The novel beginning with a vampire in black, veiling his face, leading a man to the Castle of the undead on a carriage, praising his horses, as they enter the wild mountains. The dead travel fast.
And now at the ending, a turning vampire in black, veiling her face, leading a man to the Castle of the undead on a carriage, praising her horses, as they enter the wild mountains.
Ohohoho, I love this!
I've though about Mina echoing Jonathan's journey but really, there's a lot of parallels between her and Dracula here. Love the way you've laid this all out.
Dracula Sept 20: "Van Helsing, who, like me, had been startled by her voice, swooped upon him, and catching him by the neck with both hands, dragged him back with a fury of strength which I never thought he could have possessed, and actually hurled him almost across the room."
Me: waitasec... that sounds familiar...
Dracula May 16 entry: "I was conscious of the presence of the Count, and of his being as if lapped in a storm of fury. As my eyes opened involuntarily I saw his strong hand grasp the slender neck of the fair woman and with giant’s power draw it back, the blue eyes transformed with fury, the white teeth champing with rage, and the fair cheeks blazing red with passion. But the Count! Never did I imagine such wrath and fury, even to the demons of the pit. His eyes were positively blazing. The red light in them was lurid, as if the flames of hell-fire blazed behind them. His face was deathly pale, and the lines of it were hard like drawn wires; the thick eyebrows that met over the nose now seemed like a heaving bar of white-hot metal. With a fierce sweep of his arm, he hurled the woman from him, and then motioned to the others, as though he were beating them back; it was the same imperious gesture that I had seen used to the wolves."
Mike Wheeler and Jonathan Harker: Being Trapped in the Mindscape
OKAY very very very excited to talk about this one!!! When I say everything just keeps pointing towards the hostage theory, I’m so fucking serious. Dracula takes it to another level, and reinforces the sub-theory that Mike is going to be exploring parts of Henry’s mind while he’s there. I don’t wanna say too much, so just come on a journey with me as I go absolutely nuts.
There is a section in here that discusses Henry’s perversion and CSA, which I’ll mark with orange lines like this -> —————————
It isn’t the meat of the analysis though, so skipping it won’t be detrimental to any understanding!! It’s rather iffy as to how strong the parallels are
‘Theoretical’ Parallels
Normally, I’d open with an establishment of parallels, but Jonathan is mostly figured to be Mike’s parallel because of the circumstances he’s been placed in and his romantic relationship with Mina. There’s nothing as outright as the parallels between Henry and Dracula or Will and Mina, but the situation that Jonathan is placed into makes no sense for anybody but Mike. The lack of direct canonical parallels is easily overruled by the blatant parallels that can be made to theories that, at this point, are less theories and more a study of very basic storytelling.
For example, look at these images.
The reason Jonathan is visiting Dracula is because Dracula is looking to invest in properties in London, and Jonathan is a realtor working for the Hawkins and Thompkins firm as a replacement for RM Renfield, his teacher who’d gone mad because of Dracula. These moments are from Jonathan getting on the cart to get to Dracula’s castle and Dracula approaching him in greeting. Jonathan has the mark of a target before he even meets Dracula, before Dracula even discovers his photo of Mina (which becomes his primary reason for his hatred of Jonathan).
There are already key elements at play here. Jonathan being a representative of a firm called Hawkins reinforces Mike’s influence over the safety and security of Hawkins. It’s obvious when looking at how successful the defeat of the antagonist each season aligns with Mike’s internal conflicts; as the UD’s attacks gain strength and become harder to control and prevent, Mike’s internal conflicts grow stronger and harder to control. Where we see most characters fluctuating in their mental health status, seeing them grow as people and become stronger even against the struggles of the UD, we don’t really see that with Mike. As the UD gets worse, so does Mike. He doesn’t grow like the other characters because no one gives him the opportunity to do so.
I know an argument can easily be made that the UD is representing Will’s struggles, and both can be true, but Mike is being directly reflected in the status of Hawkins. He’s not a direct victim like Will is, but his struggles correlate with the safety of Hawkins. The end of S3, for example, ends with the meat monster being defeated supposedly, but we later learn that the Mind Flayer was somehow present in Russia. There’s no way for the Russians to have gotten ahold of the Mind Flayer unless they extracted it from the meat monster somehow. In the same way, the end of S3 supposedly resolves Mike’s conflicts with El and Will but we’re given shots that tell us that something is lingering. Mike’s struggles weren’t entirely resolved like they were in the first two seasons. Which, the little piece of the Mind Flayer that existed despite its technical defeat indicates an inactive conflict in Mike, but that’s for another post.
An example that’s very short and to the point is that, when we end S4 we see the complete destruction that occurred in Hawkins as an indirect result of Mike’s lie. There’s multiple meanings here, but one of them is that Mike is probably at the lowest point we’ve ever seen him; “realizing” that he misunderstood Will in the van, being forced back into a relationship with El, feeling like he has to lie to her just to keep her alive. At this point, he makes the actual realization that there’s no one he can really turn to. Not even Will, who insists on his relationship with El.
Long story short, Jonathan being representative of Hawkins correlates with Mike being representative of Hawkins. Where Will is reflected in the status of the supernatural, Mike is reflected in the status of Hawkins.
