Dracula, Plot Analysis - Part 6

Dracula, First Edition Cover

In the final installment of my plot analysis of Dracula, by Bram Stoker, we follow our heroes from the end of Act 2 to the exciting climax of this classic Gothic, horror, thriller.

To briefly recap the novel to this point, we learned in the beginning that Dracula and his minions preyed on human blood. At the start of Act 2, Dracula traveled to England, bringing his search for victims to a new shore. At the midpoint of the novel, after the death of young Lucy, we discovered that Dracula could create more undead like himself using his human victims and that killing the undead, although not impossible, was a grisly business. As we begin the scenes below, Mina is in danger of becoming a vampire and Dracula has managed to escape England.

Scenes 101 – 116

Scene: 101
Setting: Varna
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Action
Summary: The entire heroic team has taken the Orient Express eastward in pursuit of Dracula. Under hypnosis, Mina reveals that he is still on his ship. They wait for him to arrive at Varna.
Read on? Will Mina betray them?

(This scene is the end of Act 2 and what James Scott Bell, in his book Plot & Structure, would call Doorway 2. Although the knowledge that Dracula was on a boat headed home was acquired in an earlier scene, and is certainly the information that permits our heroes to pursue him, this scene cements their journey. Our heroes crash through the end of Act 2 in pursuit of their enemy and would find it very difficult to turn back at this point, even if that’s what they wanted. The hunt for Dracula in England has turned into a chase, as well as a race, as they make their way east to confront him.)

Scene: 102
Setting: Varna
POV: Seward
Scene type: Action
Summary: The team continues waiting and Mina seems lethargic but reports the same ship sounds.
Read on? Will Mina betray them?

Scene: 103
Setting: Varna
POV: Seward
Scene type: Action
Summary: They receive word that the ship will not land at Varna, but at Galatz instead. They will take the train to Galatz, first thing in the morning.
Read on? Will they get to Dracula before he gets out of his box at sunset?

Scene: 104
Setting: Train
POV: Seward
Scene type: Action
Summary: Via hypnosis Mina reveals he is close to land but is not yet on shore. They near Galatz.
Read on? Will they get to Dracula before he gets out of his box at sunset?

Scene: 105
Setting: Galatz
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Action
Summary: They discover that Dracula is being ported over, but don’t know where.
Read on? Are they too late?

(This is yet another setback for our team. They had hoped to get him on the ship.)

Scene: 106
Setting: Galatz
POV: Mina
Scene type: Action
Summary: Mina composes a memorandum trying to deduce the location of the Count, possibly traveling via the Pruth river and perhaps another further on that loops close to his castle. The men are overjoyed at her work. They decide to pursue by river, carriage, and horseback along the banks. Van Helsing is with Mina at the hotel.
Read on? Can they catch up with him?

Scene: 107
Setting: Steam Launch on River
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Action
Summary: Jonathan is on the river with Arthur. Mina and Van Helsing are traveling by carriage. Seward and Morris go by horseback.
Read on? Can they catch up with him?

Scene: 108
Setting: On the Road
POV: Seward
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Seward and Quincey have heard that a river launch has had an accident but has continued on. They don’t know if it’s Arthur’s launch or Dracula’s.
Read on? Can they catch up with him?

(I should note that, in terms of deepening types of scenes, quite a bit of deepening goes on in this novel as the characters continually make flowery and emotional speeches to each other.)

Scene: 109
Setting: Veresti
POV: Mina
Scene type: Action
Summary: Mina and Van Helsing have arrived at an intermediate destination. They stop for dinner and also stock up on food. He says they may not get other food for a week. They’ll be leaving after dinner.
Read on? Can they catch up with him?

Scene: 110
Setting: Carriage
POV: Mina
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Mina sees, through hypnosis, that the Count is still on the river. They travel for days, during which time the sound of the water that the Count hears becomes louder, meaning he is further upstream.
Read on? Can they catch up with him?

Scene: 111
Setting: Carriage
POV: Van Helsing
Scene type: Action
Summary: At night, the three women from the castle come for Mina but Van Helsing keeps himself and Mina safe by sprinkling communion wafer crumbs in a ring around them. The three call to their “sister.” The horses all die.
Read on? Is Mina one of them now?

(Another setback.)

Scene: 112
Setting: On the Road
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Setup
Summary: It was Jonathan’s launch that had the accident. They are behind now and setting off with horses.
Read on? Can they catch up with the others?

(Another setback for the team.)

Scene: 113
Setting: On the Road
POV: Seward
Scene type: Setup
Summary: Seward and Quincey are drawing closer on horseback.
Read on? Can they catch up with Dracula?

Scene: 114
Setting: The Castle
POV: Van Helsing
Scene type: Action
Summary: Van Helsing leaves Mina and kills the three women in their tombs.
Read on? Can they catch up with Dracula?

(Finally, we have an outright success for Van Helsing and our team of heroes.)

Scene: 115
Setting: On the Road
POV: Mina
Scene type: Action
Summary: Mina and Van Helsing see the cart with Dracula in the distance, racing against the sunset, with Quincey and Seward in pursuit, and also Arthur and Jonathan. They all assault the cart, routing the gypsy drivers. With the sun setting, they open the box, but Dracula seems to be waking up. Jonathan and Quincey quickly knife him and he crumbles into dust. The castle of Dracula stands in silhouette against the red sky. Although they have triumphed, and Mina is able to step out of the holy circle that Van Helsing made for her, Quincey dies of a wound he has just suffered in the struggle.
Read on? Are there any more vampires out there?

