Source: https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/3-1-10-chapters-21-23 [Revision notes](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes.md) › [A Level](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level.md) › [English Lit](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature.md) › [OCR](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr.md) › [English Lit: OCR A Level Dracula](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula.md) › Chapters 21-23 # Chapters 21-23 English Lit: OCR A Level Dracula, topic 3.1.10 ## Chapters 21-23: Summary and Analysis Here's a summary and an analysis of Chapters 21-23: ### Plot summary ![Plot summary](https://image-v2.cdn.app.senecalearning.com/2019-10/785108e2-2454-476a-84e9-97950cb80852/drink-blood-wine-.jpg) - Renfield invites Dracula into the asylum before being fatally assaulted by the Count. - The men discover Dracula forcing Mina to drink his blood and - later that day - confront him in his Piccadilly residence. ### Brutality of Renfield's injuries ![Brutality of Renfield's injuries](https://image-v2.cdn.app.senecalearning.com/2019-10/ba39924a-6e74-454e-b72a-e978b40f248e/blood-vampire-.jpg) - In a novel of shocking moments, the brutality of Renfield’s injuries __“lying on the floor on his left side in a glittering pool of blood”__ shows the full extent of Dracula’s strength that, up to now, has only been hinted at. - His callous disregard for Renfield, who, in inviting the Count into Seward’s asylum, has now served his purpose, is a more violent and - possibly - more extreme version of the vampires’ disregard for human life. ### Dracula and Mina ![Dracula and Mina](https://image-v2.cdn.app.senecalearning.com/2019-10/91bc8ead-bb51-4564-9d94-a9b96ad62b1b/vampire-blood-.jpg) - And yet, the graphic depiction of Renfield’s assault is merely the precursor for the sight Seward and Van Helsing witness in the Harkers’ room: Dracula __“forcing [Mina’s] face down on his bosom. Her white nightdress was smeared with blood, and a thin stream trickled down the man’s bare breast which was shown by his torn-open dress.”__ - This scene is laden with sexual imagery, at a time when sex was a highly taboo topic, cementing the vampire as a hostile threat to all that Victorian society deemed proper. ### The Baptism of Blood ![The Baptism of Blood](https://image-v2.cdn.app.senecalearning.com/2019-10/1ad6d379-d83a-44c2-bb03-94ca81d2a439/blood-.jpg) - Matthew Lewis’ propensity to shock and disgust his readers in _The Monk_ has led to some critics to term Gothic ‘horror’ as the ‘Male Gothic’. - The Baptism of Blood, as Van Helsing later terms this awful ritual, featuring a ruthless, aggressive male character forcing his will on an innocent, married woman - all whilst her husband is present, staining her honour and reputation - is another prime example of this. ### Dracula's dialogue ![Dracula's dialogue](https://image-v2.cdn.app.senecalearning.com/2019-04/8ed52581-366f-4562-b8db-3cb9a86d9529/silence-.jpg) - For the first time since the first phase of the novel in Transylvania, Stoker includes some dialogue for his antagonist. - He threatens Mina __“Silence! If you make a sound I shall take him and dash his brains out before your very eyes”__ before __“refreshing”__ himself with her blood. ### The Count - the Sublime ![The Count - the Sublime](https://image-v2.cdn.app.senecalearning.com/2019-10/9c2a90c8-3d53-45e0-b5ec-bf5bb622d74c/lucifer-demon-devil-satan-.jpg) - Mina’s sense of bewilderment and the fact that she __“did not want to hinder”__ Dracula represents the Count as almost the physical embodiment of the Sublime - he is dangerous, terrifyingly so, and yet there is something attractive or seductive about his power to Mina. - A religious reading may associate this with Lucifer and the tempting of Eve in the Garden of Eden. ## Chapters 21-23: Analysis (Cont.) Here's an analysis of Chapters 21-23: ### Tainting of Mina's innocence ![Tainting of Mina's innocence](https://image-v2.cdn.app.senecalearning.com/2018-08/5285205c-0c0d-4b3a-8e65-a04f55e88f27/girl-sad-hurt.jpg) - Like Lucy before her, Mina’s innocence has been literally and symbolically tainted; unlike Lucy, she seems much more self-aware and distressed by the fall. - Whilst Lucy’s carefree, playful attitude towards men was - arguably - the cause of her descent in vampirism, Mina is fiercely loyal to her one love, Jonathan, and feels that the sexual overtones of her encounter with Dracula have left her __“Unclean! Unclean!”