Alongside this reinforcement, we see him given the status of target before anyone is even aware of it; even Dracula himself. I find this to be similar to the way Mike has the signatures of an ideal victim for Henry before we even know who Henry is. Starting way back in S1, it’s established that Mike is prone to suicidal tendencies and has very deep rooted insecurities. He isn’t isolated then like he is now, but he’s showing signs of being a target long before anyone else. It’s rooted into his character.
This is all before we get into the meat of this post. Even though these parallels aren’t technically canon, they’re so strong they may as well be. Mike isn’t canonically a representation of Hawkins, but the tie is so strong it’s hard to argue against it. Mike isn’t canonically a victim of Henry, but it’s basic story telling that tells us he will be.
The Castle and The Creel House
We have more parallels to establish first. Sorry, but one; it’s interesting and two; I am nothing if not creditable.
As I explained in the first part of this analysis, Henry and Dracula are very much so parallels. In the same way, their homes are parallels too. Not only are they intrinsically attached to these places by grief (Dracula of Elisabeta and Henry of his family (Max directly shows us how grief occurs even for those who hurt you)), but they remain there to gain their strength.
In order for Dracula to maintain his powers, he must sleep in the boxes of his home. This is a direct statement made in the movie;
“Now, all these things Dracula can do, but he is not free. He must rest in the sacred earth of his homeland to gain his evil power.”
Similarly, Henry rests in the Creel house during his attacks to strengthen his powers. The vines he attaches himself to are in the Creel house for a reason, though the necessity of remaining in their homes is different. Dracula’s is physical: he literally has to remain there for his power, as his power is tied to the blood of the castle. Henry’s is mental: those vines could give him strength regardless of his choice of remaining in the attic, but he has a deep attachment to that place of comfort and it likely makes him stronger by virtue of mentality. Henry forms his childhood home in his mind to show us that it’s a mental link. Both Dracula and Henry require their homes to gain their strength regardless.
Dracula’s castle is only a physical place, technically. There is no mindscape home for Dracula like there is for Henry. So how do I know that the parallels are being made between the Creel house in the mindscape and the Castle? Without even getting into the weird gravity of the Castle, there’s an even stronger connection. Dracula isn’t alone in his Castle.
Dracula has 3 brides in his castle. That sound familiar?
In the movie, Dracula technically has four victims. He has his 3 brides and Lucy Westenra, but only the 3 brides live in his castle. I’m sure I don’t have to point out the obvious, but the parallel here is to the three dead victims and Max. Lucy doesn’t have any incredibly strong parallels to Max, but she is a victim and a redhead. We see Lucy experience something similar to the effects of Will’s possession, but Will’s possession and the curse have some similar symptoms. There’s an argument to be made that Lucy is also meant to represent Max as the living victim. I’m gonna offer both interpretations because they both work!!
Either way, it’s important to note the 3 brides. In the actual Creel house, at this point, Henry is alone. In the Creel house in the mindscape, however, there are three other people. Or there are at least three other victims.
The castle also holds a strange relationship with gravity just like the mindscape’s Creel house, albeit the relationship is different. I’ll get into that later!
Entrapment
NOW we get to the fun part. This section is my daring sweetheart, the apple of my eye, the blooming flowers of a plant I have watered for so long. After establishing those parallels, when you consider the way these two pieces interact it creates a very interesting, very exciting, image for anyone who’s looking forward to Mike’s suffering in S5.
Earlier we dropped off after Jonathan meets Dracula, so let’s pick the timeline back up.
After discovering Jonathan’s picture of Mina and recognizing her similarities to Elisabeta, Dracula demands Jonathan stay with him for a month. He will take no refusal, in his words. He has Jonathan write three final letters; one to his firm, one to his family, and one to his fiancé (Mina). These letters are written impersonally, and when Mina later receives this letter she comments on how out of character Jonathan sounds. Dracula has Jonathan stay in one singular room and tells him not to go exploring the rest of the castle as it holds old and bad memories.
So, for starters, Dracula demands Jonathan stay with him. This is Dracula’s attempt at getting Jonathan away from Mina and out of the picture, and he does threaten him, but he doesn’t kill him. He leaves Jonathan alive in the castle, delegating him to one room so he won’t stumble upon old memories. Knowing that the castle is the equivalent of the mindscape, this paints an odd picture.
Obviously this is indicative of the hostage theory, in which Henry won’t actually kill Mike but rather keep him alive for some reason. I’d say this is rather supportive of the premise that Mike tries to make a deal with Henry and it goes badly, seeing as Dracula’s violence towards Jonathan is rather minimal compared to what we see him do later on. He hardly hurts Jonathan, instead keeping him. Jonathan is aware that he’s in danger, but he isn’t sure how or why. He merely witnesses Dracula’s lack of a reflection as his first sign something is seriously wrong. This would translate to Mike bargaining with Henry somehow, only to be forced into Henry’s hands and controlled. At first, Jonathan wasn’t aware that Dracula is a dangerous being: in the same way, I don’t think Mike is going to be aware of Henry’s danger at first, but lured into a place in which Henry can capture him. How this happens is undemonstrated by the film, but based on other evidence supporting the hostage theory, there are heavy signs of Eddie’s corpse being used as a lure.
Even more, we’d see Henry try and lock Mike in a specific part of his mind. I imagine this is the equivalent of showing Mike his own grief and memories and those things Dracula tells Jonathan to avoid (old and bad memories) would be equivocal to Mike pushing into Henry’s mind even further than what we saw with Max. If they’re inside Henry’s mind, there’s no way the only piece of him present is the broken Creel house. There are memories inside of him, things he omissed in his monologues.
