Chapter 7 Practice Quiz — Dracula
by Bram Stoker — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: Chapter 7
What is the name of the ship that arrives in Whitby during the storm?
The Demeter, a Russian schooner from Varna carrying cargo of wooden boxes filled with earth.
What is found when the Demeter crashes ashore at Tate Hill Pier?
A dead captain lashed to the helm with a crucifix clasped between his bound hands. No other living person is aboard.
What animal leaps from the Demeter when it hits the shore?
An immense dog springs up from below deck and runs toward the churchyard on the East Cliff, disappearing into the darkness.
What happens to the crew of the Demeter during the voyage?
The crew members disappear one by one. The first sailor, Petrofsky, vanishes on July 16, and others follow until only the captain and first mate remain.
What does the first mate claim to have seen aboard the Demeter?
He saw a tall, thin, ghastly pale man in the bows. When the mate stabbed at it with his knife, the blade went through it "empty as the air."
How does the first mate of the Demeter die?
After going below to open the cargo boxes and screaming in terror, he rushes on deck and deliberately throws himself into the sea.
What is found dead the morning after the Demeter arrives?
A half-bred mastiff belonging to a coal merchant near Tate Hill Pier is found with its throat torn away and its belly slit open.
What happens to Mr. Swales in this chapter?
He is found dead on the churchyard bench with his neck broken and a look of fear and horror frozen on his face.
Who narrates the newspaper account of the storm and the Demeter's arrival?
An unnamed correspondent for The Dailygraph, whose clipping Mina Murray pastes into her journal.
What does the captain of the Demeter do when he realizes he is the last man aboard?
He ties his hands to the wheel along with a crucifix, determined to fulfill his duty as captain even in death.
What concerning behavior does Lucy Westenra exhibit in this chapter?
Lucy sleepwalks, getting up twice during the night of the storm to dress herself. Mina manages to get her back to bed each time without waking her.
How does Mina Murray demonstrate her role as careful observer in this chapter?
She pastes newspaper clippings into her journal, records Lucy's sleepwalking episodes, documents the funeral and Mr. Swales's death, and notes the strange behavior of a dog at the funeral.
Who takes formal possession of the Demeter's cargo in Whitby?
Mr. S.F. Billington, a Whitby solicitor of 7, The Crescent, to whom the boxes of earth were consigned.
How does Chapter 7 develop the theme of invasion and foreign threat?
Dracula's arrival aboard a foreign ship carrying foreign earth represents an Eastern supernatural threat penetrating the heart of England. The townspeople witness the event without understanding its true nature.
How does the captain's log illustrate the theme of duty and honor?
Despite witnessing the destruction of his entire crew, the captain refuses to abandon his post. He ties himself to the wheel with a crucifix, choosing to die honorably rather than flee like the mate.
How does the chapter explore the theme of superstition versus rationalism?
The Russian crew crosses themselves and senses supernatural evil but cannot articulate it. Meanwhile, the English townspeople and officials treat events rationally, attributing the deaths to madness or natural causes.
What role does the epistolary format play in Chapter 7?
The chapter combines newspaper articles, ship's log, and Mina's journal. Each source provides only a partial view, creating dramatic irony as readers piece together truths no single narrator grasps.
What is pathetic fallacy and how does Stoker use it in Chapter 7?
Pathetic fallacy is attributing human emotions to nature. Stoker makes the storm mirror Dracula's supernatural violence, with the sea becoming "a roaring and devouring monster" and fog moving like "the clammy hands of death."
What literary allusion does the newspaper correspondent make about the becalmed schooner?
He quotes Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner: "As idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean," connecting the Demeter's cursed voyage to another famous tale of supernatural doom at sea.
How does Stoker use dramatic irony in Chapter 7?
The reader knows from earlier chapters that Dracula is traveling to England, so we understand that the "immense dog" is Dracula in animal form and that the crew was killed by a vampire -- knowledge the characters lack.
What examples of foreshadowing appear at the end of Chapter 7?
Lucy's sleepwalking, Mr. Swales's death with a look of horror, and the dog's terror at the gravesite all foreshadow Dracula's coming predation on Lucy and the supernatural events to follow in Whitby.
What does "mirabile dictu" mean and how is it used in Chapter 7?
It is a Latin phrase meaning "wonderful to tell" or "amazingly." The newspaper correspondent uses it to describe the astonishing moment when the Demeter sweeps safely between the piers into the harbor.
What does "derelict" mean in the context of Chapter 7?
A derelict is an abandoned ship found at sea or washed ashore. The Demeter is called a derelict because it has no living crew when it arrives in Whitby harbor.
Who says: "It is here. I know it now... I crept behind It, and gave it my knife, but the knife went through It, empty as the air"?
The first mate of the Demeter, speaking to the captain in his log entry for August 3. The mate has seen the ghostly figure of Dracula and realizes physical weapons cannot harm it.
Who says: "I am captain, and I must not leave my ship. But I shall baffle this fiend or monster"?
The captain of the Demeter, in his final log entry on August 4. He resolves to tie himself to the wheel with the crucifix rather than abandon his duty.
What is the significance of the captain's final words: "God and the Blessed Virgin and the Saints help a poor ignorant soul trying to do his duty"?
These words emphasize the captain's humility and faith in the face of supernatural evil. They also underscore the theme that religious devotion and personal duty are the moral counterweights to Dracula's unholy power.