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Summary Comprehensive Dracula chapter summaries with key quotes and final quote bank

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Comprehensive and detailed chapter summaries made by an A* student with key quotes and a final quote bank.

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  • June 26, 2022
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  • 2021/2022
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Chapter One

The chapter charts Jonathan Harker’s journey from Vienna to Transylvannia from a first person narration. It
conveys Jonathan’s aristocracy, as he curiously eyes the natives and grapples to cope with the new cuisine.
Told in the epistolary form, using diary entries. At Bistritz Golden Krone Hoel, Jonathan receives a note from
Count Dracula saying his carriage will take him from Borgo pass onwards to his castle. Wolves howl. The driver
is a sinister servant. Midnight is personified and the environment is brought to life.

Q. What do we learn about Jonathan Harker through his diary entries?

Q. What gothic elements are present in this opening chapter?

Quote Exemplification.
‘The impression I had was that we were leaving the Jonathan’s ingénue status is reinforced by his naïve
West and entering the East.’ Pg 7 impressionable comments on a new terrain, cooking
and his wonder at the natives. He seems to have
lived a sheltered life.
‘It seem to me the further East you go the more Jonathan shows some colonial superiority in his
unpunctual are the trains. What ought they to be in wonder at civic service inefficiency.
China?’ pg8
‘Some of them were just like the peasants at home… Jonathan has a haughty mein when contemplating
the strangest figures we saw were Slovaks…The the natives. He is perplexed by the diversity of the
women looked pretty, except when you got near populace, judgemental about the women and
them.’ Pg 9 definite in his expression which might argue a
Londoner’s arrogance.
‘It is the eve of St George’s Day. Do you not know The receptionist at the hotel Jonathan stays at sets
that tonight, when the clock strikes midnight all the up a foreboding tone of supernatural, fatalistic
evil things in the world will have full sway?’… doom, that Jonathan too readily dismisses. Is this
implored me not to go.’ Pg 11 naivety or arrogance on his part?
‘The crowd round the inn door…all made the sign of The community seems steeped in witchcraft and
the cross and pointed two fingers towards me.’ Pg superstition and build tension in this gothic novel.
12
‘Before us lay a green sloping land full of forests and The environment is personified to be obscure and
woods…which here and there ran down the hillside personified. It crowds in on the ingénue trapping
like tongues of flames.’ Pg 13 him with sensual, religious and hedonistic imagery.
‘One of my companions touched my arm...’Look! Despite the supernatural prevalence, there is
God’s Seat’…and he crossed himself reverently… evidence of a religious faith connected to the
several passengers offered me gifts, each was given environment. They seek protection from a religious
with…a blessing.’ Pg 14/5 source.
‘They were driven by a tall man, with a long brown The driver hides his face and is uncommunicative to
beard…with very red lips and sharp-looking teeth.’ Jonathan. In hindsight, we will come to know this is
Pg 16 a description of Dracula. His red lips suggest
sensuality and sharp teeth connote danger.
‘Then a dog began to howl somewhere…frowning The chapter builds to a climactic end, in which the
rocks guarded us boldly…see its ghostly figure all the nature and animals becomes more menacing and
same…a ring of wolves.’ Pg 18-19 ghostly apparitions appear.
‘The wolves began to howl as if the moonlight has The mysterious figure is likely in hindsight, to be
some peculiar effect on them…How he came there I Dracula also who seems a charismatic figure, who
know not…he swept his long arms, as though can control the animals hypnotically.
brushing aside some impalpable obstacle, the
wolves fell back.’ Pg20

, Chapter Two

Harker arrives late at the castle buoyed by the news that he has been successful in passing his training as a solicitor. He
eventually meets the owner of the castle; Count Dracula, who is described in intimate detail and who comes across as
sophisticated and charismatic. Jonathan has dinner with the Count (though only Jonathan eats) and is awed by the
opulence of the castle surroundings. He is led to a bedroom and allowed a few hours’ sleep. In the morning, he is
interrupted by the count whilst shaving and knicks his throat. The Count’s appearance changes drastically and he erratically
lunges at Jonathan and throws the smashed mirror out of the window. Following the Count’s hasty departure, Jonathan
realizes that all doors are locked and he is a prisoner.

