Amy Cardoso
ENGL 602---The Gothic Novel
July 29, 2015
Notes and Quotes---Dracula
Chapter XVIII
Dr. Seward’s Diary
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Lord Godalming and Morris arrive
Mina Harker wants to go see Renfield
Renfield permits the visit…after swallowing all of his bugs first!
Renfield to Mina---pleasant, seemingly educated, not shy about his strange dietary
choices: “For the blood is the life”
John picks up Van Helsing at train station
Van Helsing is happy with Mina’s notes but convinces Seward that Mina should no
longer accompany them on their vampire chases---“after tonight she must not have to do
with this so terrible affair…it is no part for a woman”
Mina Harker’s Journal
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Committee meeting in Dr. Seward’s study: the doctor, Van Helsing, Morris, Lord
Godalming, the Harkers
Nosferatu (Un-Dead): extremely dangerous, immortal, super strong, cunning, known all
over the world (Greece, Rome, China, Germany, France, India)
Special abilities: can manipulate the weather and various animals, can change his shape,
can vanish instantly, can grow younger, can fit into every small space, can see in the dark
Limitations: Can’t eat regular food, throws no shadow or mirror reflection, can’t enter an
establishment without an invitation, can’t be out during daylight hours, can only change
himself at noon or exact sunrise & sunset, can only pass running water at the slack or
flood of the tide, is powerless against garlic, crucifixes, Communion wafers and other
religious symbols
Ways to Incapacitate Him: rose on the coffin so he can’t escape from it, sacred bullet in
the coffin to kill him, stake through the heart then cut off head to give him rest
Brief history of Dracula family/heritage
Decision to go into Carfax and investigate the boxes
Morris tries shooting a bat on the window-sill (Dracula?!)
Dr. Seward’s Diary
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Renfield wants to see Seward---just as the Committee was about to head to Carfax
All five men visit Renfield---knows each of them and impresses with his extremely sane
conversation
Renfield begs to be released at once---but won’t tell the men why
Seward refuses and the men leave for Carfax
Important Quotes (All page numbers correspond with the Dover Thrift Edition)
P. 201
“We men are determined---nay, are we not pledged?---to destroy this monster; but it is no
part for a woman. Even if she be not harmed, her heart may fail her in so much and so
many horrors; and thereafter she may suffer---both in waking, from her nerves, and in
sleep, from her dreams. And, besides, she is a young woman and not so long married; there
may be other things to think of some time, if not now.”
Trying to protect innocent Mina
Possible pregnancy?
P. 203-204
“My friends, this is much; it is a terrible task that we undertake, and there may be
consequences to make the brave shudder. For if we fail in this our fight he must surely win;
and where end we? Life is nothing; I heed him not. But to fail here, is not mere life or
death. It is that we become as him; that we henceforward become foul things of the night
like him---without heart or conscience, preying on the bodies and the souls of those we love
best. To us for ever are the gates of heaven shut; for who shall open them to us again? We
go on for all time abhorred by all; a blot on the face of God’s sunshine; an arrow in the side
of Him who died for man. But we are face to face with duty; and in such case must we
shrink?”
GREAT pep talk!
We CAN’T fail or we become vampires too
Duty calls
P. 205
“He can do all these things, yet he is not free. Nay; he is even more prisoner than the slave
of the galley, than the madman in his cell.”
Dracula has special powers…but his limitations can help to kill him
He is powerful but not completely “free”
Reference to Renfield?
P. 211
“You don’t know what you do by keeping me here. I am speaking from the depths of my
heart---of my very soul. You don’t know whom you wrong, or how; and I may not tell.”
Renfield’s personal anguish
Is Seward “wronging” Dracula by holding Renfield?