Alongside this, we have the 3 letters; the firm, the family, the fiancé. This is interesting for multiple reasons!! If this were to be directly translated to the show, we’d be seeing a message sent to Hawkins, the Wheelers, and Will. This could happen if Mike were to somehow make contact with the outside world somehow, but there is a much more likely possibility here. The thing about the letters is the only one of them actually plays a role in the story: the letter to Mina. Her letter is the only one we read, and it’s the one sign we get to the outside world that something is wrong with Jonathan. There’s concern to be had because of that letter, and it raises Mina’s suspicion despite Jonathan assuring her of his safety in the letter.
On one hand, this could play into lettergate if the letter Mike wrote to Will holds cause for concern, but that doesn’t really hold indication for where Mike is and that he should be worried beyond thinking about what Mike’s mental state was. An important part of the hostage theory is that Mike is perceived as dead and people give up looking for him. If people are aware Mike is alive, they wouldn’t stop searching for him until they found him. It’s important that people think he’s dead, but the letter is supposedly to be the trigger for concern. If this is meant to play into lettergate, I’m not really sure how that would work because it doesn’t provide the concern as the letter would be given before Mike’s ‘death’. Or, at least, it would be obvious he wrote it before he died, so there’s no reason to worry about his safety status.
On the other hand, this could be a sign that Mike somehow communicates with the outside world. I have no clue how he would manage it, but it definitely isn’t impossible. If he can discover alternate dimensions and gain deep understanding of how supernatural creatures function under high stress situations with only about a week to figure things out, I imagine having years to study Henry’s mind would lead to him somehow gathering the knowledge to communicate. If Max is there, she could also be his way out.
Personally I think that, no matter what, Mike and Max are going to reveal the other’s being alive. If they rescue Mike first, then he’ll be able to reveal that Max’s consciousness is trapped inside Henry’s. If they wake Max first, she could do the same for him.
In this scenario, it would be Will receiving the message first and foremost. There’s also the possibility that this could be foreshadowing the role reversal, in which Will is the only one who never gives up on Mike. Even after years, he’d be the one holding onto hope that Mike is out there.
There are a lot of possibilities when it comes to the three letters, but that isn’t the only thing Jonathan writes. On May 30th, Jonathan writes in his journal;
“I think strange things which I dare not confess to my own soul. The Count… The way he looked at Mina’s picture fills me with dread, as if I have a part to play in a story that is not known to me.”
This is written the same day as the events I talked about previously, where Dracula warns him not to leave and such.
“I think strange things I dare not confess to my own soul.” The most Mike Wheeler sentence ever written in the entire world. This would mostly pertain to Mike’s only mental status, likely regarding the visions he’s forced to endure under Henry’s control as well.
The second sentence is intriguing because Jonathan specifies himself as having a role to play in a story he has not been told. His concern is for Mina, and very rightfully so, and that already aligns with canon as Mike already expresses concern for the way Henry treats Will. That makes sense. It’s odd that he’s curious as to his own role rather than Mina’s, seeing as he doesn’t know why Dracula is fascinated with Mina either.
The story, by implication, is the story of Elisabeta and Dracula’s love. Jonathan is unaware of this story at the moment, but he feels as though he has a part to play. The thing is, he’s right! Mina and Jonathan’s story is somewhat of a modern version of Elisabeta and Dracula’s. I touched on this in the first part of this analysis, but I wanna bring your attention back to the fact that Elisabeta and Mina aren’t parallels. There’s nothing to indicate that Mina and Elisabeta are alike story-wise other than their looks. Jonathan is the one who parallels Elisabeta. Despite Mina being Dracula’s love interest, she is not the Elisabeta in this modern story; Jonathan is.
I’ve explained before that Peter is meant to be the Elisabeta of this story, and that the 5 Peter’s tell us that Will looks like Peter, but Will himself is paralleled to Henry despite the interest Henry has taken in him. In the same way, Mike is the actual parallel to Peter. In everything but looks, Mike fills the role of being Will’s Peter. Both Peter and Mike have predictive tendencies, both are the ones showing the utmost kindness and love to their respective lovers (Will and Henry), and they both potentially have matching suicidal tendencies. Peter may have actually killed himself.
In the same fashion that locking Jonathan in the castle is meant to create an opportunity for Dracula to go after Mina, Henry locking Mike in a trance creates an opportunity for him to go after Will. From all the different perspectives that’ll be shared of the knowledge they have of Henry, as well as Mike possibly peering into Henry’s memories, I don’t find it to be too much of a stretch that he realizes there is more to Henry’s story and that somehow he’s become part of Henry’s plan. Mike’s inferiority complex may be overruled by his logic, determine that there’s a reason he was chosen and that it lies somewhere in the story he doesn’t know. Maybe. Just food for thought.
Anyway,
Eventually Dracula leaves the castle and goes to sleep in his boxes (which he needs to maintain his dark power) and Jonathan explores the castle. As he goes lower, he comes across rooms in which we start to see the distorted gravity. There are rats on the ceiling and odd liquids that drip upside down, but Jonathan is unaffected by this shift in gravity.
