Dracula Book Notes

Dracula by Bram Stoker

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Author/Context

Abraham (Bram) Stoker was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1847. Until the age of seven, he was bedridden, always on the verge of death. Nonetheless, after recovering fully from his illness, he became a star athlete at Trinity College, in Dublin.

Although Stoker managed to write a number of novels, he was not primarily an author by profession. In 1878 he began to work with his friend, the famous actor Henry Irving, as a manager at London's Lyceum Theatre. His first novel, The Snake's Pass, was published in 1890. That same year he began work on Dracula, which was first published in 1897. In 1900, a paperback version was released. Few people still read The Mystery of the Sea (1902), The Jewel of the Stars (1903) or The Lair of the White Worm (1911); Dracula is generally considered Stoker's only great novel.

Dracula is an example of Gothic literature, a genre that began over a century earlier with Henry Walpole's The Castle of Otranto (1764). Few Gothic novels, though, have enjoyed the long-lasting popularity of Dracula. While some doubt its value as literature, there can be little doubt of its longevity and allure. However, Dracula was one of the last books of the genre. Nonetheless, its effect can be seen in modern-day writers such as Joyce Carol Oates and Anne Rice.

Part of that allure comes from the dark sexual implications of the novel. The irony is that Stoker himself believed immoral sexual content should be censored, a view he out forth in an article called "The Censorship of Fiction" published in Nineteenth Century and After in 1908.

Bram Stoker died in 1912.

Bibliography

Farson, Daniel. The Man Who Wrote Dracula: A Biography of Bram Stoker. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1975.

Fisher, R.L. "Introduction." Dracula. New York: Tom Doherty Association Book, 1988.

Hindle, Maurice. "Introduction." Dracula. Penguin Classics, 1993.

Stoker, Bram. "The Censorship of Fiction." Nineteenth Century and After. LXIV:July-Dec(1908).

Stoker, Bram. Dracula. Penguin Classics, 1993.

Wolf, Leonard. "Introduction." Dracula. Signet Classic, 1992.

Plot Summary

Dracula begins with the journal of Jonathan Harker, a young solicitor on the way to Transylvania to give information to the mysterious Count Dracula about his new estate in London. Dracula takes the young man prisoner, and Jonathan sees many strange and evil things in the castle before escaping and fleeing into the night. He later decides that he must have been mad.

Meanwhile, back in England, Jonathan's fiancée, Mina, is visiting her friend Lucy. Lucy has just decided to marry the Honorable Arthur Holmwood, having had to choose between him and his two friends Dr. John Seward and Quincey Morris, the Texan. Dracula, who is moving to London to feast on more humans, happens to land in the part of England where Mina and Lucy are staying. His first victim is Lucy.

Dr. Seward, who, by coincidence, runs the insane asylum next door to Dracula's primary London home, tries to treat Lucy's 'illness.' He calls in from Amsterdam his friend and mentor Professor Abraham Van Helsing. Van Helsing figures out what is wrong with Lucy, but cannot save her. By this time, Jonathan has made it home to England and is happily married to Mina.

Van Helsing brings together Mina, Jonathan, Arthur, Quincey, Seward and himself and convinces everyone of the reality of vampires and the danger of this particular one, who was in his human life a great warrior and thinker. They have already destroyed the undead Lucy, and they likewise set out to destroy Dracula.

They educate themselves in the strengths and weaknesses of the vampire, and learn through careful and clever research what Dracula's plans are. Dracula has many lairs throughout London; they decide to sterilize them all to strand Dracula in his weakest form and then to kill him in the name of God. The Count, however, has other plans, and as the men search his houses he attacks Mina in the night, feeding her with his blood so that she will become a vampire, too.

The men find out about Dracula's activities and step up their efforts. They manage to drive him out of England, but realize that if they fail to finish the job then Mina will become a vampire anyway. They follow his trail to Transylvania, where he and his faithful gypsies manage to keep outwitting them. Finally, minutes before he reaches his castle, the entire team descends upon him while he is being transported in his box of Transylvanian earth. Jonathan and Quincey kill him, though not before Quincey himself is mortally wounded. With Mina free from her fate, the rest return to England and remain lifelong friends.

Major Characters

Count Dracula: A Transylvanian vampire who has been feeding off of the blood of peasants for centuries. He is the ideal adversary for Van Helsing and his team of holy warriors. Polite, refined and brilliant, he was a great warrior and leader of armies. His powers - including the ability to change form, extraordinary strength, resistance to many methods of death and certain amounts of mind control - make him difficult to defeat. Popular culture has made 'Dracula' synonymous with 'vampire.' In this, his first appearance, however, he is much more. He is the greatest vampire, who in life had been a man of legend. Were he merely a vampire, the book would have been quite short. He is a monster with the unique combination of supernatural powers and extraordinary human characteristics that makes him a threat to humans everywhere.

Jonathan Harker: A young solicitor from London. His outward demeanor conceals a man of courage and action. His point of view is the first presented, and he is the first to have the misfortune to meet Dracula. While most of the book is seen through Seward's eyes, Jonathan is in some way the romantic protagonist, as it is he who marries Mina and it is he who kills Dracula (simultaneously with Morris). After Dracula initiates Mina, Jonathan changes from a self-doubting, thinking man into a bloodthirsty warrior, always sharpening his knife.

Mina Murray (later Mina Harker): Jonathan's fiancée, later his wife. If Van Helsing is the brains of the team, then Mina is the soul. In the Professor's words, 'She has a man's brain - a brain that a man should have were he much gifted - and a woman's heart. The good God fashioned her for a purpose, believe me, when he made that so good combination.' Mina is loved by all for her sensitivity and her incredible mind. Again and again, she proves herself to be the equal or superior of every character in the novel. Nonetheless, she is old-fashioned, and wants nothing more than to be a good wife to her husband and a good woman in the eyes of God.

Lucy Westenra: We never find out enough about Lucy to know why she is so sought after. Nonetheless, every man who meets her wants to marry her or save her life, or both. Dracula himself chooses to initiate her. She accepts her adulations with the giddiness of the young girl she is, but with the seriousness of one who knows she is dealing with fragile human emotions. Lucy is the feminine figure of the novel. While Mina acts as wife, sister or mother, Lucy dies single, a little girl forever. It is the violation of Lucy's innocence, more than the imprisoning of Jonathan or even the killing of children, which gives the others the motivation to wage war on Dracula.

Dr. John Seward: Seward is the doctor who unsuccessfully courts Lucy and runs the asylum that becomes the headquarters for the vampire-fighting team. Seward's writings are featured more than any other's in the manuscript. He is not as smart at Van Helsing, as lucky in love as Jonathan or Holmwood, or as brave as Quincey Morris. Nonetheless, he is the perfect narrator for the story: Seward is smart and brave enough, and informed and inquisitive enough, for the plot of the story to unfold naturally through his eyes..

Honorable Arthur Holmwood (later Lord Godalming): Arthur is the one whom Lucy chooses to marry. Van Helsing takes a particular liking to him. However, like Lucy, we do not see deeply into his character. He is clearly a sensitive man, and his emotions are tried as his fiancée, her mother and his own father all die within a short period of time. His father passes him a distinguished title and both his father and Lucy's mother leave him large estates, all of which he handles with an unpretentious and sensible attitude. He finances the vampire hunt and lets everyone use his title to gain access to information about Dracula. He also has the strength and conviction to destroy the undead Lucy, thus freeing her soul.

Quincey P. Morris: Quincey is a cowboy from Texas. He is an old friend of Arthur Holmwood's and John Seward's. In some ways, he is an early-American stereotype. He calls ladies 'little girl' and he calls Seward 'Jack'. He is tough, brave, and polite, though slightly unrefined. He chews tobacco when he gets nervous. There are certain aspects of Morris' personality, however, which escape the Wild West stereotype. He is remarkably romantic, like most of the men in the novel. He also wants to be helpful whenever he can. It is his seeming lack of importance that shows his personality. The others all have something great at stake; Morris, aside from his love for Lucy, is removed from the situation. Nonetheless, he joins the fight with as much commitment as the rest. He becomes the team's martyr.

Dr. Abraham Van Helsing: A philosopher and a metaphysician, and one of the most advanced scientists of his time, Van Helsing is iron-willed and the only one with the knowledge to do battle against Dracula. This is not only because he has years of varied study behind him and has an incredible sense of logic and the intellectual capacity to understand what is going on. One of Dracula's main weapons is the fact that no sane man would ever believe a blood-sucking monster really exists; but the professor never doubts it. Also, Van Helsing has the weight of moral authority on his side. He believes that he is doing God's work and must do so to save all humanity. Interesting note: Bram is short for Abraham--the author and this character share the name.

Minor Characters

R.M. Renfield: An inmate in Dr. Seward's insane asylum. He is seduced by Dracula, who he hails as his 'Master.' Renfield is almost sane and is painfully aware of his lapses into insanity. When he is at his best, he is polite and intelligent and he tries to do the right thing. When he is at his worst, he eats insects for their souls and is completely vulnerable to Dracula's will. It is he who allows the Count into Seward's home.

Mr. Swales: An old fisherman from Whitby. He is superstitious and vulgar, but also a little wise.

Sister Agatha: A nurse and a nun; she takes care of Jonathan Harker during his illness in Budapest.

Mrs. Westenra: Lucy's mother. Kind and insightful; ailing with a weak heart.

Thomas Bilder: A zookeeper who watches the wolves in the Zoological Gardens. He has British working-class mannerisms and sense of humor.

Peter Hawkins: Jonathan's boss and mentor. He is very generous and has great faith in Jonathan, both as a solicitor and as a person.

Wolves/rats: Creatures of the night who do Dracula's bidding.

Gypsies/Slovaks: Peasants who work for Dracula in Transylvania.

Vampire women: Three undead women who live in Dracula's castle. They attempt to seduce and feed upon Jonathan during his first visit to Transylvania. They later attempt to incorporate Mina into their sorority. They are killed by Van Helsing.

Geordie: A man who committed suicide and is buried under Mina and Lucy's favorite bench.

Lord Godalming (Father): Arthur Holmwood's father. He is not to be confused with Arthur himself, who inherits the title of Lord Godalming.

Russian Captain: The brave Captain of the Demeter, the unfortunate ship that had the bad luck of transporting Dracula to England.

Objects/Places

Branch of wild rose: When placed on a coffin, a vampire cannot escape.

Carfax: The creepy old London estate purchased by Dracula through Jonathan.

Crucifix: Used to impair a vampire's power. One is given to Jonathan by a peasant. Van Helsing gives some to the men as weapons.

Dracula's castle: The Count's home and the base of his power.

Earth-boxes: Large wooden boxes filled with Transylvanian soil. Dracula must sleep in these when abroad.

Garlic: Used to impair a vampire's power.

Holy wafer: Used to impair a vampire's power. One burns Mina's forehead after she is 'infected.'

Jonathan's diary: Jonathan's record of all that happens in Transylvania. He gives it to Mina for safekeeping as a symbol of their marital trust.

Kukri knife: A large knife that Jonathan begins carrying after Dracula infects Mina.

Manuscript: All of the journals, diaries, articles, legal papers and other documents that Mina transcribes into a chronological account. Presumably, it is the novel.

Mirror: A source of anger for Dracula. He has no reflection.

Mist/fog: A disguise of Dracula's.

Piccadilly: The site of a house purchased by Dracula in Central London.

Seward's residence/Asylum: Where the protagonists live while dealing with Dracula. Also the home of Renfield.

