Teaching notes · Example 9
Teaching notes: Menace in Dracula and Dorian Gray
Essay questionCompare how Stoker and Wilde present menace in Dracula and The Picture of Dorian Gray.
These notes sit outside the example essay. They are Estate teaching suggestions, not a College Board mark scheme or a prediction of an AP score.
Points for class discussion
- How is menace different from harm or fear?
- Does each paragraph depend on evidence from both novels?
- What do the different endings imply about the source of menace?
Use the example for your assignment
This is a researched classroom essay, not an official or scored AP model. Use its literary argument and preparation flexibly. This is a two-book classroom comparison; AP Question 3 asks for one appropriate work.
Identify the thesis, the precise evidence that supports it and one complication the argument genuinely addresses. Ask how the conclusion interprets the work rather than just repeating a topic. If you adapt the material to an AP prompt, build a fresh plan around that prompt.
AP scoring and reader guidance · Return to the preparation and essay
Prepared by the Bram Stoker Estate. Page last updated 8 November 2026. Report a correction here.