1. Dracula relies on journal fragments, letters, and newspaper
clippings to tell its story. Why might Stoker have chosen to
narrate the story in this way? Do letters and journal entries make
the story seem more authentic or believable to you? Likewise,
discuss the significance that many of the male protagonists are
doctors (Dr. Seward) or men of science (Dr. Van Helsing). Why is
this important to the story?
2. How does the novel invert Christian mythology in its
description of Count Dracula''s reign of terror? For instance, what
specific elements of Stoker''s story parallel scenes or images from
the New Testament? Why might this subversion of Christian myth be
significant?
3. Discuss the roles of Lucy Westenra and Mina Harker in the
novel. How are the two women similar? Different? What accounts for
their differences? To what extent does the novel depend on both of
these women to propel the narrative forward?
4. Discuss the role of sexuality in Dracula. Would you say that
Dracula attempts to reproduce himself sexually or by some other
means? In what ways does the figure of Dracula subvert conventional
notions of heterosexuality? Consider, for instance, his
predilection for drinking blood and his habit of making his victims
feed from his chest.
5. What are the elements of vampire folklore? For example,
what, according to the novel, attracts or repels a vampire? How do
you kill a vampire for good? Although Stoker did not invent the
mythology of the vampire, his novel firmly established the
conventions of vampire fiction. Choose another novel that deals
with vampires and compare it with Dracula. (Consider, for example,
one of Anne Rice''s vampire books.) In what ways are the novels
similar? Different?
6. Consider Freud''s essay "The Uncanny" in relation to
Stoker''s Dracula. How would Freud describe the world that Stoker
evokes in the novel? Is this a world of common reality? Or is it a
world governed by supernatural belief? Or both? Discuss Freud''s
claim that the writer of gothic fiction is "betraying to us the
superstitiousness which we have ostensibly surmounted; he deceives
us by promising to give us the sober truth, and then after all
overstepping it." In what ways does Stoker''s narrative strategy of
employing newspaper clippings and journal entries promise the
"sober truth"? To what extent do you think Dracula achieves a sense
of the uncanny?