Dracula Study Guide #1
NOTE: These guides ALSO ask you to read selections from critical, etc. essays
in Dundes and in the Auerbach edition!
We are using the text edited by Nina Auerbach and David J. Skal, Norton Critical
Edition. Questions below are keyed to this edition. Note: You are directed to
supporting material in this book as well as to selections in Dundes, The Vampire:
A Casebook.
Use the three study guides to focus your reading and prepare for class.
Questions/Directions:
READ the Preface, pp. ix-xiii
1. Who wrote it and when was it published?
2. Which other authors wrote novels in which “fabulous creatures from
remote corners of the earth threatened the integrity of the British empire”?
3. What was Stoker’s connection to English theater?
4. The preface suggests one important theme: “England was losing her
homogeneity.” What is “homogeneity” and what does the preface say
about this theme? Paraphrase in two sentences.
5. What is “the New Woman”?
6. Who was Oscar Wilde and what is the preface’s point in saying, “like the
vampire, this creature was tainted in his desires, not his deeds.” Is the
creature Oscar Wilde or the sexual aberration he represented to the
British public?
Table of Contents, p. 7:
Dracula, in its form, is not the kind of novel you’re used to. It does not have a
single narrator who tells the story. Instead, the novel is presented as an
organized collection of different types of writing by several characters.
1. List three types of writing used in the book. For starters, here’s one:
journals.
2. List two or three reasons why you think Stoker chose to use these forms.
Chapter 1:
1. The story begins with details of Harker’s journey. How do these details
convince you that the chapter is an excerpt from his journal?
2. What is the first indication (p. 10) that something ominous might happen
on his trip?
3. What clues about the troubled nature of his destination emerge from
Harker’s account of its history and ethnic mix of people? How do you
think Stoker’s readers would react to such descriptions?
4. When Harker mentions Dracula, the landlord and his wife cross
themselves, then the landlady says, “It is the eve of St. George’s Day.”
Who is St. George? For background, read a passage in the essay by
Agnes Murgoci in the Dundes book, pp. 22-23 beginning with “In general,
dead vampires . . .”
a. Given what Murgoci says about vampires in folklore, how accurate
is Stoker’s detail here?
b. What is the date of St. George’s Day? Skim the essay in Dracula
on pp. 331-335.
5. On p. 13 (bottom) and 14 Harker lists words in the native languages.
Skim the essay in Dundes by Wilson, pp. 3-9. Do any of Harker’s words
appear in Wilson’s account? List them.
6. In many folktales, animals are more sensitive to the supernatural than
humans are. List one example in this chapter and, later on, keep this
theme in mind. One theme in Dracula turns on the conflict between the
“scientific” mind versus the seeming irrationality of the supernatural.
“Scientific” means (1) trusting only in the empirical: what can be directly
observed or measured, etc; and (2) trusting in reason and method to draw
conclusions from empirical observation to verify the truth. “Irrational”
means (1) beyond the grasp of reason and hence (2) dismissed by the
“scientific” mind.
a. How does this clash between the sensitivity of animals to the
supernatural versus the rejection of the supernatural by the
“scientific” mind help shape the form of the story?
b. List an example of an animal warning in this chapter:
Chapter 2:
1. Pay attention to footnote 3 on p. 22.
2. Pay attention to the description of Dracula on pp. 23-24.
3. Pay attention to footnote 9 on. p. 24.
4. Pay attention to pp. 30-31 and footnotes.
Chapter 3:
1. Footnote 2 on p. 33 is important.
2. What impression is Dracula’s account of his racial history meant to have
on Harker? What impression does it make on you?
3. Page 42-44: list words that emphasize the sexual undertones in this
section. Read a section of the essay by Franco Moretti in Dracula starting
on p. 438 to 444.
Chapter 4:
1. One theme in the book is dream versus reality, which has parallels to the
related contrast of night versus day. Related images/themes include
sleeplessness, delusions, insanity. Keep these in mind as you read the
book.
2. The Szgany are commonly called Gypsies. What are gypsies? What
legends about them can you discover? Try searching the web.
3. Study the description on pp. 50-51.
4. How does the narrative technique change in the entry starting on p. 53?
Why do you think Stoker does this at the end of the first section of the
novel drawn from Harker’s journal?
Chapter 5:
1. How do you respond to the sudden change in method and tone when you
go from Harker’s journal to letters between Mina and Lucy?
2. How many men are in love with Lucy Westenra? Does that number have
any parallel in what you’ve read so far? What can you make of this?
3. After the letters and before the letter that ends the chapter, Stoker plugs in
a passage from Dr. Seward’s diary. What is its effect here?
Chapter 6:
1. Mina describes a funny old man she encounters at Whitby who speaks in
a local dialect. What is the effect of his way of speaking? How does Mina
react to it?
a. Stoker was involved for much of his life with the theater, especially
with Henry Irving, famous for roles in Shakespeare plays. Is there
any technique in Shakespeare that seems similar to this sudden
descent into comic dialect?
2. One theme, noted earlier, is the conflict between science and the
irrational. How does Dr. Seward’s style of writing in his diary (pp. 69-72)
characterize him as a man of science? List some words that support this
description.
3. Is there any paradox in the implication that Seward’s science, guided by
reason, seeks to uncover reasons for irrational behavior – madness?
Explain.
4. Lucy is soon to become a victim of the vampire. What is the first
indication in Chapter 6 of her eventual fate? See p. 72. What theme in the
novel is echoed here?
Chapter 7:
1. Why do you think Stoker shifts to a newspaper account to describe the
arrival of the Demeter (the mysterious ship)? Would it be better if Stoker
had Mina or Lucy or Seward describe it?
2. The ship is called Demeter. Why do you think Stoker chose this name?
3. Page 81 on: the ship’s log. What is the effect of this day by day, then
minute by minute first-hand account? Is there anything similar in the book
so far?
Chapter 8 and Chapter 9:
1. See footnote on p. 89. List two reasons why you think Stoker had his
vampire bite necks instead of the bosom.
2. Jot down a few instances of the theme of dream versus reality, etc. in this
chapter.
3. Page 96: Renfield. Seward calls him a “religious maniac.” What is
Seward’s evidence? Read the footnote on p. 97. Why do you think
Stoker introduces the theme of religion?
a. (Optional) For a discussion of “real” vampires – madmen – from a
psychiatric perspective, read Jaffe and DiCataldo in Dundes, the
section from pp. 144-149.
4. Mina’s letter to Lucy is also filled with religious imagery. How is it different
from Renfield’s religious mania? Why?
5. Pages 105-106: What characteristics does Seward attribute to Van
Helsing in his letter? Does the description of his sickroom interview with
Lucy on pp. 107-108 confirm Seward’s description?
END OF STUDY GUIDE #1