Taking another pause here because I wanna look at two other instances of gravitational distortion in the show, because this moment is combining them when we apply the parallels.
1. The Creel house in the mindscape. Gravity clearly is not normal there, as we see bits of the house floating all over the place.
2. There’s a poster in Mike’s room called ‘Relativity’.
The BYU Museum of Art describes it as such:
In one of Escher's most beloved, most copied, and most parodied images, a series of staircases crisscross in a labyrinth-like interior. At first, the staircases seem to occupy a believable illusionistic space, but upon closer inspection viewers realize that they meet each other at impossible angles. In fact, the shape defined by the three main staircases is a famous 'impossible shape' called a Penrose triangle. What makes this print so mesmerizing is how Escher takes that geometric curiosity as a starting point to create not only one impossible shape but a completely impossible world with multiple simultaneous orientations of gravity. He has not only imaged what the inside of such an unusual building would look like, but has also provided glimpses of an idyllic outside world through the archways at the top of each stairway. Every way is up in this charming world, but so too every way is down as is always the case with Escher, 'reality' changes completely, depending on how you look at it.
The description of, “…multiple simultaneous orientations of gravity,” much more aligns with what we see in Castle Dracula, as Jonathan exists within the same spaces as the rats and the liquid, yet they experience different pulls of gravity.
The stairs and the archway don’t apply at the castle. This set up does exists, however, in the mindscape!
The archway and the stars aren’t perfectly connected, but the way it’s set up gives the illusion of connection, creating cohesion where there technically isn’t any. It’s not just the fact that the set up is present, though. When Nancy finally makes her way to the lair, she stands at the top of the stairs. The illusion presents itself in a way that you could imagine her having come through that archway and coming into the lair, thus aligning with the description of an idyllic world being beyond the arch.
The drawing connects directly to both the castle and the mindscape, but there’s also a connection to all three of these characters (Mike, Dracula, and Henry) in that last line. Reality changes completely based on how you observe the drawing. In a very similar manner, all three of these characters’ stories are different based on perspective. Henry’s is very blatant, as the differing perspectives are literally how his story is told. With Dracula, he comes off as creepy and obsessive for no reason until Mina’s perspective is shifted by gaining Elisabeta’s memories. As for Mike, our perspective of him is hidden entirely because if we were to look at him from a different angle we would have an entirely different story than what was shown on screen.
This take of perspective is important and a heavy indicator, once again, that Mike is going to the mindscape. It also provides the unique tie of unstable gravity, which could come into play during Mike’s time in the mindscape, seeing as gravitational pull is how they located the original gate in the first place.
ALSO, another little note, is that the rats on the metal is very reminiscent of the rats in the Iron Works building from S3. It’s possible we’ll see memories from Henry telling us that he was behind all of it, in a very direct manner that cannot be ignored. Or this is simply a cool coincidence or intentional reference on the Duffers’ part!
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After Jonathan’s exploration begins, he starts to hear the call of a woman. He follows her voice behind a curtain and it reveals a large, empty bed where he’s encouraged to lay. Once he lays there, one of Dracula’s brides appears from under the covers and begins seducing him. As this continues, the two other brides join her. This is done so they can lure him into weakness and security, which allows them to feed on him. Before they can do so, Dracula returns with a baby and stops them, claiming that Jonathan belongs to him. In exchange, he offers his brides the baby to feed on.
And we’re back with the sexual assault! I hate it here. Again, the nature of attack by vampires in this movie is done sexually as the weakness and vulnerability of the victim is necessary for the attack. It is odd that the brides are the one doing this, not in the movie but in terms of the parallels. The brides are representative of the dead victims of Henry already, and Henry’s victims don’t become like him. This scene is a bit of an odd man out, and I’m not sure if we’ll see this specific part translated into the show. If we do, it’ll most likely appear very differently than this seeing as they couldn’t utilize Henry’s victims. To go the route of distraction and vulnerability by lust, we’d most likely get a scene with Will or someone else he finds attractive. Possibly Eddie, and that would feed in the predatory nature of Henry’s attacks because of the age difference. I’m not sure if they’d be that blatant with it though, seeing at the assault rarely appears beyond allegories, and when it does become subtextual we still don’t see the most normalized version of assault. I’m sitting on the fence post with this scene.
The claim that Jonathan belongs to Dracula, by Dracula, is also kinda unfitting. I don’t really see this being translated into the show unless it’s used as a taunt towards Will and/or El, which I could see happening. It doesn’t necessarily align with the movie, but that line could make a comeback. I don’t expect the parallels to be 1:1 in S5, so if they were to brush over this I wouldn’t be too surprised.
———————————————————————
Once Dracula finally leaves for England in search of Mina (after turning Lucy), he leaves Mike with his brides who keep him weak by feeding off his blood. He hardly has the strength to escape due to this, but he creates a plan. He uses the odd gravity to his advantage and eventually makes his way to the same window Elisabeta jumped out of to kill herself. Unlike her, Jonathan survives and makes a break for a nearby covenant which takes care of him.
My absolute favorite part of all this is that this movie is very directly supporting the things I’ve been saying about how Henry will likely drain the life from Mike to heal himself and keep Mike weak!! In the mindscape, Mike will simultaneously be losing his life force as it’s drained from him. Although the brides are the ones doing this in film, it only really makes sense for this to be done by Henry in the show. I have close to zero doubts that this’ll happen.
