As the novel progresses, Harker finally understands that he is dealing with something out of the ordinary. And as he is imprisoned in the Count’s castle, he is not only afraid for his own life, but knowing what the satanic vampire’s plans are and what he is capable of, he fears for the life of Mina, his wife. Harker sees with his very own eyes the demonic soul that burns through the eyes of Dracula. He knows very well of his power and his abilities to manipulate and overcome. With the knowledge that the Count is on his way to England, the very same place where his wife resides, and with the subtle hint that the he has some form of interest towards Mina, he fear for Dracula begins to grow. In this way, Dracula represents something that keeps him from happiness and an individual that is rid of his rights. This very fear is what then transforms Harker from a young, naïve and timid Westerner to a fearless human being who will fight at any cause to rid his own life and the life of others of the evil that constitutes Dracula.
Mina Murray, the wife of Harker, is a model Victorian woman. She embodies the traits that every woman was ideally supposed to have in that era: virtuosity, intelligence and morality. In a deeper sense, Stoker portrayed her as a symbol of purity: she is “one of God’s women” (188). She lacks the voluptuous qualities of her childhood friend Lucy and even though she is married in the novel, her sexuality is all throughout enigmatic. For the sake of her not becoming “unclean”, she is left behind to do secretarial work while the rest of the characters go on a hunt for Dracula. It would be quite easy to say that she fears the Count simply for the lives of those who are close to her and are putting themselves against the peril of his evil. However, as we read the book, we know Dracula is after Mina, and Mina doesn’t quite know this but considering the possibility, there is a lingering fear in her for becoming “soiled” or rid of her purity as was Lucy. Dracula poses a threat to her as he is someone different to her beliefs, and more so, the entire beliefs of Victorian society. He represents a challenge to the sexual repression that existed in that era. However, she is also shown as someone strong and unwilling to give in. For this reason, even though she is violated by the Count and left impure, with her ultimate triumph against Dracula; her purity remains as clean as her forehead unlike Lucy who had been subdued by sexual urges.
The three suitors of the story, Arthur, Quincy, and Dr. Seward are characters who are put into a difficult situation in the story which allows them to transform their fear for Dracula into revenge. In beginning of the novel, Stoker presents them merely as men who find Lucy as an object of desire: that is their purpose. However, after Lucy dies, and they are left with nothing but their sheer existence, they choose to revolt against the cause of their misfortune: that is, Count Dracula. And as it is revealed that after Lucy’s death, she is transformed into a vampire, Doctor Van Helsing pleads Arthur, the fiancé of Lucy to kill her and wretchedly, he agrees to this. For someone to see their loved one turned into something they cant even come to comprehend, something monstrous, something that is completely different then who they were before would be unbearable for any human being. To be asked to kill the very person you love for a good cause and having to agree to it would create unimaginable torture. This is the situation that was posed to the three suitors. Each of them had some form of feelings for Lucy, and then had to see her decay into something so ghastly that she needed to be avenged. Even though the three of them know what Dracula is capable of, they can be seen as characters that are fearless and will actually fight against him out of revenge.
Renfield is a mental patient under observation by Dr. Seward, one the three suitors. Described as, “zoophagous”, by the doctor, he is someone who is disturbed and “possibly dangerous”. He is a character who the reader comes to understand is someone that initially looks up to Dracula in a religious way until the novel further evolves, and even with his lunatic mind, he understands the horrors that the Count intends to create. But all through out the novel, it can be observed that Renfield sees Dracula as someone almighty, almost like a god. And in the beginning, he preys for him and worships him and considers him his lord – his master. Dracula represents a godly figure to him, and for this reason Renfield fears him and surrenders to his powers and knows otherwise he will be doomed to a terrible death and perhaps a hellish afterlife.
On the other hand, Van Helsing is a character who doesn’t have a personal fear for Dracula, but is rather someone who is willing to find the means to get rid of him. Interestingly enough, he may be compared to Bram Stoker himself, or at least his ideals. The author conveys that to understand and accept something as evil and demonic as Dracula, it takes someone open-minded and willing to apply not only science, but something beyond – in this case, superstition and religion. Only then will someone gain the ability to begin to get a grip of the unexplainable. He is described by Doctor Seward as, “a philosopher and a metaphysician, and one of the most advanced scientists of his day and he has, I believe and absolutely open mind” (114). Helsing is a character that sees Dracula as an invader of the status-quo: someone who can and will further corrupt England and its people. This is the only true fear he could have over the Count. It could also be agreed that obviously even a man like Van Helsing would dread the presence of Dracula, but he is someone who understands what he is capable of and how to keep him from doing just that. With his encyclopedic knowledge on how to ward off creatures as such, he is able to at least keep a calm piece of mind as he knows what’s needed to be done to rid the world of the Count’s evil.
The fact that Dracula is the opposite of everything the characters in the novel stand for is what makes him a challenge to their lives. He is something more and something hard to comprehend, which makes him all the more unusual from your every day villain. He addresses the fear of an otherness and things we cannot understand. He can be seen as your worst nightmare, something perverse and against your beliefs, an invader, or even the devil himself. All in all he is an object of fear. To the three suitors he was something who continued to make their lives miserable and left them with no choice to finally overcome their fear and fight till his death. In metaphorical application, Dracula can not only be seen as a protean figure that evinces feelings of dread, but rather significant and challenging situations that we come across in our lives. The story is an examination of what certain types of people do when put in these situations. Dracula is a creature of undying sinister malevolence, and to each of the characters in the novel he represents something different: a moment in their lives that involves them sinking or swimming – overcoming or being overcome.
