Dracula

Chapter 27

This boy will some day know what a brave and gallant woman his mother is

The final chapter:
Count's death was so quick... Literally.. I had no words
"The whole body crumbled into dust and passed from our sight"
............................................................................................................
I was expecting a final epic battle as Bram Stoker was building up the scenery of the final scene > I was prepared and ready for a fight.
All Dracula did was glared with red eyes and The End.
I was somewhat disappointed but not so much since I was happy Mina didn't die or turn into vampire. I also didn't understand why Quincey had to die. I guess someone from the good side had to die. And it had to be someone who didn't appear as much in the book so I had no hard feelings for his death.


Overall

Likes: 
I like the whole idea about having everyones journal/diary/memorandum/articles. Especially the way the article built up the story was really nice > when Dracula was travelling through sea to England was really interesting since Dracula is only portrayed by second and third person. 

My favourite character has to be Mina, I like the fact that she is very brave and to me she rose above all the men. "When I am thus dead in the flesh, then you will, without a moment's  delay, drive a stake through me and cut off my head, or do whatever else may be wanting to give me rest!" 
At this moment I really thought how amazing she is. GO MINA!

Dislikes: 
Whilst reading I kept on forgetting from whose point of view it was and got slightly confused at times. I also kept on forgetting it is a diary because the description is very detailed and from time to time I wondered would people really write every little thing that happened? and how they remembered every single detail of what people said. Other than that I loved the idea of using journal/diary ....

Journey

Chapter 25-26

I must meet death at any hand..

"And must I, too, make such a promise, oh, my wife?" 
Mina asks the group to promise that they will end her life she she turns into a vampire. 
"You too, my dearest"
I like the way Mina still has self control showing how brave she is. She is not afraid to die. 


The story continue -->  the men's journey 
Through Mina they still know Dracula is on a ship 
However they are too late as the box of earth was missing 

Mina Harker's Memorandum 
Dracula is to be taken ... by road, rail and water. 

She is calling to me.

Chapter 23-24

In these two chapters the men only find eight out the nine boxes of earth. The Dracula only has one box of earth left to as a safe resting place. And he is very weak in the daylight. They attempt ambush but the Dracula escapes. 
By hypnotising Mina they are able to discover the whereabouts of Dracula
"What do you see?"
"I can see nothing, it is all dark"
"What do you hear?"
"The lapping of water" 
As they realise they have the upper hand they are confident to follow him and destroy him   "He meant escape. Hear me, ESCAPE! [...] men following like dogs after fox" 





"The Czarina Catherine left the Thames yesterday morning" 
For the sake of humanity they set off to destroy Count Dracula 

Whilst Mina is slowly turning into a vampire.

Terror

Chapter 20-22

Harker discovers the remaining boxes of earth is in Piccadilly, the group is discussing how they were to break into the house. It appears that burgling the house is Piccadilly is harder than the house at Carfax. 
Dr. Seward is amazed by the change in Renfield's character. 
"Oh no, oh no! I want no souls. Life is all I want." 
Renfiel has lost his in zoophagy.
In the end of the chapter he is discovered injured 
"[...] found him lying on his face on the floor, all covered with blood. I must go at once..." The use of Ellipsis build curiosity.  

Whilst dying Renfield explains what has happened to him. Dracula has visited him often and this time promising "not by words but by doing them"
I've noticed the common reference to dogs barking and movements in the mist. All this referencing to Dracula. It was used for Lucy, Mina and now Renfield too.  
Renfield was brave to take on Draula by himself but it only resulted in his death. 
"They burned into me and by strength became like water"

blood dripping mouth...

The chapter continues to Jonathan Harker's bedroom where he laid unconscious. This chapter is pretty intimate and sexual. The discovery of Mina drinking blood from Counts chest is very visual and intimate. 
"His eyes flamed red with devilish passion [...] the blood dripping mouth, champed together like those of a wild beast" Avery demonising imagery. This made me go into realisation of the vampier's true nature as I am used to the romantic style.

"Un-Dead"

Chapter 16-18

Under a spell

"her eyes blazed with unholy light"
In this chapter, the way Lucy was portrayed was very interesting. She is displayed like a beautiful but scary creature. The ruthless act alongside with her talking to Holmwood repel each other. The fact that she is manipulating Holmwood into believing that she is still herself is shown by the way she uses her sexuality. its like she is trying to hypnotizes him by using her voice and her movements.

"She drew back with an angry snarl, such as a cat "
There is a drastic change in tone and character
'Come to me, Arthur. Leave those others" commanding in a  'diabolically sweet' voice.

Arthur appears to be under a spell, his movements paralyzed and controlled by the voice of Lucy. I like the idea that a woman is finally more dominant in this book. Its also interesting to see how she has gone from being this weak lady into this demon that can tear you apart. In the later chapters Bram Stoker shows how woman are weak by saying this is a job of a man"no part for a woman" ...  when actually it is Mina that is helping them figure out the whereabouts of Count Dracula.

Hypnotising beauty 

The death of the Un-Dead

The description of Lucy's death is very strong and has a lot of grotesque imagery
"The body shook and quivered"
"Twisted in wild contortions"
"Mouth was smeared with a crimson foam"

Making this descriptive, Bram stoker fully displayed the horror and gothic.
It is kind of like the sublime. This process is too powerful and too big for its capacity. Her body is out of control. The readers can fully imagine this traumatizing death, in everyone's own individual mind the scale of terror is different.



