Chapter 5 : Letters and Diaries

 First 3 letters between Lucy and Mina:

Miss Mina Murray

We learn that Mina 

  • is assistant school mistress
  • builds castles in the air (imaginative)
  • has been "working very hard recently" (industrious)
  • has been "practising short hand" and can use a type writer
  • wants to be "useful" to her fiancé Jonathan Harker
  • keeps a diary/journal and writes letters
  • thinks "it must be nice to see strange countries."


We learn that Lucy
  • shall be 20 in September
  • has received 3 proposals (AMerican Mr. Morris, Arthur Holmwood and Dr Seward)
  • Engaged to Arthur Holmwood (the tall curly-haired man)
  • does not think that Dr Seward can read her thoughts
  • thinks she is a "tough nut to crack"
  • thinks that Dr Seward thinks she is a "curious pyschological study."
  • thinks "dress is a bore" - hat fashion is uninteresting


Lucy's finacé
he and Lucy's mama get on well together - they have a lot in common

Dr John Seward
proposed to Lucy and when she turns him down, he says "if (she) ever wanted a friend (she) must count on him one of the best" (p65)
has a strong jaw and a good forehead
he is "really clever."
is 29 years old
has an "immense lunatic asylum"
a very resolute man
has a curious habit of looking one straight in the face, as if trying to read one's thoughts.
the lunatic-asylum man, with the strong jaw and the good forehead. (repeated twice) 


Some good quotes:
 "A woman must tell her husband everything - don't you think so, dear? And I must be fair. Men like women, certainly their wives, to be quite as fair as they are; and women, I am afraid, are not always quite as fair as they should be" Lucy (p65)

"why are men so noble when we women are so little worthy of them?" Lucy p67


Dr Seward's Diary(p68) recorded on a phonograph
Cannot eat after being "rebuffed" by Lucy, so concentrates on work
Of Renfield, Dr Seward says "I seem to want to keep him to the point of his madness" - and that is "cruelty" (p68)

Describes Renfield: a"possibly dangerous man"

Spark Notes on Dr Seward: 

"A talented young doctor, formerly Van Helsing’s pupil. Seward is the administrator of an insane asylum not far from Dracula’s English home. Throughout the novel, Seward conducts ambitious interviews with one of his patients, Renfield, in order to understand better the nature of life-consuming psychosis. Although Lucy turns down Seward’s marriage proposal, his love for her remains, and he dedicates himself to her care when she suddenly takes ill. After her death, he remains dedicated to fighting the count."


Letter from M. Morris to M. Holmwood - reveals that m. Morris, Dr Seward and M. Holmwood have long been friends. 


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