The next day, he goes by a horse-coach where he is taken further east and then he eventually meets another coach, which will take him to his final destination, Dracula's castle. The further he travels from home, the stranger his trip becomes. It is also suspicious that he did not sleep well:
“I had all sorts of queer dreams. There was a dog howling all night under my window.” This may be because he is getting closer to Dracula.
When he had stayed at the hotel in Klausenburgh, a elderly hostess says: “It is the eve of St. George's Day. Do you not know that tonight, when the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things in the world will have full sway? Do you know where you
are going, and what you are going to?” Why did she say this? Was it related to Dracula? Jonathan did not know the answers at this present time. Although she urged him to stay, he thought it was ridiculous and carried on with his journey but he took the crucifix she gave him. Once Jonathan had got onto the first coach, there was something odd going on, all the locals were scared about some kind of evil, people tried to convince him not to go but the carriage driver interrupts and carries him on into the night. The carriage driver seemed rather strange, it was like he is almost always in shadow; the most they could see is “a hard-looking mouth, with very red lips and sharp-looking teeth, as white as ivory.” He is extremely strong and has a way with animals. This is seen in his ability to calm the nervous horses. It is seen more clearly when, after leaving the carriage for a moment, he was able to walk easily through a pack of angry wolves surrounding the carriage. Jonathan soon notices that the driver has been circling around, apparently waiting until midnight to reach the castle. He also notices that the strange blue flame that they keep passing can somehow be seen through the driver's body, if only momentarily. These odd happenings combine to create a state of fear in Jonathan as he approaches:
“The vast ruined castle, from whose tall black windows came no ray of light, and whose broken battlements showed a jagged line against the sky.” This is the closing line of the first chapter, it shows Jonathan’s concern to what he has got himself into but the excitement of meeting Count Dracula.
Chapter 2 is simply the continuation of Jonathan’s journal. It is 5th May, Jonathan writes that he was standing in the courtyard of a huge castle in the middle of the night. The carriage driver leaves him with his baggage in front of a large wooden door, and then he disappears into the darkness. As he stands, afraid, Jonathan reveals his business in Transylvania by a question:
“Was this a customary incident in the life of a solicitor's clerk sent out to explain the purchase of a London estate to a foreigner?” Jonathan is regretting the choice of going to meet Count, he is sure this is not routine for any solicitor. He continues, pointing out that he has just passed the law examination and is now a solicitor himself. After a long and frightening wait, the door opens. Dracula was just standing there. He has a long white moustache and is dressed entirely in black. He is friendly and welcoming, he says: “Welcome to my house, Enter freely and of your own free will!” Though not daring to cross the threshold himself, he takes Jonathan in and escorts him through a series of rooms that have fires burning in the fireplaces and are laid out with food and anything Jonathan might need. Dracula stays with Jonathan as he eats, but explains that he himself has already eaten and will not be joining in the meal. After he has eaten Jonathan sits with Dracula and finds him pleasant but disturbing. Dracula is odd looking he has a pale face with red lips, long canine teeth, pointy ears, massive eyebrows and long sharpened nails.
“As the Count leaned over me and his hands touched me, I could not repress a shudder. It may have been that his breath was rank, but a horrible feeling of nausea came over me, which, do what I would, I could not conceal.” Already Jonathan is seeing a horrid side to Dracula which is very eerie. Jonathan already starts praying to God saying “God keep me, if only for the sake of those dear to me.” He is petrified and making us think of the position he is in.
Dracula explains that he will be out until the afternoon on the next day. After having breakfast alone, Jonathan goes into one the unlocked rooms, which is a library. He reads Dracula’s English books, which Dracula has to fit into England. Dracula returns and finds him there and they start talking about how London is and he finds out the blue flames he saw the night before were markers of buried treasure, visible only on the eve of St. George’s Day. The treasures could not be reached by the peasant as they feared the evil night.
The next day a very strange event took place. While Jonathan was shaving, Dracula appears behind him, without having a reflection in the mirror, Jonathan then caught in shock, cuts himself. He says in his journal:
“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. It made an instant change in him, for the fury passed so quickly that I could hardly believe that it was ever there.”
