Dracula: A Webquest

Bram Stoker

Once a week, we will go on-line to complete a task related to Dracula by Bram Stoker. These tasks will be in small groups or individually. Much of what we will do, will be gathering information and applying what we find to the text.

This webquest is composed of four parts. For the first two parts we will be analyzing our own preconceptions of vampires, analyzing the different types of vampires and categorizing the ones described in folklore, fiction, and film. For the last two tasks, we will be using Historical and Psychoanalytic Criticisms to gain different perspectives of the novel. I have gone over these two criticisms in class, but will refresh you in the following tasks. Remember, this may be your first time working with these criticisms- I am working with them because I want you to get your feet wet.

Please click on Task Number 1 to begin your first task.

Task One-Preconceptions of Vampires

My first web task for you to do today is to fill out a questionnaire. I would like to access what you already know about vampires and where you have gotten this knowledge from. After you are done with the questionnaire, please go on to parts B and C- read the information given.

Please click on this link: Questionnaire

Now we are going to apply what we already know from the questionnaire about vampires. It will first be helpful to know the types and powers of vampires.

B. Two Types of Vampires

First, we are going to break vampires down into two types: Physical and Phantom

Physical Vampires

1. did not wear a cape or stylish clothing

2. they appear more as corpses straight out of the ground-wearing the shroud they were buried in

3. not pale-skin a reddish tinge

4. bloated-gorged with blood

5. horrible odor/rancid breath, long fingernails, long hair (that keeps growing), sharp teeth (not necessarily eye teeth), eyes that blaze (many times red)

Phantom Vampires

1. feeds on living people while they are in bed.

2. looks familiar-recognized as one of their neighbors.

3. a dark form- facial features become clear only for a moment

4. somewhat transparent

5. spirit fed on blood/energy by night and by day returned to the corpse to infuse it with its energy leaving the soil undisturbed

C. Vampire Powers: Differences in their Uses

When it comes to powers, we have to divide each group into two sections- primary and secondary.

Physical Vampires

Physical vampires who have primary powers, need blood to live and they have great strength.

Physical vampires who have secondary powers, do not need blood to live and sometimes (rarely) have the ability to live life again as a mortal

Phantom Vampires

Phantom vampires who have primary powers, drain vitality from the living through psychic energy and can cause paralysis for their victims.

Phantom vampires who have secondary powers, can shape change and have the ability to fly or levitate.

Adapted from: Vampires: The Occult Truth by Konstantinos

Now that we have learned about the different types of vampires and their powers, please look back at your questionnaire and characterize which type of vampire and powers you have identified. Did you mention other powers that were not listed? What vampire description would Count Dracula fall under? Why? Write your comments to these questions on your questionnaire.

Task Two- Folklore, Fiction, and Film: A Practice in Media Literacy

Why is the vampire as a character such a popular figure in America? The media has used vampires in films, ads, products, books, newsletters, and there are many fans. We even have the breakfast cereal Count Chocula. Now that we have looked at the different types of vampires and their powers, it is now your task to describe each vampire shown below, as if you encountered it yourself. Drawing on your knowledge and experience with media, give a one paragraph description of each vampire.

Focus descriptions on their:

~Personality

~Type of Vampire

~Powers

~Walk

~Smell

~Sound

~Feel

~Where this vampire can be found

How has the image of Dracula changed throughout history? Why the change? Please look at the following images and discuss in your assigned groups.

Images:

Looking at the vampire in advertising, what are the following ads trying to tell you? Please discuss in your assigned groups.

1.

2.

3.

Task Three- Historical Background and New Historicism

I have gone over New Historicism in class already, but to refresh your memory, New Historicism is different than the old historicism. It is still concerned with history as before, but the criticism takes into consideration what the reader brings to the text, cultural, feminist, Marxist- other criticisms that influence the reading of the text. This new approach leaves room for a reader to examine a text in more than one historical event. For example, for this task we will be researching Vlad the Impaler who lived in the early 15th century, but he is just one person in history believed to have been an inspiration for Bram Stoker- there are others.

We will start our journey in history with the most common figure discussed -Vlad the Impaler, otherwise known as Vlad Draculea. Vlad is a ruler from the 1400's who caused great carnage and destruction upon his enemies, his own people, and even his family. In your assigned groups, please go to the following websites and look at the biography and brief history of Vlad the Impaler. Take notes and gather information. Each group will present their findings to the class. Also, I would like the group to come to a consensus on 3 points of how Vlad Dracula is similar to Count Dracula in the novel and 3 points of how he is different. Please provide quotes from the novel to support your points. We will discuss our findings when we return to class.

http://www.vladtheimpaler.com/default.htm

http://www.ventureup.com/travel/dracula.html

http://members.aol.com/johnfranc/drac05.htm

http://www.draculascastle.com/html/poenari.html

http://www.royalty.nu/Europe/Balkan/Dracula.html

Task Four- Dracula and Psychoanalytic Criticism

Psychoanalytic criticism can be thought of, in some ways, as an interpretation of dreams if we think of Sigmund Freud. Freud called the unconscious mind the id or "it" and the conscious, rational part of the mind is called the ego or "I." The part that he said was almost "outside of ourselves" is called the superego. The superego is the part of us that makes moral judgments or sacrifices. Many times, this part of us is not rational. According to Freud, we all have dreams and fears that we repress. For the purposes of this task, we will be focusing on Freud, but even though psychoanalytic criticism has been said to have begun with Freud, there are many other psychologists since him that have contributed; such as, Carl Gustav Jung and Jacques Lacan.

Topics that many scholars of Bram Stoker's Dracula analyze from a psychoanalytic perspective are:

pre-adolescence, power, immortality, victimization by one's own body, beauty, romanticism, appeal of the forbidden, the supernatural, mystery, horror, the unknown, the forest, the city.

Any of these topics are appropriate for writing about Bram Stoker's Dracula. For this last webquest task, I am going to ask you to write a 4-5 page paper with research discussing one of these topics and how it relates to Dracula. This paper should be drawing on your own opinions and be backed up by research and quotes from the text. You are not limited to Count Dracula and may choose one of the other characters. Also, you may propose another topic not listed- just let me know what you are doing and why it is an appropriate topic that will add to your understanding of the novel and psychoanalytic criticism.

Some questions you will want to ask yourself when deciding a topic and beginning your paper are:

1. How does this topic relate to Bram Stoker's Dracula?

2. How does this topic relate to psychoanalytical criticism?

3. What characters would work in discussing this topic?

4. What do I currently know about this topic?

5. What main ideas can I pull from this topic?

6. What main idea will I be focusing on from this topic?

Please take some time right now to answer these questions and then brainstorm with a partner.

Link to Checklist for the paper

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