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Interesting Questions, Facts and Information
- There are a total of 50 general entries. We are selecting 30 for display.
Special Topics
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 Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information
 Stoker, Bram
1897. 1847 was the year when Bram Stoker was born; in 1879 his first book was published. 1912 is the year of Stoker's death.
Mrs Westenra. She died of a heart attack when a wolf broke the window of Lucy's room.
Mina. When hypnotized, she could tell where Dracula was at the moment.
f. He had an insane wife whom he would not divorce because of his Catholic faith.
the Turks. He was quite successful.
killing. He caught flies with sugar and then fed them to spiders, whom he in turn fed to little birds. He begged the doctor for a cat but, as he wasn't given one, ate the birds himself.
| After Lucy dies, Dr. Seward says that there is peace for her at last. Van Helsing says that it is only the beginning. He is the first one to suspect Dracula. Later on, when he tells Dr. Seward of his suspicions, how does Dr. Seward react? | "Dracula" - Bram Stoker's Greatest Work (Part I)
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He didn't believe him. "Good God, Professor!" I said, starting up. "Do you mean to tell me that Lucy was bitten by such a bat, and that such a thing is here in London in the nineteenth century?" Dr. Seward needed to be convinced that Dracula actually existed, as did all the others--except for Jonathan Harker.
| In the time following Van Helsing's visit to Lucy, her health had deteriorated immensely. Van Helsing had been asked by Dr. Seward to return to London, which is what he did. Upon seeing her, he exclaimed: "My god! This is dreadful. There is not time to be lost. She will die for sheer want of blood to keep the heart's action as it should be. There must be a transfusion of blood at once." How many transfusions did Lucy have before the night was over? | "Dracula" - Bram Stoker's Greatest Work (Part I)
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one. Arthur was more than willing to give Lucy his blood. After he gave of his blood, Van Helsing adjusted Lucy's pillow so that he saw the two marks on her throat. He sternly instructed Dr. Seward to stay with her all night and not to take his eyes off of her. He had to return to Amsterdam, but he was very concerned about those two marks.
| Shortly after this, Lucy's fiance tells Dr. Seward of Lucy's failing illness and asks him to see her. Dr. Seward decides that it is probably something mental, and asks for Professor Van Helsing to come from Amsterdam. How does Dr. Seward know Van Helsing? | "Dracula" - Bram Stoker's Greatest Work (Part I)
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old friend. "I have written to my old friend and master, Professor Van Helsing, of Amsterdam, who knows as much about obscure diseases as any one in the world. I have asked him to come over, and as you told me that all things were to be at your charge, I have mentioned to him who you are and your relations to Miss Westenra. This, my dear fellow, is in obedience to your wishes, for I am only too proud and happy to do anything I can for her." 'Master' would signify instructor, we know this fact because later on in the chapter we find that Dr. Seward had been in a class of Van Helsing's. Van Helsing was more than happy to help out Dr. Seward, and is on his way to London.
Mina. "Whatever my expectation was, it was not disappointed, for there, on our favorite seat, the silver light of the moon struck a half-reclining figure, snowy white. The coming of the cloud was too quick for me to see much, for shadow shut down on light almost immediately, but it seemed to me as though something dark stood behind the seat where the white figure shone, and bent over it. What it was, whether man or beast, I could not tell." Mina saw the whole thing, but was much too far to decipher any of what happened. In the days following, Lucy seems to appear better, but this is short-lived.
a cat. "My homicidal maniac is of a peculiar kind. I shall have to invent a new classification for him, and call him a zoophagous (life-eating) maniac. What he desires is to absorb as many lives as he can, and he has laid himself out to achieve it in a cumulative way. He gave many flies to one spider and many spiders to one bird, and then wanted a cat to eat the many birds. What would have been his later steps?" Renfield asks for a cat, but Seward will not permit this. Spiders and flies are one thing.
