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For Monday: Stoker, Dracula, Chs.1-5


Odilon Redon, Portrait of Violette Heymann (1910)
Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: Dracula has no single narrator binding the entire novel together from either an omniscient or an unreliable point of view. Rather, the book is cobbled together from several different narrators, some consciously narrating (Harker's diary, Mina and Lucy's letters, etc.), while others are forced into the role unknowingly (newspaper reports, phonograph recordings, shipping receipts). How does this affect how we read the work and understand even the simplest ideas of plot, characterization, and narration? Is the entire work 'unreliable'? Or does the factual nature of the sources make it more reliable than our previous works?

Q2: How does Stoker's characterization of Dracula differ from modern versions of Dracula and of vampires in general? Though Dracula is not the first literary vampire in England (he is preceded by Polidori's Lord Ruthven by several decades), he created the prototypical mythology that all subsequent vampires follow. Nevertheless, Stoker's 'Dracula' shows some remarkable differences that often surprise or even disappoint readers. What might these be...and what might Stoker's intentions have been in writing him this way?

Q3: Reflecting on the man who is holding him captive, Harker reflects, “What manner of man is this, or what manner of creature is it in the semblance of man? I feel the dread of this horrible place overpowering me; I am in fear—awful fear—and there is no escape for me” (III/35). How might the Dracula (as a person) compare to the Morlocks in The Time Machine, and how might Harker be a little like the Time Traveler himself? What makes him think he has gone “back in time” himself?

Q4: In Chapter 5, Lucy writes, “I know, Mina, you will think me a horrid flirt—though I couldn’t help feeling a sort of exultation that he was number two in one day” (57). What kind of woman is Lucy, and how does she contrast (so far) with Mina? Based on this, how does she resemble a certain type of woman still common in modern-day horror movies?

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