Chapter One
o Please cite an example of the following from chapter one
§ Gothic imagery
§ Inversion (the attribution of animal-like traits to humans)
§ Seduction
§ Dreamlike surrealism
o What words does Harker hear muttered from the mouths of some townspeople as he loads the coach to hit up Dracula’s mansion?
Chapter Two
o How is Jonathan described physically? Cite the page number in parenthesis, followed by a period.
o How is Dracula described physically? Cite the page number in parenthesis, followed by a period.
o Why do you think physiognomy (the outward appearance, particularly of the face) is important to the story of any fiction involving complex characters?
o What is Dracula’s method of infiltrating London?
o What is the explanation give for the blue light that burns over a mountain pass in Romania near Dracula’s castle?
o How is the London estate described? Why is its atmosphere appropriate to Dracula’s character?
o How is Dracula an atavistic (reverting to or suggesting the characteristics of a remote ancestor or primitive type) threat to the teeming humanity of London?
Chapter Three
o What effect does Harker’s sleeplessness have on his perception of reality?
o What does Dracula’s translucent reflection in the mirror say about his spiritual state?
o Cite an example of inversion in this chapter.
o What is the significance of the crucifix around Harker’s neck?
o Dracula gives a history of his people, the Szekelys race. They are considered a warrior race conveniently allied at various parts of Romania’s history with great conquerors such as the Hungarians and the Turks. What does he say about the Draculas? What does he say about blood? Dracula brags about the unique blood of the Szekelys race as a way of hinting to what other distinct race?
o How does Harker begin to feel inside Dracula’s castle?
o Note Harker’s terror of sleep. With what Shakespearean character is he paralleled in this instance? What is preventing him from sleep?
o Cite examples in brief phrases (with page number) of hetero and homo-eroticism in Harker’s dreamlike encounter with both Dracula and Dracula’s three sisters.
o How do the women assert themselves in their encounter with Harker? How does Dracula assert himself? What does this say about gender stereotypes according to Victorian England at this time (1900s)?
Chapter Four
o Can we trust Harker as a reliable narrator? Explain.
o The Szaganies outside of Dracula’s castle are gypsies who obey all of Dracula’s commands. To what kind of political leader is Dracula compared with regard to them? (meanwhile, I spell-checked the word, Szaganies, and “Satanists” was one of the corrections…interesting).
o Cite an instance of infanticide (the act of killing an infant).
o How can Dracula be compared to the mythological conception of Satan?
o In his June 29 journal entry, Harker calls the Dracula’s three sister’s, “weird sisters” (51). In what other literary work do we see a specific reference to “weird sisters”?
o What is Harker’s revelation regarding Dracula’s move to London?
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