Chapter 17-18-19
Holmwood is stil shake up by Lucy's real death. Jonathan Harker appears to have fully recovered from his traumatising experience from Transylvania. 
What are the odds?
Dr. Seward finally realises that Dracula may be his next door neighbour... 
"Here he is... [...]" Stoker uses short exclamatory sentences to fasten the pace 

The strong will of Mina Harker is continuously shown. Her self control is stronger than those of the men in the book. As shown in chapter 17 Lord Godalming literally sobs and receives comfort from Mina. She writes how woman have this motherly instincts how the feelings to protect and reassure in any matter.

Van Helsing gather the company and tell them the legend about the "Un-Dead"
The description given about them (strengths and weakness) are very common 
cannot enter house unless welcomed
cannot survive with out blood 
killed by driving a steak through the heart and so on


In these chapters the men set out to find the missing boxes of earth. This is building up the plot for the finale. Twelve of the remaining boxes of earth were deposited in two houses in London

"I'm so glad that she consented to hold back and let us men do the work" Jonathan Harker has come back to his sense as he also recovered from his trip to Count's castle.


Mina appears to be the Counts next target.
"Thin streak of white" Bram uses obscurity to make it mysterious, the idea of the mist hiding the appearance of the body
"I remember hearing the sudden barking of the dogs "

Mina's discovery / Dr.Seward's disbelief

In chapter 14 Mina worried about her husbands health, she has no choice but to open and read Jonathan's Journal. She is clearly horrified by the content. She is neither discouraged or threatened, she kept strong, confident and determined to fix Jonathan's "illness" Shows she is very brave and has strong control over herself contrasting to her husband; who appears to be very weak and fragile. (A change in role)    
Van Helsing comes the next day and describes the events that lead to Lucy's death, after this Mina shows him the journal and he is VERY pleased and relieved by her actions. 

Chapter 13/15

"Radiantly Beautiful"  

The events behind Lucy's corpse for me is the Catalyst. This chapter finally gives the protagonist some hope and knowledge about the unknown antagonist. The doctors discover the coffin empty, they also believe that Lucy is the one that has wounded the children with marks in their necks. 
Dr.Seward is very reluctant yo believe that something supernatural is happening and suggest that this is the doing of a 'body-snatcher' 

As clock struck midnight Seward see a 'white streak' and Van Helsing is convinced this is all Lucy's doing.

Dr.Seward is in complete shock 'surprise and dismay shot through me' when they discovered Lucy's body back in the tomb. She appeared more beautiful than ever. "lips were red" "cheeks was delicate bloom" 
She is portrayed more in a sexual and dangerous way. With this Seward is finally convinced and decides to end her life that belongs to the 'un-dead'

First Impression/Review/Comments

Jonathan Harker's Journal:
Throughout the 4 chapters Harker appears to be a very naive young man. In the first chapter several strangers warn him to not go to Count, obviously I and all readers know that something bad is going to happen! I was frustrated that even with all the pleading of the old lady, warning of the peasants AND the crucifix (VERY STRONG ITEM TO GIVE TO SOMEONE IS THIS ERA) Harker still decided to go to his misery. 
The writer probably wanted us to feel frustrated. However we cannot forget that this book was written in the late 19th century and I am a reader of the 21st century (Vampires and Dracula very stereotypical and cliche characters).

However as I kept reading, the story didn't fail to scare and terrify me. 
What frightened me the most was the physical characteristics of the Count.

Dracula

The description of the Dracula is somewhat familiar: 
'Stood like a statue'
'Strength which made me wince'
 'Cold as ice'
'more like a hand of the dead than a living man'


But his physical appearance is what startled me the most 
'massive eyebrows'
'peculiarly sharp white teeth'
'ear pale and tops extremely pointed' 
This sort of description is very cliche Dracula. 

Chapter 5-11

Mina Harker and Lucy Westenra:
Lucy appears to be very popular woman she has received marriage proposals from Dr.Seward and Quincey Morris and Arthur Holmwood (who she accepted)

In these chapter the most interesting part is Dr.Seward's patient named Renfield. 
This character has sense of crazy and out of the box behaviour. 
A very grotesque like approach.
 He traps flies to trap spiders -> to trap sparrows and then he eats these creatures. To me this character especially gives off a gothic sense as it leaves me horrified.  

Lucy also starts sleep walking frequently and has abnormal movements, she starts to become very ill.
Dr.Seward very helpless in diagnosing Lucy's "illness" he asks for his old mater Van Helsing to help him. Upon his arrival the doctors examine her; they know she has severe blood loss and the only way they can keep her alive is by blood transfusion. It is acceptable when the doctors cannot revive her with scientific ideas and resort to myths and superstitions: the use of garlic. 

In chapter 12, Lucy is technically 'dying' her teeth "seemed longer and sharper" "the canine teeth looked longer and sharper than the rest" she is obviously transforming into a vampire. Under the full moonlight "all of her loveliness comes back to her in death" The transformation seems to have returned her beauty and enhance it even more.