But Seriously You Have This Anticlimactic Ending AND THEN You Kill Quincey - Tumblr Posts
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Warning: Spoilers to the ending of an 1897 novel.
Artwork: The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters by Francisco Goya
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After having finished reading the Gothic horror classic that is Bram Stoker's Dracula, it must be said that the ending was, to say the least, not expected.
The original story of Dracula is of the hero group (Jonathan, Mina, Seward, Arthur, Quincey, and Van Helsing) discovering the evil deeds of Dracula and putting an end to said vampire.
The premise is a group of good doers taking down the almighty evil. So, it comes to no surprise that the entire novel was building up to the group's final encounter with Dracula. From the beginning when Jonathan first went to his castle to the end where they trailed Dracula on his path home; it has always been about them putting an end to Dracula's reign of terror.
Previous situations involving Dracula such as the turning of Lucy, and even the planning phase of his demise were several chapters long. Yet when the anticipated moment of Dracula's end comes to fruition, it was less than four pages in length.
In storytelling, the moment being built-up to is expected to be grander than any previous plot point. The three-act structure of the hero's journey (a story structure seen even in the earliest of narratives) has everything in act one and two projecting the story upwards towards the climax. That climax being the highest and most dramatic point of the story.
In a novel called Dracula about the terror and downfall of Dracula, it is safe to say that the climatic point is meant to be Dracula's demise. It is also safe to assume that a novel, constantly discussing the mass array of supernatural and insanely powerful powers Dracula possesses, would have the climax be a grand standoff between the group of heavenly mortals and the great hellish immortal. Yet when they come across the cart transporting the said 'great evil', he doesn't even wake from his slumber let alone fight against them.
Remember watching a movie and asking, "Why didn't they do that and have everything be immediately solved?"
It's because mistakes are entertaining.
Perhaps over the decades since its initial publishing, society has become more drama and action craved. Perhaps that is why this frustration came to be. But if 200+ pages are leading to the death of the evil and powerful Dracula, then is it wrong to be disappointed with this anticlimactic, but ideal outcome.
Perfection is not drama.
Drama comes from the conflict created by opposing forces. Now while that conflict has to resolve at some point, in a story full of drama, the climax is the most dramatic part. Yet somehow Stoker made the most interesting part record-keeping.
In short, Bram Stoker's Dracula is legendary in how it was able to be remembered and praised for countless generations even with its disappointment of an ending.
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I still enjoyed it.