to fade.
Why let it fade? So that he might present himself by the time of Jonathan Harker’s arrival as an old man. Why the need for a disguise? To be underestimated, and not at once recognized.
We must bear in mind that he’s a narcissistic and a nobleman there is no way he could resist showing his paintings, as that would be a show of shame somehow, when Dracula believes there is nothing for him to be ashamed of. He is also ruler in these lands, and therefore it is right and proper for him to show himself in his full glory so to speak even as he longs to be underestimated and to not arouse the suspicions of his ‘guest’. The notion being that he doesn’t know how useful Harker might soon prove to be, so that he probably prefers to be underestimated, as mentioned so that Harker will lower his guard.
As to suspicions, it would suit his purposes best if as few people as possible knew that he was centuries old.
““That is why, I suppose, you wished him to go on to Bukovina. You cannot deceive me, my friend; I know too much, and my horses are swift.” As he spoke he smiled, and the lamplight fell on a hard-looking mouth, with very red lips and sharp-looking teeth, as white as ivory.”
We have confirmation here of course thanks to the blood red lips and sharp-looking teeth, white as ivory. It is no surprise that we should find the people discomfited by his presence and frightened.
Dracula spots the man who had wished to rescue Jonathan and menaces him if in subtle fashion, and showing him quietly that he will not brook the slightest resistance. He will not tolerate the slightest of disagreements, or the slightest of heroics.
“(“ For the dead travel fast.”)
Is what the women whisper, among themselves with Harker translating their words for us. It is a chilling implication and a very true one, and one that seems to amuse the Count. He seems to derive amusement and pleasure from their terror of him, and their lack of certainty of what they should do, but he is also showing something else; he is in the midst of a psychological war with them.
Should they rally, should they realize there is strength in numbers and that they need not listen to him, he would be obliterated beforelong. So what does he do? He frightens them and terrorizes them in subtle fashion, showing them that he isn’t bothered by their mumbling and discontent.
“The strange driver evidently heard the words, for he looked up with a gleaming smile. The passenger turned his face away, at the same time putting out his two fingers and crossing himself. “Give me the Herr’s luggage,” said the driver; and with exceeding alacrity my bags were handed out and put in the calèche. Then I descended from the side of the coach, as the calèche was close alongside, the driver helping me with a hand which caught my arm in a grip of steel; his strength must have been prodigious. Without a word he shook his reins, the horses turned, and we swept into the darkness of the Pass. As I looked back I saw the steam from the horses of the coach by the light of the lamps, and projected against it the figures of my late companions crossing themselves.”
He’s amused and in control, and when he grips Harker’s arm and goes to help him he grips him with a grip described as one of steel. Bear in mind that Dracula has the strength of 20 men, or so he is described later in the book.
Formidable, and ferocious by nature, he is to showcase his mastery to not only the others with his demonstration of strength but also Harker. Jonathan doesn’t know what to make of it, so that he is if on an unconscious level daunted and unsure of what to make of the ‘driver’ just as his guides are confused and frightened.
It is now that the guides and other coach carry on for Bukovina, leaving Jonathan behind though he doesn’t fully realize it. Keen to assure him and get him away from the fields in which he had been left behind and was now all but already a prisoner. Hardly keen to kill Jonathan, Dracula goes on to throw some fur about his shoulders and closes the carriage.
Once he has reassured his ‘guest’ and closed the door he begins tearing his way across the path that separates them from the castle, so that Dracula likely draws some satisfaction to have finally gotten for himself, someone foolish enough to dare the trek to his keep.
Jonathan for his part means to speak up, ask more questions but is too frightened to do so. Why is this the case? On an unconscious level he knows he’s now in the belly of the beast so to speak and dares not tempt whatever dark fate this strange and menacing driver has in mind for him.
It is just as a dog howls in the night that they really pick up speed, and make their way towards the keep. The howling of dogs really seems to herald that they have now left the realm of civilization, the realm in which Harker is most familiar and made their way into some other world.
Spirited away to some dark place where modern comforts do not exist, and where the most evil and mysterious of shadows of the past exists. It is there just as the wolves bray and snarl and howl, that the Devil reigns supreme or so it seems, and yet the modern Harker doesn’t understand any of this.
Frightened though he is, he should understand what is happening to him, and yet he doesn’t. Why is this? Likely due to his modern education he has not been taught as he should, to fear the darkness that there deep within the shadows lies something murkier, something more wicked than any person innocent and ignorant as only those from the post-Revolutions of the 18th century could be.
Evil exists. We all know this. And yet there are many who would deny this common knowledge. Why is this? Because the wicked wishes to deny evil exists, because they wish to deny that good exists. But in that place. In the darkness of the castle to which Harker is going, good is in short supply and evil holds mastery there since ancient times.
Next time I’ll get into the Blue Flame, it’s symbolism and what it could possibly mean, and why it is important to the story.
Excellent article on my favorite horror novel!
We actually studied it one semester in college, and it's fascinating how specifically rooted the novel is in Anglo Saxon heroic tradition. I even wrote an essay comparing Dracula to Beowulf.
Thorough piece! I respect the storytellers who continue to inspire future generations.