Dracula Flashcards
Summary
- Introduction
Dracula is an epistolary novel, meaning it is written as a series of letters, diary entries, newspaper clippings, and other documents. The novel opens with the journey of Jonathan Harker, a young English solicitor, to Transylvania to help a nobleman named Count Dracula purchase an estate in England. - Jonathan Harker’s Journey and Imprisonment
Jonathan travels to Dracula’s castle, situated in the Carpathian Mountains. Despite the warm welcome, Jonathan soon realises that he is a prisoner. He begins to notice strange and terrifying things about the Count, such as his lack of a reflection in mirrors, his ability to scale the walls of the castle like a lizard, and his nocturnal habits. Harker eventually discovers that Dracula is a vampire, feeding on the blood of humans to maintain his immortality.
Harker tries to escape, fearing for his life. In his final entry before his escape attempt, he writes about Dracula preparing to leave for England, taking with him fifty boxes of Transylvanian earth, which he needs to rest in.
- Dracula’s Arrival in England
Meanwhile, in England, Harker’s fiancée, Mina Murray, is visiting her friend Lucy Westenra in Whitby. Lucy receives proposals from three men: Dr. John Seward (a doctor who runs an insane asylum), Quincey Morris (a Texan adventurer), and Arthur Holmwood (later known as Lord Godalming, to whom she becomes engaged). All three men become important characters in the story.
Dracula arrives in England, bringing with him chaos and horror. Lucy begins to suffer from strange symptoms, including sleepwalking and a severe loss of blood. Despite the best efforts of Dr. Seward and his former teacher, Professor Abraham Van Helsing, Lucy’s condition worsens.
- The Transformation of Lucy Westenra
Van Helsing suspects that Lucy is the victim of a vampire attack. Despite blood transfusions from her suitors and various protective measures (like garlic), Lucy dies and then returns from the dead as a vampire. Van Helsing, along with Seward, Morris, and Holmwood, track her down in her vampire form and destroy her by driving a stake through her heart and cutting off her head. - Jonathan Harker’s Return and Mina’s Danger
Jonathan Harker, who managed to escape Dracula’s castle and was found suffering from brain fever in a convent, returns to England and marries Mina. Upon his return, he joins forces with Van Helsing and the others, who are now determined to hunt down Dracula and end his reign of terror.
Mina begins to fall under Dracula’s influence after she is bitten by him. She becomes telepathically linked to him, which both puts her in danger and provides the group with crucial information about Dracula’s movements.
- The Hunt for Dracula
The group, now consisting of Van Helsing, Jonathan and Mina Harker, Seward, Morris, and Holmwood, work together to track Dracula. They use Mina’s psychic connection with him to anticipate his actions. They learn that Dracula is attempting to return to his castle in Transylvania, where he will be safe from them.
The group races against time to intercept Dracula before he reaches his home. They follow him across Europe, utilising various methods of travel, including train, steamboat, and horseback.
- The Final Confrontation
In the climactic battle, the group catches up with Dracula just before he reaches his castle. A fierce struggle ensues. Quincey Morris is mortally wounded but, with his last strength, helps to drive a knife through Dracula’s heart. As Dracula is killed, his body crumbles to dust, releasing Mina from his influence. - Conclusion
The novel concludes with a brief note written seven years later. Jonathan and Mina have a son, whom they name after their fallen comrades. The surviving members of the group have moved on with their lives, but the horrors they experienced have left a lasting impact.
Dracula ends with the triumph of good over evil, but the novel leaves a haunting impression of the dangers that lurk in the dark corners of the world.
Theme; Good and Evil
At its core, Dracula is a classic battle between good and evil. The characters—Jonathan Harker, Mina Murray, Professor Van Helsing, and the others—represent the forces of good, who come together to fight against the evil embodied by Count Dracula. Dracula, as a vampire, represents a form of ancient evil that threatens the modern world. This theme is portrayed in the way the characters must unite and use their collective knowledge, faith, and courage to overcome the vampire.
Theme; The Supernatural & Uncanny
Dracula delves into the theme of the supernatural, a common motif in Gothic literature. Dracula himself is a supernatural being, an undead creature with the power to transform into animals, control the weather, and manipulate the minds of others. The novel explores the fear of the unknown and the uncanny—the strange and eerie feelings that arise when familiar things are made unfamiliar. The characters’ struggle to understand and combat these supernatural forces highlights humanity’s vulnerability when faced with the inexplicable.
Theme; The Clash between Modernity and Tradition
Stoker’s novel reflects the tension between the modern, scientific world and ancient, superstitious beliefs. The characters are armed with the latest technology and medical knowledge of their time, yet they must also rely on old-world wisdom (like the use of garlic, crucifixes, and holy water) to fight Dracula. This theme is particularly evident in the character of Professor Van Helsing, who combines scientific knowledge with a belief in the supernatural. The novel suggests that modernity alone may not be sufficient to combat certain forms of evil, which require a blend of both the old and the new.
