Dracula

Question 1

Mina’s morals and devoted nature praised

Answer 1

• The embodiment of Victorian virtues, described to be ‘one of God’s women, fashioned by His own hand’ (Van Helsing)

Question 2

How is Mina corrupted sexually by Dracula?

Answer 2

• physically scarred with a cross when the holy water touches her forehead
• tainting of her ‘white nightdress’ with ‘blood’ - motif of corruption in many gothic texts

Question 3

How is sexual corruption also criticised in Dracula

Answer 3

•Condemned in the vampire brides (and Lucy) - exaggerated in the negative sexual aspects of the New Woman - supernatural beings with ‘voluptuous lips and brilliant white teeth’
• Reflects male resentment of female power, these vampire brides control Harker and test the resolution of Van Helsing

Question 4

How is Mina exiled when corrupted sexually by Dracula, and how do the men attempt to save her?

Answer 4

•Men only want to help her to regain ‘old Mina’ and restore her innocence
• excluded from plans to destroy Dracula, illustrates how her newfound intelligence and sexual activeness is resented, reflects resistance against the new woman

Question 5

Mina the ideal Victorian wife, working to help her husband

Answer 5

‘My household work is done, so I shall take his foreign journal and lock myself up in my room and read it’

Question 6

Genre in Dracula

Answer 6

Gothic - combination of old fashioned romance with the mysterious and supernatural yet with realistic portrayal of events

Question 7

When was Dracula published

Answer 7

1897