"The portrayal of the vampire as host and/or guest is one of the most frequently rehearsed tropes of the vampire mythos. As one who stands on ceremony, attending to formal details of courtesy, the bloodsucking monster frequently plays an intricate game of manners with his or her victims, and repeatedly demonstrates a magnanimous hospitality to the living. As the generosity of the vampire host too often serves to shroud an implicit threat of violation, the vampiric welcome produces contradictory meanings, simultaneously repelling and arresting in its intrinsic ambiguity. When Jonathan Harker visits the mysterious home of Dracula, he is greeted by the castle's master with courtesy and generosity: "Welcome to my house. Come freely. Go safely; and leave something of the happiness you bring!" (Stoker [1897] 1997, 22). Blithly ignoring any literal interpretation of Dracula's ambiguously threatening request to "leave...the happiness", Harker enters the castle, relying on the Count’s avowed allegiance to the codes of hosptality to protect him."