To quickly recap Part 1 and Part 2 of this plot analysis of Dracula, Bram Stoker’s vampire classic, we are now well into the second act, having met our protagonist (Jonathan Harker), antagonist (Count Dracula), and many of the supporting characters and allies (Dr. Seward, Quincey Morris, Mina Harker, Lucy, Renfield). The action has shifted from Transylvania to England, as has Dracula, and we know that Lucy and Mina are in danger. In the scenes below, we move further into the middle part of the novel, Act 2, and watch as Stoker builds the tension.
Scene: 41
Setting: Budapest
POV: Mina
Scene type: Action
Summary: Mina has traveled to Budapest and is with Jonathan and they have been married.
Read on? Then what will happen to Lucy and the people in Whitby?
(We finally see, or rather hear, that our hero has been united with his love interest. Their subplot now takes a back seat to the main theme in Act 2–the danger follows Dracula, and he’s in Whitby.)
Scene: 42
Setting: Whitby
POV: Lucy
Scene type: Reaction
Summary: Writes to Mina that she and Arthur are doing wonderfully and will be married the next month.
Read on? Is she lying?
Scene: 43
Setting: Whitby
POV: Seward
Scene type: Action
Summary: Renfield escapes at night again, fights like a madman until he sees a bat flying, and then is recaptured.
Read on? He’s trying to reach Dracula.
(It would appear that Dracula has an ally in England.)
Scene: 44
Setting: Albemarle Hotel
POV: Lucy, Diary
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Neither she or her mother are feeling well.
Read on? What’s wrong with Lucy?
Scene: 45
Setting: Albemarle Hotel
POV: Arthur
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Arthur writes to friend Dr. Jack Seward, worried about Lucy and knowing the her mother is terminally ill with heart disease. Has arranged for Seward to meet with Lucy.
Read on? What’s wrong with Lucy?
Scene: 46
Setting: Albemarle Hotel
POV: Arthur
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Telegrams Seward that he has been called to his father, who has taken a turn for the worse.
Read on? Ho hum.
Scene: 47
Setting: Whitby
POV: Seward
Scene type: Setup
Summary: He found Lucy anemic and recommends his old professor, Van Helsing, to Arthur for further scientific help.
Read on? Ho hum.
Scene: 48
Setting: Unknown Location
POV: Van Helsing, MD, PhD, and even more degrees.
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Is on his way to see Seward.
Read on? Ho hum.
(We meet the mentor and vampire expert, Van Helsing. His knowledge will act as the catalyst for many key scenes to follow.)
Scene: 49
Setting: Hillingham
POV: Seward
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Seward sends word to Arthur that Van Helsing has come and gone, needs to think about a couple of things, and will get back to him.
Read on? Ho hum.
Scene: 50
Setting: Hillingham
POV: Seward
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Renfield is eating flies and feeling abandoned.
Read on? Ho hum.
Scene: 51
Setting: Hillingham
POV: Seward
Scene type: Action
Summary: Lucy takes a sudden turn for the worse and Seward sends for Van Helsing. They decide to transfuse her. Arthur arrives and donates his blood. Van Helsing sees the puncture marks on her neck and leaves Seward to watch over her. The next day she is better and Van Helsing wires that he will be returning.
Read on? Has Van Helsing figured out that it’s Dracula?
(Two final allies, Arthur and Van Helsing, finally arrive in the flesh.)
Scene: 52
Setting: Hillingham
POV: Lucy
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Feeling much better.
Read on? Ho hum.
Scene: 53
Setting: Hillingham
POV: Seward
Scene type: Action
Summary: Van Helsing returns to find Lucy nearly dead. They transfuse some of Seward’s blood and she improves.
Read on? Ho hum.
(I usually reserve “ho hum” for a setup or reaction scene, but this action is repetitive. Although Stoker is building some tension as Dracula manages to outwit the heroic allies, this scene isn’t really advancing the plot.)
Scene: 54
Setting: Hillingham
POV: Seward
Scene type: Action
Summary: Van Helsing receives a box of garlic and askes Lucy to wear it around her neck.
Read on? He must suspect Dracula.
Scene: 55
Setting: Hillingham
POV: Lucy
Scene type: Reaction
Summary: She’s gratefully using the garlic.
Read on? Ho hum.
Scene: 56
Setting: Hillingham
POV: Seward
Scene type: Action
Summary: Seward and Van Helsing return to Hillingham. Her mother had removed the garlic in the night. Another transfusion, this time from Van Helsing, who then stays with her.
Read on? Ho hum.
Scene: 57
Setting: Hillingham
POV: Lucy
Scene type: Reaction
Summary: Van Helsing has been watching over her for four days and she’s feeling great and an angry bat keeps flapping outside the window.
Read on? Ho hum.
Scene: 58
Setting: Zoological Gardens
POV: Pall Mall Gazette Reporter
Scene type: Setup
Summary: The wolf was very agitated and then escaped through bars that had been bent. As the reporter watched, though, the wolf returned to the keeper like a stray puppy, and the keeper put it away.
Read on? More of Dracula’s doings?
(This will turn out to be the work of Dracula, creating allies.)
Scene: 59
Setting: Whitby
POV: Seward
Scene type: Action
Summary: Seward is attacked by Renfield with a dinner knife, cuts his wrist, and laps his blood off the floor. He is summoned by Van Helsing to Hillingham.
Read on? What is happening with Lucy?
(The attack by Renfield is really an attack by Dracula, using him as a pawn and a surrogate.)
Scene: 60
Setting: Hillingham
POV: Lucy
Scene type: Action
Summary: As Lucy and her mother spend some time in Lucy’s room, the bat flaps outside then the window breaks and a wolf pokes it head in. Her mother dies of a heart attack and Lucy faints. The wolf leaves but is howling outside and maids arrive. Lucy leaves the garlic on her mother’s body, the maids drink wine laced with a narcotic and fall asleep. Lucy writes the above in a note and then waits.
Read on? Will she survive the night?
(This is an attack by Dracula, using the wolf. It’s quite the cliffhanger too!)
Although scenes 41 through 60 haven’t advanced the plot much, Stoker is creating a near claustrophobic atmosphere by placing most of the action in Lucy’s room or Renfield’s cell. We see that danger is drawing very close and that people who are desperate to help Lucy can’t seem to manage it for any length of time. In the next set of scenes, the tension will continue to build, and we will look for it to snap, with the approach of the midpoint of the novel. We will not be disappointed.
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