Essay Instructions: Dracula by Bram Stoker
you will want to identify a
recurring theme, image, metaphor, characterization, plot element,
problem, attitude, or other aspect of the text that seems significant
to you. You will make an argument, tying together examples from the
text (and, possibly, from researched articles) to illustrate your
argument, insight, analysis, perception, perspective about Dracula and
the topic you've chosen.
a number of topics that might prove fruitful:
sex, sexuality, sexual knowledge, sexual innocence, sexual violence....
science, technology
business, paperwork, mastery of the practical
writing, record-keeping, proof, evidence
religion or faith as it intersects science and reason
gender roles, masculinity, femininity, the New Woman
cultural or racial or ethnic or social or economic Difference and the Other
propriety, manners, inappropriate/appropriate behavior, excess
nature, natural order
beauty, ugliness, appropriate levels of either, the monstrous, excess
You can write about any of these topics, or about something else.
Your essay should offer a new insight into the text, going beyond
explaining what happened. Write for a reader who has read the book,
but imagine that that reader doesn't remember details and didn't
really understand the book very deeply. Offer your own insight,
synthesis, connections, analysis, discussion, illustrated with
examples, to help that reader have a deeper understanding of some
specific aspect of the text.
All quotes must be cited, whether from Dracula or other sources.
