Dracula 21

Study Guide Questions for Ch. 21 "Dr. Seward's Diary"

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, Prudence, Faith, Despair

Grammar Questions: (The Information of the Text)

1. What did Dr. Seward find when he entered Renfield’s room in the Asylum?

2. Who all shortly joined Dr. Seward after his discovery of Renfield’s condition?

3. What did Renfield request as soon as he regained consciousness?

4. What did Dracula offer to Renfield and what was his price?

5. What initially made Renfield angry with Dracula?

6. What made Renfield angry enough with Dracula that the former tried to restrain the latter?

7. What did Van Helsing say he would keep on his person at all times “till this unhappy business is over?”

8. What was the situation in the Harker’s room when the three men burst through the door?

9. What other mischief did Arthur discover that Dracula had been up to elsewhere in the house?

10. According to Dracula, why had he taken special interest in Mina?

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

1. Why did Renfield think he was in a “strait-waistcoat” when he was not?

2. What did Renfield mean when he said, “I must go back to death – or worse!?”

3. Why did Dracula interact with Renfield in the first place? What was his purpose in connecting with Renfield?

4. Why did Renfield try to stop Dracula? What should we infer from his actions in this case?

5. What had Dracula forced Mina to do which he had not done to Lucy? Why might this be significant to the story?

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

1. Offer a definition for the term “vindictive.” How do we see Dracula being vindictive in this present reading? What might be the result of vindictive behavior? How can vindictiveness not only harm those the vindictive behavior is aimed at but also the one who is being vindictive? How do you think Dracula’s vindictive behavior might end up hindering his own plans and purposes?

Theological Analysis: (Sola Scriptura)

1. Read Matthew 4:1-11. What connection can you make between this passage and Dracula’s interaction with Renfield?

2. Read John 13:21-30 and also consider the larger story of the Gospels. How did the vindictive behavior of Satan against Jesus work out for him and Judas in the long run? What is a lesson that can be drawn from this example?