Question

Dracula’s face was a strong, a very strong, aquiline, with high bridge of the thin nose and peculiarly arched nostrils, with lofty domed forehead, and hair growing scantily round the temples but profusely elsewhere. His eyebrows were very massive, almost meeting over the nose, and with bushy hair that seemed to curl in its own profusion. The mouth, so far as I could see it under the heavy moustache, was fixed and rather cruel-looking, with peculiarly sharp white teeth. These protruded over the lips, whose remarkable ruddiness showed astonishing vitality in a man of his years. For the rest, his ears were pale, and at the tops extremely pointed. The chin was broad and strong, and the cheeks firm though thin. The general effect was one of extraordinary pallor.​ ​ Hitherto I had noticed the backs of his hands as they lay on his knees in the firelight, and they had seemed rather white and fine. But seeing them now close to me, I could not but notice that they were rather coarse, broad, with squat fingers. Strange to say, there were hairs in the centre of the palm. The nails were long and fine, and cut to a sharp point. As the Count leaned over me and his hands touched me, I could not repress a shudder. It may have been that his breath was rank, but a horrible feeling of nausea came over me, which, do what I would, I could not conceal.​ ​ The Count, evidently noticing it, drew back. And with a grim sort of smile, which showed more than he had yet done his protuberant teeth, sat himself down again on his own side of the fireplace. We were both silent for a while, and as I looked towards the window I saw the first dim streak of the coming dawn. There seemed a strange stillness over everything. But as I listened, I heard as if from down below in the valley the howling of many wolves. The Count's eyes gleamed, and he said:​ ​ "Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make!" ​ ​ Seeing, I suppose, some expression in my face strange to him, he added, "Ah, sir, you dwellers in the city cannot enter into the feelings of the hunter." ​

What is your opinion of Dracula from this extract?​
Think about his appearance, behaviour, speech and Harker’s reactions to him

How does the writer use language to show Dracula as sinister and unnatural?

Answer 1

1) For the first question, I would be honest to your own opinions because that doesn’t have a right or wrong but here’s an example answer: My first impression of Dracula is that he is an ominous and foreboding man. He is described in an eerie and dark mood as created through the tone of the author.

2) The author’s diction (words such as “sharp white teeth”, “aquiline”, and “cruel-looking”) all create a solemn and grave tone that may incite anxiety into the readers. Much of this is through the use of pathos or emotional appeal such as where Harker says he feels a “strange stillness” over everything as if to intimidate the readers. The imagery also creates a tone intended by the author where the environment can be read as dark and despairing as read in “The valley the howling of many wolves” and “as the count leaned over me and his hands touched me, I could not repress a shudder”. All of these feelings created by the author are familiar horrors that the reader can relate to and thus a sinister and unnatural feeling is made.