Context- Vampires

Question 1

What are some vampire ‘laws’?

Answer 1

-cannot enter a human home without being invited in
-vampires are afflicted by certain items (garlic, crucifixes)
-coven has a leader and only he can make new vampires
-no vampire can expose their true nature to mortals

Question 2

What were vampires to gothic?

Answer 2

Archetypal monster originated in folklore. Similar stories appear in ancient Indian, Greek, Babylonian and Hebrew mythologies

Question 3

What can vampires represent?

Answer 3

Represent cultural anxieties like xenophobia, antisemitism. Also associated with fears off illness/sin

Question 4

What was the Victorian appeal?

Answer 4

-liminality between life and death
-symbols of sin and mystery

Question 5

How is Dracula a typical villain?

Answer 5

-represents a doppelgänger of a human

Question 6

What are vampires?

Answer 6

-rise from the dead
-feed on the blood of the living
-transform into animals eg bats

Question 7

What is the uncanny?

Answer 7

Strange/mysterious in an unsettling way

Question 8

How is Dracula uncanny?

Answer 8

Hair on palms, fangs, bushy brows

Question 9

Stoker does align with the archetypes of vampires but he also breaks the typicalities through:

Answer 9

-scientific elements
-Dracula himself breaking established ‘vampire rules’ eg going into a home without being invited in
-ideologically complex villain
-orientalist/accidenalism

Question 10

The novel is quintessential gothic but also:

Answer 10

Gothic romance, adventure, detective fiction, epistolary novel, science fiction, social commentary

Question 11

How does the novel reflect gothic romanticism?

Answer 11

-focus on emotion, the sublime, the uncanny
-mina’s love and devotion to Jonathan echo elements of romance albeit the menacing backdrop

Question 12

How does the novel reflect adventure genre?

Answer 12

-adventurous quality where characters travel across Europe to confront Dracula
-final quest to destroy the count is a quest narrative

Question 13

How does the novel reflect detective fiction?

Answer 13

-teams investigation of Draculas activities resembles detective work. They gather clues, analyse evidence (eg draculas coffin) and plan strategies
-van heisling uses logical/experience to combat supernatural

Question 14

How does the novel show epistolary style?

Answer 14

-structure composed of letters, diaries, newspaper adds to realism, adds to physiological depth

Question 15

How does the novel reflect science fiction?

Answer 15

-science elements highlight tension between science and superstituition (eg blood transfusions)
-aligns with late Victorian anxieties about the limits of science and resurgence of ancient/mystical threats

Question 16

How does the novel reflect social commentary

Answer 16

Criticism of Victorian anxieties:
-gender roles (eg mina as the new woman)
-colonialism (fear of the other)