Jonathan Harker

Jonathan is twice subject to Count Dracula’s villainy - first imprisoned in Castle Dracula and later suffering the gross indignity of failing to protect Mina from the Baptism of Blood.

Challenged masculinity

Jonathan’s masculinity is challenged throughout this novel. Essentially his role in the opening phase is as the Gothic heroine - trapped in a foreign, isolated locale, subject to the whims and will of an imposing male aristocrat.

Contrast to Dracula

Even during his sexually-charged encounter with the female vampires, Jonathan plays the role of a passive victim and has to be ‘saved’ from their advances by the Count.
Dracula is presented in a hyper-masculine manner, as the hunter-gather: he satiates the female-vampires’ lust for blood in bringing them the ‘meal’ of the young baby and is shown to have “imperious” command over all three, warning them that “This man belongs to me!”

Deep mental scars

The mental scars the Count inflicts upon Jonathan run deep. Mina lovingly nurses him back to health in Buda-Pesth.
Symbolically, once they are married, he begins to become more like his old self “holding [Mina] by the arm, the way he used to in the old days” only to moments later encounter Dracula again.

Avenging husband

Fittingly, it is Jonathan who deals one of the fatal blows to the Count in the final battle, fulfilling his role as avenging husband, and reasserting his masculinity with the “sweep and flash of [his] great knife” - a notable use of phallic imagery.
Just as he began the narrative with his journal entries, his note - written seven years later - closes it, bringing it full-circle.

Hints of insecurity

However, even with the harmonious resolution, there are still hints of insecurity - remnants of his mental scarring as Jonathan doubts whether anyone would really accept these documents as “proofs of so wild a story.”

1Context - Gothic Literature

1.1Origins & Conventions of Gothic Literature

1.1.1Origins of Gothic Literature

1.1.2Key Ideas in Gothic Literature

1.1.3Gothic Genre Conventions in Dracula

1.2Vampires in Gothic Literature

1.2.1Vampires

1.3'Terror' & 'Horror'

1.3.1Ann Radcliffe & Lewis' The Monk

1.3.2'Terror' & 'Horror' in Dracula

1.4Narrative Features

1.4.1First-Person Narration & Epistolary Format

2Context - The Victorian Era

2.1The Victorian Era

2.1.1Fin de Siecle

2.1.2The 'New Woman'

2.1.3The Contagious Diseases Act

3Chapter Summaries & Analyses

3.1Chapter Summaries & Analyses

3.1.1Chapters 1-2

3.1.2Chapters 3-4

3.1.3Chapters 5-7

3.1.4Chapters 8-10

3.1.5Chapters 11-12

3.1.6Chapters 13-14

3.1.7Chapters 15-16

3.1.8Chapters 17-18

3.1.9Chapters 19-20

3.1.10Chapters 21-23

3.1.11Chapters 24-25

3.1.12Chapters 26-27

4Character Profiles

4.1Archetypal Gothic Characters

4.1.1Stock & Proppian Gothic Characters

4.2Count Dracula

4.2.1Count Dracula: Character Profile

4.2.2Count Dracula: Different Literary Perspectives

4.3Other Main Characters

4.3.1Jonathan Harker

4.3.2Dr Abraham Van Helsing

4.3.3Dr Jack Seward

4.3.4Mina Harker

4.3.5Lucy Westenra

4.4Minor Characters

4.4.1Arthur Holmwood & Quincey Morris

4.4.2Renfield

5Key Ideas

5.1Key Ideas

5.1.1Transgression of Boundaries

5.1.2The Supernatural & Un-dead

5.1.3Masculinity & Femininity

5.1.4Science, Modernity & Superstition

5.1.5Madness, Illness & Confinement

6Writing Techniques

6.1Writing Techniques

6.1.1Epistolary Form & Narrative Voice

6.1.2Intertextuality & Cultural References

6.1.3Structure

7Critical Debates & Interpretations

7.1Initial Reception of Dracula

7.1.1Initial Reception of Dracula

7.2Modern Reception of Dracula

7.2.1Modern Reception of Dracula

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