4.3.3

Dr Jack Seward

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Dr Jack Seward

An ambitious and successful member of the medical profession, 29-year-old Seward is introduced as one of Lucy’s potential suitors.

Unaffected friendship

Unaffected friendship

  • Seward's friendship with both Arthur and Quincey is unaffected despite her choosing Arthur over the other men and Seward agrees to treat Lucy when she falls ill.
Shaken knowledge

Shaken knowledge

  • In learning of the true nature of Lucy's ailment and of the supernatural forces behind it, Seward’s foundation of the rational, the logical and the scientific is shaken to its core.
The sceptic

The sceptic

  • Spared the same hubristic character that precipitates the downfall of other scientists in Gothic literature such as Victor Frankenstein and Henry Jekyll, Seward functions as the sceptic.
  • He finds solace in the rational and likes to keep his mind occupied through his work.
Effeminate character

Effeminate character

  • Rather like Jonathan in the first phase of the novel, Seward is initially introduced in somewhat of an effeminate way.
  • Rejected by Lucy, he elects to wallow in self-pity “Cannot eat, cannot rest”.

Dr Jack Seward (Cont.)

An ambitious and successful member of the medical profession, 29-year-old Seward is introduced as one of Lucy’s potential suitors.

Administrator at the asylum

Administrator at the asylum

  • Fortunately, Seward's position as administrator of an insane asylum close to the Carfax estate - the purchase of which brings Jonathan to Transylvania - allows him to busy himself with his work and his study of Renfield.
Limitations of science

Limitations of science

  • Despite his scientific-mindset, Seward is already aware of the limitations of his field as his unrequited love causes him a ”little difficulty which not even medical science or custom can bridge over”.
  • This foreshadows later events of the novel in which science, at the forefront of the modern world at the end the 19th century, is forced to play a secondary role to the field of metaphysics and superstition.
Difficulty suspending disbelief

Difficulty suspending disbelief

  • Seward’s role in the narrative appears to embody the willful suspension of disbelief - a concept that the poet and writer Samuel Taylor Coleridge thinks is essential for the enjoyment of Gothic literature.
  • Seward struggles to do so, despite the lack of logical evidence to the contrary, following Lucy’s metamorphosis into the vampire.
  • He is the sceptic; the one who needs absolute proof before he is willing and able to believe.
Seward's metamorphosis

Seward's metamorphosis

  • Seward’s turning point arises when confronting the true horror of what Lucy has become in the churchyard.
  • After witnessing her callous disregard for the fair-haired child, Seward undergoes a form of metamorphosis: “his love passed into hate and loathing” and he fully accepts that this hellish “nightmare” version of Lucy must be destroyed.
No longer doubts Van Helsing

No longer doubts Van Helsing

  • He no longer doubts the sanity of his old mentor Van Helsing, acknowledging and respecting his superior arcane knowledge, and pliantly accepts his secondary role in the battle against Dracula.
Jump to other topics
1

Context - Gothic Literature

1.1

Origins & Conventions of Gothic Literature

1.1.1Origins of Gothic Literature1.1.2Key Ideas in Gothic Literature1.1.3Gothic Genre Conventions in Dracula
1.2

Vampires in Gothic Literature

1.2.1Vampires
1.3

'Terror' & 'Horror'

1.3.1Ann Radcliffe & Lewis' The Monk1.3.2'Terror' & 'Horror' in Dracula
1.4

Narrative Features

1.4.1First-Person Narration & Epistolary Format
2

Context - The Victorian Era

2.1

The Victorian Era

2.1.1Fin de Siecle2.1.2The 'New Woman'2.1.3The Contagious Diseases Act
3

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

3.1

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

3.1.1Chapters 1-23.1.2Chapters 3-43.1.3Chapters 5-73.1.4Chapters 8-103.1.5Chapters 11-123.1.6Chapters 13-143.1.7Chapters 15-163.1.8Chapters 17-183.1.9Chapters 19-203.1.10Chapters 21-233.1.11Chapters 24-253.1.12Chapters 26-27
4

Character Profiles

4.1

Archetypal Gothic Characters

4.1.1Stock & Proppian Gothic Characters
4.2

Count Dracula

4.2.1Count Dracula: Character Profile4.2.2Count Dracula: Different Literary Perspectives
4.3

Other Main Characters

4.3.1Jonathan Harker4.3.2Dr Abraham Van Helsing4.3.3Dr Jack Seward4.3.4Mina Harker4.3.5Lucy Westenra
4.4

Minor Characters

4.4.1Arthur Holmwood & Quincey Morris4.4.2Renfield
5

Key Ideas

5.1

Key Ideas

5.1.1Transgression of Boundaries5.1.2The Supernatural & Un-dead5.1.3Masculinity & Femininity5.1.4Science, Modernity & Superstition5.1.5Madness, Illness & Confinement
6

Writing Techniques

6.1

Writing Techniques

6.1.1Epistolary Form & Narrative Voice6.1.2Intertextuality & Cultural References6.1.3Structure
7

Critical Debates & Interpretations

7.1

Initial Reception of Dracula

7.1.1Initial Reception of Dracula
7.2

Modern Reception of Dracula

7.2.1Modern Reception of Dracula

Practice questions on Dr Jack Seward

Can you answer these? Test yourself with free interactive practice on Seneca — used by over 10 million students.

  1. 1
    What kind of scientist is Seward?Multiple choice
  2. 2
    Why is Seward wallowing (__“cannot eat, cannot rest”__) when we meet him?Multiple choice
  3. 3
    Which poet thinks the willful suspension of disbelief is essential to enjoying Gothic literature?Multiple choice
  4. 4
    Which word best describes Seward for most of the novel?Multiple choice
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Dr Abraham Van Helsing

Mina Harker