Dracula: Chapter 1

The beginning of Dracula doesn't exactly jump straight into the trademark gothic/ horror genre, however it is still very effective. Chapters 1-4 all follow a young gentleman named Jonathan Harker who travels to Transilvania to discuss business terms with the Count, who is k een on moving to London.
Throughout the chapter there is a very chilling atmosphere. This atmosphere escelates when Harker meets some of the locals around the hotel he stayed in, before a carriage arrives which takes him to the Count's castle. This escelates when the locals all seem fearful for his fate, which is conveyed especially from the words they use when fearing for him. These words are all satanic, and related to death. It is also significant when a woman at the hotel puts a crucifix round his neck, which implies at the time that he is going to a rather unholy place.
The most significant part of the chapter is the journey from the hotel, to the counts castle. Along the way very stange things happen, such as blue flames being seen randomly and howling wolves. All of these strange happenings are gothicly iconic, e.g. "All at once the wolves began to howl as though moonlight had an effect on them.", and pathetic fallacy is also used, e.g. "Soon we were hemmed with trees, which in places arched right over the road way till we passed as through a tunnel.". The chilling atmosphere at this point is still ever present, with "It grew colder and colder, and fine, powdery snow began to fall."
The simple fact that the journey through the woodland is so long, is significant because it implies that Harker is lonely and isolated at this point, and that a possible escape is nearly impossible. This adds to the uneasy feeling that Harker is feeling at this point in time, when all these strange things that cannot be explained, and are making Harker extremely frightened, are happening. All of these things happening during the journey are placed to build up to the point when he arrives at the castle so that there is a dark and fearful atmosphere when he arrives.
The caleche rider is also significant in this chapter, because the way that he is described makes him sound ghostly rather than human, e.g. "I could only see the gleam of a pair of very bright eyes, which seemed red in the lamplight" and "a hard looking mouth, with red lips and sharp teeth". This adds to the intense and fearful atmosphere that Stoker is portraying at this point.
The chapter ends just as the carriage arrives at the castle, and at this point Harker is strongly thinking about the level of fear that the locals at Bistritz had for him before he left for the castle. This is a good place to end the chapter as it ends at the point where you have the urge to read more.