(The climax of the novel couldn’t be more fitting. In a sense, we return to the opening of the book as Dracula and the team race toward his castle. The location is thematic as Dracula returns to his turf and his castle looms above them, darkly silhouetted against the red sunset. It is the last place that our heroes wanted to be and yet they will risk everything in order to eliminate him. Although they prevail in the final battle, a melee between our heroes and Dracula’s protectors, and Mina experiences a final evolution back to a human, the victory is tempered by the loss of Quincey.)

Scene: 116
Setting: England
POV: Jonathan
Scene type: Reaction
Summary: Seven years on, Jonathan and Mina have a son named Quincey and have visited Transylvania, which showed no traces of the horrors that had unfolded there.
Read on? The End. Hope, I guess that’s the end of the vampires.

(A brief denouement shows us that Jonathan and Mina have returned to a normal life and that the world has been made safe.)

The Major Plot Milestones

The Hook – Scene 2: The old woman at the inn is obviously terrified for Jonathan’s well being on learning that he is going to see Dracula. She gives him a rosary.

The Catalyst – Scene 8: Dracula tells Jonathan he will be staying for a month and not to fall asleep anywhere but his bedroom. Jonathan sees him crawl down the outside of the castle wall, head first.

Ticking Clock – Scene 13: The count asks Jonathan to write three letters saying that he’s left the castle and journeying home, and future date them. Jonathan now knows he won’t be leaving and how long he has to live.

Doorway 1 – Scene 20: Dracula is taken away in his box and Jonathan decides to escape through his window, rather than be left with the three women.

Midpoint Crisis – Scene 74: Seward and Van Helsing confirm that Lucy’s coffin is empty.

Pinch – Scene 82: Seward takes Mina for an amiable visit with Renfield because she is curious after listening to Seward’s diaries. Eventually, Van Helsing arrives to complete the team (Arthur, Quincey, Mina, Jonathan, Seward, and Van Helsing) and uses the word vampire for the first time in the book. As they hold their meeting, a bat hovers outside the window and Quincey tries to shoot it from outside, but misses, shattering the window. They decide to go to Dracula’s house in Carfax immediately, but leave Mina behind.

Doorway 2 – Scene 101: The entire heroic team has taken the Orient Express eastward in pursuit of Dracula. Under hypnosis, Mina reveals that he is still on his ship. They wait for him to arrive at Varna.

Climax – Scene 115: Mina and Van Helsing see the cart with Dracula in the distance, racing against the sunset, with Quincey and Seward in pursuit, and also Arthur and Jonathan. They all assault the cart, routing the gypsy drivers. With the sun setting, they open the box, but Dracula seems to be waking up. Jonathan and Quincey quickly knife him and he crumbles into dust. The castle of Dracula stands in silhouette against the red sky. Although they have triumphed, and Mina is able to step out of the holy circle that Van Helsing made for her, Quincey dies of a wound he has just suffered in the struggle.

Denouement – Scene 116: Seven years on, Jonathan and Mina have a son named Quincey and have visited Transylvania, which showed no traces of the horrors that had unfolded there.

For Uber-Plotters

I’ve split the 116 scenes of the novel into equal “parts” of twenty scenes each, except for Part 6, which had 16 scenes.

Compared to James Rollins (80% action scenes) or Dan Brown (51% action scenes), Bram Stoker uses action scenes 48% of the time. Often, though, the setup scene in Dracula serves to build tension and suspense, as we might expect for a novel that is also a gothic horror tale.

In terms of major milestones, we have the following:

As we might expect, the three act structure holds: Act 1 is 17% of the book, Act 2 is 70% of the book, and Act 3 is 13% of book, by weight. Many setbacks fill the lives the heroes in Act 2 and even the climax is not free from death.

Take Away

Although I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from a novel written over one hundred years ago, I was pleasantly surprised to learn a few different things as a result of this analysis. Although not part of the scene-by-scene breakdown, I was encouraged by the fact that Bram Stoker wrote Dracula while he worked a day job. I also found it interesting that this classic didn’t spring full-blown from his forehead and that he changed his mind about the characters in the book, at least a couple of times.

Most of all, though, I found that the plot structure of the thriller shone through. Because Dracula isn’t strictly a thriller and also because audience expectations may have been very different, the story seemed too slow at times. The orations that the characters seem to create off the cuff, although they may have provided deepening to readers of the time (and to us), today they serve more to create an evocation of the time, an ambiance of gentlemen and ladies who never seem to forget who they are, even as they chase a vampire. Likewise, the dated letters and journal entries achieve the same end, while also emphasizing the pace of the proceedings, not to mention providing interesting glimpses into the different character points of view.

Although Dracula is a classic for many reasons that I haven’t touched upon here (character, theme, the enduring popularity of vampires), its solid plot provides a fabulous foundation.  If you’ve never read the book then treat yourself.  I can recommend it highly!

For your convenience, here are links to Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5 of this plot analysis.