Dracula: Chapter 11 Summary & Analysis

Lucy's Diary. September 12. Lucy writes briefly in her diary that, once again, she feels better, that Van Helsing's garlic flowers have brought her some measure of peace, although she doesn't understand their purpose, and that she expects to sleep well this night.

Seward's Diary. September 13. Seward picks up Van Helsing at his hotel, and they return to Lucy's home. There, they encounter Mrs. Westenra, who tells them that she has also helped Lucy's cause by emptying her bedroom of all the smelly garlic Van Helsing had placed in it the night before. Van Helsing is shocked by this, but maintains decorum until Lucy's mother leaves—then, Van Helsing orders Seward to rush into Lucy's bedroom with him, to check on her.

Van Helsing proceeds to give some of Lucy his own blood—she has again lost some in the night, and looks more waxy and pale than ever. After the procedure, Van Helsing tells Lucy's mother, softly, that she is not to remove anything from Lucy's room during the remainder of the treatment. Seward wonders in his journal about the significance of the garlic ritual in protecting Lucy.

Lucy's Diary. September 17. After four days, Lucy writes in her diary that she is again feeling better—it seems that Van Helsing's garlic treatments in the room are working. Van Helsing has spent the night in Lucy's room, on a chair, the past four nights. Lucy has not been disturbed in her sleep, but has heard the wings of a bat battering against the window of her room.

From The Pall-Mall Gazette newspaper. September 18. "The Escaped Wolf" (article). A newspaper article is included in the account. In it, an unnamed reporter investigates the escape and disappearance of a wolf from a local London zoo. The reporter interviews a husband and wife who work at the zoo, as a means of figuring out how the wolf escaped. They seem to argue that the wolf managed to escape of no fault of their own—the married couple also tells the reporter that the wolf is no more dangerous than a London dog, although the reporter seems not to believe this. Later that day, again without any warning, the wolf returns to the zoo of its own accord—after having been absent for at least one night. The reporter ends the small article with a kind of humorous "shrug," as though it is simply another trifling and strange event in the great city of London.

Seward's Diary. September 17. Seward reports, briefly, that Renfield burst into his office earlier that night with a dinner-knife, in an attempt to stab and kill Seward. Seward managed to protect himself behind his desk, and escaped with only a small cut on his wrist before Renfield was tackled by orderlies and taken back to his room. Seward writes that he will rest this evening, as Van Helsing has not asked him to tend to Lucy—who appears to be improving, based on the garlic treatments of her bedroom.

Telegram from Van Helsing to Seward. September 17. Van Helsing, who has had to go away for a day to Amsterdam, asks Seward to place fresh garlic in Lucy's room that night.

Seward's Diary. September 18. Seward realizes that Van Helsing did not include the correct county on his telegram, meaning it reached Seward a day late. Seward immediately travels to see Lucy, wondering how she has passed the night without the protection of the garlic. Seward curses their bad luck in miscommunicating.

Memorandum left by Lucy. September 17. Night. Lucy has trouble sleeping the night of the 17th, without Van Helsing or Seward present. She goes to her window in the night and sees a big bat outside. Her mother walks into her bedroom and Lucy asks her mother to sleep with her in the bed, to keep her company, and so that both can stay warm as they sleep. Her mother agrees.

Suddenly, as they sleep, a large, gray wolf smashes through the window of the bedroom but jumps back outside—a misty pallor, filled with mesmerizing specks of light, enters, and Lucy's mother, shocked, points at the pallor and appears to fall into a fit. Lucy's mother, in her fit, tears the garlic flowers off Lucy's neck and places them on her own chest, and falls into a coma-like state in the bed.

Four maids come into the bedroom to see about the commotion—Lucy says that they ought to go back outside and have a drink of wine, since all four are in hysterics, and Lucy must figure out what to do, since the gray wolf is still pacing outside the broken window. The four servants go into the dining room, have a drink, and collapse—Lucy rushes out and realizes that the wine has been poisoned with laudanum, and that the four servant-women will sleep the night through in a drug-induced daze. Lucy is alone in the house.

Lucy takes this written account and folds it, placing it on her breast. She is still surrounded by a mist and specks of light in the room, and outside, the wolf still stalks around angrily. Lucy believes that her mother has died from the shock of the night's events, and Lucy believes that she, too, will not survive the night.