“The Grave's a fine and private place, but none I think do there embrace.”(1)
Graveyards are supposed to be the final resting place of the dead but in Dracula, different graveyards have variations in effect based on some basic cues Bram Stoker gives in their descriptions.
The first grave is the ruined chapel in Dracula's castle, where Harker finds himself “in an old ruined chapel, which evidently been used as a graveyard. The roof was broken, ...”(2) This graveyard is decrepit and probably desecrated due to it's use as the resting place of an UnDead. And to confirm his worst fears, Harker does finds Dracula sleeping in one the 50 dirt filled boxes.
The graveyard in Whitby is crumbling away into the sea and according to Mr. Sawles, full of lies and fool-talk. The grave stone that Mina and Lucy like to sit by is for a suicide, which are not allowed to buried on consecrated ground. (3) This makes it easier for Dracula to start him claiming Lucy as his first victim as the usual protections for graveyards is gone.
The graveyard where Lucy is buried is wholesome because the constant reference to Yew trees. (4)Yew trees have been associated with “death, sorrow and sadness since Egyptian times. They used its foliage as a symbol of mourning and this was passed into both Greek and Roman cultures. The Romans also used the wood to fuel funeral pyres. ” (5) Christians assimilated the Yew into their symbols and it has been affiliated with English churches and graveyards ever since. Stoker is hinting to the readers that while sad and horrifying all will be made right since the yews are there to keep the recently dead in the cemetery.
While grave dirt extends Dracula's reach, it also limits him. With subtle signs, Stoker let's us know the horror will be over since unwholesome soil protection will be cleansed away.
1) pg 302 “To His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell, English Seventeenth-Century Verse Volume 1 Edited by Loius L. Martz 1963. -25
2) pg 43-44 Chapter Four- Dracula by Bram Stoker Introduction and Notes by James Hynes. Barnes and Noble 2012
3) pg 61. Chapter 6 Dracula by Bram Stoker Introduction and Notes by James Hynes. Barnes and Noble 2012
4) pg 179 Chapter 15 Dracula by Bram Stoker Introduction and Notes by James Hynes. Barnes and Noble 2012
5) http://www.ancient-yew.org/mi.php/trees-in-mythology/79