To recap the first part of this plot analysis of Dracula, Bram Stoker’s vampire classic, we have already been treated to a fine first act. We have met the hero and the antagonist, in the antagonist’s lair, no less. We saw a ticking clock start as the stakes and the tension rose. The disturbance occurred almost immediately when other characters were afraid for our hero, Jonathan Harker. Eventually, Jonathan acknowledged his dire straits, thereby accepting the call to adventure, but was then thwarted by Dracula and his allies (the three women, the local workers, and even the local wolves). Finally, though, Jonathan took his courage in his hands and attempted a daring escape, the results of which we are still unaware.
Scenes 21 – 40
Scene: 21
Setting: London
POV: Mina
Scene type: Setup
Summary: The story regresses in time and Mina writes to her friend Lucy, speculating positively on her future with Jonathan.
Read on? Is he still alive? Will she get a letter from him and understand it?
(We meet the love interest of the hero, who is a heroine in her own right and an ally of our hero, Jonathan.)
Scene: 22
Setting: London
POV: Lucy
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Lucy writes to Mina of the new man in her life, Arthur.
Read on? Ho Hum.
(So often, my reaction to the setup scene is “ho hum”. This type of scene has to happen–mostly–and it doesn’t stop me from reading on–mostly–but it’s my least favorite type of scene.)
Scene: 23
Setting: London
POV: Lucy
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Lucy writes to Mina about three proposals of marriage that she has had in one day.
Read on? Ho Hum.
(We have our first encounter with Quincey Morris, her American suitor. He will later turn out to be an ally and hero. Dr. Seward was the other suitor and Arthur was the third, who she has decided to marry.)
Scene: 24
Setting: London
POV: Dr. Seward
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Seward writes in his diary about a patient he has seen, a Mr. Renfield. Seward seems like a psychiatrist, although I’m not sure the writers of the late 1800s really differentiated between medical doctors and psychiatrists in the way that we do now.
Read on? Ho Hum.
Scene: 25
Setting: London
POV: Quincey Morris
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Quincey writes a letter to Arthur Holmwood, inviting him to meet a friend of theirs, Jack Seward, to reminisce.
Read on? Ho Hum.
(In essence, the team is coming together, and these three men make up about half of the people who will eventually do battle with Dracula.)
Scene: 26
Setting: London
POV: Arthur
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Arthur telegrams Quincy to say he’ll be there.
Read on? Ho Hum.
Scene: 27
Setting: Whitby
POV: Mina
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Mina writes in her journal that she is walking around Whitby, near the sea, simply looking at whatever strikes her fancy. Lucy and her mother are absent.
Read on? Ho Hum.
Scene: 28
Setting: Whitby
POV: Mina
Scene type: Deepening
Summary: She and Lucy have a strange conversation with an old sailor about the gravestones. Mina is missing Jonathan since she hasn’t had a letter from him in a month.
Read on? Ho Hum.
Scene: 29
Setting: London
POV: Dr. Seward
Scene type: Deepening
Summary: Seward discusses his patient, Renfield, a homicidal maniac, who may have eaten his own bird collection, raw.
Read on? Ho Hum.
Scene: 30
Setting: Whitby
POV: Mina
Scene type: Deepening
Summary: Lucy has started walking in her sleep again and Mina has received a cryptic letter from Jonathan, which doesn’t seem like him. The old sailor says they’re in for a storm. There’s a Russian ship steering around strangely in the harbor.
Read on? Ho Hum.
Scene: 31
Setting: Whitby
POV: Newspaper
Scene type: Action
Summary: After the storm, a boat has been found in which a dead man was tied to the wheel, holding a crucifix. In his pocket was a bottle with an addendum to the ship’s log. The hold had empty wooden crates. Reading between the lines of the log, it seems that Dracula has arrived.
Read on? About time.
Scene: 32
Setting: Whitby
POV: Mina
Scene type: Setup
Summary: She and Lucy see the aftermath of the storm and also the captain’s funeral.
Read on? Ho hum.
Scene: 33
Setting: Whitby
POV: Mina
Scene type: Action
Summary: Lucy had been sleepwalking and was apparently found and bitten by Dracula. Mina can’t quite make out in the darkness what has happened. Lucy sleeps late the next morning and Mina assumes her safety pin must have punctured Lucy’s throat. Otherwise, Lucy appears better than she has.
Read on? What will happen to Lucy now that she’s been bitten?
(We may not, as readers in the late 1800s, know what will happen to Lucy once she’s bitten, but we’ve seen the three women at his castle.)
Scene: 34
Setting: Whitby
POV: Mina
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Lucy keeps trying to escape at night. She points out the window and Mina sees a giant bat flying around.
Read on? Is the bat Dracula?
Scene: 35
Setting: Whitby
POV: Mina
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Mina goes out for a walk at night and returns to see Lucy at the windowsill with what appears to be a large bird. Once inside, Lucy is already going to bed.
Read on? Has Dracula been visiting?
Scene: 36
Setting: Whitby
POV: Mina
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Lucy is not feeling well and is in decline. Mina cannot understand why Lucy is doing so poorly.
Read on? Has Dracula been visiting?
Scene: 37
Setting: Whitby
POV: Billingston and Son, Solicitors letter to Carter, Paterson, & Co.
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Arranging delivery of fifty boxes for their client. Carter, Paterson reply that all has been done.
Read on? Is this Dracula’s stuff?
Scene: 38
Setting: Whitby
POV: Mina
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Lucy is feeling much better.
Read on? Why?
Scene: 39
Setting: Whitby
POV: Mina
Scene type: Action
Summary: She receives news that Jonathan had been unwell but is now improving. A caretaker’s letter, from Budapest, says he’s been through some sort of ordeal with wolves and poison and ghosts. He’ll convalesce another few weeks.
Read on? So, he’s survived. Will he make it back in time to help Mina and Lucy?
Scene: 40
Setting: Whitby
POV: Seward
Scene type: Action
Summary: Renfield says that the Master is at hand and escapes, but then is recaptured.
Read on? Is Dracula the master?
Tension is continuing to build as we primarily watch Lucy and Mina interact, mostly through Mina’s point of view. Although we have yet to hear his name mentioned or see a clear description of him, we know that Dracula has arrived in England. Essentially, the plight of our hero and heroine have reversed and we hope that Jonathan makes it back from Budapest in time to help Lucy (and Mina, although she will shortly leave to join Jonathan).
In the next post, we’ll see Act 2 continue with more setup, as the team of heroes is completed.
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