Quote Exemplification.
Then there was the sound of rattling chains and clanking The castle is antiquarian and personified. It is both
of massive bolts being drawn back…’ pg22 imposing and austere, aching with neglect and decline,
but also has remnants of formidable opulence and wealth.


‘Within, stood a tall old man, clean shaven save for a long The Count is surprising for his age and sophistication and
white moustache and clad in black from head to foot… his adoption of English courtly gestures in such a wild and
saying in excellent English… ‘Welcome to my house! Enter untamed land. He hides his villainy in an aristocratic
freely and of your own will!’ Pg22 exterior; the sinister aristocrat.
“I pray you be seated and sup how you please…excuse me There are sinister moments of foreboding and despite the
that I do not join you; but I have dined already.’ Pg 24 high register of phatic language and manners, the count is
portrayed as ominous and sinister.
‘His face was a strong aquiline…with bridge of thin nose… The description of appearance is very detailed and
peculiarly arched nostrils, with lofty domed forehead and perhaps purposely blends the charismatic and the
hair growing scantily around the temples…eyebrows were animalistic. The detail would resonate with an audience
very massive…sharp white teeth protruding over the lips.’ alive to Darwin’s ‘Origins of the species’ and Victorian
Pg24 notions of Eugenics, which relates physiognomy and
intelligence.
‘The nails were long and fine and cut to a sharp point…a The Count has touches of the predator about him and
horrible feeling of nausea came over me.’ Pg 25 Jonathan begins to realise that he might be the prey.
‘The table service is of gold and so beautifully wrought The setting pays homage to Count Dracula’s aristocratic
that it must be of immense value. The curtains and lineage and evident wealth. It is an incongruous setting for
upholstery…are of the costliest and most beautiful evil. Typical gothic conflation of wealth and villainy.
fabrics.’ Pg26
“ Here I am noble…and I am master…you shall I trust, rest The polite invitation is in fact a coded announcement of
here with me awhile, so that by our talking I learn the Harker’s entrapment. Harker becomes the ingénue and
English intonation.” Pg27 there is an air of homoeroticism.
‘The wind breathes cold through the broken battlements… The Count is proud of his castle’s majesty and laments its
They say that people who are near death die generally at ruination too. He speaks of a liminal change which might
the change to the dawn or the turn of the tide.’ Pg31 prove the harbinger of his change from animal to man. He
has an air of Jekyll and Hyde about his split persona.
‘I started, for it amazed me that I had not seen him…I had The motif of blood is used to represent both innocence
cut myself slightly…his eyes blazes with a sort of demonic and evil and is a trigger for the Count’s metamorphosis
fury and he suddenly made a grab at my throat.’ Pg33 from noble to animal.
‘He flung out the glass which was shattered into a The isolated setting of the castle escalates the ingénue’s
thousand pieces…The castle is on the very edge of a entrapment
terrible precipice…The castle is a veritable prison and I am
a prisoner.’ Pg33


Q, How is Count Dracula presented (Be discursive)

Q. How is the setting presented with a duality too?

Q. How does class present itself as important in this chapter?

Q. How is there a conflict between London Colonial attitudes and their view of the East?

, Chapter Three

Harker realizes he is a prisoner in the castle. He talks with the count about Dracula’s name and rise to prominence in
Transylvanian history. Before Count Dracula goes out he warns Harker to only write in his correspondence back to his
workplace of business matters. He also warns him to only sleep in his own bed, that he will only be safe there at night.
Harker disobeys this, explores the castle until he falls asleep. He is awoken by a sexual assault by three ladies of the night.