Also!!! Comeback of plan guy Mike being an incredibly strong person. This ties into what I had been theorizing with the Overkill-DND Board theory as well — that Mike’s trance will end once he returns to the cliff. In my opinion, it’s approaching this cliff and the choice not to jump as a portal opens that will play out to show Mike’s suicidiality but that he prioritizes his friends over his own wants. Jonathan jumps to save/return to Mina, as he has learned things about Dracula which can be used against him to finally end his terror. It’s how he parallels Elisabeta, as she jumped to return to Dracula (who she was led to believe died). Mike fulfills this parallel in S1, but his return to the cliff is highly supported. It’s the act of jumping that I doubt will occur again. He’s going to return to Will with newly acquired knowledge that may help, as is his typical role in the story. The leader.
Jonathan figures out how to prevent Dracula from continuing to draw his evil power. Seems pretty much up Mike’s alley.
Jonathan’s story doesn’t end here, but this analysis does. The other aspects of Jonathan that need to be discussed will come in a later part which goes into detail about Dracula’s death.
So as I’m rereading Dracula and particularly this update (8/31) what really gets me is how the parallels and contrasts between Arthur Holmwood and Dracula as starting to become apparent. Spoilers under the bar, but:
Part of the reason why Arthur has been away from Lucy is because of his father’s own illness--- his father, Lord Godalming, who will die during the events of the novel. At Lord Godalming’s death, his title passes onto his son, Arthur, and so Arthur becomes a character who, like the other characters of Dracula, occupies a role in the various arguments of the novel, specifically power, wealth, and ethics.
Arthur’s place as a wealthy aristocrat already puts him in parallel to Dracula, but his decisions are what turns him into a true foil of the vampire; a light mirror to the problems of wealth, power, and corruption Dracula signifies. Count Dracula, the old, deathly, corrupt aristocrat who steals from civilians (not their money, maybe, but their life, their children, their blood) who lurks in the background of the second portion of the novel; Dracula, whose shadow is more often visible than himself (a bat in the air, a strange dog, Lucy’s intents night after night to reach the window, growing weaker and weaker,) except for one pivotal moment: when Mina sees him leaning over Lucy at Whitby Abbey. (And thus the plot of the second part of the novel redirects course.)
Arthur similarly is unseen, although not wreathed in shadow: little notes of Lucy’s correspondence, her missing him---just yesterday we found out he likes rowing and tennis! His reasons for absence are, of course, benign: his father’s sick and dying, and yet, the second he steps into the novel, with a letter to Seward, he similarly pivots the direction: he, without compromise, demands help for Lucy, even telling Seward to get over himself for Lucy’s sake. In one move, he does more to oppose Dracula than the other characters have been able to manage, because he ensures Lucy’s future help. Mina is able to help Lucy as long as she’s there, but she couldn’t call a doctor without alerting Mrs. Westenra; something which Arthur can do, because of his connections to Seward. In doing so, he will ultimately bring Van Helsing onto the scene, who is both able to treat Lucy, and who is the second half of the most vital duo in the novel in defeating Dracula (the first is, of course, Mina ❤--- seriously, the scene where they meet is the coolest moment.) His actions, then, taken to help Lucy, rather than hurt her, become further indicators of Arthur’s place as a foil to Dracula--- one who uses his wealth and power to help others, rather than hurt them.
tldr: Arthur and Dracula are both rich, powerful, and largely unseen, but Arthur is a force of good against Dracula’s evil, and his ability to counter Dracula is further evidence of their being foils.
"He is young and strong; there are kisses for us all."
May 16
"He is so young and strong and of blood so pure that we need not defibrinate it."
September 8
Thinking about this echo, and the way Lucy and the suitors + Van Helsing provide a kind of opposing force to Jonathan and the vampire ladies + Dracula.
In both cases, we have the young, appealing innocent who is soon to be married and has entered a new phase of their life (Jonathan/Lucy). Both have an older foreign man become very interested in them and very fond of them in their own way (Dracula/Van Helsing). Both have three 'admirers' who want to 'love' them (vampire ladies/suitor squad).
Of course, noting this is nothing new. Plenty of people (and I myself) have pointed out these and other parallels between all these individuals. But I want to go a little farther with it today.
A vampire's 'love' is one of corruption and consumption. Jonathan was held captive in Dracula's castle, and forced against his will to adopt a largely nocturnal schedule*; he had to adapt in this and many other ways to his captor's way of life. The vampires had him in their control from the start, and he had to behave in certain ways to please Dracula lest he suffer consequences of his displeasure. Dracula was extremely possessive of Jonathan, right up until he wasn't going to be around anymore, and then he was happy to throw him aside for the others to devour. Despite this 'sharing', he and the vampire women are at odds and dismissive of one another (he spends most of his time shooing them away from Jonathan, they scoff at and mock him), and whatever love may have been there in the past is clearly long gone.