| After all this, Harker desperately tries to find the key. He decides to try and find the Count, which he does. He had just finished a meal, considering the blood that was all over him in his coffin. Harker is absolutely repulsed by this sight, and tries to find something to rid the earth of this horrible being. What is it that he finds? | "Dracula" - Bram Stoker's Greatest Work (Part I)
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a shovel. "A terrible desire came upon me to rid the world of such a monster. There was no lethal weapon at hand, but I seized a shovel which the workmen had been using to fill the cases, and lifting it high, struck, with the edge downward, at the hateful face. But as I did so the head turned, and the eyes fell upon me, with all their blaze of basilisk horror. The sight seemed to paralyze me, and the shovel turned in my hand and glanced from the face, merely making a deep gash above the forehead. The shovel fell from my hand across the box, and as I pulled it away the flange of the blade caught the edge of the lid which fell over again, and hid the horrid thing from my sight." As we know, but Harker didn't at the time, there is nothing that can destroy Dracula except a stake. And of course, there was nothing at this place where Dracula lay, so Harker must think of another plan.
| We come to June 29. This was supposed to be the last day of Harker's life--from what he calculated in the letters. The Count came to him and informed him that they must separate the following day. What did Harker say to that? | "Dracula" - Bram Stoker's Greatest Work (Part I)
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He wanted to leave that night. "'Come with me, my dear young friend. Not an hour shall you wait in my house against your will, though sad am I at your going, and that you so suddenly desire it. Come!' With a stately gravity, he, with the lamp, preceded me down the stairs and along the hall. Suddenly he stopped. 'Hark!' Close at hand came the howling of many wolves. It was almost as if the sound sprang up at the rising of his hand, just as the music of a great orchestra seems to leap under the baton of the conductor. After a pause of a moment, he proceeded, in his stately way, to the door, drew back the ponderous bolts, unhooked the heavy chains, and began to draw it open." Harker's demise (should he allow it to happen) was to be an attack by the wolves which were controlled by Dracula. But Harker figured this out and told the Count that he would wait until the next day.
| Several times Dracula told Harker to sit down and write letters to his friends and loved ones to let them know how he is. When Harker was asked to write letters a second time, Dracula had to calculate for a second and chose 3 dates in the month of June. What was the final date? | "Dracula" - Bram Stoker's Greatest Work (Part I)
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June 29. "He calculated a minute, and then said, 'The first should be June 12, the second June 19, and the third June 29.' I know now the span of my life. God help me!" The first letter was to say that Harker's work here was almost done, the next one assures his friends that he would be starting for home within a few days, and was starting on the next morning from the time of the letter, and the third that he left the castle and arrived at Bistritz. The Count is quite the slick operator. He knows that if Harker doesn't write home, that his friends will begin to worry about him and possibly come looking for him. The entry of the diary was May 19, and that is why Harker says he knows the span of his life. We shall see if this is the case.
making the bed. "He did not come at once into the library, so I went cautiously to my own room and found him making the bed. This was odd, but only confirmed what I had all along thought, that there are no servants in the house." I doubt that Dracula would have even permitted there to be any servants in his castle--even for the rare occasion of a visitor.
| A couple of nights later, Harker can't sleep much, so he decides to shave. He is startled by Count Dracula due to the fact that he could not see his reflection in the mirror. At the time he was startled, he cut his chin with the razor. How did Dracula react when he saw the blood? | "Dracula" - Bram Stoker's Greatest Work (Part I)
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He made a grab for his throat. "When the Count saw my face, his eyes blazed with a sort of demoniac fury, and he suddenly made a grab at my throat. I drew away and his hand touched the string of beads which held the crucifix. It made an instant change in him, for the fury passed so quickly that I could hardly believe that it was ever there." This is the first reference to religion in the novel (besides Harker with the peasants) and I find it interesting how Dracula is basically portrayed as the opposite of everything religion is and stands for. I wonder what Stoker was getting at?
| We now arrive at Dracula's castle. The door is answered by "a tall old man, clean shaven save for a long white moustache, and clad in black from head to foot, without a single speck of colour about him anywhere." What was it about this man that reminded Harker of the carriage driver? | "Dracula" - Bram Stoker's Greatest Work (Part I)
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his grip. "The strength of the handshake was so much akin to that which I had noticed in the driver, whose face I had not seen, that for a moment I doubted if it were not the same person to whom I was speaking." Perhaps Dracula was trying to make Harker realize that HE was the one driving the coach. Or perhaps he just didn't realize his own grip.
his eyes. "I could only see the gleam of a pair of very bright eyes, which seemed red in the lamplight, as he turned to us." This was what Harker could see at first. But then, "As he spoke he smiled, and the lamplight fell on a hardlooking mouth, with very red lips and sharp-looking teeth, as white as ivory." But for some reason Harker does not think this odd at the time. Very interesting.
