Point of View

Dracula is told from a variety of points of view. Most of the text consists of journal entries that move the narrative forward as they recount events. The entries belong to Jonathan, Mina, Seward, Lucy, and Van Helsing. Since there is an emphasis on accurate documentation, the dialogue recorded in these journals also tends to offer the perspectives of those characters without journals, like Arthur, Quincey, and Renfield, as well as peripheral characters like Mr. Swales, the Demeter’s captain, and the Czarina Catherine’s captain. Each of these characters has full-blown monologues recorded in the journals, giving readers at least a glimpse into their internal thoughts and motivations. These journals are all obviously written in the first person, and offer a very limited perspective. The reader who is reading the journals, along with other documentation such as newspaper articles, letters, telegrams, and the ship...