Sharpened wooden stake: Used to kill a vampire. One was used to kill the vampiric Lucy.

Spiders/flies: Renfield eats these to harvest their souls.

Suicide's grave: An unfortunate favorite spot for Mina and Lucy. It is where Dracula first attacks Lucy.

Quotes

Quote 1: "I read that every known superstition in the world is gathered into the horseshoe of the Carpathians, as if it were the centre of some sort of imaginative whirlpool; if so my stay may be very interesting." Chapter 1, pg. 2

Quote 2: "Was this a customary incident in the life of a solicitor's clerk sent out to explain the purchase of a London estate to a foreigner?" Chapter 2, pg. 16

Quote 3: "As the Count leaned over me and his hands touched me... a horrible feeling of nausea came over me, which, do what I would, I could not conceal." Chapter 2, pg. 20

Quote 4: "When the Count saw my face, his eyes blazed with a sort of demonaic fury, and he suddenly made a grab at my throat. I drew away, and his hand touched the string of beads which held the crucifix. It made an instant change in him, for the fury passed so quickly that I could hardly believe that it was ever there." Chapter 2, pg. 28

Quote 5: "The fair girl went on her knees and bent over me, fairly gloating. There was a deliberate voluptuousness which was both thrilling and repulsive, and as she arched her neck she actually licked her lips like an animal... I could feel the soft, shivering touch of the lips on the supersensitive skin of my throat, and the hard dents of two sharp teeth, just touching and pausing there." Chapter 3, pg. 42

Quote 6: "I bent over him, and tried to find any sign of life, but in vain." Chapter 4, pg. 52-53

Quote 7: "But, oh, Mina, I love him; I love him; I love him!" Chapter 5, pg. 61

Quote 8: "Oh Lucy, I cannot be angry with you, nor can I be angry with my friend whose happiness is yours; but I must only wait on hopeless and work. Work! work!" Chapter 6, pg. 79

Quote 9: "The man was simply fastened by his hands, tied one over the other, to a spoke of the wheel. Between the inner hand and the wood was a crucifix..." Chapter 7, pg. 88

Quote 10: "...[A] man, tall and thin, and ghastly pale... I crept behind It, and gave It my knife; but the knife went through It, empty as the air." Chapter 7, pg. 93

Quote 11: "...[T]here, on our favourite seat, the silver light of the moon struck a half-reclining figure, snowy white... [S]omething dark stood behind the seat where the white figure shone, and bent over it. What it was, whether man or beast, I could not tell." Chapter 8, pg. 100

Quote 12: "Between me and the moonlight flitted a great bat, comeing and going in great, whirling circles." Chapter 8, pg. 103

Quote 13: "I don't want to talk to you: you don't count now; the Master is at hand." Chapter 8, pg. 111

Quote 14: "I am here to do Your bidding, Master. I am Your slave..." Chapter 8, pg. 113

Quote 15: "It will be a painful task for you, I know, old friend, but it will be for her sake, and I must not hesitate to ask, or you to act." Chapter 9, pg. 121

Quote 16: "All over! all over! He has deserted me." Chapter 9, pg. 127

Quote 17: "The whole bed would have been drenched to a scarlet with the blood the girl must have lost..." Chapter 10, pg. 136

Quote 18: "No man knows till he experiences it, what it is like to feel his own life-blood drawn away into the woman he loves." Chapter 10, pg. 141

Quote 19: "The blood is the life!" Chapter 11, pg. 156

Quote 20: "If that were all, I would stop here where we are now, and let her fade away into peace..." Chapter 12, pg. 163

Quote 21: "Not so! Alas! Not so. It is only the beginning!" Chapter 12, pg. 178

Quote 22: "He was very pale, and his eyes seemed bulging out as, half in terror and half in amazement, he gazed at a tall, thin man, with a beaky nose and black moustache and pointed beard..." Chapter 13, pg. 189

Quote 23: "Mein Gott! Mein Gott! So soon! So soon!" Chapter 14, pg. 208

Quote 24: "They were made by Miss Lucy!" Chapter 14, pg. 212

Quote 25: "In trance she died, and in trance she is Un-Dead, too... There is no malign there, see, and so it make it hard that I must kill her in her sleep." Chapter 15, pg. 220

Quote 26: "I shall cut off her head and fill her mouth with garlic, and I shall drive a stake through her body." Chapter 15, pg. 221

Quote 27: "The sweetness was turned to adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous wantonness." Chapter 16, pg. 231

Quote 28: "You will, I trust, Dr. Seward, do me the justice to bear in mind, later on, that I did what I could to convince you to-night." Chapter 18, pg. 272

Quote 29: "With his left hand he held both Mrs Harker's hands, keeping them away with her arms at full tension; his right hand gripped her by the back of the neck, forcing her face down on his bosom. Her white nightdress was smeared with blood, and a thin stream trickled down the man's bare breast, which was shown by his torn open dress." Chapter 21, pg. 310-11

Quote 30: "As he [Van Helsing] placed the Wafer on Mina's forehead, it had seared it - had burned into the flesh as though it had been a piece of white hot metal." Chapter 22, pg. 327

Quote 31: "My revenge has just begun! I spread it over centuries and time is on my side." Chapter 23, pg. 339

Quote 32: "[Y]ou are but mortal woman. Time is now to be dreaded - since once he put that mark upon your throat." Chapter 23, pg. 347

Quote 33: "I on my part give up the uncertainty of eternal rest and go out into the dark where may be the blackest things that the world or the nether world holds!" Chapter 25, pg. 365

Quote 34: "As I looked, the eyes saw the sinking sun, and the look of hate in them [the gypsies] turned to triumph. But, on the instant, came the sweep and flash of Jonathan's great knife. I shrieked as I saw it shear through the throat; whilst at the same moment Mr Morris's bowie knife plunged in the heart." Chapter 27, pg. 416

Quote 35: "Now God be thanked that all has not been in vain! See! the snow is not more stainless than her forehead! The curse has passed away!" Chapter 27, pg. 417

Topic Tracking: Friendship

Chapters 1-4

Friendship 1: As an excuse to destroy Jonathan's shorthand letter to Mina, Dracula calls it a gypsy 'outrage upon friendship,' which is the greatest insult he can muster. Despite their disparate backgrounds, both men can agree upon the sanctity of friendship.

Chapters 5-8

Friendship 2: Quincey and Lucy seal their bond when Quincey describes her as a friend, which is "rarer than a lover, it's more unselfish anyway." Even though he has been rejected, he remains devoted to her; this is what initially ties him to Van Helsing and the others when it comes time to fight evil.

Friendship 3: The three men put aside their competition for Lucy for the sake of their friendship. The losers even congratulate Arthur. Their friendship predates Lucy, and it will be strengthened by her death, not to mention their subsequent killing of the monster she becomes.

Friendship 4: Even at the height of his despair, when writing in his private diary, Seward complains, "...nor can I be angry with my friend whose happiness is [Lucy's]..." This devotion to his friend Arthur reflects the moral standard that is in all of the main characters. Without it, they could not join forces to defeat Dracula.

Chapters 9-12

Friendship 5: Arthur must sacrifice his sense of decency and ask his friend to examine his fiancée. Seward must put aside his feelings of love and examine Lucy for the sake of her and his friend Arthur.

Friendship 6: Van Helsing, who refers to Seward as 'friend John,' tells his former student that he would go to London for the sake of their friendship even if it meant breaking promises and ignoring his duties.

Friendship 7: In the name of friendship, the doctors inadvertently cause harm to Lucy by not telling her mother about the cure. Van Helsing then gives his own blood to his new friend. This is not only a pseudo-sexual act, but one that ties Van Helsing to Lucy the way Quincey's devotion did earlier.

Friendship 8: Quincey Morris arrives at Lucy's sickbed and is taken into immediate confidence by his old friend Jack Seward. He does not hesitate in offering his services in any way possible, in this case in the form of his blood.

Chapters 13-16

Friendship 9: The newly titled Lord Godalming admits he knew of his friend's love for his fiancée, but thanks him all the more for his help. Then he and Van Helsing secure their friendship after Arthur declines to use his title in the presence of the group. Personal relationships are beginning to form between all of the main characters.

Friendship 10: Van Helsing, Seward and Morris all agree never to tell Arthur that they gave blood to Lucy. This is done out of pity for their friend, but is nonetheless a dishonest act that is not consistent with the high standards of friendship upheld in the rest of the novel.


Friendship 11: Van Helsing is very impressed with Mina, and immediately takes her into his expanding circle of close friends. The reader, who already is familiar with the good qualities of both characters, is shown very little interaction between these two at this point. It must be taken on faith that they quickly expose their best sides to the other.

Friendship 12: Van Helsing adds Jonathan to the list. He has seen even less of Jonathan than of Mina. It is possible that, knowing he must have nothing less than a completely devoted team to carry out his mission, Van Helsing is eager to see the good in potential helpers.

Chapters 17-20

Friendship 13: Upon meeting Mina, both Quincey and Arthur feel so comfortable around her that they confide in her about their love for Lucy. Arthur even goes so far as to break down crying in her presence, and she comforts him. The three form a fast bond. Now virtually everyone in the group has met and formed a connection.

Chapters 24-27

Friendship 14: After their vampire-fighting ordeal, the Harkers name their first child after all of the friends that so helped them. . The child is primarily named for Quincey, who died for the group and whose last thought is for Mina. Seven years later, the rest are still good friends.

Topic Tracking: Religion/Religious Duty

Chapters 1-4

Religion/Religious Duty 1: Jonathan's religiousness is established early when he hesitates to take a crucifix from a peasant woman as a lucky charm. She is trying to protect him from the evil that awaits him, but he is still holding onto a strong Western religious ideal.

Religion/Religious Duty 2: After one night in Dracula's presence, Jonathan begins praying to God. Later in the story, the main characters' devotion to God is their power.

Chapters 5-8

Religion/Religious Duty 3: The captain of the Demeter uses a crucifix, unsuccessfully, to protect himself from the Count.

Religion/Religious Duty 4: Seward recognizes Renfield's disease as one of religious mania. Renfield believes that Dracula is his god, and by obeying the Count he will gain eternal favor. Seward himself laments the folly of confusing mortal man with God.

Religion/Religious Duty 5: Renfield is drawn to his Master, and risks health and freedom by escaping from the asylum to throw himself under Dracula's command. Essentially, Dracula has come to London to make a new race of man, with he himself as the new god. This gives the book an apocalyptic aura.

Chapters 9-12

Religion/Religious Duty 6: The nun that treats Jonathan in Budapest refuses to tell Mina what Jonathan has been saying, claiming that "the ravings of the sick" are "the secrets of God." The nun, motivated in part by a sense of privacy, is also scared of the evil world of which Jonathan spoke.

Religion/Religious Duty 7: When Van Helsing keeps Arthur from kissing the dying Lucy, he expresses concern for Arthur's soul. Van Helsing is not so concerned with keeping his friends alive as much as he is with keeping them in God's favor. What remains of the 'good' Lucy recognizes this danger, and thanks Van Helsing for the intervention, making him promise to protect Arthur. Here we see Van Helsing becoming the religious as well as intellectual leader.

Chapters 13-16

Religion/Religious Duty 8: When Van Helsing rallies the group, he tells them that they must do their "duty". He sees the task ahead of them as not merely a personal war, but a Christian obligation.

