Dracula: Chapter 3 Summary & Analysis

This scene indicates that Harker, though he gives in to a small amount of grief, believes it is necessary to resort to his "rational mind" in order to fight Dracula and free himself from the Castle. This behavior is repeated by Seward and Van Helsing during the course of their hunt for Dracula—each believes, at a certain point, that he is going crazy, yet each marshals his rational mind and proceeds in his actions as methodically as is possible.

Now that Harker has accepted his imprisonment and that there is something sinister and maybe unnatural about Dracula he begins to wonder whether the peasants superstitions might in fact be real occult knowledge that can aid in withstanding Dracula. The crucifix is easy enough to understand, as Dracula hates the light, too—he hates anything that opposes the demonic darkness of his own soul, and of course Christ's love falls into this category. Garlic, however, has long been considered a folk remedy against demons and other ill will—perhaps the intense smell of the bulb is enough to ward off evil.

At this point, Harker believes simply that Dracula is proud of his family's exploits, and that Dracula has kept meticulous records of his family's involvement in famous battles of the past. He doesn't realize Dracula experienced these battles first-hand. Harker is not exactly aware of the nature of Dracula's powers. He thinks Dracula might be a magician, a religious fanatic, or simply a madman.

Just as English, or Western, society is opposed to Eastern, superstitious, barbaric, Transylvanian society, so is Transylvania considered the Westernmost outpost of Asia, in a certain sense. Dracula's family had to fight against the Turks, coming from the east, bringing with them a different religious and cultural background—and it is against all these battles that Transylvanian society is defined and forged. Transylvania, then, is a potent symbol of the clash between West and East, which the West saw as a clash between the civilized and rational and the mystic, obscure, and occult.

Again, Harker does not realize that Dracula's desire to leave before dawn is not just a personal preference, but a physical requirement of Dracula's vampirism.

Dracula is here preparing to ship an unknown cargo, of his own volition and without much external interference, from a port in England (later revealed to be Whitby, where Lucy and Mina happen to be staying) to London. Harker, once again, senses that Dracula's interest in this shipping arrangement is rather strange and secretive, but because Harker does not know the rules and nature of Dracula's vampiric condition, Harker cannot know that the wooden boxes Dracula ships are the coffins in which he must sleep to avoid the sun.

Dracula is, in effect, censoring Harker's communications, so that Harker can only say to the outside world what Dracula commands him to say. Thus Harker's ability to communicate with Mina, for example, is severely curtailed by Dracula. This causes an interesting wrinkle in the novel's overall thematization of communication and miscommunication—Harker cannot describe events as they happen, because Dracula is watching.

Although communication with the Castle is difficult, both Harker and Dracula rely on written messages to speak with the outside world. As was indicated previously, Dracula subscribes to a great many English journals, meaning that it was at least possible, at this time, to exchange information between Transylvania and England, if one had sufficient monetary means to pay for these letters.

A further injunction—not only must Harker not visit other rooms in the castle, other than his own chamber, but Harker must not be tempted to sleep in any of these other rooms, either. Again, this seems intended by Dracula to stoke exactly Harker's interest in these other rooms. Also, since Dracula leaves Harker alone much of the day, it seems only natural that Harker would wish to take a tour around the Castle.

The first reference in the novel to one of Dracula's explicitly superhuman abilities. Harker himself, later, is able to scale the walls of the Castle, but not face-down, like an animal. Harker has realized Dracula is sinister and possibly something more than sinister. Now the "something more" is starting to be revealed.

Again, Dracula appears to have lured Harker into just the kind of investigation of the Castle that Dracula warned Harker against. Harker, like Pandora of Greek myth, cannot help himself—he must see what is hidden in a place he is not permitted to go.

Thus far in the novel, the action has focused largely on men, with the landlady and brief references to Mina being the only exceptions. Here, Stoker introduces female characters—relations of Dracula's—who will haunt Harker and other characters throughout the novel.

The notion of three evil sisters has deep literary referents, and the allusion to Hamlet in this section is no accident, as Shakespeare, in another great tragedy (Macbeth), includes three wicked sisters, who seem to plot the downfall of the main character. Here, the Three Sisters wish to lure Harker with promises of lust and romantic fulfillment.

Harker's "ecstasy" will be mirrored by Mina's strange interaction with Dracula, back in England, while Harker lies sleeping not far away. Both characters respond similarly to their tempters—they wish to pull away, but find they cannot. It is worth noting also just how much of a shock the three sisters would have been to a reading audience in Victorian England, where any behavior by women that was not virtuous, chaste, and in moderation was seen as profoundly bad. The three sisters—with their sexual aggression that seems a lust so great they want not just to make love but to consume the object of their desire—was a kind of nightmare vision of Victorian women.

Dracula appears to save Harker, but is in fact only "preserving" him for his own use—although this use is not yet explained.