Human love is one of dedication and trust. The suitors (and later Van Helsing) all come to Lucy. Both initially, in visiting her to make their proposals at her house, and then later on coming to her home when she is ill; they come to her side when she is in need, and they drop what they're doing to adapt to her. When Lucy has to turn two suitors down, she feels awful about not being able to please them all, but each of them emphasizes that they don't hold it against her at all, and they will remain devoted to her friendship. None of them are possessive of her. (Admittedly, Van Helsing does somewhat frequently work to keep Lucy's loved ones apart from her, ushering Arthur away or drugging her to sleep when he's there; but he also invites them to come and help her with their transfusions.) Arthur, the one she has chosen at the exclusion of the other suitors, is notable for being especially welcoming to the others. It is on his behest that both Jack and Quincey arrive to help Lucy in the first place, and he is extremely grateful for and welcoming of their efforts in that vein (pardon the pun):
"Young miss is bad, very bad. She wants blood, and blood she must have or die. My friend John and I have consulted; and we are about to perform what we call transfusion of blood—to transfer from full veins of one to the empty veins which pine for him. John was to give his blood, as he is the more young and strong than me"—here Arthur took my hand and wrung it hard in silence—"but, now you are here, you are more good than us, old or young, who toil much in the world of thought. Our nerves are not so calm and our blood not so bright than yours!"
And this quote brings me to the next detail I find so interesting. In order to finally escape alive, Jonathan turns many of Dracula's tricks against him. Just to name a few, he does things such as: wall-climbing, sneaking around while Dracula is asleep, stealing Dracula's belongings. There are a lot of reversals between them in the last few days, both in Jonathan's explorations and his attack on Dracula. He's 'fighting fire with fire', so to speak, and it works to get him out of the castle. Later on, we see even more of this when he is hunting Dracula down near the end of the book.
He's far from the only person to do such a thing. Dracula himself is very deliberately doing this sort of thing throughout much of the book, from imitating Jonathan in the Castle to innovating ways to work around old vampiric limitations. And Mina is of course a whole example on her own of weaponizing the enemy's own tools against him. But so is this Van Helsing + suitor squad group in a really interesting way. Even Lucy herself, though due to circumstances, she's not the most intentional/active participant in doing so. Let's look back at that quote above again. Van Helsing says that Lucy "wants blood, and blood she must have" - in order to stop her from becoming a supernatural vampire, instead they willingly perform a sort of medical vampirisim. Here we once again see the contrast between modernity and the supernatural, and interestingly, how they overlap to cross purposes.
Dracula takes Lucy's blood away. Van Helsing (by proxy at first) gives it back. Dracula wants Lucy to become a vampire, and drink the blood of those around her. Van Helsing, in giving her transfusions, enables her to drink in their blood in order to prevent her from becoming a vampire. The three vampire women wanting to gang up on Jonathan and drain him of his strength. The three suitors join together to take turns sacrificing their own strength in order to supply Lucy with more when she's in need of it.
Dracula wants her to take, just as he and the vampire women do. In fact, almost everything he does to turn her involves depriving her of things: restful sleep, blood, eventually her mother. But in her friends, Lucy is surrounded by people who love her and give freely, and this saves her (at least temporarily). They all work together and love one another in a way deeply at odds with Dracula and other vampires' form of consumptive 'love'.
And so their vampiric actions of transferring blood between bodies are life-saving instead of life-taking. Jack and Van Helsing even remember a version which is all the more a mimic of vampiric body language and leans way into the vampire-as-disease metaphor, with the reference to the time Jack sucked "from [Van Helsing's] wound so swiftly the poison of the gangrene" - it's got the mouth on skin, the sucking, but it's taking away illness rather than infecting someone. It also fosters a long-standing dedication and love, which in turn lends itself to the saving of someone else. This too ties in to the way vampiric love isolates, while human love connects.
* Lucy, meanwhile, in fighting against her terrible dreams, often attempts to be awake at night and is unable to do so. A more nocturnal schedule would make her safer, since her sleeping state is where Dracula has the most influence over her.
The Count's warning came into my mind, but I took a pleasure in disobeying it. The sense of sleep was upon me, and with it the obstinacy which sleep brings as outrider. The soft moonlight soothed, and the wide expanse without gave a sense of freedom which refreshed me. I determined not to return to-night to the gloom-haunted rooms, but to sleep here, where, of old, ladies had sat and sung and lived sweet lives whilst their gentle breasts were sad for their menfolk away in the midst of remorseless wars.
Jonathan's stubborn defiance of Dracula's edict here is followed very shortly afterwards by another passage aligning him with peaceful, loving, lonely ladies of old.
And then who should come upon him but vicious, 'loving', companionable ladies of old, intent on defying Dracula themselves? Women whose laughter is like music.
In the moonlight opposite me were three young women, ladies by their dress and manner. [...] They whispered together, and then they all three laughed—such a silvery, musical laugh, but as hard as though the sound never could have come through the softness of human lips. It was like the intolerable, tingling sweetness of water-glasses when played on by a cunning hand. The fair girl shook her head coquettishly, and the other two urged her on. One said:—
"Go on! You are first, and we shall follow; yours is the right to begin." The other added:—
"He is young and strong; there are kisses for us all."
Throughout this entire encounter, in fact, Jonathan and the ladies are aligned. Jonathan lays still, frozen in a state of hypnotic anticipation - and the vampire who is to bite him first is very deliberately slow in her approach. She pauses multiple times to savor both the experience of being able to defy Dracula by biting his guest (as Jonathan took pleasure in sleeping where he was told not to), and to linger in her own anticipation of the bite.
