CHAPTER 4

Hunting a Vampire

Dracula starts with a journal entry by Jonathan Harker. He is one of the English lawyers Count Dracula has hired to help buy him a house just outside London. The journal entry reveals how Bram wrote the book: from the point of view of the different main characters. Readers learn details of the story from the characters’ diaries, journals, and letters. And one character even records his diary entries using a device called a phonograph—modern technology for the 1890s.

Accounting for a Count

A count is a type of European noble, a person with great wealth and power who can pass his title on to his children. Some counts also ruled over large areas of land. But why did Dracula have the title of “count”?

As a count, Dracula would have the money to own a large castle, hire servants, buy a home in England, and easily travel across Europe. His money helped him hire lawyers like Jonathan Harker, the first character readers meet in the book Dracula. Since the count is obviously a wealthy man, Harker doesn’t hesitate to visit him in Transylvania. By giving Dracula such an important title, Bram Stoker shows us why the characters in his novel trusted such a strange and scary person.

Harker describes his visit to Transylvania to meet Count Dracula. He notices that people are scared when he mentions Dracula and his castle. One woman even begs him not to go, warning him about evil things that happen at the castle. But Harker does go there, and soon he learns that the count is a strange man.

Dracula is tall, thin, and pale, and dressed completely in black. When he shakes Harker’s hand, the count’s skin is icy cold, but his grip is so strong, the young lawyer winces in pain. Later, Harker notices the count’s long, pointed fingernails, his hairy palms, and sharp teeth.

As the days pass, Harker learns even more odd things about Dracula. When the count stands in front of a mirror, he doesn’t have a reflection. And when Harker accidentally cuts himself while shaving, the count grabs for his throat hungrily. Dracula pulls back only when he touches the small cross Harker wears around his neck. Later that same day, Harker realizes that all the castle doors are locked. He is Dracula’s prisoner.

One evening, Harker watches in horror as Dracula climbs out a window and crawls down the wall of the castle headfirst, like a lizard. He now realizes the count is even stranger than he had ever imagined. Harker begins to explore the castle, looking for a way to escape.

Several weeks pass, and Dracula makes clear he is not going to let Harker leave. One day, while exploring the castle again, Harker finds a room that contains fifty coffins filled with earth. Inside one of them, lying on a pile of dirt, is the count. His eyes are open, but he does not move. Almost a week later, Harker returns to the room and again sees Dracula. This time, there is fresh blood on his face, and his whole body seems to be filled with blood.

Dracula is shipping all fifty coffins to England. When workmen come to remove them, Harker tries to rush outside, but he doesn’t manage to escape. The men carry out the coffins, but Harker is left behind, trapped in the castle.

The next part of the story takes place in London, England. The readers meet Mina Murray, who will later marry Jonathan Harker. They also meet Mina’s friend Lucy Westenra and the three men who would like to marry her: Arthur Holmwood, Dr. John Seward, and an American named Quincey Morris. Much of the story is told through Dr. Seward’s diary entries. In some of them, Seward describes an odd patient named Renfield in the hospital where he works. The man eats spiders, insects, and birds because he thinks they give him a special energy. As Dracula unfolds, it turns out that Renfield is under a spell cast by Dracula. Renfield calls him his master and can sense when he is near.

As the summer passes, Mina goes to visit Lucy in Whitby. Mina is worried because Jonathan has not returned from Transylvania. Meanwhile, the newspaper reports that a mysterious ship had arrived in port with no sailors on board. The only person left was the captain. He was dead and tied to the ship’s steering wheel. The ship had been carrying wooden boxes filled with earth.

On a night soon after the ship reached Whitby, Mina discovers that Lucy has left her bed. Mina searches for her friend and finds her outside the church. The next day, Mina notices two small bite marks on Lucy’s neck.

By then, Mina had learned that Jonathan had somehow gotten out of Transylvania, though he was quite sick. Mina travels to Hungary to bring him back to England. She can see that he has experienced something awful, but he refuses to talk about it.

Back in Whitby, Lucy has been ill ever since the night Mina found her by the church. Arthur Holmwood is now engaged to Lucy, and he writes Dr. Seward to ask him to come see her. Seward can’t find a reason why Lucy is so pale and lacking energy. He asks a former teacher of his, Dr. Abraham Van Helsing, to come examine Lucy.

As Van Helsing sees Lucy grow sicker, he realizes that she has been bitten by a vampire. Several weeks pass, and Seward and Van Helsing notice her teeth growing longer and sharper. Before she can bite anyone, Lucy dies. But Van Helsing knows that since she is a vampire, she will come back to life seeking blood. Van Helsing, Seward, Holmwood, and Quincey Morris go to the graveyard where she is buried. The men drive a stake through Lucy’s heart, cut off her head, and fill her mouth with garlic.

By then, Mina and Jonathan Harker have returned to England and are married. When they had first arrived, Jonathan was sure he had seen Count Dracula walking the streets. But he looked much younger than he had in Transylvania. Mina shares Harker’s diary with Van Helsing, and the doctor realizes that Count Dracula must be the vampire who bit Lucy.

Together, Van Helsing, the Harkers, Seward, Holmwood, and Morris begin to hunt for Dracula. They rush to find all the coffins Dracula has hidden in homes around the city of London. Each of them is a secret hiding place for the count. The vampire hunters find many of the coffins and place religious items in them, to keep Dracula from using the coffins.

The search for Dracula becomes even more important after Dracula bites Mina and forms a special bond with her. She can sense what the count is doing and where he goes. The vampire hunters realize they must find and kill Dracula before Mina dies. Otherwise, she will become a vampire, too.

After Van Helsing hypnotizes her, Mina reveals that Dracula has boarded a ship and is leaving England. She joins the men as they set off to find him. Reaching Transylvania, the men find the wagon carrying Dracula back to his castle. They open the lid to his coffin. In an instant, Jonathan Harker slits Dracula’s throat, while Morris stabs the vampire through the heart. The count turns to dust before their eyes, and then the dust disappears. Dracula is dead.