Quote Exemplification.
‘When I found out I was a prisoner a sort of wild feeling Imprisonment and isolation are core gothic tropes. Harker
came over me. I rushed up and down trying every door… has a panicked feminine reaction and exhausts his
helpless I sat down…I went cautiously to my own room emotional response. The Count however, is very calm as a
and found him making the bed.’ Pg34 captor and retains a façade of civilisation.



‘We Szekelys have a right to be proud, for in our veins The Count is well versed on the racial and cultural history
flows the blood of many brave races…who was it but one of Transylvania, ‘a whirlpool of European races’ and
of my own race who beat the Turk on his own ground… territory wars, amongst which his family stands proud as a
was it not this Dracula indeed!’ Pg 36 native vanquisher of invaders.
‘Your friend and mine…buys for me through your good self The count is pre-mediated and organised in his designs on
my place in London…you will not discourse of things other travelling to London and making his name there. He is
than business in your letter.’ Pg39 calmly detached and ordered in his instructions as a
captor.
‘In the soft light the distant hills became melted and the The description of the countryside has an element of the
shadows in the valleys and the gorges of velvety sublime, which is medicinal and incongruous to the dark
blackness. The mere beauty seemed to cheer me.’ Pg 41 journey that Jonathan undertook.
‘Once more I have seen the Count go out in his lizard The count is described with reptilian features and a
fashion. He moved downwards in a sidelong way…He supernatural ability to appear and disappear. This has
vanished into some hole or window,’ Pg42 features of the uncanny.
‘I was not alone…in the moonlight opposite me there The moonlight setting for Jonathan’s encounter adds a
were young women…two were dark and had high aquiline sense of the liminal. The vampiresses are described with
noses…great piercing eyes…the other was fair with great animalistic features, but alluring sexuality.
masses of golden hair....’ Pg44
‘All three had brilliant white teeth that shone like pearls Harker is entranced and mesmerised by their siren beauty
against the ruby of their voluptuous lips…I felt in my heart and struggles to resist his own awareness of the sin of
a wicked burning desire that they would kiss me with temptation.
those red lips.’ Pg45
“He is young and strong there are kisses for us all”…The The seduction of Harker is told in explicit detail that would
fair girl went on her knees…she arched her neck, she have shocked a Victorian audience’s sense of sobriety. It
actually licked her lips like an animal…I closed my eyes in a stands comparison with Carter’s sexuality and description
languorous ecstasy and waited’ Pg45-46 of longing.
‘I was conscious of the presence of the Count…I saw his The count establishes his supernatural strength and
strong hand grasp the slender neck of the fair woman… control of his harem. He is violent and indignant and
Never did I imagine such wrath and fury…”How dare you claims ownership of Jonathan himself.
touch him any of you” Pg 46
“Are we to have nothing tonight?”…she pointed to a bag The feeding of the vampiresses is pack-like and base. The
which had been thrown upon the floor and which moved Count feeds them to illustrate he is the sire of the group.
as though there were some living thing within it…the Harker’s faint is another example of his effeminacy.
women closed round…Then the horror overcame me and I
sank down unconscious. Pg46/7


Q, How is Count Dracula’s nobility important to his perception?

Q. How are the vampiresses presented?

Q. What does Jonathan’s behaviour illustrate about him?

Q. How is there a conflict between sensuality and respectability?

, Chapter Four

Dracula asks Jonathan to write three letters home advising of his return and Jonathan feels an abject prisoner at Dracula’s whim. He hears
a woman crying at the castle gate for the return of her daughter. The Count advises Harker, that a carriage will come to him on the date he
advised him to put on his third letter to take him home to London. Harker wanders and explores Dracula’s room and discovers steps to the
cellar and finds the Count asleep in a coffin. He attempts to kill him with a shovel, but only manages a head wound, before the Count’s
waking distracts him entirely. Harker plans to steal some gold and try and escape by scaling the palace walls.