Religion/Religious Duty 9: All of the men are religious. Van Helsing, who still has not convinced everyone of his purpose, believes that God must be used to fight the devil. Therefore, he uses the Host, the sacred Wafer eaten at communion, to seal Lucy's tomb. The others never for a moment believe that Van Helsing is being sacrilegious. On the contrary, Van Helsing's use of such a sacred object convinces the men that there must be some validity in what he is doing.

Chapters 17-20

Religion/Religious Duty 10: When Van Helsing asks everyone to pledge themselves to the cause of eradicating Dracula, he uses the terminology of a religious crusade. He explains that there is more than life at stake - that the fate of Christianity and the world is in their hands. He also attempts to scare them, presumably to insure that only those who are serious will commit. To scare them, he points out that, if they do not succeed, they do not die a glorious death in God's name, but instead become devils themselves, "an arrow in the side of Him that died for man."

Chapters 21-23

Religion/Religious Duty 11: Mina, aware of the dangers she poses to herself, her friends, and her husband, and her chances of getting into heaven, considers committing suicide. Van Helsing reminds her that this action will not save her soul. She is locked into the fight regardless, bound by religious obligation.

Religion/Religious Duty 12: We see the transformation of Mina represented not by becoming 'voluptuous," like Lucy, but by becoming 'unclean' in the eyes of God. The mark left on her forehead by the holy Wafer becomes the symbol of everyone's duty, the danger they are fighting against and the necessity of fighting against it.

Chapters 24-27

Religion/Religious Duty 13: Van Helsing uses the Wafer, i.e., the power of the Church, as both a way to keep the evil women out and as a way to keep Mina trapped in. He leaves her trapped in a circle of wafer while he sanitizes the castle, figuring that it is better for her to be vulnerable to wolves than to vice.

Religion/Religious Duty 14: Quincey, in his dying words, points out that they have won by pointing out that Mina's wound has healed; in other words she is once again in the good graces of God.

Topic Tracking: Sexuality

Chapters 1-4

Sexuality 1: The first threat to Jonathan's well-being and sanity comes in the form of three beautiful seductresses. By threatening to compromise his loyalty to Mina, they are attacking Jonathan's honor as well as his neck.

Chapters 5-8

Sexuality 2: When Mina sees Lucy in the courtyard, Lucy looks virginal and angelic, while Dracula looks dark and evil. By the time Mina reaches Lucy, Lucy is portrayed using post-coital imagery.

Chapters 9-12

Sexuality 3: As the attack of a vampire is shown using sexual imagery, the remedies of the doctors are sexual, too. Seward describes his blood transfusion to Lucy as "life-blood" entering "the woman he loves," and then decides not to tell her fiancée about the event, as if it were an affair.

Sexuality 4: Next Morris provides blood for Lucy, again without telling Arthur. Now all the men who have proclaimed their love for Lucy have symbolically consummated that love.

Sexuality 5: "Voluptuous" is the word used to describe the evil thing that Lucy is becoming. Again, we see sexuality as a bad thing, used by vampires as tools of seduction and betrayal.

Chapters 13-16

Sexuality 6: Arthur describes his blood transfusion to Lucy as his symbolic marriage to her. The other three, who are now joined in a blood-pact to Arthur through his 'wife,' decide not to tell Arthur of the 'affairs.'

Sexuality 7: The only thing that seems to convince Arthur and Quincey that Lucy is an evil Undead is not the fact that she is feasting on a child but that her 'purity' has turned to 'voluptuous wantonness.'

Sexuality 8: The killing of the vampire Lucy contains much sexual imagery. It is her former husband-to-be that performs the act, pounding a phallic stake through her body. She then becomes animated in a manner suggesting a hideous sexual climax: writhing and twisting as blood foams out of her mouth. Only in the post-coital moment is she restored to the beauty she was in life.

Chapters 21-23

Sexuality 9: Dracula's attack on Mina is littered with imagery of sex, rape and betrayal. Her husband is unconscious on the very bed on which the act is taking place. Dracula is holding her in an awkward position and her face is forced 'down on his bosom'. Clothes are torn apart, and the blood of the deflowered is dripping down both their bodies.

Chapters 24-27

Sexuality 10: Before Van Helsing destroys the three woman vampires, who die in the same sexual way as the vampire Lucy, he reflects upon the danger of being seduced by the women's beauty and never being able to kill them. The contemplation recalls Jonathan's strength months ago in the face of the same women, and his corresponding devotion to Mina.

Topic Tracking: Superstition

Chapters 1-4

Superstition 1: Jonathan's research, even before his trip begins, shows that Transylvania is full of superstition. He believes in the Western, Judeo-Christian God, and not yet having experienced Dracula's castle, does not understand the validity of superstition.

Superstition 2: This research is backed up when peasants along the way start giving him good luck charms. They have lived with vampires, and indeed Dracula himself, for centuries, and have incorporated superstitious protection devices into their religious culture.

Superstition 3: Dracula explains away the blue flames as local superstition; the peasants themselves are too afraid of Dracula to go out on that night.

Superstition 4: Jonathan becomes the first 'logical' Westerner of the novel to heed the superstitions when he puts the crucifix above his bed. Van Helsing and the others later use myth-based tactics.

Chapters 5-8

Superstition 5: The sailors, who are all Eastern, are immediately wary of a strange presence on the ship. The captain and first mate, struggling to regain order, at first deny the existence of a monster. Later, they are forced to change their way of thinking.

Chapters 9-12

Superstition 6: Van Helsing, a brilliant doctor, uses garlic and other superstitious methods when trying to 'treat' Lucy. He has already decided, due to extensive research, that myth must replace medicine in this case.

Chapters 13-16

Superstition 7: After Lucy's death, Van Helsing suggests to Seward that they cut off Lucy's head and fill it with garlic. He has not yet explained why this may be necessary.

Superstition 8: When Van Helsing is ready to present his theory to Seward, he does not simply tell him, but forces Seward to come to the conclusion on his own. Van Helsing wants Seward to stop thinking in medical and Western terms and open his mind to the wisdom of peasant logic.

Chapters 21-23

Superstition 9: Mina and Van Helsing both see a 'magic' connection between her and Dracula, and they exploit that connection, opened by the Count, for their own ends.

Chapters 24-27

Superstition 10: In the end, Van Helsing and others decide to use both modern and superstitious methods to defeat Dracula. They employ such modern devices as guns and trains, yet rely on the myths about vampires and the superstitious objects such as rose branches and garlic once it comes time to destroy him.

Chapter 1

The first chapter, like many after it, is written in journal style. This journal belongs to Jonathan Harker, a young Englishman who is traveling to the furthest reaches of Europe in order to meet with Count Dracula; who Dracula is or why Jonathan is meeting him is not yet revealed. The journal begins on the third of May.

Jonathan is traveling to Transylvania, in the Carpathian Mountains, for the first time. He is curious and diligent. He has done research in order to find out more about this faraway region and has discovered that it is an area with many changing borders and many different peoples. He notes, "I read that every known superstition in the world is gathered into the horseshoe of the Carpathians, as if it were the centre of some sort of imaginative whirlpool; if so my stay may be very interesting." Chapter 1, pg. 2

Topic Tracking: Superstition 1

Jonathan makes several offhand references to a woman, Mina, who is clearly awaiting his return.

Throughout the course of the first chapter, Jonathan travels via train from Munich to Budapest, from Budapest to Klausenburgh, where he stays in a hotel, and from Klausenburgh to Bistritz. He then checks into another hotel, under orders from the mysterious Count. The next day, he boards a horse-drawn coach and is taken further east, where he eventually meets another coach, which will take him to his final destination, Dracula's castle. The further he travels from home, the stranger his trip becomes.

In the hotel in Klausenburgh, his elderly hostess begs him not to continue, arguing that St. George's Day begins at the stroke of midnight and this is a day of evil.

Topic Tracking: Superstition 2

The dutiful Jonathan politely ignores her warning, but reluctantly accepts a crucifix as a lucky charm.

Topic Tracking: Religion/Religious Duty 1

Once on the first coach, things only get stranger. The locals are all worried about some kind of devil, and the driver tries to convince Jonathan to postpone his meeting with the private carriage that is to take him to Dracula. The carriage driver, however, interrupts this plea and takes Jonathan away into the night, on the dark side of the jagged mountain range.

The carriage driver is polite but very odd. He is almost always in shadow; the most we see is "a hard-looking mouth, with very red lips and sharp-looking teeth, as white as ivory." He is extremely strong and has a way with animals. This is seen in his ability to calm the nervous horses. It is seen more clearly when, after leaving the carriage for a moment, he was able to walk easily through a pack of angry wolves surrounding the carriage.

Jonathan notices that the driver has been circling around, apparently waiting until midnight to reach the castle. He also notices that the strange blue flame that they keep passing can somehow be seen through the driver's body, if only momentarily. These odd occurrences combine to produce a state of fear in Jonathan as he approaches the "vast ruined castle... whose broken battlements showed a jagged line against the moonlit sky."

Chapter 2

The second chapter is a continuation of the first. It begins with the third journal entry, dated the fifth of May. Jonathan writes that he was standing in the courtyard of a huge castle in the middle of the night. The carriage driver leaves him with his baggage in front of a large wooden door, then disappears into the darkness. As he stands, afraid, Jonathan reveals his business in Transylvania via a question: "Was this a customary incident in the life of a solicitor's clerk sent out to explain the purchase of a London estate to a foreigner?" Chapter 2, pg. 16 He continues, pointing out that he has just passed the law examination and is now a solicitor himself. After a long and frightening wait, the door opens.

Count Dracula himself is standing inside. He has a long white moustache and is dressed entirely in black. He is friendly and welcoming, asking Jonathan to "enter freely and of your own will," though not daring to cross the threshold himself. He takes Jonathan in and escorts him through a series of rooms that have fires burning in the fireplaces and are laid out with food and anything Jonathan might need. Dracula stays with Jonathan as he eats, but explains that he himself has already eaten and will not be joining in the meal.

As Jonathan sits with Dracula after supper, he finds him pleasant but disturbing. The Count has pale skin but red lips, long canine teeth, pointy ears, hairy palms and long, sharpened fingernails. "As the Count leaned over me and his hands touched me... a horrible feeling of nausea came over me, which, do what I would, I could not conceal." Chapter 2, pg. 20 Before going to bed, the Count explains that he will be away until the next afternoon.

Topic Tracking: Religion/Religious Duty 2

The next day, after eating breakfast alone, Jonathan finds Dracula's library in one of the unlocked rooms he is allowed to enter. This is where Dracula finds Jonathan, who has been reading from the Count's huge collection of books and periodicals about England, the English language, life in London, and anything else one might need if he were to make a permanent move to Great Britain. Dracula wants to blend in when he arrives in London. Jonathan goes on to explain to Dracula the details of his newly-purchased London estate, which is located next door to a lunatic asylum. He also finds out that the blue flames he saw the night before were markers of long-buried treasure, visible only on the eve of St. George's Day. The treasures of the area, buried during the region's many wars, are inaccessible to the peasants, who fear the evil of the night.

Topic Tracking: Superstition 3

After another tasty dinner, at which Dracula again does not eat, they stay up until dawn talking.

The next day, Jonathan describes an unusual event in his journal. While shaving, Dracula appears behind him without showing his reflection in Jonathan's shaving mirror. Startled, Jonathan cuts himself. The Count responds:

"When the Count saw my face, his eyes blazed with a sort of demoniac fury, and he suddenly made a grab at my throat. I drew away, and his hand touched the string of beads which held the crucifix. It made an instant change in him, for the fury passed so quickly that I could hardly believe that it was ever there." Chapter 2, pg. 28

Blaming the mirror for cutting Jonathan, Dracula throws it out of the window and leaves. Jonathan becomes disturbed enough to explore the castle, and discovers that he is unable to leave: he is Dracula's prisoner.

