Themes and Characters
Stoker explores the conflict of good and evil throughout the novel and does not allow good to triumph until the last few pages. In the […]
Month: October 2008
Literary Qualities
Paradoxically, Dracula has been judged both a failure and a masterpiece. To most modern readers the novel seems uneven, containing passages filled with suspense and […]
Social Sensitivity
While Dracula’s subject matter is disturbing, young readers today are unlikely to find the novel extremely frightening and may miss its sexual elements altogether. Depictions […]
Topics for Discussion
1. Like most horror stories, Dracula is about the struggle between good and evil. What are some of the symbols of good and evil in […]
Ideas for Reports and Papers
1. Compare Dracula with its film adaptation or with later vampire literature. How are these later works influenced by the novel? 2. Compare Dracula with […]
Adaptations
Numerous films of Dracula have appeared, most of which make little attempt to follow the plot of the novel. The first film version was the […]
About the Author
Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on November 13, 1850. He was dearly fond of his childhood nurse, Alison Cunningham (Cummy), who deeply […]
Setting
The story is set in the 1870s, in London, England. The city, the buildings, and the people (whether servants, working-class, or educated) are all historically […]
Themes and Characters
The viewpoint character, Mr. Utterson, is introduced to us as a lawyer, who is frequently “the last reputable acquaintance and the last good influence in […]