The girl went on her knees, and bent over me, simply gloating. There was a deliberate voluptuousness which was both thrilling and repulsive, and as she arched her neck she actually licked her lips like an animal, till I could see in the moonlight the moisture shining on the scarlet lips and on the red tongue as it lapped the white sharp teeth. Lower and lower went her head as the lips went below the range of my mouth and chin and seemed about to fasten on my throat. Then she paused, and I could hear the churning sound of her tongue as it licked her teeth and lips, and could feel the hot breath on my neck. Then the skin of my throat began to tingle as one's flesh does when the hand that is to tickle it approaches nearer—nearer. I could feel the soft, shivering touch of the lips on the super-sensitive skin of my throat, and the hard dents of two sharp teeth, just touching and pausing there. I closed my eyes in a languorous ecstasy and waited—waited with beating heart.
When Dracula arrives, Jonathan's attention is focused on how his hand grabs her neck. It's the culmination of the snatch at his own neck that the crucifix warded off before. It's all the violence he feared being unleashed upon himself:
When the Count saw my face, his eyes blazed with a sort of demoniac fury, and he suddenly made a grab at my throat. I drew away, and his hand touched the string of beads which held the crucifix. [May 8]
As my eyes opened involuntarily I saw his strong hand grasp the slender neck of the fair woman and with giant's power draw it back, the blue eyes transformed with fury, the white teeth champing with rage, and the fair cheeks blazing red with passion. But the Count! Never did I imagine such wrath and fury, even to the demons of the pit. His eyes were positively blazing. The red light in them was lurid, as if the flames of hell-fire blazed behind them. His face was deathly pale, and the lines of it were hard like drawn wires; the thick eyebrows that met over the nose now seemed like a heaving bar of white-hot metal. With a fierce sweep of his arm, he hurled the woman from him, and then motioned to the others, as though he were beating them back; it was the same imperious gesture that I had seen used to the wolves. [May 16]
Dracula himself cements the connection between Jonathan and these women. He's already shown his dominance over the women and asserted his possession of Jonathan. Then he stares at Jonathan just before he speaks of his past with them. He even uses the same language he weaponized against Jonathan the other day, the 'is it not so?'
Then the Count turned, after looking at my face attentively, and said in a soft whisper:—
"Yes, I too can love; you yourselves can tell it from the past. Is it not so? Well, now I promise you that when I am done with him you shall kiss him at your will."
So much about this scene tells us these women are Jonathan's future. Not just that they will be in his future, that he will be given to them when Dracula is done with him. No, first he spends all that time imagining himself in their place as they would have been in the past. And then all of these connections creep up to suggest he will be in their place in the future as well. Dracula 'loved' them once, just as he 'loves' Jonathan now. Dracula will be done with him eventually, just as he was done with these women.
And then Jonathan will be given to them, cast aside with the rest of them, left behind to laugh together like a terrible sweet song, as the man who 'loved' them all is away waging his remorseless war on England.
But there are things that you know not, but that you shall know, and bless me for knowing, though they are not pleasant things. [...] Believe me yet a little, friend John. If you trust me not, then I must tell what I think; and that is not perhaps well. [...] Let us not be two, but one, that so we work to a good end. Will you not have faith in me?"
I took his hand, and promised him.
In his conversation with Jack, Van Helsing once again doesn't tell him anything. But this time, he's clear that he will - either in the future, should Jack be willing to trust him now and wait; or right now, if Jack refuses to agree. Van Helsing would prefer not to tell it now, as he fears it would make Jack no longer willing to help him. But he says that he will, if necessary. And then Jack agrees to continue trusting him and work together without knowing why.
In its own way, this conversation is like the Van Helsing + Jack version of Jonathan and Mina's on their wedding day. One person possesses a secret (Jonathan/VH), and says they don't want the other to know it. But they offer it up regardless, after making their reluctance known. And the second person (Mina/Jack) decides to remain ignorant for now out of respect for their wishes. In both cases it is a great show of trust on both parts.
Obviously various particular details are off. The biggest one being the way Jonathan wants Mina to join him in ignorance, and Van Helsing wants to be the only one who knows. But Van Helsing is clearly expecting Jack to find out if he agrees to help. I imagine he's anticipating some kind of reaction from vampire!Lucy when they behead her that makes it clear what she is, providing immediate proof so there's no time to doubt him. That will eventually put them on the same footing. Also, it brings in the doubt of their sanity - Jonathan doubts his own, whereas Van Helsing realizes Jack is a skeptic and may doubt his mind unless given proof.
Today's entry is full of Lucy/Jonathan parallels. It's so many throughout... I can't possibly quote every single one, but here are a few big things.
I write this and leave it to be seen, so that no one may by any chance get into trouble through me. This is an exact record of what took place to-night. I feel I am dying of weakness, and have barely strength to write, but it must be done if I die in the doing.
vs
If this book should ever reach Mina before I do, let it bring my good-bye. (5 May)
+
These may be the last words I ever write in this diary. I slept till just before the dawn, and when I woke threw myself on my knees, for I determined that if Death came he should find me ready. (30 July)
Lucy is writing with the specific intent of keeping anyone else from getting into trouble through her - in other words, so none of the maids or her doctors or whoever will be blamed for her murder if she dies before the night is through. The first quote from Jonathan is not really a direct match to this sentiment, of course. But while I couldn't remember a perfect quote to compare, we see hints throughout his journal that Jonathan is writing in the hopes that someone else might someday see it. Perhaps Mina, perhaps some other guest to the castle... he hopes that the explanation of what happened to him, and detailing of what Dracula is, will prove useful. Perhaps it will help someone else protect themself - just like Lucy hopes here. (This is of course not his only reason for writing. Another major reason why is how it helps to keep him sane and helps him plan escapes. Still, it is one of his reasons.) And certainly, the sentiment that the record is important to keep even at risk to oneself, is a shared link between them. Both of them also show a determination to face their death directly.
