Dracula 16

Study Guide Questions for Ch. 16 "Dr. Seward's Diary (Continued)"

If you are looking for the beginning of the study of Bram Stoker’s Dracula then you can go HERE for a brief introduction. At the bottom of the introduction you will find the links to each section of the study guide as it becomes available. If you would like to see the growing list of available book studies available for free on this site you can go HERE. Enjoy!

Virtues/Vices/Great Ideas: (Find them in the Text)

Fortitude, Forgiveness, Duty

Grammar Questions: (The Information of the Text)

1. What question did Quincey Morris carefully ask Professor Van Helsing after the found Lucy’s coffin empty?

2. According to Van Helsing, when can the “Un-Dead” become active?

3. What did Van Helsing apply to the “crevices between the door” Lucy’s tomb?

4. What was Lucy carrying when the men all saw her among the tombs?

5. What did Lucy do when she saw Arthur?

6. What happened when Van Helsing removed the seal around the door of the tomb?

7. According to Van Helsing, what is the unfortunate fate of anyone who is bit by a vampire?

8. About what did Van Helsing ask, “is there none amongst us who has a better right?”

9. How is the vampire who has taken possession of Lucy’s body finally killed?

10. Concerning what great task did Van Helsing say that must not “draw back” now that the matters concerning Lucy were taken care of?

Logic Questions: (Interpreting, Comparing/Contrasting, Reasoning)

1. Why did Van Helsing keep Lucy in her tomb the whole previous night just to remove those barriers for the next night?

2. Why does Van Helsing use the “host” to seal Lucy outside of her tomb? Why does the “host” have power to do this?

3. Why might Arthur have been one minute ready to receive the embrace of Lucy and then the next minute willing to give Van Helsing his blessing to destroy her?

4. According to the lore which Van Helsing gave, would Lucy have been saved from turning into a vampire if they had just managed to keep Dracula away after the first time he bit her? If not, what would have ultimately been necessary to save her?

5. Why was it most fitting for Arthur to be the one who killed the vampire?

6. What did Dr. Seward mean when he wrote of Arthur, “had he not been forced to his task by more than human considerations he could never have gone through with it?”

7. What is to be inferred from the fact that Lucy’s appearance changed after Arthur had finished?

8. What is to be inferred from the extra measures taken after Arthur finished (e.g. leaving the stake in her heart, removing her head, stuffing the mouth with garlic)?

9. Return to chapter 9 of Dracula and reread Lucy Westenra’s letter to Mina dated the 30th of August, written from Whitby. What sad connection might we make between that letter and the events of this present chapter?

10. According to Bram Stoker’s story, are we to think of Lucy the vampire as being truly Lucy, but somehow corrupted by the vampire’s bite and influence, or are we to see the vampire as Lucy’s body only, but possessed by some demonic inhabitation? What do you think and why?

Rhetoric Questions: (The Analysis of Ideas in the Text)

1. When Dr. Seward saw “Lucy’s eyes unclean and full of hell-fire” he wrote “the remnant of my love passed into hate and loathing.” He further stated that “had she then to be killed, I could have done it with savage delight.” Do you think it is ever appropriate to feel this level of hatred for something or someone? If not, why not. If so, what would be a good example of where pure hatred is appropriate?

2. When describing the vampire lore of “the ancients,” Van Helsing refers to the “curse of immortality.” Is immortality truly a curse? If so, in what way? Additionally, we might ask, why have so many people sought immortality through various means (e.g. religion, science, and even witchcraft)? Why do you think people generally have wanted to live forever and what important distinctions might need to be introduced into this conversation to make more sense out of man’s desire for immortality?

3. If you were Arthur, would you have stepped up to the task or asked Van Helsing to do it? Why?

Theological Analysis: (Sola Scriptura)

1. Read Psalm 139:19-22. How should this Scripture passage affect our thinking on the matter of hatred as Christians?

2. Read John 3:16-17 and 1 Corinthians 15. How should these passages of Scripture impact our thinking about desiring eternal life (immortality) and whether it is a blessing or a curse?

3. Read Luke 9:57-62. How does this passage inform Van Helsing’s last statement in this chapter about the work before them dealing with Count Dracula?