Dracula is an epistolary novel, told entirely through first-hand accounts "written" by the characters (i.e. letters, telegrams, diary entries, newspaper clippings). This style provides an ensemble feeling to the novel: the reader is afforded equal opportunity to peer into the minds of each of the main characters (except Quincey Morris, from whom no excerpts are included). This style of writing is also excellent at building suspense, as evidenced by the transition between Chapter 4 and Chapter 5. Jonathan Harker ends his diary entry at the end of Chapter 4 by implying that he will commit suicide rather than surrender to the will of Dracula:
At least God's mercy is better than that of these monsters, and the precipice is steep and high. At its foot man may sleep - as man. Good-bye, all! Mina!
This last sentence of the chapter leaves the reader in suspense as to Jonathan's fate, with the assumption that Stoker will later reveal whether or not he is alive. To maintain tension and suspense, however, Stoker delays revealing this information by switching away from Jonathan's point of view. Chapter 5 begins with a letter from Mina to Lucy; the reader does not find out what has happened to Jonathan for many more chapters. Stoker thus uses the epistolary style as a way to maintain suspense within Dracula's narrative.
Dracula is an epistolary novel, told entirely through first-hand accounts "written" by the characters (i.e. letters, telegrams, diary entries, newspaper clippings). This style provides an ensemble feeling to the novel: the reader is afforded equal opportunity to peer into the minds of each of the main characters (except Quincey Morris, from whom no excerpts are included). This style of writing is also excellent at building suspense, as evidenced by the transition between Chapter 4 and Chapter 5. Jonathan Harker ends his diary entry at the end of Chapter 4 by implying that he will commit suicide rather than surrender to the will of Dracula:
At least God's mercy is better than that of these monsters, and the precipice is steep and high. At its foot man may sleep - as man. Good-bye, all! Mina!
This last sentence of the chapter leaves the reader in suspense as to Jonathan's fate, with the assumption that Stoker will later reveal whether or not he is alive. To maintain tension and suspense, however, Stoker delays revealing this information by switching away from Jonathan's point of view. Chapter 5 begins with a letter from Mina to Lucy; the reader does not find out what has happened to Jonathan for many more chapters. Stoker thus uses the epistolary style as a way to maintain suspense within Dracula's narrative.