Borgo Pass. The beginning few chapters deal with Jonathan Harker's well-kept journal about his journey. He mentions many towns that he had been to...Bistritz, Vienna, Munich, and the like, but he is headed to Borgo Pass to meet Dracula's carriage.
6 months. The story begins: "3 May, Bistritz." It ends: "6 November". It is 6 months and 3 days that the entire story took place. Thank you for playing my quiz--I hope that you have enjoyed it as much as you did part I.
Sleep well tonight,
Drac
November 6. This is the most suspenseful part of the novel. "By this time the gypsies, seeing themselves covered by the Winchesters, and at the mercy of Lord Godalming and Dr. Seward, had given in and made no further resistance. The sun was almost down on the mountain tops, and the shadows of the whole group fell upon the snow. I saw the Count lying within the box upon the earth, some of which the rude falling from the cart had scattered over him. He was deathly pale, just like a waxen image, and the red eyes glared with the horrible vindictive look which I knew so well. As I looked, the eyes saw the sinking sun, and the look of hate in them turned to triumph. But, on the instant, came the sweep and flash of Jonathan's great knife. I shrieked as I saw it shear through the throat. Whilst at the same moment Mr. Morris's bowie knife plunged into the heart. It was like a miracle, but before our very eyes, and almost in the drawing of a breath, the whole body crumbled into dust and passed from our sight." Dracula is now dead, as is Quincey Morris--but Quincey died nobly. The dreadful events that took place have now come to an end. Good has once again conquered Evil.
Sereth. The Sereth is the river that will take Dracula closest to his castle. The Pruth was also considered but was ruled out when it was discovered by Mina that the Sereth is joined at the town of Fundu by the Bistriza; that goes right to the Borgo Pass. Dracula is not about to take any chances on this.
October 24. At this point, dates are of the utmost importance to all concerned. Lord Godalming has an arrangement with the Vice-Counsul to report to him all sightings and locations of the Czarina Catherine. "Czarina Catherine reported this morning from Dardanelles." There is another sighting 4 days later: "Czarina Catherine reported entering Galatz at one o'clock today." The ship does not dock at Varna--it is at this point that they realize that Dracula has tried to throw them off his scent. (No pun intended ;D)
3 weeks. "The Czarina Catherine left the Thames yesterday morning. It will take her at the quickest speed she has ever made at least three weeks to reach Varna." Van Helsing informs the group of what he has learned.
Czarina Catherine. "He was in sailing ship, since Madam Mina tell of sails being set. These not so important as to go in your list of the shipping in the Times, and so we go, by suggestion of Lord Godalming, to your Lloyd's, where are note of all ships that sail, however so small. There we find that only one Black Sea bound ship go out with the tide. She is the Czarina Catherine, and she sail from Doolittle's Wharf for Varna, and thence to other ports and up the Danube." Here the great chase to catch up with Dracula begins--the most exciting part of the whole book.
| When Dracula had the confrontation with the five men at Piccadilly, he realized that they would not let up until he was defeated. He decided to flee London before it was too late. Where did he go? | "Dracula" - Bram Stoker's Greatest Work (Part II)
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Transylvania. He decided it was best that he be going home. He knew that they were on to him and it was just a matter of time before they caught up to him and destroyed him.
| When Van Helsing, Harker, Dr. Seward, Lord Godalming and Quincey go out to hunt down Dracula, they set out to destroy first the boxes of earth in which he slept. What did they put in the boxes so he would be unable to sleep in them? | "Dracula" - Bram Stoker's Greatest Work (Part II)
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Sacred Wafer. "As he spoke he took from his bag a screwdriver and a wrench, and very soon the top of one of the cases was thrown open. The earth smelled musty and close, but we did not somehow seem to mind, for our attention was concentrated on the Professor. Taking from his box a piece of the Scared Wafer he laid it reverently on the earth, and then shutting down the lid began to screw it home, we aiding him as he worked." The Sacred Wafer would keep him from going into his coffin--if he went in, the wafer would singe him when he touched it.
Piccadilly. All 4 are houses that were leased by Dracula, and all were leased under different companies. We do not know who he leased West End and Bermondsey from. He has a fifth place, at Walworth, and one that has not been found by the men.
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