Theme; Sexuality and Desire
Dracula is often analysed through the lens of sexuality and repressed desire. The vampire’s act of biting and drawing blood is frequently interpreted as a metaphor for sexual penetration, with Dracula representing a corrupting influence that awakens hidden desires in his victims. The novel contains several instances of sexual imagery, particularly in the scenes involving the female characters, Lucy and Mina. Lucy’s transformation into a vampire and her subsequent sexual aggression invert the Victorian ideal of feminine purity, reflecting societal anxieties about female sexuality. Dracula’s influence over his victims can be seen as a violation of social norms and an exploration of forbidden desires.
Theme; Fear of the Other
Dracula is portrayed as an outsider, a foreigner from the remote regions of Eastern Europe who comes to England to spread his influence. This theme reflects the Victorian fear of the “other”—the unfamiliar and the foreign that threatens the stability of British society. Dracula’s invasion of England can be seen as a metaphor for anxieties about immigration, colonialism, and the infiltration of foreign cultures. The novel taps into xenophobic fears by depicting Dracula as an alien force that must be expelled to protect the purity of the nation.
Chapter 1 summary
-Jonathan Harker travels from London to Transylvania to meet Count Dracula for business
-During his journey, strange things happen and the locals fear for his safety and wellbeing
-He fears for his safety as he travels to Dracula’s castle
-He encounters wolves and sees a blue flame
Chapter 2-4 summary
-Harker meets Dracula and helps him to finalise his plans to move to London
-He notices that Dracula has no re ection
Harker realises he is a prisoner in the castle
He
b
egins to panic and search the castle for an escape route and to understand who Dracula really is
He sees Dracula clim
b
down the castle wall in a supernatural way
He enters a room and is almost killed
by three female vampires, but Dracula arrives to stop them
Dracula tells these vampires that they can kill Harker once he is done with him
Harker tries to smuggle himself out of the castle
but fails
Dracula leaves for London aboard a ship with fty boxes of dirt
Harker decides to escape out of the castle
by clim
b
ing down a castle w
Chapters 5-6 summary
Via letters, Lucy tells Mina that she has accepted Arthur Holmwood
’s proposal and rejected proposals
from Dr Seward and Quincey Morris Mina expresses her concern as she has not heard from Harker for a month
egins sleepwalking
Lucy b
Chapter 7 summary
A ship arrives at Whitby with the captain dead
Witnesses see a strange dog jump o , but no one else is on the ship
The captain
’s logs recount the terror that they experienced at sea
A body is discovered overlooking the graveyard
Chapter 8 summary
Lucy sleepwalks and Mina nds her in the churchyard with a strange, red-eyed gure hunched over her
Lucy has two puncture wounds on her neck
Dracula’s boxes are moved to his new house in Carfax
Mina receives news that Harker is in a hospital in Hungary and she prepares to go and meet him
Dr Seward
’s patient, Ren eld, escapes the asylum
master
but is recaptured. He is found to b
e calling out to his
Chapters 9-10 summary
only read them if absolutely necessary
Ren eld escapes again and Dr Seward nds him
Lucy writes in her diary about nightmares and scratching at her window
Lucy’s ance, Arthur, asks Dr Seward to examine Lucy as he is worried about her health
Dr Seward calls his old colleague and mentor, Professor Van Helsing, to examine Lucy
Van Helsing arrives immediately but cannot identify her illness
He asks Holmwood to agree to a b
lood transfusion to help Lucy
While treating her, Van Helsing notices the punctures on her neck, so he goes back to Amsterdam to
conduct some research
Dr Seward watches over her, but falls asleep one night and wakes up to nd Lucy worse
He transfuses his own
b
lood in order to save Lucy
Van Helsing arrives with garlic and asks Lucy to wear it around her neck. He also decorates her room
with garlic
A
Page 6 of 66
Chapters 11-12 summary
Lucy’s ill mother does not understand the garlic and so removes it from Lucy’s neck
Van Helsing transfuses his b
lood into Lucy in order to help her
Lucy b
egins to get b
etter and Van Helsing has to return to Amsterdam
Ren eld cuts Dr Seward and drinks his b
lood
An escaped wolf breaks into Lucy’s room and the shock kills her mother
Lucy’s garlic necklace is removed in the chaos and she is now exposed
She records the events in a diary entry and hides it as she is afraid she is going to die
Dr Seward returns to Lucy’s house to nd Lucy gravely unwell and her mother dead
Lucy’s appearance
b
egins to change and her teeth appear to b
e sharper
Quincey transfuses b
lood to Lucy and notices bats at the window
