Dracula (Oxford Playscripts)

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Count Dracula is equipped with many supernatural powers that make him a formidable enemy. However, Stoker is also quite pragmatic about the fact that part of what makes Dracula dangerous is his wealth, and his ability to engage in systems of economic exchange. Dracula buys his new home in England through a perfectly legal and commonplace financial transaction, and he pays for his voyages to and from England, rather than using any sort of magical ability to travel. When Harker is imprisoned in the castle, he observes finding “a great heap of gold in one corner,” evidence of Dracula having the money he needs to carry out his plans. While Dracula’s ancient origins and supernatural powers seem to make him a figure from the past, he is able to seamlessly navigate the modern cash economy and use it to his advantage. So long as he has the money to pay, many characters, including Harker himself, are willing to overlook his eccentric and menacing behavior. Though Stoker begins his novel in a ruined castle—a traditional Gothic setting—he soon moves the action to Victorian London, where the advancements of modernity are largely responsible for the ease with which the count preys upon English society. When Lucy falls victim to Dracula’s spell, neither Mina nor Dr. Seward—both devotees of modern advancements—are equipped even to guess at the cause of Lucy’s predicament. Only Van Helsing, whose facility with modern medical techniques is tempered with open-mindedness about ancient legends and non-Western folk remedies, comes close to understanding Lucy’s affliction. This allows you to record one of your live performances for your internal archives only. This cannot be streamed.

Bram Stoker’s ‘ Dracula‘ was written during the Victorian period, at a time when Charles Darwin’s theory of revolution, as well as recent technological advancements, were leading to less religiosity among people. This sentiment is exemplified in the attitudes of Mina and Dr. Seward who could not solve the mystery of Lucy’s ailments because of a dependence on cold rationalism at the expense of superstitions and spirituality. The individuals who united to destroy Dracula were not friends from the start- three of them had competed for the hands of one woman, and two had been saddened by her rejection. Yet there was no feeling of jealousy or resentment at the individual Lucy chose or on Lucy herself. Although they all came as competitors, Arthur, Quincy, and Seward ended up forging an undying bond with themselves, as well as with Harker, Mina, and Van Helsing.

Motivating activities focusing on performance, close text analysis, language and structure, together with varied creative tasks One day he may look like a man but then the next he could change. Sometimes he may be a wolf-like dog and at other times he may be a bat that is hiding his presence from humankind. Early in the novel, as Harker becomes uncomfortable with his lodgings and his host at Castle Dracula, he notes that “unless my senses deceive me, the old centuries had, and have, powers of their own which mere ‘modernity’ cannot kill.” Here, Harker voices one of the central concerns of the Victorian era. The end of the nineteenth century brought drastic developments that forced English society to question the systems of belief that had governed it for centuries. Darwin’s theory of evolution, for instance, called the validity of long-held sacred religious doctrines into question. Likewise, the Industrial Revolution brought profound economic and social change to the previously agrarian England.

Read about the related theme of social change in nineteenth-century Russia in Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. The Threat of Female Sexual Expression It took the arrival of Van Helsing to expand the field of observation and therefore countenance the possibility of a spiritual or supernatural origin to Lucy’s deterioration healthwise. Stoker seems to be advocating an open-mindedness to knowledge that would not dismiss certain areas as being too ridiculous. It is crosses, wafers, and garlic that are able to ward off the vampire, rather than guns or bombs. The folk legends and traditions Van Helsing draws upon suggest that the most effective weapons in combating supernatural evil are symbols of unearthly good. Indeed, in the fight against Dracula, these symbols of good take the form of the icons of Christian faith, such as the crucifix. The novel is so invested in the strength and power of these Christian symbols that it reads, at times, like a propagandistic Christian promise of salvation. Sarah Midnight Trilogy by Daniela Sacerdoti is set in Scotland and Poland, with a teenage girl struggling to accept her gift for hunting demons. Library copies available.Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work. The Consequences of Modernity Through the Woods by Emily Carroll is a graphic novel of creepy short stories. Library copy available. Jonathan Harker is warned by an old peasant woman in Bistritz against going on to Dracula’s castle. He accepts the gift of a rosary from her. While ‘Dracula‘ cautions against a mindless adoption of modern technology and ideas at the expense of our stash of traditional knowledge on cultures, superstitions, and religions, he still nonetheless recognizes the import of technology in the world. The keeping of diaries and journals, the telegram, the science of hypnosis, transcription, and the art of using a stenograph are some of the valuable skills that help in dispatching Dracula. Jonathan Harker has travelled to Romania to help an aristocrat with some legal work. Once there, he is imprisoned in Count Dracula’s castle and soon realises the Count is actually some sort of monster. Meanwhile Dracula arrives in England, and starts to prey on fresh victims, including Jonathan’s fiancée, Mina, and her friend, Lucy. Authors – Bram Stoker and David Calcutt

In Chapter XVII, when Van Helsing warns Seward that “to rid the earth of this terrible monster we must have all the knowledge and all the help which we can get,” he literally means all the knowledge. Van Helsing works not only to understand modern Western methods, but to incorporate the ancient and foreign schools of thought that the modern West dismisses. “It is the fault of our science,” he says, “that it wants to explain all; and if it explain not, then it says there is nothing to explain.” Here, Van Helsing points to the dire consequences of subscribing only to contemporary currents of thought. Without an understanding of history—indeed, without different understandings of history—the world is left terribly vulnerable when history inevitably repeats itself. This brand-new, yet innovative edition of Oxford Playscript: Dracula contains activities which are tailored to support the KS3 framework for teaching English and to also help students fulfil their given Framework Objectives. Characters mention peace of mind in the script a few times. What does that mean to you? Do you think the characters ever had real peace of mind again? The story of ‘ Dracula,’ however, maintains a measure of realism due to the epistolary, journalistic narrative structure. The narration is advanced by the careful journal entries of rational individuals, the innocent letters of naïve friends, newspaper articles, and even ship logs. This makes the story seem quite plausible. Riverkeepby Martin Stewart. Wull’s father has been possessed by an evil spirit. It’s up to Wull to hunt down a potential cure. Library copies available.Because of the many strange and supernatural events which take place in the novel, characters often question whether they might be going mad and imagining things. When Harker reunites with Mina after escaping from Dracula’s Castle, he does not know whether or not he can trust his memories: “I do not know if it was all real or the dreaming of a madman.” The character of Renfield, an inmate in Dr. Seward’s asylum, further reinforces how madness can make it difficult to see Dracula’s evil schemes at play. When Seward overhears Renfield saying “I shall be patient, Master. It is coming—coming—coming,” Seward assumes the man is raving mad, when Renfield is actually speaking with Dracula and foreshadowing the dangers to come. Seward even doubts his own ability to think logically, wondering “if my long habit of life amongst the insane is beginning to tell upon my own brain.” Confronted with an evil that seems impossible to understand, characters find it easier to believe they might be going insane and that their problems are entirely internal. Fear of Outsiders