Chapter 3

After the initial shock of realizing he is held captive, Jonathan gathers his courage and, with the logical skill of a solicitor, decides to humor the Count and wait quietly for a chance to escape. He listens patiently to stories of the past glory of the Transylvanian people, told by Dracula in the first person, and he keeps the crucifix above his bed to safeguard against "bad dreams."

Topic Tracking: Superstition 4

Dracula asks Jonathan to write letters to his associates in London explaining that he will stay for another month. Harker, already a prisoner, agrees, but decides to write to his love, Mina, in shorthand, in order to get a message past the Count. Jonathan now has nothing but time to explore.

Jonathan discovers that the castle has no servants, unusual in this era, and realizes that Dracula does everything alone, from preparing Harker's solo meals to picking him up that first night at the mountain pass, disguised as a carriage driver. He also notices the Count's disturbing habit of climbing out of his window and crawling down the outside of the castle, head first, just like a lizard moving along a wall.

The final journal entry of the chapter is written on the morning of the sixteenth, eleven days after arriving at the castle door. Jonathan has begun to doubt his own sanity. He has discovered a room behind a mistakenly unlocked door, and made the error of falling asleep there, away from the protection of his own room and his crucifix. He awakens in the presence of three gorgeous women, two dark and mysterious, one pale and beautiful. He desires them against his will as they stand nearby, discussing who gets to sample him first. The pale blonde gets the honor.

"The fair girl went on her knees and bent over me, fairly gloating. There was a deliberate voluptuousness which was both thrilling and repulsive, and as she arched her neck she actually licked her lips like an animal... I could feel the soft, shivering touch of the lips on the supersensitive skin of my throat, and the hard dents of two sharp teeth, just touching and pausing there." Chapter 3, pg. 42

Topic Tracking: Sexuality 1

Dracula bursts in in anger, interrupting the scene. He throws the woman aside and yells at them all for trying to take his property. When they protest, he throws them a bag. To Jonathan's horror, the bag contains "a half-smothered child". They take the bag and fade away; Jonathan passes out.

Chapter 4

Using his gift for self-analysis, Jonathan tries to determine whether or not the scene through which he lived was actually real. He decides that, although he woke up in his own bed, he was placed there by Dracula while unconscious and he was indeed very nearly a victim of a vampire. Furthermore, Dracula persuades him to write three letters, postdated June 12, 19, and 29, describing to his friends various stages of his voyage home. Sticking to his earlier plan, Jonathan writes the letters, with the newfound knowledge that he has six weeks to live.

Nine days later, a chance to escape is foiled. Spotting a band of gypsies encamped outside of his window, he attempts to send word to the outside world by throwing them two letters and a piece of gold. His plan is smashed when the gypsies give the letters to Dracula, who offers to mail one to Peter Hawkins, Harker's boss. The other letter, written entirely in shorthand to Mina, Dracula destroys, pretending that he thinks the note is a gypsy trick.

Topic Tracking: Friendship 1

To make matters worse, the Count has taken to going into the nearby town dressed as Jonathan, in order to give the impression that it is the Englishman who is mailing his own letters and then stealing children. A townswoman actually comes to the castle in despair, demanding her child; Dracula sets a pack of wolves on her.

Meanwhile, the gypsies are hard at work in the castle, filling great wooden boxes with earth.

Jonathan, knowing he is doomed anyway, rallies himself to risk his own life in order to find a key to the front door. He climbs out of his window and scales the castle wall until he reaches Dracula's room. Instead of a key, he discovers a passage to a ruined chapel containing the fifty wooden boxes. The Count is lying in one, in a state of hibernation. "I bent over him, and tried to find any sign of life, but in vain." Chapter 4, pg. 52-53 Unnerved, Jonathan flees back to his room.

The day before he is to die, Jonathan simply asks Dracula if he may leave immediately. Dracula, with all the courtesy of a polite host, consents and opens the front door. Surprised, Jonathan begins to exit - until he sees the wolves: vicious, hungry, and allied with the Count. Thwarted, he realizes that he must get the key at any cost.

At the turn of dawn, when he feels "that sudden change in the air," he once again scrambles down the wall and into Dracula's lair. To his horror, he sees that Dracula is newly fed and looks decades younger. Disgusted with the monster, unable to find the key on his body and fearing for the future of London, he strikes Dracula with a shovel, cutting his forehead and slamming the box shut in the process.

He sees his final chance for escape as the gypsies enter the castle to take their sleeping master away. He writes his last thoughts of love for Mina, and attempts to climb his way down the wall, down the cliffs, and run for his life. Here the journal ends.

Chapter 5

The fifth chapter describes the events happening in England while Jonathan Harker is in Transylvania. It is written in the form of four letters, a diary entry and a telegram. The first is a letter from Mina Murray, Jonathan's fiancée, to her friend Lucy Westenra. Both are girls just becoming women, though Mina is clearly the more mature and grounded of the two.

In a letter, Mina tells her friend how much she misses her. She writes of her longing for Jonathan, and of her determination to keep a real journal, not "one of those two-pages-to-the-week-with-Sunday-squeezed-in-a-corner diaries..." She believes that with practice, one can remember everything that happens during the day and store it in your diary.

The next two letters are from Lucy to Mina. In the first, Lucy tells of two men. One is a young, handsome doctor, John Seward, who runs a lunatic asylum. The other is Arthur Holmwood, a tall, curly-haired man from a good family. Of Arthur, Lucy writes, "But, oh, Mina, I love him; I love him; I love him!" Chapter 5, pg. 61

In the second letter, Lucy writes of her new dilemma: she was proposed to by three men in the same day. The first, Dr. Seward, "was very cool outwardly, but was nervous all the same." When she informs him of her love for another, he replies gracefully, hoping she will be happy and telling her that he will stand by her as a friend.

The second suitor is an American from Texas, Quincey P. Morris. He takes his rejection with similar composure.

Topic Tracking: Friendship 2

After complaining that she must choose only one, Lucy writes that she has accepted the proposal of the suitor that she loves in return, Arthur Holmwood.

The diary entry belongs to Dr. Seward. He writes that in order to take his mind off of Lucy's rejection, he will study an interesting patient. He chooses R.M. Renfield, a lunatic with "quaint" ideas.

The next letter is from the American, Quincey Morris, to Arthur Holmwood. He reminisces about the adventures they have had together and invites him to join him and their third friend, Seward, to congratulate him on winning "the noblest heart that God has made."

The telegram is from Holmwood to Morris, saying he has some interesting stories to tell.

Topic Tracking: Friendship 3

Chapter 6

The chapter begins with Mina Murray's journal. She writes that she is in to Whitby, in northern England, in order to visit Lucy and her mother. They have rooms at the Crescent, overlooking a river valley. Opposite the Crescent on the other slope of the valley is a little town, above which are the ruins of Whitby Abbey, a small church, and a picturesque graveyard. The harbor is just downstream of them. Lucy sits in the churchyard, writing and enjoying the view, and is soon befriended by an old local man, Mr. Swales. When she returns to the same spot later, she finds her new acquaintance and his friends already there.

The old man goes off on a tirade about foolish legends. He claims that all of the tombstones show false piety, and that many do not even mark actual gravesites. He tells the story of Geordie, whose stone calls him a "beloved son," who killed himself to get away from his mother. When Lucy voices her objection to sitting above a suicide, he tells her it might make Geordie happy to have "so trim a lass sittin' on his lap."

In her next entry, Mina laments that she has not heard from Jonathan in some time.

The next entry of the chapter comes from Dr. Seward's diary. It is dated 5 June, a month earlier than Mina's entries, and is devoted to his patient, Renfield. He describes the extraordinary Renfield as having 'selfishness,' 'secrecy,' and, most importantly, 'purpose.' Renfield has been systematically collecting flies. He then moves on to spiders, which he feeds with the flies. After being scolded for eating a fly, he says that the fly was life, and gave life to him. He moves on feed the spiders to sparrows, and then asks for a kitten. Seward decides the man is a zoophagous (life-eating) maniac.

At the end of his entry, he bemoans his romantic loss. "Oh Lucy, I cannot be angry with you, nor can I be angry with my friend whose happiness is yours; but I must only wait on hopeless and work. Work! Work!" Chapter 6, pg. 79

Topic Tracking: Friendship 4

The chapter ends with more of Mina's journal. She is now very worried about Jonathan. The only letter she has received from him, the one written under duress, "does not read like him, and yet it is his writing." Also, she is concerned for Lucy, who has been walking in her sleep. Mina supposes that Lucy is nervous about the upcoming visit of Holmwood, who will visit when his father, Lord Godalming, gets over his current sickness.

In the midst of her worries, Mr. Swales approaches her in the churchyard to apologize for being so negative. He feels his death in the air, saying life is just the brief time when one waits for the eternal death. Then, after commenting on the upcoming storm, he looks through his telescope and sees a strange ship in the distance.

Chapter 7

This chapter begins with a newspaper clipping pasted in Mina Murray's journal. It describes the events surrounding a sudden and violent storm in Whitby. In the midst of this mighty tempest, a foreign schooner comes crashing through the harbor and, to the surprise of the danger-seeking onlookers gathered on the shore, lands hard but safely on shore. The sole living occupant, a great dog, leaps immediately from the ship and runs away. The only other passenger is a dead man tied to the helm. "The man was simply fastened by his hands, tied one over the other, to a spoke of the wheel. Between the inner hand and the wood was a crucifix..." Chapter 7, pg. 88 The man had been dead for days.

Topic Tracking: Religion/Religious Duty 3

Mina, interested in the story, does some research and records it in her journal. She finds that the ship was Russian, and the only cargo on board was "a number of great wooden boxes filled with mould." The dog has disappeared, leaving no trace except for the mangled remains of another dog that picked a foolish fight.

She also manages to hear a translation of the ship's log, which tells a terrifying tale. The crew members, experienced sailors all, become nervous and superstitious.

Topic Tracking: Superstition 5

After ten days at sea, the men begin to disappear, one by one. The ship is searched to no avail. The crew is thrown into a panic and tells tales of seeing a strange man aboard. "...[A] man, tall and thin, and ghastly pale... I crept behind It, and gave It my knife; but the knife went through It, empty as the air." Chapter 7, pg. 93

After his last man, the first mate, throws himself overboard to escape the monster, the captain assumes that it was him who killed all the sailors. Finally, he, too, sees the ghostly man, and ties his hands to the wheel in a valiant attempt to complete his mission alone. He is given a hero's funeral.

At the same time that this is happening, Mina writes that Lucy's sleepwalking is getting worse. Also, Mr. Swales died in the churchyard, his neck broken and a look of horror on his face.

A local dog, usually friendly, progresses from anger to fear while in the churchyard.

Chapter 8

Many plot lines advance in this chapter. It begins with Mina Murray's journal. Lucy seems well and Mina misses Jonathan. Then, on the night of August 11, Mina wakes to find that Lucy is missing from her bed. She finds her sleepwalking friend across the valley at the churchyard, and not alone. "...[T]here, on our favourite seat, the silver light of the moon struck a half-reclining figure, snowy white... [S]omething dark stood behind the seat where the white figure shone, and bent over it. What it was, whether man or beast, I could not tell." Chapter 8, pg. 100 When Mina reaches Lucy, she is alone, breathing in "long, heavy gasps."