Mina and Jonathan return to London and Lucy dies
Chapter 13 summary
Van Helsing covers Lucy’s body with garlic and covers her mouth with a cruci x, but someone steals it
Jonathan thinks he sees Count Dracula in London and panics
After Lucy’s funeral, children appear in London with two neck punctures
Newspapers say that the children are
b
eing taken
by a strange woma
Chapter 14 summary
Mina reads Jonathan
’s diary and meets Van Helsing to give him a transcript
Van Helsing assures the Harkers that Jonathan
’s experiences in Transylvania were real
Jonathan is reinvigorated
by this and starts writing a diary again
b
Van Helsing tells Dr Seward that he thinks Lucy is responsi
le for the child ab
ductions
Chapters 15-16 summary
Van Helsing and Dr Seward visit a child in hospital and realise that the wounds on the child
’s neck are
identical to Lucy’s wounds
They both visit Lucy’s grave to nd it empty
They return to the tom
b again and nd Lucy looking b
eautiful with no signs of deterioration
Van Helsing knows what he has to do, but wants Holmwood and Quincey to b
e present
The men all agree and go to Lucy’s grave, only to nd it empty
Lucy appears with a child in her arms, which they save
They return the next night and Arthur drives a stake through her heart while Van Helsing cuts o her head
and releases the evil from her body
Van Helsing suggests that they try to nd the source and kill him
Chapter 17 summary
Mina and Jonathan travel to Dr Seward
‘s asylum
They discover Dracula’s location and Dr Seward realises that Ren eld
’s strange
b
ehaviour may b
e
connected
Harker discovers the
boxes of earth and
b
elieves that some of them have
b
een moved to other places
After preparing all of the information, Mina gives Quincey and Holmwood a copy
Chapters 18-19 summary
Mina meets Ren eld and he appears to b
e calm and rational
Ren eld wishes to b
e released and
b
egs Dr Seward, but Dr Seward rejects his request
The men commence their mission and try to locate the
boxes, but they do not nd them all
Mina has strange experiences at night and asks Dr Seward for something to help her sleep
Chapters 20-21 summary
Harker investigates further and discovers that the missing boxes are in London
Jonathan notes how pale and weak his wife is looking and feels guilty about keeping information from
her
The men working in the asylum hear a scream at night and nd Ren eld seriously injured in his cell
The men try to question Ren eld as he lies dying
Ren eld states that he let Dracula in, but tried to ght him o – Dracula violently attacked him as a result
The men rush to Mina and discover Jonathan unconscious and Mina drinking Dracula’s b
lood from a
gash in his chest
Van Helsing manages to draw Dracula back and he leaves
Mina and Jonathan wake up and Mina tells the group that Dracula threatened to kill Jonathan in front of
her if she did not do what he said
He then drank her b
lood and forced her to drink his
The men realise that Mina’s fate is now connected to Dracula’s
Chapter 22 summary
-Ren field dies
-The men go to Carfax, where one of Dracula’s boxes is, to sterilise it & thus render it useless to him
-Van Helsing tries to seal Mina’s room and tries to bless her by placing a communion wafer on her head
-This burns her badly and they realise that she is already being a ffected
-The men manage to seal all the boxes except one
Chapters 23-24 summary
-Mina sends a message to the men to tell them that Dracula has left Carfax and may be headed to Piccadilly
-The men wait for Dracula at his house in Piccadilly and try to trap him
-Dracula takes some money and manages to escape
-Mina tells Van Helsing to hypnotise her to
Chapters 25-26 summary
-Mina asks the men to vow to kill her if they are too late and she becomes a vampire
-Van Helsing tries to use hypnosis on Mina to track Dracula’s whereabouts
-The group reaches Galatz in pursuit of Dracula and the box
-They split into 3 groups in order to attack Dracula at all angles
-Mina and Van Helsing travel via train and carriage to Dracula’s castle
-Holmwood and Harker take a steam boat and travel via the river
-Dr Seward and Quincey travel on land on horse back
Chapter 27 summary
-Van Helsing and Mina travel via carriage but their horses die
-Van Helsing places wafers around Mina in a circle to protect her and he continues to the castle to destroy it
-He successfully destroys the boxes, including the tombs of the female vampires
-Upon his return to Mina, the gypsy cart carrying Dracula and his box appear and Mina notices her group chasing after it
-They manage to intercept the cart and, during the struggle, Quincey is fatally wounded
-They successfully manage to kill Dracula and, as a result, Mina is cured
-Years later, Harker writes a diary entry stating that they have a son named Quincey and that both Holmwood and Dr Seward are happily married