__ ### Parallel - Mina and Dracula ![Parallel - Mina and Dracula](https://image-v2.cdn.app.senecalearning.com/2019-10/4ab0888c-c5ee-4f32-9ffb-9bfafbf35b3e/scar-.jpg) - A parallel between Mina and Dracula is created when the holy wafer placed on Mina’s forehead __“burned the flesh as though it had been a piece of white hot metal”__. - She now has a matching scar, like the one Jonathan gave the Count as he slept in his box of Earth. - The matching scars reflect the conceit of the novel’s final act: there is both a physical and spiritual connection between Mina and Dracula, perhaps giving him the advantage over Van Helsing in the battle for Mina’s soul. ### Sexual overtones of Baptism ![Sexual overtones of Baptism](https://image-v2.cdn.app.senecalearning.com/2018-07/c5704bdd-c98c-4e29-b7d5-0fcdef0c9bf7/Revenge-Fist-Table-Hand.jpg) - The sexual overtones of the Baptism of Blood also make Jonathan - symbolically - a cuckold, especially in light of Mina’s strange willingness to not prevent the Count from drinking her blood. - Desperate to enact revenge on Dracula, Jonathan states __“I care for nothing now, except to wipe out this brute from the face of creation.”__ - Whilst Dracula is unquestionably the villain of this novel, Stoker does not present the forces of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ as being binary. ### Parallels - Dracula and opponents ![Parallels - Dracula and opponents](https://image-v2.cdn.app.senecalearning.com/2019-10/6915b2c7-2c0c-447d-a261-f4008edababd/kukri-knife-.jpg) - On numerous occasions, Stoker presents parallels between Dracula and his opponents - in Jonathan’s case it is the fact he suggests he __“would sell my soul to do it!”__ - hardly the words befitting someone claiming to be acting in God’s name out to eradicate evil. - In Chapter 23, Jonathan attempts to enact his revenge, striking at Dracula with his __“great Kukri knife”__ - a significantly phallic symbol as Harker seeks to reassert his masculinity upon his wife’s assailant. ### Task revealed: save Mina ![Task revealed: save Mina](https://image-v2.cdn.app.senecalearning.com/2018-08/aed959a1-360e-4522-a016-56df9f9cf64f/soldier-world-war-1.jpg) - Following the Count’s escape, owing to his __“diabolical quickness”__, the true nature of the task facing the heroes is revealed: they are short on time and must save Mina before she dies and joins the legions of the un-dead. - In a possible allusion to Tennyson’s ‘Charge of the Light Brigade (1856), foreshadowing a noble sacrifice (made by Quincey Morris), Van Helsing says it's imperative the heroes locate Count Dracula __“even if we have to follow him to the jaws of Hell!”__. ## Test yourself on Chapters 21-23 - What does Dracula threaten to do to Jonathan if Mina speaks in Chapter 21? - What does Mina say her encounter with Dracula has left her? - Who says this quotation of Dracula?__“I care for nothing now, except to wipe out this brute from the face of creation.”__ - What poem does this quotation reference?__“Even if we have to follow him to the jaws of Hell!”__ [Practise this topic for free](https://app.senecalearning.com/classroom/course/508a7828-52ed-48a3-9259-00e65066f4c7/section/08b2311d-22fe-4dcc-ba02-2d30bc0180aa/session) - Previous topic: [3.1.9 Chapters 19-20](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/3-1-9-chapters-19-20.md) - Next topic: [3.1.11 Chapters 24-25](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/3-1-11-chapters-24-25.md) ## English Lit: OCR A Level Dracula contents ### 1 Context - Gothic Literature - 1.1 Origins & Conventions of Gothic Literature - [1.1.1 Origins of Gothic Literature](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/1-1-1-origins-of-gothic-literature.md) - [1.1.2 Key Ideas in Gothic Literature](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/1-1-2-key-ideas-in-gothic-literature.md) - [1.1.3 Gothic Genre Conventions in Dracula](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/1-1-3-gothic-genre-conventions-in-dracula.md) - 1.2 Vampires in Gothic Literature - [1.2.1 Vampires](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/1-2-1-vampires.md) - 1.3 'Terror' & 'Horror' - [1.3.1 Ann Radcliffe & Lewis' The Monk](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/1-3-1-ann-radcliffe-and-lewis-the-monk.md) - [1.3.2 'Terror' & 'Horror' in Dracula](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/1-3-2-terror-and-horror-in-dracula.md) - 1.4 Narrative Features - [1.4.1 First-Person Narration & Epistolary Format](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/1-4-1-first-person-narration-and-epistolary-format.md) ### 2 Context - The Victorian Era - 2.1 The Victorian Era - [2.1.1 Fin de Siecle](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/2-1-1-fin-de-siecle.md) - [2.1.2 The 'New Woman'](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/2-1-2-the-new-woman.md) - [2.1.3 The Contagious Diseases Act](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/2-1-3-the-contagious-diseases-act.md) ### 3 Chapter Summaries & Analyses - 3.1 Chapter Summaries & Analyses - [3.1.1 Chapters 1-2](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/3-1-1-chapters-1-2.md) - [3.1.2 Chapters 3-4](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/3-1-2-chapters-3-4.md) - [3.1.3 Chapters 5-7](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/3-1-3-chapters-5-7.md) - [3.1.4 Chapters 8-10](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/3-1-4-chapters-8-10.md) - [3.1.5 Chapters 11-12](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/3-1-5-chapters-11-12.md) - [3.1.6 Chapters 13-14](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/3-1-6-chapters-13-14.md) - [3.1.7 Chapters 15-16](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/3-1-7-chapters-15-16.md) - [3.1.8 Chapters 17-18](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/3-1-8-chapters-17-18.md) - [3.1.9 Chapters 19-20](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/3-1-9-chapters-19-20.md) - [3.1.10 Chapters 21-23](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/3-1-10-chapters-21-23.md) - [3.1.11 Chapters 24-25](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/3-1-11-chapters-24-25.md) - [3.1.12 Chapters 26-27](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/3-1-12-chapters-26-27.md) ### 4 Character Profiles - 4.1 Archetypal Gothic Characters - [4.1.1 Stock & Proppian Gothic Characters](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/4-1-1-stock-and-proppian-gothic-characters.md) - 4.2 Count Dracula - [4.2.1 Count Dracula: Character Profile](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/4-2-1-count-dracula-character-profile.md) - [4.2.2 Count Dracula: Different Literary Perspectives](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/4-2-2-count-dracula-different-literary-perspectives.md) - 4.3 Other Main Characters - [4.3.1 Jonathan Harker](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/4-3-1-jonathan-harker.md) - [4.3.2 Dr Abraham Van Helsing](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/4-3-2-dr-abraham-van-helsing.md) - [4.3.3 Dr Jack Seward](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/4-3-3-dr-jack-seward.md) - [4.3.4 Mina Harker](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/4-3-4-mina-harker.md) - [4.3.5 Lucy Westenra](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/4-3-5-lucy-westenra.md) - 4.4 Minor Characters - [4.4.1 Arthur Holmwood & Quincey Morris](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/4-4-1-arthur-holmwood-and-quincey-morris.md) - [4.4.2 Renfield](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/4-4-2-renfield.md) ### 5 Key Ideas - 5.1 Key Ideas - [5.1.1 Transgression of Boundaries](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/5-1-1-transgression-of-boundaries.md) - [5.1.2 The Supernatural & Un-dead](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/5-1-2-the-supernatural-and-un-dead.md) - [5.1.3 Masculinity & Femininity](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/5-1-3-masculinity-and-femininity.md) - [5.1.4 Science, Modernity & Superstition](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/5-1-4-science-modernity-and-superstition.md) - [5.1.5 Madness, Illness & Confinement](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/5-1-5-madness-illness-and-confinement.md) ### 6 Writing Techniques - 6.1 Writing Techniques - [6.1.1 Epistolary Form & Narrative Voice](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/6-1-1-epistolary-form-and-narrative-voice.md) - [6.1.2 Intertextuality & Cultural References](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/6-1-2-intertextuality-and-cultural-references.md) - [6.1.3 Structure](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/6-1-3-structure.md) ### 7 Critical Debates & Interpretations - 7.1 Initial Reception of Dracula - [7.1.1 Initial Reception of Dracula](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/7-1-1-initial-reception-of-dracula.md) - 7.2 Modern Reception of Dracula - [7.2.1 Modern Reception of Dracula](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/a-level/english-literature/ocr/dracula/7-2-1-modern-reception-of-dracula.md)