Dracula (Oxford Playscripts)

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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. When Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania, he is going to a real place. Transylvania is an area of Romania in eastern Europe. The town mentioned by Harker, Bistritz, is now called Bistrița.

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

Transylvania represents the exotic and the strange. For Stoker, it is important Vampirism is not native to England but is instead imported from some far away, exotic place. The little-known heartlands and far reaches of Transylvania, with their strange people and customs happen to fit the bill for Stoker. So it so happens that evil would come from far away Scandinavia to try and corrupt innocent England and that it would be brave, resourceful, intelligent, and above all, innocent Englishmen (plus an American and a Dutchman) who would combat it. However, if you make the wrong choice of inviting him into your home, then prepare for him to take away your life and your soul. When Bram Stoker sent Dracula to his publisher, he wanted to present it as a true story. The publisher said it would cause panic and refused. It was eventually published on May 26th 1897, which is now #WorldDraculaDay. Further reading

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?

Reviews

Some writers believe that vampires were inspired by real life illnesses from times before medical understanding. You can read about some examples here. Rights Respecting Schools Through the Woods by Emily Carroll is a graphic novel of creepy short stories. Library copy available. 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. New, innovative activities specifically tailored to support the KS3 Framework for Teaching English and help students to fulfil the Framework objectives. Activities include work on Speaking and Listening, close text analysis, and the structure of playscripts, and act as a 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.

Mina’s sexuality remains enigmatic throughout the whole of Dracula. Though she marries, she never gives voice to anything resembling a sexual desire or impulse, which enables her to retain her purity. Indeed, the entire second half of the novel concerns the issue of Mina’s purity. Stoker creates suspense about whether Mina, like Lucy, will be lost. Given that Dracula means to use women to access the men of England, Mina’s loss could have terrifying repercussions.The original story is not written like a normal novel, but through diaries, letters, telegrams and reports. This allows several narrators to tell the story from their own point of view.