First Things First…
My understanding is that this was going to be how Stoker started the novel, but it’s superfluous to the story, so he eventually scrapped it. If that’s the case, I don’t know how much I’ll get out of it. But, as I said when I reviewed Dracula, the opening section—Jonathan Harker’s diary—is the best part of the book, so hopefully it’s cool regardless.
3 Things I Like
3. Warning the Ignorant Englishman
The Englishman—I assume it’s still supposed to be Jonathan Harker, though he isn’t named in the story—has little regard for local superstitions. He should, though. Because his carriage driver, Johann, knows a hell of a lot better than he does that there are certain things they should avoid—especially on Walpurgis Nacht, when the devil is free to roam the land, and the dead the can rise from their graves.
The Englishman wants to take a detour down a little used road that dips through the valley. No dice, though, unless he goes on foot. Johann is terrified! He argues, he crosses himself again and again, and he even begs the Englishman not to go. The Englishman says, “He seemed always just about to tell me something—the very idea of which evidently frightened him; but each time he pulled himself up saying, ‘Walpurgis nacht!’”
Johann finally explains that there used to be a village there, but the land is unholy now. He makes allusions to vampires and the living dead without ever coming out and using those words. The Englishman calls him “a perfect paroxysm of fear—white-faced, perspiring, trembling, and looking round him as if expecting that some dreadful presence would manifest itself there in the bright sunshine on the open plain.”
The sense of dread is palpable. It’s obvious that whatever Johann describes, whether it’s 100% accurate or not, must be connected to Dracula. And with the Englishman not wanting to believe anything is out of the ordinary, while daylight wastes away and there have been multiple mentions of a snowstorm rapidly approaching, the mood is set for a frightening evening.
2. The Wolf That’s Not a Wolf
I wasn’t sure any of the warnings or fear would manifest into something truly scary happening in this 10-page story. But the Englishman reaches the unholy area, and all hell breaks loose. There’s a tomb, and an undead girl inside, which we’ll get to. But this is what happens next…
After being thrown from the tomb, the Englishman is knocked loopy. And when he comes to his senses…
“I felt a warm rasping at my throat, then came a consciousness of the awful truth which chilled me to the heart and sent the blood surging up through my brain. Some great animal was lying on me and now licking my throat.”
One of the soldiers who saves him says it’s “a wolf—and yet not a wolf!” The soldiers know what they’re up against, even though they won’t say the word “vampire,” either. But they mention that there are plenty of graves in the cemetery for it to lie in. And they look for bite marks on Harker’s neck, and luckily find him to be unscathed.
1. Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire
The Englishman is finally rescued from the graveyard and brought back to the hotel. But how was he found so far off the beaten path, in the middle of a storm?
Because of Dracula.
It’s odd—after reading Dracula’s note to the man running the hotel, which implores him to protect the Englishman at all costs, the Englishman realizes he’s “being in some way the sport of opposite forces.” Essentially, he’s only saved by the soldiers from Dracula because of Dracula’s note.
But he’s not really saved.
That’s what makes this such an ominous note to end on… if the Englishman is Harker, we know what’s in store for him. Nothing that happens in this story is going to save him from his impending ordeal with Dracula.
1 Thing I’m Mixed On
1. Lady of the Tomb
The ambiance is great in this scene, as the Englishman tries to gain shelter from driving hailstones and briefly enters a sepulcher in the graveyard, in which he sees “a beautiful woman with rounded cheeks and red lips, seemingly asleep on a bier.”
The scene is a little confusing, though. He says he “was grasped as by the hand of a giant and hurled out into the storm,” but it’s not clear what force expels him from the tomb. It doesn’t seem to be the woman. Then, when lightning strikes the tomb, she awakens and screams in agony, and he’s again thrown by the mysterious force.
It’s exciting, but I’m not quite sure what’s happening. I don’t know what force tries to harm the Englishman, or at least keep him out of that tomb… I don’t know why the undead woman doesn’t attack him, or even approach him at all… and I don’t know if the tomb is destroyed by the storm. It’s hard to tell from the description.
Tim Matassa
