Count Dracula invites a young

lawyer – Jonathan Harker – to

LITER ATURE – 6A Transylvania because he wants

to buy property in England.
In this extract, Jonathan is in a
town called Bistritz, on his way
to Dracula’s castle.
START THINKING …
1 Work in pairs. Discuss the questions:
● How do you imagine people travelled to foreign countries 200
years ago?
● Why do you think there are so many books and films about
vampires?
● Would you spend a night alone in an old castle? Why/why not?

DRACULA
(1897) Bram Stoker
It was on the dark side of twilight when we got to Bistritz, which is a very
interesting old place. Being practically on the frontier—because the Borgo
Pass leads from it into Bukovina— it has had a very stormy existence, and it
certainly shows signs of it. Fifty years ago a series of great fires took place,
5 which made terrible havoc on five separate occasions. […]
Count Dracula had directed me to go to the Golden Krone Hotel, which I
found, to my great delight, to be thoroughly old-fashioned, for of course
I wanted to see all I could of the ways of the country. I was evidently
expected, for when I got near the door I found a cheery-looking elderly
10 woman in the usual peasant dress. When I came close she bowed and said,
‘The Herr Englishman?’
‘Yes,’ I said, ‘Jonathan Harker.’
She smiled, and gave some message to an elderly man in white shirtsleeves, who had followed her to the door. He went, but
immediately returned with a letter:
15 ‘My friend.—Welcome to the Carpathians. I am anxiously expecting you. Sleep well tonight. At the Borgo Pass my carriage
will await you and will bring you to me. I trust that your journey from London has been a happy one, and that you will enjoy
your stay in my beautiful land. Your friend, Dracula.’
4 May—I found that my landlord had got a letter from the Count, telling him to secure the best place on the coach for
me; but on making inquiries as to details he seemed somewhat reticent, and pretended that he could not understand my
20 German. This could not be true, because up to then he had understood it perfectly; at least, he answered my questions
exactly as if he did. He and his wife looked at each other in a frightened sort of way. He mumbled that the money had
been sent in a letter, and that was all he knew. When I asked him if he knew Count Dracula, and could tell me anything
of his castle, both he and his wife crossed themselves, and, saying that they knew nothing at all, simply refused to speak
further. It was so near the time of starting that I had no time to ask anyone else, for it was all very mysterious and not by
21 any means comforting.

2 6A.1 Read the text and listen.

Glossary
twilight period just before it becomes completely 3 Read the text again. Choose option a or b to
dark in the evening complete the sentence.
stormy violent/dramatic
havoc confusion, without order 1 Harker seems to find Bistritz interesting because of
cheery happy a. …the geographical location.
peasant a poor, country person b. …its history.
landlord a person paid for the use of a room 2 Harker knew he was expected because
reticent not saying much a. …the woman was happy to see him.
mumbled speak in an unclear, quiet way
b. …the woman guessed his name.

Think Level 1 Literature 6A PHOTOCOPIABLE © Cambridge University Press 2022

 6A LITER ATU R E

4 READ BETWEEN THE LINES Match a character 8 Listen again and complete the gaps
6A.2
(1-4) to things they do in the text (a-g). with ONE word.
1 Harker 1 Harker is able to what the old lady
2 Dracula says by asking her a lot of questions.
3 The elderly lady 2 When Harker says the date is 4th May the old lady
4 The elderly man her head.
3 Harker tried to the old lady but it
a Was not communicative
was no use.
b Wanted more information
4 The old lady asks Harker twice does he
c Seems superstitious what it is?
d Speaks a foreign language 5 Harker got on the coach before the .
e Made travel arrangements 6 People sitting on the bench looked at Harker with
f Gave an instruction .
g Is proud of their country

5 VOCABULARY Below are sentences with words WRITING A letter

from the glossary. Match a word from the box
to each sentence. ‘S’ means it is a synonym of In Dracula, Jonathan keeps a diary describing
a word - it has a similar meaning; ‘A’ means it is his journey and the people he meets. Imagine
an antonym of the word - it has the opposite he decides to write a short letter to his fiancée,
meaning. Mina, to tell her about his journey and Bistritz.
● Look at the text and decide which
dawn (A) | happy (S) | talkative (A) | mutters (S)
information to include in the letter.
chaos (S) | nobleman (A)
● Think about what Jonathan will say about
1 The locations of gothic tales are not usually cheery these things and what order to put them in.
places. ● Think about how to begin and end the letter

2 Writers often use twilight as a time suggesting and how many paragraphs you will need.
mystery and change. 9 WRITING Write the letter in no more than
3 A character who mumbles is often hiding a secret. 100 words.
4 A very reticent character in a story is a way of
giving us important information.
5 There are moments in the story when Dracula
causes havoc in the town. LITERATURE
6 In this kind of story, a peasant is usually superstitious. Stories are more dramatic when characters do not
6 ROLE PLAY Look at the text again and notice the CHARACTERISATION
realize they are in danger. Other characters see they
are, and we, as readers, know they are in danger. This
behaviour of the old lady and the man. creates tension and expectation because we watch
Write down reasons why they think it is a bad
idea for Harker to go to Dracula’s castle. Use your
WIT
them ‘walk into’ trouble! They ignore warnings.

ideas to continue the dialogue. 10 In the following dialogues, write B’s responses. B
Man: He wants to go to Dracula’s castle. The SHORT STORIES
is sure there is no danger at all.
Count sent me money for his journey. 1 A: They say there is a ghost in the tower.
B:
Woman: Oh no, to the castle! He’s in terrible danger.
GOTHIC NOVELS
2 A: You hear terrible noises at night!
7 LISTENING 6A.2 Listen to the extract and B:
answer the questions.
3 A: Don’t drink anything he gives you!
1 What tells us that the old lady is upset and B:
worried? 4 A: He is never seen in the daytime, only at night.
2 How does Harker react to the old lady?
B:
3 What does the reaction of other people tell us?

Think Level 1 Literature 6A PHOTOCOPIABLE © Cambridge University Press 2022