The word viral comes from one of three latin roots. One of the latin roots, “virere”, means to be lively and vigorous, meaning more energetic. When looking at Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the use of “viral” is seen quite often with words and explanations of a scene. Stoker is an author that uses detail when writing a page.
The use of viral can be seen in a way to show how lively a scene looks. For example, written in DraculaIa, Stoker uses viral to describe the look of an estate called a Carfax. He writes, “It contains in all some twenty acres, quite surrounded by the solid stone wall above mentioned. There are many trees on it, which make it in places gloomy, and there is a deep, dark-looking pond or small lake, evidently fed by some springs, as the water is clear and flows away in a fair-sized stream” (Stoker 60). Stoker using words like “gloomy” and “dark-looking” show a scene that shows how dead the estate looks as described from the journal of Jonathan Harker. The use of viral is to show how gloomy the scene is to provide the feelings of Harker’s suspicion of the estate. Showing small signs of life would make people feel uneasy.
Another example of viral being used is when describing the time of wait Harker had to experience with his driver. Stoker writes, “At last there came a time when the driver went further afield than he had yet done, and during his absence the horses began to tremble worse than ever and to snort and scream with fright. I could not see any cause for it, for the howling of the wolves had ceased altogether; but just then the moon, sailing through the black clouds, appeared behind the jagged crest of a beetling, pineclad rock, and by its light I saw around us a ring of wolves, with white teeth and lolling red tongues, with long, sinewy limbs and shaggy hair” (Stoker 47) to describe the eerie feeling that he endured during his ride. Words like “tremble” and “fright” gives a feeling of fear, giving a lot of energy to describe fear. In this case, the scene is more lively, but the way of liveliness described shows a more horror feel with the “howling of the wolves” being the most lively part of the scene.
Stoker’s choice of words is a good example of how viral means to be lively. Bram Stoker’s Dracula uses viral words to describe an uneasy feelings provided by Harker.