Topic Tracking: Sexuality 2

To keep her barely-dressed friend warm, Mina wraps a shawl around her neck and puts a safety pin through it. They sneak home unnoticed and tell no one of their adventure, to protect both Lucy's reputation and her mother's declining health.

The next day, Lucy seems healthier than ever, but has two tiny wounds on her neck, which Mina assumes are from the safety pin.

In the following nights, Lucy sleeps poorly, pacing the locked room in her sleep and hypnotically staring out of the window, as if drawn to something. Mina writes, "Between me and the moonlight flitted a great bat, coming and going in great, whirling circles." Chapter 8, pg. 103 By day, Lucy sits dreamily in the churchyard, speaking cryptically about "his red eyes."

Meanwhile, Arthur wants to advance the wedding date, as his father is getting better. Unbeknownst to Lucy, though, her mother is dying from a weak heart, and Lucy herself is growing weaker. Mina, in her sensible manner, takes care of everybody as best she can.

Two letters are shown at this point, the first from a solicitor in Whitby to a solicitor in London. It is a request to deposit a delivery of fifty boxes to the chapel at Carfax, the estate purchased by Dracula. The second is the return letter, a confirmation that the request has been granted.

Back in Mina's journal, she writes that Lucy is better, but had a strange dream that seemed real, involving "something dark with red eyes."

She finally receives word from Jonathan, in the unlikely form of a letter from a nun who works at a hospital in Budapest. The nun says Jonathan has been under her care for nearly six weeks, suffering from a violent brain fever. He had run to the station at Klausenburgh where, seeing that he was a crazed Englishman, the station-master sent him as far east as possible. He had since been too delirious to mention his fiancée. The nun tells Mina in a private addendum to the letter that they all adore Jonathan, and that she should treat him with care, as "the traces of such an illness as his do not lightly die away." Mina arranges to go to Budapest.

The next journal entry is Dr. Seward's. He is concerned about Renfield, who has begun to act strangely bestial and say things like, "I don't want to talk to you: you don't count now; the Master is at hand." Chapter 8, pg. 111 Seward believes he has religious mania and will soon think that he is God.

Topic Tracking: Religion/Religious Duty 4

Depressed about losing Lucy, he considers taking chloral to sleep, but decides against it. Later in the night, he gets word that Renfield escaped. He gets a late start going after him and barely sees him going over the wall to Carfax, the adjacent estate. He finds the lunatic pressed against the chapel door, speaking aloud, "I am here to do Your bidding, Master. I am Your slave..." Chapter 8, pg. 113

Topic Tracking: Religion/Religious Duty 5

Seward and his attendants, with some difficulty, capture Renfield and bring him back to the asylum.

Chapter 9

Mina writes to Lucy from Budapest, explaining Jonathan's condition. He does not remember his time in Transylvania, and only the nun knows what was said in his delirium. She says nothing except that "the ravings of the sick were the secrets of God."

Topic Tracking: Religion/Religious Duty 6

Jonathan tells Mina that he has no desire to know the secrets of his madness, and so entrusts his diary to his fiancée with the instructions that he must not be told the contents unless some "solemn duty" requires that he should.

They are married that day, in the hospital room, and Mina immediately takes the book and seals it with wax, using her wedding ring as a seal, and shows the sealed book to Jonathan as a sign of marital trust.

Lucy writes her good wishes to Mina. She also says that Arthur has come, and they are to be married within the month. She writes that she is well, but five days earlier, in a diary she wrote of feeling weak, and of hearing a scratching at the window around midnight.

Meanwhile, Dr. Seward's journal shows that he has been studying Renfield closely. The patient goes from being completely deferential to the doctor to trying to kill him. He tends to be violent during the day and docile at night. After attempting to kill Seward during another escape attempt, he becomes immediately calm, and the doctor notices a large bat flying above.

In a letter to Dr. Seward, Arthur Holmwood asks his friend to come to Hillingham, in southwestern England, to treat Lucy, who is worsening. "It will be a painful task for you, I know, old friend, but it will be for her sake, and I must not hesitate to ask, or you to act." Chapter 9, pg. 121 In a follow-up telegram, he adds that he will be leaving to sit with his father, who is ill again as well.

Seward responds immediately, and reports to Holmwood. While he does not examine her thoroughly, out of respect for their engagement, he believes her to have no known sickness, but still very clearly to be ill.

Topic Tracking: Friendship 5

Seward takes it upon himself to contact his mentor, Professor Abraham Van Helsing of Amsterdam, who is a renowned expert on rare diseases as well as a great philosopher, physician and gentleman.

Van Helsing writes back that, being free at the moment, he will come immediately. He also writes that he would come for his friend and student even if he were incredibly busy.

Topic Tracking: Friendship 6

Seward writes again to Holmwood. Van Helsing has come and taken complete control of the situation. He declares that the situation is "life and death, perhaps more," but, for reasons of logic and psychology, will tell the young doctor nothing else. Van Helsing, taken with the girl and loyal to his colleague, goes back to Amsterdam to study the situation further, with the instructions that Seward should write him a daily telegram.

Seward goes back to his journal and Renfield. The lunatic is going through daily changes, sometimes screaming violently, sometimes apologetic and calm. He goes back to farming flies and says, "All over! all over! He has deserted me." Chapter 9, pg. 127 Then, after screaming through sunset and again calming down, he announces that he is finished with insect-catching.

In the first telegram, Seward writes that Lucy is well. She is even better in the second. In the third, she is terrible, and Van Helsing is summoned again.

Chapter 10

Dr. Seward writes a letter to Holmwood telling him that Lucy is not feeling as well as she had been, and that he and Van Helsing are keeping this news from her mother, for fear of shocking her weak heart.

The next document, Seward's diary, tells of a conversation with Van Helsing in which they discuss the fact that they are not telling Holmwood the whole truth, for his own sake. Meanwhile, Van Helsing explains to Seward that he is not even telling him the whole truth, thinking it better that Seward come to the same conclusions by his own method.

When they check in on Lucy, they find her "ghastly, chalky pale," and with almost no strength. Van Helsing declares that a blood transfusion is necessary, and Seward immediately volunteers. Before they can begin the procedure, however, Holmwood arrives, having figured out from the letter that things were dire.

Van Helsing sizes up the situation and drafts Holmwood to give blood instead of Seward, allowing him to give one brief kiss to his lover before saving her. The transfusion resuscitates her, barely. As the choker slips from her neck, Van Helsing notices with a wince the two small neck wounds. Seward at first thinks they are the cause of the blood loss, but then changes his mind. "The whole bed would have been drenched to a scarlet with the blood the girl must have lost..." Chapter 10, pg. 136

Van Helsing needs to return to Amsterdam to study more, so he tells Seward to stay with Lucy through the night.

Dr. Seward stays the night and looks after Lucy, who is initially afraid to sleep because of the horrors it entails for her. She does drift off, though, and the next day, Seward leaves and goes about his business at the asylum. When he returns to Lucy, she is in very good condition, and, having not slept in two days, he falls asleep in the next room.

Lucy writes in her diary that she is thankful for her fiancé and the care of Dr. Seward.

The next day, Professor Van Helsing arrives, and they check in on Lucy. She is worse than ever. This time, Dr. Seward gives his blood. "No man knows till he experiences it, what it is like to feel his own life-blood drawn away into the woman he loves." Chapter 10, pg. 141 They do not tell Holmwood of the new development.

Topic Tracking: Sexuality 3

The transfusion works, again, though Seward cannot figure out where all her missing blood went. Van Helsing takes the watch for the night.

The next day, Van Helsing receives a package. It is garlic from a friend in Haarlem. He rubs the garlic all around Lucy's room, especially around her windows door and fireplace. He also hangs a wreath of garlic around Lucy's neck.

Topic Tracking: Superstition 6

Chapter 11

Lucy writes in her diary how safe she feels with the garlic and the protection of her new friends.

Dr. Seward writes that he and Professor Van Helsing arrived at Hillingham on the morning of the thirteenth. Mrs. Westenra, who has been kept in the dark about the treatment/prevention in order to protect her weak heart, tells them that she took the garlic out of Lucy's room and opened the window during the night to air it out. When she leaves them, the usually-strong Van Helsing actually begins to sob, frustrated at their continual bad luck in a game of such important stakes. He pulls himself together, saying they will continue their fight. This time, Van Helsing provides the needed blood for the transfusion.

Topic Tracking: Friendship 7

Lucy writes about her newfound peace with Dr. Van Helsing by her side at night. She does note, though, that she hears a flapping at the window whenever he dozes off.

The next piece of writing is an article from the Pall Mall Gazette, in which the interviewer speaks with Thomas Bilder, a zookeeper, about an escaped wolf. The working-class man tells of a gaunt man, with a slightly gray beard and red eyes, who was hanging around the wolf cage earlier. The wolves did not like the man at first, but he managed to quickly tame them to his touch. Later in the day, a mild-but-large gray wolf escaped. As luck would have it, the wolf shows up at the zookeeper's residence during the interview. He is calm and fine except for some wounds on his head with some glass in them.

Seward writes in his diary that, while he is catching up on his backlog of work, Renfield bursts in and cuts him on the wrist with a dinner knife. The patient then begins to lick the resulting blood off of the floor. As the attendants drag him away, he is screaming, "The blood is the life!" Chapter 11, pg. 156

Van Helsing orders Seward by way of a telegram to return to Lucy. The telegram arrives twenty-two hours late. Seward writes that he has just caught a train to London, distraught, and will continue his diary by phonograph.

The next section is a memorandum by Lucy, written in dying weakness. Alone, she is afraid to sleep. When she hears a fierce howl and sees a big bat outside, she becomes worried; her mother comes in to stay with her. After a while, they hear the flapping of wings and a large gray wolf breaks through the window head-first. Mrs. Westenra, in panic, grabs the garlic from around Lucy's neck, then dies of a heart attack. The maids, awakened by the commotion, rush in, but are so nervous that Lucy tells them to get a glass of wine. After some time, Lucy checks on them and finds they have been drugged, leaving her alone in the night. Lucy writes that the "air seems full of specks, floating and circling in the draught from the window." She writes that she will hide the memorandum in her breast, and she sends a desperate goodbye to Arthur.

Chapter 12

Seward's diary is the first document of the chapter. He races to Hillingham as soon as he gets the telegram, but there is no answer at the door and the house is locked. Van Helsing arrives, Seward explains the situation, and they break into the house. They bypass the drugged servants and find Lucy and her mother's body in Lucy's room. As she is still alive - barely - they wake the servants to prepare a bath while they revive her. The servants do as instructed, and also answer the door, where a man has arrived with a telegram from Arthur. Seward describes their battle as "a stand-up fight with death." Van Helsing responds with, "If that were all, I would stop here where we are now, and let her fade away into peace..." Chapter 12, pg. 163

They need another donor who is fit enough to supply blood for Lucy. The man who delivered the telegram volunteers; Seward immediately recognizes him as his old friend Quincey Morris. They read the telegram, which is a request for news about Lucy, and they perform yet another blood transfusion, with the American as the donor.

Topic Tracking: Sexuality 4
Topic Tracking: Friendship 8

Van Helsing finds the memorandum in Lucy's breast, shares it and replaces it; Seward begins to take care of Mrs. Westenra's death certificate in order to prevent an inquest that would disturb Lucy; Morris prepares a telegram for Arthur.

