Chapter 10 Practice Quiz — Dracula
by Bram Stoker — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: Chapter 10
What does Van Helsing determine Lucy needs immediately upon examining her?
A blood transfusion. He says she will die "for sheer want of blood to keep the heart’s action as it should be."
Who is the first person to donate blood to Lucy in Chapter 10?
Arthur Holmwood, Lucy’s fiancé. He arrives unexpectedly just as Seward was about to donate.
Who donates blood to Lucy in the second transfusion?
Dr. John Seward. Lucy relapses overnight and Van Helsing performs the emergency procedure the next morning.
What does Van Helsing discover when the velvet band on Lucy’s throat slips?
Two small puncture wounds over her external jugular vein, with white, worn-looking edges.
What does Van Helsing do with the garlic flowers from Haarlem?
He rubs them over the window sashes, door jambs, and fireplace of Lucy’s room, and makes a wreath for her to wear around her neck.
Why does Lucy relapse after the first transfusion from Arthur?
Seward, exhausted from nights without sleep, falls asleep on watch. Without a guardian present, Dracula presumably attacks Lucy again during the night.
How does Arthur Holmwood express his willingness to help Lucy?
"My life is hers and I would give the last drop of blood in my body for her." Van Helsing replies with dark humor: "I do not ask so much as that, not the last!"
Why does Van Helsing tell Seward to keep the second transfusion secret from Arthur?
He says it would "at once frighten him and enjealous him, too," implying the intimate nature of blood exchange.
What does Lucy confess to Seward about her fear?
She is afraid to sleep, calling it "a presage of horror." She says, "All this weakness comes to me in sleep, until I dread the very thought."
How does Mrs. Westenra react to Lucy’s illness throughout Chapter 10?
She is anxious but strangely detached. Seward notes that Nature protects her from fully comprehending the danger, since a severe shock could kill her due to her own heart condition.
How does Chapter 10 illustrate the conflict between science and superstition?
Seward, the trained physician, cannot explain the puncture wounds or blood loss. Van Helsing, who straddles both worlds, introduces garlic—a folk remedy—as the only effective defense.
What does blood symbolize in Chapter 10?
Blood represents life, love, and intimacy. The transfusions create bonds between donor and recipient, and the secrecy around them mirrors the forbidden nature of Dracula’s own blood-drinking.
What role does secrecy play in Chapter 10?
Van Helsing withholds his vampire suspicions from Seward, Seward hides the transfusion from Arthur, and everyone shields Mrs. Westenra from shock. Strategic information control pervades every relationship.
How does sleep function as a motif in this chapter?
Sleep represents vulnerability to Dracula’s attacks. Lucy fears it as a "presage of horror," Seward’s falling asleep leads to Lucy’s relapse, and the narcotic-induced sleep is the only safe version—when a protector watches over her.
What metaphor does Van Helsing use to explain why he will not share his theory with Seward?
He compares his theory to planted corn: "You do not find the good husbandman dig up his planted corn to see if he grow. That is for the children who play at husbandry."
What does Van Helsing say about knowledge versus memory?
"Knowledge is stronger than memory, and we should not trust the weaker." He urges Seward to write everything down in his case book.
What is Van Helsing’s cryptic reply when Seward jokes about keeping out evil spirits?
"Perhaps I am!" He says it quietly while making the garlic wreath for Lucy’s neck.
What is the dramatic irony surrounding the puncture wounds on Lucy’s throat?
Seward notices the wounds could explain the blood loss but dismisses the idea because the bed is not bloodstained. The reader understands what the doctor cannot—the blood was consumed by a vampire.
How does the epistolary format create contrasting perspectives in Chapter 10?
Seward’s diary records clinical alarm and medical detail. Lucy’s diary entry from September 9 is blissfully romantic, describing feeling Arthur’s presence "warm about me"—unaware that Arthur’s blood, not his spirit, is literally inside her.
What literary technique does Stoker use with Van Helsing’s hiss of breath?
It is a recurring physical tell—a form of indirect characterization. Seward calls it one of Van Helsing’s "ways of betraying emotion," and its rarity signals to the reader that the puncture wounds are deeply significant.
What does "trituration" mean as used in Chapter 10?
Rubbing or grinding down. Seward describes the edges of Lucy’s puncture wounds as "white and worn looking, as if by some trituration.”
What does "defibrinate" mean in Van Helsing’s statement about Arthur’s blood?
To remove fibrin (a clotting protein) from blood before transfusion. Van Helsing says Arthur’s blood is so pure "we need not defibrinate it," meaning it can be used directly.