Quote Exemplification.
‘My clothes were folded and laid by in a manner which was not The Count is not all animalistic and impulsive in his ensnaring of
my habit…Last night the Count asked my in the sauvest tones to Jonathan. He is pre-meditated and methodical in obtaining what
write three letters…one saying my work here was done…one start he wants. Harker is valuable to him as a gateway to London; a
home in a few days…one that I had arrived at Bistriz…I saw in his calling card and he can overrule his bestial impulses to feed to
eyes something of that gathering wrath’ Pg48/9 obtain this higher calling.

‘I slept without dreaming. Despair has its own calms…my door Harker’s diaries increase in intensity and then plateau in
was fastened on the outside.’ Pg 51 resignation. Oscillating emotions of fear.
‘It was a shock to me to find that he had on the suit of clothes Further evidence of Dracula’s presence of mind and intelligent
which I had worn whilst travelling here…This, then, is his new cunning. He is not willing to be perceived as a kidnapping
scheme of evil, that he will allow others to see me.’ Pg 52 monster. He maintains the façade and status that he cherishes so.
‘There was a woman with dishevelled hair, holding her hands The demonstrative and wild display of despair from the bereaved
over her heart as one distressed with running… “Monster, give mother is chilling and ominous. It is portentous and suggests that
me my child!” Pg53 Dracula has imprisoned and killed many. Does this play on the
fear of Jack the Ripper serial disappearances and targeting of
women?
‘The room was empty. It was barely furnished with odd things… Dracula’s room is sparse and lacks humanity. The antiquarian
gold of all kinds…a stone passage to a circular stairway.’ Pg 57 nature of it makes it resolutely gothic and the subterranean
passage is a common feature of gothic settings.
‘There, in one of the great boxes, of which there were fifty…lay The Count seems to be a state of hibernation and represents the
the Count…He was either dead or asleep…but there was no sign undead or the uncanny. He defies contemporary knowledge of
of movement, no pulse, no breath, no beating of the heart.’ Pg 56 what is physically life. Galvani and Priestley were but two of many
medical practitioners trying to explain and map the working of
the body in Victorian times.
‘I wish I had a gun or some lethal weapon that I might destroy Harker is tempted to end his imprisonment with the murder of
him.’ Pg 56 the count, but fails to do so and returns to his entrapment. He
becomes quite passive and contra to hegemonic expectations of
gender here.
“There was a low sweet ripple of laughter and in a rage I threw The female vampires are lionesses that patrol and contain their
open the door and saw without the three terrible women licking prey. Jonathan is the ingénue and appalled by his predicament.
their lips…These may be the last words I ever write.’ Pg 58
‘There lay the Count, but looking as if his youth had been half The Count’s feeding and slumber acts as the elixir to life.
renewed…the mouth was redder than ever, for on the lips were Religiously, the cup that caught Christ’s blood at the crucifixion is
gouts of fresh blood.’ Pg 59 considered the holy grail; the cup of life and the Count here is
depicted as using blood of innocents as an elixir of life.
‘A terrible desire came upon me to rid the world of such a At a second impulse, Jonathan manages to stroke at Dracula, but
monster…I seized a shovel…and lifting it high struck, with edge is rendered ineffective in shock and abject terror. He is almost
downward, at the hateful face…eyes fell upon me with all their mesmerized by a siren’s stare.
blaze of basilisk horror. The sight seemed to paralyse me.’ Pg 60
‘I was a gain a prisoner and the net of doom was closing around Jonathan is driven to desperate plans of escape that his own
me more closely…They (vampiresses) are devils of the pit. I shall calculations deem highly risky, yet he would rather fail in virtue
not remain alone with them; I shall try to scale the castle wall.’ than fall to sin.
Pg61


Q, How is Count Dracula represented as ‘the other’ or the undead?

Q. How is Jonathan atypical in his gender presentation?

Q. How is the theme of transformation evident in this chapter?

Q. How is the subterranean setting of the castle essential in showing an alternative side of Dracula?

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