Dracula

For Friday, May 2, please be prepared to answer question 6.

For Monday, May 5, please be prepared to answer question 2.

For Wed., May 7, please be prepared to answer question 1.

 

1. It's been said that the figure of Dracula can be made to stand for anything. What do you think Dracula symbolizes or "stands for" and why? Be sure to use specific examples from the text to support your position. You may think that Dracula stands for multiple things--for such a short essay, please focus on the one you think you can best discuss. This essay will show off your interpretation and your comprehension of the text.

2. How is this narrative constructed? What are the effects of Stoker's choice to tell his story through journals, letters, newspaper clippings and the like? How does the form of the novel work to create suspense or fear?

3. Social class is important in Dracula. Which social class is the most revered and how does Stoker convey this? Use specific examples from the text to back your thesis.

4. On page 307, Van Helsing addresses Seward saying "Do you not think that there are things which you cannot understand, and yet which are; that some people see things that others cannot? But there are things old and new which must not be contemplate by men's eyes, because they know--or think they know--some things which other men have told them. Ah, it is the fault of our science that it wants to explain all; and if it explain not, then it says there is nothing to explain. But yet we see around us every day the growth of new beliefs, which think themselves new; and which are yet but the old, which pretend to be young--like the fine ladies at the opera." What is the relationship between belief/superstition and science in this text?

5. What is the status of science in Dracula? How are science and technology viewed? Use specific examples from the text to back up your thesis.

6. What sorts of female characters does one encounter in Dracula? How are women portrayed overall? Use specific examples from the text to support your thesis.