Chapter 15 Practice Quiz — Dracula
by Bram Stoker — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: Chapter 15
What is Seward's initial reaction when Van Helsing suggests Lucy is responsible for the attacks on children?
Seward is furious. He smites the table and rises up, asking "Dr. Van Helsing, are you mad?"
What similarities do Seward and Van Helsing find at the North Hospital?
The puncture wounds on the child's throat are identical to the wounds that had been on Lucy's throat—smaller, with fresher edges, but unmistakably the same.
What does Dr. Vincent suggest caused the wounds on the children?
He guesses it was a bite from some animal, perhaps a rat, but is inclined to think it was a bat—possibly a vampire bat escaped from the Zoological Gardens or brought home by a sailor.
What is the "bloofer lady"?
A childish mispronunciation of "beautiful lady"—the name local children give to the mysterious figure (actually the Un-Dead Lucy) who lures them out at night on Hampstead Heath.
What do Seward and Van Helsing find when they first open Lucy's coffin?
The coffin is completely empty. Lucy's body is gone.
How does Van Helsing open the lead coffin?
He strikes a turnscrew through the lead with a downward stab, then uses a tiny fret saw to cut down two sides and across, bending back the flange to create an opening.
What does Seward suggest to explain the empty coffin?
He suggests body-snatchers or that undertaker's people may have stolen the body—though he admits even to himself that he is "speaking folly."
What do Seward and Van Helsing see during their nighttime vigil in the churchyard?
Seward glimpses a white streak moving between two dark yew trees, and then a white dim figure flitting toward the tomb. Van Helsing finds a child in his arms near where the figure appeared.
What condition is the child in when they examine it after the churchyard vigil?
The child's throat is completely without a scratch or scar—they arrived just in time to prevent an attack.
How do Seward and Van Helsing handle the rescued child?
They leave it on Hampstead Heath where a passing policeman will find it, to avoid having to explain their own presence in the churchyard at night.
What does Lucy look like when they find her back in the coffin the second day?
She is "more radiantly beautiful than ever," with red (redder than before) lips and a delicate bloom on her cheeks—showing no signs of decay despite being dead for a week.
What physical change does Van Helsing point out about Lucy's teeth?
Her canine teeth are even sharper than before. Van Helsing shows them to Seward, saying: "With this and this, the little children can be bitten."
Why does Van Helsing say Lucy's case is unique among vampires?
Because Lucy was bitten while in a trance (sleepwalking), died in a trance, and became Un-Dead in a trance. When sleeping, she reverts to looking like a normal dead person rather than showing typical Un-Dead features.
What method does Van Helsing plan to use to destroy vampire Lucy?
He plans to cut off her head, fill her mouth with garlic, and drive a stake through her body.
Why does Van Helsing decide to delay destroying Lucy?
He wants Arthur to witness Lucy's vampiric state firsthand, so Arthur will understand and consent to the destruction rather than believing they made a mistake or buried her alive.
What does Van Helsing use to seal Lucy's tomb on the night he keeps watch alone?
He uses garlic and a crucifix to seal the door of the tomb, preventing the Un-Dead Lucy from leaving.
Who does Van Helsing fear might come to the churchyard?
He fears Dracula himself—"that other to whom is there that she is Un-Dead"—who has the strength of twenty men and can summon wolves.
What does Van Helsing instruct Seward to do in his portmanteau note if he does not survive?
Read the Harker diaries and other papers, find the "great Un-Dead" (Dracula), and destroy him by cutting off his head and burning his heart or driving a stake through it.
What is Arthur's reaction when Van Helsing asks permission to open Lucy's coffin?
Arthur is outraged. He calls it a "desecration of the grave" and refuses consent, declaring he has a duty to protect her grave from outrage "by God."
How does Quincey Morris respond to Van Helsing's request?
Quincey immediately vouches for Van Helsing's honesty, saying: "I don't quite see his drift, but I swear he's honest, and that's good enough for me."
What literary allusion does the text make when Seward describes his reluctance to prove a painful truth?
It alludes to Lord Byron, noting that "a man does not like to prove such a truth, Byron excepted from the category, jealousy" and quotes: "And prove the very truth he most abhorred."
What Gothic imagery does Stoker use to describe Lucy's tomb?
Decaying flowers (whites turning to rust, greens to browns), spider and beetle dominance, time-discolored stone, dust-encrusted mortar, rusty dank iron, tarnished brass, and clouded silver-plating lit by a feeble candle glimmer.
What does Van Helsing mean when he says Arthur must "pass through the bitter waters to reach the sweet"?
Arthur must endure the horrifying experience of seeing Lucy as a vampire so he can understand the necessity of destroying her and find eventual peace, rather than being tormented by doubt and guilt forever.