Morris figures out that the transfusion is not an isolated incident and demands information. He compares Arthur, who he saw after the first blood donation, to a mare he once had that had been bitten by a vampire bat. When Morris is told what Lucy has been through he is distraught and almost breaks down completely. He cannot understand where the missing blood has gone, and gladly volunteers his services in any way possible.

When Lucy wakes, she grieves for her mother, then falls back asleep and tears up the note while sleeping, as if in a trance.

They keep a vigil during the night, and send for Holmwood the next day. By this time, Lucy's teeth appear longer and sharper, and Lucy herself is in terrible condition. Arthur shows up, and, after an emotional reunion, they begin a twenty-four hour watch schedule. Seward fears this will only be until the next day.

Lucy receives a letter, which she never sees, from Mina Harker. She describes her new married life in Exeter. Jonathan is a partner, and his boss, Mr. Hawkins, has taken the couple into his beautiful house and treats them like his own. They are well, though Jonathan still occasionally cannot sleep.

A doctor under Seward writes to him regarding Renfield. The patient began harassing two workmen who were moving great wooden boxes from Carfax. He called them robbers and murderers from his window. He breaks out from his room and violently attacks the workers, saying he fights for his Master. The workers threaten a lawsuit, so Hennessey writes their names and addresses, as well as that of the shipping company for which they work.

Mina writes a second unread letter to Lucy, telling her that Mr. Hawkins has died. He has left them his great estate, and they are suddenly wealthy, though they miss the old man, whom they loved, and Jonathan is nervous about running the business, though Mina has faith in him.

Seward writes that on his watch he noticed a large bat flying outside of Lucy's window. When Van Helsing comes in to relieve him, the professor notices that the neck wounds are gone. He says she is dying, and sends for Arthur to come to the room.

Van Helsing keeps Holmwood from kissing Lucy at first, claiming that holding her hand would comfort her more. She undergoes a "strange change" and, in a soft, voluptuous voice, asks Arthur to kiss her.

Topic Tracking: Sexuality 5

Van Helsing intercedes, throwing Holmwood aside and crying out for their souls.

Topic Tracking: Religion/Religious Duty 7

Lucy, momentarily angry, transforms back into her old self, and thanks Van Helsing for his intervention, asking him to guard Arthur and give him peace.

She dies. When Seward reflects that she has finally met her peaceful end, Van Helsing corrects him. "Not so! Alas! Not so. It is only the beginning!" Chapter 12, pg. 178

Chapter 13

The chapter begins with a continuation of Seward's diary. He writes that the funeral is held the next day. On the day after that, Arthur has to return to his own estate to bury his father, who just died. Van Helsing insists on dealing with Lucy's papers.

Throughout his description of the funeral, he, Van Helsing and Arthur, as well as the funeral director, all feel that Lucy looks disturbingly lifelike in death.

Van Helsing places garlic in the coffin and a golden crucifix on her mouth. He then quietly recruits Seward to help him cut off Lucy's head and take out her heart. When Seward objects, Van Helsing cites their friendship, love and trust, and reminds him that when he refused Arthur the chance to kiss his dying love, Lucy actually thanked him. Seward promises to follow his colleague's wishes, no matter how strange. However, Van Helsing tells him later that it is not necessary to disturb her yet, as someone removed the crucifix from her mouth. Seward is left confused.

Topic Tracking: Superstition 7

Mrs. Westenra's solicitor informs the doctors that the entire estate is left to Holmwood, who, through the unfortunate loss of his father and his lover, is now the Lord Godalming, master of two estates. The Lord Godalming tells Seward he knows of the mutual affection between him and Lucy, thanks him for all his help, then breaks down crying.

Topic Tracking: Friendship 9

After dinner, Van Helsing tries to address Arthur as 'Lord'. Arthur refuses the title in the company of his friend, and the two of them secure their love and trust for one another. Van Helsing later confides to Seward that Arthur reminds him of his dead son. Once their friendship is fixed, the professor asks Arthur for the right to control Lucy's papers for the time being. Arthur gladly grants him that right. Van Helsing tells them they have a difficult journey ahead of themselves but must be brave and unselfish.

Topic Tracking: Religion/Religious Duty 8

Mina Harker begins her journal again, on the train to Exeter. She writes of walking through London with Jonathan after Mr. Hawkins' funeral. Jonathan became suddenly disturbed. "He was very pale, and his eyes seemed bulging out as, half in terror and half in amazement, he gazed at a tall, thin man, with a beaky nose and black moustache and pointed beard..." Chapter 13, pg. 189 Mina drew him away, not knowing what he was babbling about, and found a shady spot where Jonathan fell asleep. When he woke, he seemed to have forgotten the entire incident. She realizes that she will soon have to open his journal.

When she gets home, she receives a telegram from a stranger, Van Helsing, telling her that her friends Lucy and Mrs. Westenra have died.

Seward writes in his diary that Arthur has gone with Quincey to bury his father. He reflects upon Quincey's moral strength, applauding Americans in general.

Arthur mentions that he feels like he and Lucy were married, as they shared blood through the transfusion. The other three silently agree never to tell him of the other transfusions.

Topic Tracking: Sexuality 6
Topic Tracking: Friendship 10

Van Helsing, in the presence of Seward alone, has a sort of breakdown and begins to laugh at all of the bitter ironies involved in the situation, meaning the post-mortem beauty, the implied polygamy, and the strange instance of death as a beginning. Seward ends his diary.

In The Westminster Gazette, two articles are printed about a series of strange related cases. A number of children have been missed for no longer than a night after playing on the Heath. They all talk of being with what has come to be known as the 'Bloofer Lady,' and they all return with neck wounds.

Chapter 14

Mina Harker writes in her journal that she has read Jonathan's journal, and is worried about his mental health. She decides to transcribe his notes on the typewriter in case anyone should ever have to read it.

The same day, she gets a letter from Van Helsing. He writes that he has read her letters to Lucy and needs her insight. He begs her to come to Exeter, and not to tell her husband so as not to worry him. She sends him a telegram telling him to come.

She writes in her journal the next day that she should not get her hopes up that he could help her with Jonathan's problem, though she wished he could. She later writes of what transpired between them.

He politely inquires about the sleepwalking incident, about which Lucy wrote. Mina tells him she has a journal herself, and gives him the shorthand copy as a joke. She then gives him the typewritten version, to his surprise, and lets him read it. He is amazed, and tells her how wonderful she is, having read her letters and diary and having seen her in person, and he pledges his friendship and offers his services.

Topic Tracking: Friendship 11

In a fit of emotion, she begs him to help her husband. He gladly agrees to hear the story, and he suggests he return to speak with them both in the morning, taking Jonathan's journal with him to read. Mina has memorized the local train schedule to help Jonathan with his work, so she tells him when to return.

She receives an immediate letter from Van Helsing. He tells her that her husband is a brave man, and all he wrote is true. She writes back with deep gratitude.

Jonathan restarts his journal by telling of the meeting with Van Helsing. He begins by telling Van Helsing that he is already cured, as it was not the experience that was hurting him but the fact that he has been doubting his own sanity. Van Helsing removed that doubt.

The professor praises both Harkers and includes them on his ever-growing list of close friends.

Topic Tracking: Friendship 12

He then asks for Jonathan's help in 'a great task,' with the warning that he will need more help later. Jonathan agrees, and gives him all the papers he has dealing with the Count, as well as the local newspapers. Van Helsing reads them as the train pulls away, and, upon seeing The Westminster Gazette, exclaims, "Mein Gott! Mein Gott! So soon! So soon!" Chapter 14, pg. 208

Dr. Seward also restarts his diary, sooner than he expected. He writes of Renfield, who is back to his old self, harvesting flies and spiders. He writes of Quincey and Arthur, both of whom are doing well. He then writes of yet another strange encounter with Van Helsing. The professor showed him the copy of The Westminster Gazette. Reading of the puncture wounds in the children's throats, he guesses that their wounds and Lucy's were made by the same thing.

Van Helsing challenges Seward's idea, saying he is partially correct. But why was there no sign of blood loss? Why did Lucy die?

Topic Tracking: Superstition 8

Van Helsing has to lead Seward to the truth, and at the end of his philosophical argument about what science, man and faith actually tell us, Seward can only guess that whatever injured the children, possibly a bat, also injured Lucy. Van Helsing says that the holes in the children were made by something else. "They were made by Miss Lucy!" Chapter 14, pg. 212

Chapter 15

The chapter begins as a continuation of Seward's last diary entry. He is in such doubt of Van Helsing's suggestion that he is angry, and accuses Van Helsing of madness. Van Helsing understands his young friend's doubt, but persists. He convinces Seward to accompany him to North Hospital, where the latest child victim is, and then to spend the night in Lucy's tomb.

They know the doctor attending the boy, and so may examine him. They find marks on his neck similar to those on Lucy. When the sun fully sets, they make the long walk to Lucy's final resting place, far from downtown. They jump the wall, and, using a key that Van Helsing was to give to Arthur, they enter the tomb.

Once inside, Van Helsing opens the coffin and cuts open the lead casing, to Seward's horror. Once the lead is bent back, the empty bed is revealed.

Seward is not yet willing to concede supernatural forces, so Van Helsing suggests a vigil, in which the two of them watch opposite sides of the churchyard. After a long, cold two hours, the miserable Seward sees a white streak run among the yew trees. Both men run, with Seward stumbling over headstones; by the time he reaches the site, Van Helsing is there holding a baby. They inspect it, and find no wounds. Van Helsing says they were just in time.

They leave the child near a policeman and plan on another outing the next day.

After a noontime funeral, they sneak back into Lucy's tomb. Seward is painfully aware of the law and their act of sacrilege. This time, upon opening the coffin, Lucy is there, looking "more radiantly beautiful than ever..." Her teeth have gotten even sharper.

Van Helsing explains that Lucy is 'Un-Dead', having been bitten by a vampire while sleepwalking. "In trance she died, and in trance she is Un-Dead, too... There is no malign there, see, and so it makes it hard that I must kill her in her sleep." Chapter 15, pg. 220 Seward can no longer find a reason for not believing, so Van Helsing explains further, "I shall cut off her head and fill her mouth with garlic, and I shall drive a stake through her body." Chapter 15, pg. 221

After a moment of thinking, Van Helsing presents a dilemma. After killing the Un-Dead Lucy, he explains, there will be more work to do, work that may involve the help of Arthur. However, only Seward is convinced of the supernatural forces at work. He must involve Arthur before Lucy is killed. They send for both Arthur and Quincey.

Seward's diary is interrupted here with an undelivered letter to Seward from Van Helsing. It is meant to be delivered in the case of an emergency. He explains that he is going to Lucy's tomb to cover it with garlic and a crucifix, trapping her inside, so she cannot leave tonight and will therefore be hungrier tomorrow. He is afraid that he might meet 'the other', who has the strength of twenty men and the power to control wolves. If he is injured, Van Helsing instructs, Seward is to take the papers and diaries and find this "great Un-Dead", cut off his head, and burn his heart or drive a stake through it.

In his diary, Seward writes that, after sleeping on it, he no longer accepts the explanation. When the four men meet, Van Helsing realizes this immediately, and so addresses the other two, in order to elicit a quick promise from them. He asks for their trust to do whatever he wants tonight, regardless of how awful it seems. Quincey pledges right away, Lord Godalming pledges agrees with the exception of anything that violates his "honour as a gentleman or... faith as a Christian..."

