Assignment
Write a 1500+ word essay based on one of the topics below. The essay needs to make an original, interpretive argument, draw on at least one scholarly essay to bolster or contrast with your argument, closely analyze the figurative and symbolic language in at least two scenes.
Topics
Choose your own topic: Present and defend an original interpretation of a theme you find interesting and relevant in the novel Dracula. The theme should be narrow enough to discuss within the required page length (e.g. instead of just “blood”, perhaps “blood as a symbol of love”). You should be able to articulate in your essay why discussing this theme has some connection to our current world. What does the text say something that speaks to something going on now (e.g. if blood transfusion is often a symbol of how lovers physically support each other in the novel, perhaps that’s useful advice for how relationships should work in the real world).
Present and defend an evaluation of the form the novel takes, base your evaluation on the goals you think Stoker had in mind. For example, if you think that the novel is intended to be suspenseful, what techniques does Stoker employ to build suspense and how successful are they? Be creative and try to work out non-obvious links, as well. How does the journal/letter/personal memo format contribute to the goal of the novel? How do the different intentions of the characters shape the narrative and for what purpose? You’re free to be critical as well as congratulatory as long as you defend your opinion. To link your thesis to the real world, your conclusion might discuss how similar techniques are used in contemporary fiction/media, or how they’ve been tweaked for a new generation.
Present and defend an analysis of a character in Dracula. Your thesis should make an interpretive argument about the character, telling the reader why you think the character is an important one to look more deeply into. Is there a way to read the count sympathetically, perhaps as someone cursed with power? Or you might argue that Harker represents a kind of ideal worker, always eager to perform his duties no matter what is asked, but also revealing how unnatural and strange that is because his character is so unbelievable. Or maybe you see something really rebellious and interesting about Lucy. Or you might argue that Van Helsing straddles science and the unknown, representing the idea that science can never explain everything in part because it’s always evolving.
Some scholars have suggested that Dracula is a form of “invasion literature,” meaning that it reveals anxieties about immigration, foreigners, and spies hidden in plain sight.
Drawing from your own experiences and current events, as well as the text of Dracula argue for an original interpretation of the novel through this lens.
You might, for example, demonstrate how the novel portrays the British characters differently than the foreign characters (Dracula, Van Helsing, the Transylvanian people). What characteristics are emphasized in the foreign characters to differentiate them from the British characters? What does this suggest about Stoker’s views of immigrants from Eastern Europe? What dangers and opportunities do the the immigrants pose in the story? How does this compare to your experiences as an immigrant or knowing immigrants? For example, can Dracula be read as an example of the complicated ways racism and xenophobia work, even in today’s world? Perhaps Dracula is a model immigrant — he moves to the neighborhood, bringing his money and talents, fixes up an old dilapidated house, does his best to integrate into the culture and language, but ultimately is always suspected as being evil and plotting to take Britain’s women (this is a way to read against what Stoker may have intended, but a theory that might have more relevance for us today).