Dracula then says:
“Take care how you cut yourself. It is more dangerous that you think in this country.” He then throws the mirror out the window.
Jonathan again had breakfast alone, it was peculiar that he Dracula had never yet eaten or drank with him. After breakfast he began exploring the place, the tension is starting to get to him now, he has no clue what to do:
“Doors, doors, doors everywhere, and all locked and bolted. In no place save from the windows in the castle walls is there an available exit. The castle is a veritable prison, and I am a prisoner.” Jonathan thinks of himself as a prisoner who is now the possession of Dracula, he has nowhere to go or nowhere to hide!
The next interesting convention is the second part of Dr. Seward’s diary (Chapter 15.) This diary entry starts with Seward being angry at Van Helsing for such an idea of finding the latest victim and then staying the night in Lucy’s tomb but then he apologises. They see marks on the victim’s neck similar to Lucy’s. Then, when the sun sets, they enter Lucy’s tomb. It was horrendous, that once the lid of coffin had been removed there was an empty bed! This would have scared any audience, as a dead body has been roaming around and could have killed anyone, but a reader of the 19th century would have been even more frightened as this sort of thing had not been heard of. Both Van Helsing and Seward watch on opposite sides of the churchyard, after two cold hours they see a white streak and they run towards it, they find a baby which is unharmed.
The next day, they return to the coffin but this time Lucy is there. Van Helsing explains Lucy is un-dead having been bitten by a vampire while sleepwalking:
“In trance she dies, and in trance she is un-dead, too…There is no malign there, see, and so it make hard that I must kill her in her sleep…I shall cut off her head and fill her mouth with garlic, and I shall drive a stake through her body.” They had to kill Lucy for the safety of others. They send for help from Arthur and Quincey in their quest to kill her and move on.
Seward's diary is interrupted here with an undelivered letter to Seward from Van Helsing. It is meant to be delivered in the case of an emergency. He explains that he is going to Lucy's tomb to cover it with garlic and a crucifix, trapping her inside, so she cannot leave tonight and will therefore be hungrier tomorrow. He is afraid that he
might meet 'the other', who has the strength of twenty men and the power to control wolves. If he is injured, Van Helsing instructs, Seward is to take the papers and diaries and find this "great un-dead", cut off his head, and burn his heart or drive a stake through it. Van Helsing believes that it is his duty to himself friends and God to kill Lucy, Arthur refused before but now he consents.
This whole chapter does not create much fear for the reader as there is only one horrific scene with Lucy and the coffin, otherwise it all involves Van Helsing’s brains for avenging the vampires.
The last convention to look at is Chapter 24, which is Van Helsing talking into Dr. Seward’s phonograph diary with a note for Jonathan. In this Van Helsing’s tells Jonathan to stay and protect Mina, so they can go and find the ship Dracula is on.
Seward and Van Helsing notice that Mina is going through the same changes as Lucy and Dracula may be able to read her thoughts and they must keep her uninformed. Mina does not want to stay alone as if Dracula calls her she will not be able to resist him, so she goes along with them to Varna, they are armed with guns. They come up with a plan to put a branch of wild rose, so he cannot escape on the coffin, then kill him when they have a chance, then Van Helsing warns them that plans tend to change especially when supernatural beings are involved.
This chapter basically involves more than one journal and it is focused on what to do with Mina, keeping her safe and also the plan to kill Dracula. There is more than one convention but still it will not excite the reader as much as the other chapters.
Bram Stoker has created such an effective piece of Gothic Writing as the reader can feel how it would be if they were in the same predicament as some of the characters such as Mina and Jonathan. The conventions express one’s feelings out clear like all the opinions in the journals and the letters to each other. Suspense and fear are something that people express in their own way, not everyone can find the same thing frightening. Some people may just be scared of seeing Dracula and the way he kills everyone by sucking their blood, other people may fear turning into a vampire or becoming a victim. He tries to make us see how it would feel like, if there was a blood thirsty monster staring at you, ready to pounce!