Van Helsing suggests that the four men enter the tomb, open the coffin, and cut off the head of the Un-Dead Miss Lucy. Arthur, confused and shocked, initially refuses. Van Helsing explains that he has a duty to do for himself, his friends, and God. He also admits that he, too, gave Lucy his blood. Arthur consents.

Chapter 16

Seward's diary continues. The four men get to the tomb just before midnight. Van Helsing asks Seward to confirm that Lucy's body was in the coffin the previous day, then opens it again to reveal its emptiness. Quincey Morris asks Van Helsing point blank if he removed the body; the Professor denies it. He then explains all that happened over the last two nights, and tells then that he removed the garlic and crucifix earlier in the evening.

Van Helsing leads the party outside, into the churchyard. They are overwhelmed, but brave. Van Helsing takes from his bag a wafer, which he crumbles up into putty and he rolls into strips, placing them in the gaps of the doorjamb. When asked what the wafer is, he replies, "The Host." Seward writes that no one could distrust the Professor in his earnestness, despite the odd situation.

Topic Tracking: Religion/Religious Duty 9

With the tomb sealed, they wait, and before long see "a dim white figure, which held something dark at its breast." They recognize Lucy: "The sweetness was turned to adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous wantonness." Chapter 16, pg. 231

Topic Tracking: Sexuality 7

The evil Lucy throws the child away and beckons Arthur to come to her. He is about to respond when Van Helsing intervenes with a crucifix. Lucy tries to get into the tomb, but is blocked by the holy wafer. She is trapped, and Van Helsing asks Arthur if he may proceed. Arthur, in tears, gives him permission, so Van Helsing removes some of the putty. Lucy slips into the tiny crack, and Van Helsing seals her back inside. They leave with the plan to return the next day.

The next day, the four of them arrive at the churchyard in the early afternoon. Van Helsing has with him a sharpened stake and a hammer. Arthur volunteers to restore his lover to a holy creature. Under Van Helsing's instruction, he pounds the stake through her heart while the Professor reads the prayer for the dead.

Topic Tracking: Sexuality 8

The death of the Un-Dead Lucy is a gruesome spectacle, but when it is over she is restored to the sweet girl they knew in life. The doctors send the laymen out of the tomb and cut off her head, fill the mouth with garlic, and reseal the coffin.

Van Helsing then enlists the others in a new task. They all vow to find the root of this sorrow, and destroy him.

Chapter 17

The Harkers meet with the rest of Lucy's friends. The meeting is described in alternating diary entries, mostly from Seward's and Mina's perspectives.

Seward: Van Helsing receives a telegram that the Harkers are coming to join them, but, as he is going to Amsterdam for a day, he cannot meet her. He sends Seward in his stead, and gives him all of the papers and diaries to read. Seward and Mina meet at the station and hit it off immediately.

Mina: She overhears Seward speaking his diary into the phonograph and, curious, asks about Lucy's death. She wears down Seward's resistance to telling her the terrible tale, and he shares his diary recordings that recount the series of events.

Seward: She not only listens, but transcribes them in triplicate on the typewriter. They make a decision between the two of them that everyone involved must be informed of everything, in order to work as a team to defeat the monster.

Mina: She is shocked at the story of Lucy's death, but, in light of Jonathan's experiences, must believe it. She decides to take all available information and catalogue it in chronological order, including anything relevant from the local papers.

Seward: Jonathan, who had been in Whitby, arrives. Seward learns that Carfax, next door, now belongs to the Count, and he makes the connection between the Count and Renfield. He keeps a close eye on Renfield, who now appears sane.

Jonathan: He has been spending the last two days tracing Dracula's cargo from Whitby to London. He is convinced that, due to the Count's diligence, everything has gone according to plan: fifty boxes of common Transylvanian earth have been placed in Carfax. Some number have been taken from there, but how many, or to where, is still unknown.

Mina: She is thrilled that Jonathan is in good spirits again from working hard. Lord Godalming and Mr. Morris arrive and everyone meets. Mina strikes up an immediate trust with Arthur and comforts him when he breaks down in hysterics over Lucy's death. She then comforts Quincey as well. The two men immediately consider her a sister.

Topic Tracking: Friendship 13

Chapter 18

The events of the early evening of September 30 are recorded in Seward's diary. He enters his house to find that Godalming, Morris and the Harkers have been working together. Mina asks to see Renfield out of curiosity. Seward agrees, and takes her there, announcing first to Renfield that he will have a visitor. Renfield reacts by swallowing all his flies and spiders. Then, upon meeting Mina, he immediately becomes a refined gentleman. Seward is amazed as his patient speaks philosophy with his guest and even discusses himself as a case study. The patient also implores her to leave the asylum at once.

Mina writes about the events of the late evening. After dinner, all six convene in Seward's study for an impromptu strategy session. Van Helsing, the unspoken leader, explains that the fight against Dracula is more than life or death, for losing would mean losing one's soul, being "abhorred by all; a blot on the face of God's sunshine; an arrow in the side of Him who died for man." He then asks who will join him in the fight.

Topic Tracking: Religion/Religious Duty 10

All agree and join hands. The meeting continues with Van Helsing explaining the strengths and weaknesses of Dracula, which are most easily shown in list form:

Strengths--
Needs not age
Makes no shadow/reflection
Can change into wolf, bat, mist or dust
Can grow large, become small, or disappear
Can control storm, fog, thunder
Can control rats, owls, bats, moths, foxes and wolves

Weaknesses--
Must have human blood
Can only make mist around himself
May not enter a household without invitation
Power ceases at dawn
Unless in an unholy area (his own earth, the grave of a suicide), he can only change form at noon, sunrise or sunset
Can only cross running water at high or low tide
Powerless against garlic
Powerless against holy things (crucifix, holy wafer)
A branch of wild rose will keep him pinned in his coffin
Can be killed by sacred bullet, stake through the heart, or decapitation

Van Helsing also reminds them that they have the power of devotion to a cause, and that they can work day or night. He explains the history of this particular vampire, Dracula, who in life was a great warrior of the Szekely. His people were aligned with the devil.

During this speech, Morris goes outside and fires a gunshot. When he returns, he explains that he saw a bat that was bothering him.

They go on to describe their plan of action, which is to find all of the boxes of earth and sterilize them, thus keeping Dracula at his weakest. They decide that this will be Mina's last night of involvement, for her own safety. They convene in order to go to Carfax immediately.

Seward writes in his diary that before they leave the house, an urgent message is brought that Renfield needs to be seen. Van Helsing, Godalming and Morris join Seward. Renfield asks to be pardoned from the asylum. When Seward refuses, he appeals to the others, in the most polite, refined and educated language. Seward is amazed, and Van Helsing impressed, but the patient is still refused. He begs to be let go, explaining that he cannot say why, but for the noblest of reasons he must be taken away this night, even if only to a jail. When all of his reasonings and pleas are turned down, he simply says, "You will, I trust, Dr. Seward, do me the justice to bear in mind, later on, that I did what I could to convince you to-night." Chapter 18, pg. 272

Chapter 19

Harker writes that the men discuss their doubts about Renfield, but in the end they are better off keeping him locked up to prevent him from helping the Count in some way. They advance to Carfax, and Van Helsing gives each man a package he has prepared: a crucifix and garlic, a revolver and a knife, small electric miner's lamps and some sacred wafers.

They enter the house, which is dusty, insect-filled and generally creepy. There are keys on a table which, judging by the indents in the dust, have been used a few times. Harker, knowing the blueprints, leads them to the chapel, which is foul and stagnant. They count and find only twenty nine-boxes. Imagination runs wild, and the men start to think they see Dracula's face. Suddenly, rats invade the chapel by the thousands. Godalming blows a whistle he brought for such an occasion, and dogs come to the rescue from next door. They leave the house and congratulate themselves on finding out how many boxes are missing and on leaving Mina out of the fray.

Jonathan writes that he went back to bed to find Mina asleep, looking very pale. Although he sleeps late, Mina sleeps later.

Seward writes that Van Helsing woke him the next morning and asked to see Renfield. Seward tells him to go alone, which he does. When he returns, he reports that now the lunatic is angry and calls him a fool.

Mina writes that she is listless, tired and sad. She has been crying a lot, but she does not know why. She cannot remember going to sleep the previous night, just that there were noises from Renfield's room and a strange mist invading her own.

The next day, Renfield asks to see her and gives her a blessing. She cannot sleep so she asks Seward for a sleeping draught, then, after taking it, doubts that she did the right thing in denying herself the ability to wake if need be.

Chapter 20

Jonathan details his detective work in seeking out the remaining boxes of earth. He locates all twenty-one of them, at three different locations around London owned by the Count. He finds out that Dracula himself helped to move some of the boxes. He realizes that this means that the Count can keep distributing boxes himself around town, and thus that action must be taken quickly.

When he reports his discoveries to the others, Morris notes that it will be impossible to break into one of the houses, which is in crowded Piccadilly, without getting arrested. They will need to find a key.

Seward writes about Renfield, who has become disgusted with life and afraid of souls. He will not use the word 'drink.'. Seward realizes that, somehow, the Count has gotten to him.

Seward writes the next day that the attendant that he put at Renfield's door was dozing off during the night. Suddenly, another attendant enters Seward's room and tells him that Renfield has had an accident and is covered in blood, lying on the floor.

Chapter 21

The whole of this chapter is from Seward's diary. He begins by describing Renfield's condition. The patient has both a severely injured face, which is where the blood is coming from, and a broken back. The attendant cannot figure out how he managed to do such damage to both body parts. Seward sends for Van Helsing, and Quincey and Arthur come as well. Once they are alone with Renfield, Van Helsing operates on him to get him to the point where he can answer their questions. He is barely able to speak, but manages to tell them what happened before he dies.

He explains that he was sane when they last spoke, except for the fact that he felt powerless to warn them of the Count's visit. That night, Dracula came in the form of mist, then solidified to his natural form. He offered Renfield millions of souls - rats, cats and dogs - if only Renfield would invite him into the house. The madman did so and Dracula brushed by him, onto another purpose. When he saw Mina again, he could tell that Dracula had been taking the life out of her, which made him angry. When Dracula came again, this night, Renfield tried to stop him, using the reputed power of the madman. The Count simply lifted him up and threw him to the ground.

The four men realize that there is no time to waste and so rush to the Harker's room, pausing only to get their supplies. They break open the door and are stunned by what they see. Jonathan is lying on the bed in a trance. Mina is kneeling on the bed. By her is the Count.

"With his left hand he held both Mrs. Harker's hands, keeping them away with her arms at full tension; his right hand gripped her by the back of the neck, forcing her face down on his bosom. Her white nightdress was smeared with blood, and a thin stream trickled down the man's bare breast, which was shown by his torn open dress." Chapter 21, pg. 310-11

Topic Tracking: Sexuality 9

The men move forward, crucifixes held out. Dracula disappears and Mina screams. As the doctors rush to the couple's aid, Quincey Morris runs outside to try and track the Count. Lord Godalming checks the rest of the house. Quincey finds that a bat flew from Renfield's window to some place other than Carfax. Arthur finds that Dracula has burned all of their records, except for the copy in the safe.

Jonathan and Mina collect themselves and Mina recounts what occurred. Dracula entered in the form of mist and turned into a man. He cast a sleeping spell on Jonathan and entranced Mina, telling her he had fed from her before. He threatened to kill Jonathan. He told her that her friends were fools for trying to match wits with him, who had commanded entire armies. For her part in the plan, he would punish her by making her a slave to his command, a sort of homing pigeon who will come when his brain calls her. This is accomplished by her feeding from his blood, which is what was happening when they entered. Her husband merely listens to her and comforts her.

