In her essay “(Un)safe Sex: Romancing the
Vampire,” Karen Backstein notes that “the vampire, in almost every artistic
incarnation, symbolizes impossible desire and transgressed boundaries” (Monsters 201). Select a passage from Stoker’s novel or
Deane and Balderston’s play that embodies such a transgression and explicate it. What
does that passage mean? How do you know? What rules or taboos are being
violated? What makes that
controversial?
A
successful essay will focus on a specific scene from either the novel or the
play of Dracula and explain what
social norms and conventions are being violated in that passage. A less accomplished essay may be too broad
(trying to tackle the entire play or novel), or not be specific in addressing
what the controversy is or how it’s apparent in the text.