This line is also an echo of the various times Jonathan (and, more recently, Jack) experienced something seemingly impossibly horrific, and made a big point that they were writing things down exactly as they happened.
The time did not seem long, but very, very awful, till I recovered consciousness again. Somewhere near, a passing bell was tolling; the dogs all round the neighbourhood were howling; and in our shrubbery, seemingly just outside, a nightingale was singing.
vs
Something made me start up, a low, piteous howling of dogs somewhere far below in the valley, which was hidden from my sight. Louder it seemed to ring in my ears, and the floating motes of dust to take new shapes to the sound as they danced in the moonlight. I felt myself struggling to awake to some call of my instincts; nay, my very soul was struggling, and my half-remembered sensibilities were striving to answer the call. I was becoming hypnotised! (24 June)
Lucy awakens after the first attack of the night to the sound of dogs howling (amongst other things). Jonathan too has been saved from a trance by this noise, though in his case it was a close call. Dracula certainly seems to have successfully hypnotized her and most likely did drink from her between his arrival in the room (the dust swirling in) and the maids'.
What am I to do? what am I to do? I am back in the room with mother. I cannot leave her, and I am alone, save for the sleeping servants, whom some one has drugged. Alone with the dead! I dare not go out, for I can hear the low howl of the wolf through the broken window.
vs
I fear I am myself the only living soul within the place. (8 May)
+
What shall I do? what can I do? How can I escape from this dreadful thing of night and gloom and fear? (24 June)
+
Suddenly it struck me that this might be the moment and means of my doom; I was to be given to the wolves, and at my own instigation. There was a diabolical wickedness in the idea great enough for the Count, and as a last chance I cried out:—
"Shut the door; I shall wait till morning!" and covered my face with my hands to hide my tears of bitter disappointment. (29 June)
These are only a few of the lines that Lucy's quote reminds me of. This is the big one, there's so much to connect in it.
Like Jonathan, Lucy is alone with the dead. Dracula has sabotaged her only chance of reaching out to other people for aid (drugged maids = workers in the yard, people who saw Dracula dressed as Jonathan). She also feels duty-bound to stay by her mother's side, in a way which reminds me of Jonathan's feeling of obligation towards Mr. Hawkins (all the more as Mina's letter today emphasizes how familial their relationship has become). Like Jonathan, Lucy cannot see any options to escape from the living nightmare she is experiencing.
Like Jonathan, Lucy cannot leave because if she does, she fears a wolf will get her. (Much like Jonathan, she is earlier in her memorandum able to distinguish a wolf howl from a dog's, despite never hearing one before.) Even though she does not really expect to live through the night, she cannot make the choice to go out and face almost certain death. She's even recently seen the wolf kill a mother, to really drive the comparison with Jonathan's experiences home. (A contrast between the two is, of course, the mother he saw die was trying to rescue/avenge her dead child, but was too late. Mrs. Westenra seeks comfort from her daughter tonight, and as she dies unwittingly steals away Lucy's protection (garlic), thus holding true to her role of accidentally endangering her further.)
The air seems full of specks, floating and circling in the draught from the window, and the lights burn blue and dim. What am I to do? God shield me from harm this night! I shall hide this paper in my breast, where they shall find it when they come to lay me out. My dear mother gone! It is time that I go too. Good-bye, dear Arthur, if I should not survive this night. God keep you, dear, and God help me!
vs
Then I began to notice that there were some quaint little specks floating in the rays of the moonlight. They were like the tiniest grains of dust, and they whirled round and gathered in clusters in a nebulous sort of way. (24 June)
+
God help me in my task! Good-bye, Mina, if I fail; good-bye, my faithful friend and second father; good-bye, all, and last of all Mina! (25 June)
(I've run out of new colors and am recycling. These aren't meant to match to the above instances of these colors.)
Like Jonathan described his experience being hypnotized by the vampire ladies, Lucy too sees Dracula's form as circling specks (twice, in fact, the other quote being above). The lights going blue and dim are also reminiscent of the various times Jonathan describes moonlight at the Castle. I especially think of just before he meets the vampire women, when he muses about the powers that modernity cannot defeat, and his modern lighting is contrasted to the moonlit room. Here, Lucy's modern lighting is going out as the supernatural invades her bedroom.
Lucy bids her final farewells to her mother and her fiance. In the quote I gave, Jonathan does the same for his father figure and his fiancee. Both of them invoke God for help. Both of them end their entries with this thinking of the one they love most. Jonathan of course does this multiple times, but I'm only quoting this one instance as it feels like the closest match overall.
And once again, we also see multiple comparisons beyond what I directly quoted. Lucy reiterates her expectation of death as in the quote at the top, and even chooses to hide her memorandum in her clothes, much as Jonathan hid his diary on his person at all times. (The difference being, he wanted to hide it from Dracula; she wants to ensure hers is seen by someone.)