Chapter 22

The whole of this chapter is from Jonathan Harker's journal. He notes that an attendant said that, before they found Renfield injured, he had been screaming 'God.' He also notes that they have decided to keep Mina informed of everything from now on.

Mina herself has decided to commit suicide if she becomes a threat to her friends. Van Helsing talks her out of it for the sake of her soul.

Topic Tracking: Religion/Religious Duty 11

They take stock of their resources, still committed to the fight. They have the rest of the day to sterilize his earth boxes to trap him in his human form, for he cannot change until sundown. They reason that Dracula's papers and keys would be in the most central location, Piccadilly. However, they cannot set out immediately, as breaking into the house would cause suspicion. Van Helsing decides that they should hire a locksmith and enter by the light of day, after breakfast.

The day's plan is formed. They will destroy the boxes at Carfax, then go to Piccadilly. Harker and the doctors will do the work there as Arthur and Quincey go off to attack the other lairs. In order to protect Mina while they are gone, they give her holy items. Unfortunately, even this brings a bad result. "As he [Van Helsing] placed the Wafer on Mina's forehead, it had seared it - had burned into the flesh as though it had been a piece of white hot metal." Chapter 22, pg. 327 Mina screams and laments her unclean status.

Topic Tracking: Religion/Religious Duty 12

The men enter Carfax and sterilize all of the boxes. They then go to Piccadilly, and Arthur, with Quincey, uses his status as a Lord to convince a respectable locksmith to open the house while the others wait in a park nearby. The ruse works, and a policeman walks by with no incident.

In the Piccadilly house, they find everything they need, except for the fact that there are only eight out of nine boxes. Arthur and Quincey take the keys and go off to sterilize the remaining boxes, meaning they have sterilized all the boxes but one.

Chapter 23

Seward describes the events of October 3 in his diary. Van Helsing, who is beginning to understand the psychology of Dracula, explains that he, who was a genius and a warrior in his life, now has centuries to plan his moves, and is in many ways just learning by experimentation, like a child. They are still waiting for the others to return to Piccadilly when a telegram arrives from Mina. She says he left Carfax at 12:45.

Arthur and Quincey show up not long after. They report that they have destroyed the remaining boxes except for the one they cannot find. After some figuring on time, knowing that Dracula could only cross the Thames during low tide, Van Helsing figures Dracula should arrive soon. Suddenly, they hear the key in the door.

Quincey, who used to lead Seward and Arthur on hunting expeditions, silently places everyone in the room for the attack. Dracula enters the room and everyone moves in, crucifixes extended. Dracula is angry, and Harker attacks with his knife. The monster moves quickly and avoids the blade, which cuts his coat, spilling money. Before the advancing men can do further harm, he dives, grabs some money and bounds out of the window. He threatens them with, "My revenge has just begun! I spread it over centuries and time is on my side." Chapter 23, pg. 339

The men give chase but do not catch him. They return to Seward's and tell Mina everything. Despite her husband's anger, she begs them to kill Dracula to save his soul, thinking that she may need saving, too.

The rest of the chapter is from Jonathan's journal. He tells of how Mina wakes in the morning before dawn with the idea that Van Helsing should hypnotize her in order to figure out the Count's plan. The hypnosis must happen before dawn.

Topic Tracking: Superstition 9

He puts her in a trance, with everyone watching. She does not know where she is, and cannot see anything, but she hears water lapping against something. She hears a men stamping and a large chain creaking on a ratchet. Then she wakes up. Van Helsing realizes that Dracula is on a boat that is weighing anchor. He is taking his one box of earth and escaping England altogether. Mina thinks that their job is done. Van Helsing insists that they chase him. He explains, "[Y]ou are but mortal woman. Time is now to be dreaded - since once he put that mark upon your throat." Chapter 23, pg. 347 Mina faints.

Chapter 24

Van Helsing speaks into Seward's phonograph diary with a note for Jonathan. He tells him to stay and protect Mina while the others go to find the ship that carries Dracula. Van Helsing realizes that Dracula knows he was beaten in London, and so loaded his last box onto a ship. He made the last grab for the money because he was desperate.

Mina records in her journal a meeting of them all. Arthur discovered which boat was bound for the Black Sea. The men spoke with the dockworkers and found that a man fitting Dracula's description managed to get himself a place on the boat, which was leaving before the turn of the tide. Dracula called in a fog to keep the boat docked until after the tide turned, so that he could board it. They find out who is receiving the box, and how long it will take to get there.

Seward writes that he and Van Helsing notice that Mina is changing like Lucy changed. They realize that Dracula may be able to find out what they are doing by reading Mina's thoughts. They resolve to keep Mina uninformed once again.

As it turns out, Mina intuits this herself and does not show up for the next meeting. At the meeting, they decide that they can get to Varna quicker by land than Dracula can by sea, but still they should leave in a couple of days. They decide to bring guns, at Quincey's suggestion. Van Helsing tells Jonathan to stay behind with Mina.

Jonathan writes of speaking with Mina. She insists that he tell her nothing of their plans, and he agrees, even though it makes him uncomfortable. However, she insists to them all that she go with them on their journey, because if Dracula calls for her, she will go alone, without the safety of the group, and will use every possible wile to reach her goal. They agree with her logic, so she comes along.

They form a plan to put a branch of wild rose on the box when they find him, then to kill him when they have the chance, even if it means in the presence of onlookers. Van Helsing warns them all that plans have a way of changing.

Topic Tracking: Superstition 10

Chapter 25

Jonathan asks Seward to write about the evening of October 11, as it is very emotional for Jonathan. Mina gathers the men together. She is only herself around sunrise and sunset. The rest of the day she spends in a bit of a daze. This night she tells the men that she has made a decision. "I on my part give up the uncertainty of eternal rest and go out into the dark where may be the blackest things that the world or the nether world holds!" Chapter 25, pg. 365 She then asks the men to kill her if she changes past the point of no return, and also to read for her the burial service this night. The men agree, Jonathan most reluctantly.

Jonathan then describes the journey to Varna. Arthur has an agent in London sending him a daily telegraph informing him of news of Dracula's ship docking anywhere. They use Arthur's title and their combined wealth to convince the authorities that they have a right to inspect the box of earth whenever the boat should dock. Mina is hypnotized every night and always reports that she hears waves.

Finally the men hear word that the ship has come to Dardanelles, one day from Varna. Three days later, it still has not arrived. Mina now reports that the waves are 'faint'. The next day they hear that the ship has docked at Galatz.

Seward writes that they rush to make plans to move to the new location. Before everyone runs off to arrange transportation and entrance onto the ship at the new port, Mina notes that she feels freer from Dracula's spell. When the two doctors are alone, Van Helsing confides that he is concerned that the Count knows of their approach. However, when Mina comes back with the manuscript, he realizes that Dracula is running. As Harker had noted in his journal, Dracula attacked Turkey, retreated, and attacked again many times. He is now doing the same with London, and Mina is free because they have him on the run.

Chapter 26

Seward's diary: They are traveling to Galatz, prepared for the change in plan. They are tracking Dracula north now, as he has gotten past them on the Black Sea and is somewhere unexpected. Mina, hypnotized, hears no waves but hears water, oars and chains. She sees light. Van Helsing surmises that he has left his box and is near land. They calculate that they still have time. The following day, in her rapidly diminishing window of hypnosis, she still hears water but also hears wolves and cattle.

They arrive at Galatz and divide up the tasks. Jonathan writes about his tracking down where the box has gone. He, Van Helsing and Seward find that it has wound up in the care of an agent, who gave it to a trader, who has just been found murdered, his throat torn open. The men decide to begin telling Mina again what they have found.

Once Mina looks over the new information, she figures out where Dracula is going. As he must want to go home, he can go by road, rail or water. He does not want to be seen, but he wants to be safe. Water makes the most sense, as it has the fewest officials and he has the most control. The waterway that gets him closest to his home is the Sereth.

They make new plans. Godalming will hire a steamboat; Morris will hire horses. Seward will go with Morris, as they have hunted together and will make a good team in the face of Slovak forces or of Dracula himself. Jonathan agrees to leave Mina and go with Arthur, as the boat will probably catch the Count and Jonathan has the most right to kill him. Van Helsing will accompany Mina, but he insists on going with her by train to the castle, because if they do not marshal all of their forces then they do not stand a chance, and Mina is a lost soul if they lose. Three hours later, they leave.

Jonathan, Seward and Mina each write of their respective trips. All the journeys are days of cold and danger. All of them have a feeling of adventure.

Chapter 27

Mina, Jonathan, Van Helsing and Seward write the final chapter of the book, in turns.

Days pass and they are still pursuing Dracula. The boat has not overtaken him, due to an accident, which had no bad consequences other than to force them onto the road and slow them down. Mina is becoming more vampiric. She cannot stand garlic, she does not eat, and only sleeps in the day. She is hard to hypnotize. By this time, she and Van Helsing are traveling by road, exchanging horses at farms when the animals become too tired.

Van Helsing at night puts a large circle of crumbled Holy Wafer around Mina, keeping her trapped in and keeping other evils out. One night the three vampire-women from Jonathan's first diary approach, beckoning her to join them. Mina has enough of her humanity still to be horrified.

Topic Tracking: Religion/Religious Duty 13

Finally, the group approach the castle. Van Helsing leaves Mina in a holy circle and enters alone. Dracula has not yet made it there. The Professor finds the chapel and the coffins of the three girls. Despite his revulsion, he sacrifices them all in a bloody, foamy mess. He puts holy artifacts in Dracula's tomb and at the castle entrance, to seal them from all evil.

Topic Tracking: Sexuality 10

As the two travel to try and meet the Count coming in, they stop to find shelter and safety from the wolves. They see in the distance a band of gypsies with a cart carrying a great wooden box. Following the gypsies from the south are two horsemen, Quincey and Seward. Closing in from the north are Jonathan and Arthur. The gypsies are racing the sunset, as Dracula is powerless until then. Van Harker and Mina wait in ambush.

The horsemen overtake the cart in time for the three parties to surround the gypsies, who are desperate to get to the castle by the impending sunset. They all draw their weapons, prepared for a war. Wolves move in behind everyone.

Jonathan and Quincey take the initiative from opposite sides and attack. The gypsies fight, but the men manage to knock over the box and pry it open. The sun is quickly setting. Mina describes the scene.

"As I looked, the eyes saw the sinking sun, and the look of hate in them [the gypsies] turned to triumph. But, on the instant, came the sweep and flash of Jonathan's great knife. I shrieked as I saw it shear through the throat; whilst at the same moment Mr Morris's bowie knife plunged in the heart." Chapter 27, pg. 416

The Count is dead, and the gypsies, covered by four guns, run away, but Quincey is mortally wounded, too. A gypsy knifed him in the side during the fight. In his dying words, he points out, "Now God be thanked that all has not been in vain! See! the snow is not more stainless than her forehead! The curse has passed away!" Chapter 27, pg. 417

Topic Tracking: Religion/Religious Duty 14

In a note written seven years later, Jonathan writes that all have remained friends, including the wives of Seward and Godalming. The Harkers' son, born on the anniversary of Quincey's death, is named for all the vampire hunters and called Quincey.

Topic Tracking: Friendship 14