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 "