In Whitby our typical gothic heroine resides troubled by her sleepwalking inclinations and in Whitby arrives the schooner, carrying with it Dracula, sailing against the forceful tempest. The Count from castle Dracula has now arrived in London to terrorise several lives. From the captain's logbook we discover of a "something" that has taken abode in the ship and for our prior knowledge of the story we are almost certain it is the Count himself who has done away with the ship crew. The image of the dead captain arriving with his hands fastened to the wheel and a crucifix between the inner hand and the wood, still standing conjures gothic horror to every possible extent. A dog strikes out of the ship immediately upon its arrival only to be not heard of again. Is the vampire changing forms now? Lucy becomes ever more prone to her sleepwalking adventures and on one account Mina finds her in a seat at the St. Mary's church with a dark figure with eyes red behind her. The Count is certainly upto some trick but Mina confuses the sight with imagination and lets go of the matter. We find that Lucy has "two little red points like pin-pricks" on her throat and it is easy to guess now that the vampire has begun its blood sucking quest as it may be called. News of Jonathan finally arrives calling for Mina's departure to be with her beloved.
Lucy is in very bad health and is frequently found near the window in her state of sleepwalk. She is growing paler day by day and in her sickly state fulfils a gothic heroine's role purposefully. A bat is always flapping vigorously outside the window as if calling for her. It could only be that Dracula can also change shape into a vampire bat being a vampire himself. For the sake of Lucy's well-being Dr. Seward positions himself to her caretaking. Dr. Van Helsing, the likeness of Hercule Poirot from the Agatha Christie novels, is introduced to the story and adds to much of the excitement and mystery. The fact that he has been called upon as the last resort and the only hope declares much for his abilities. He is for the moment a walking talking oracle, a wise being who keeps knowledge to his own discretion adding to his air of mystique. He seems to know very clearly of what is happening and administers blood transfusion to Lucy who is getting paler and paler having lost blood some uknown way (at least for the moment). Arthur, Dr. Seward, Q.Morris and Van Helsing himself all donate their blood to Lucy chronologically in different ocassions to keep her heart beating lest she should die of insufficient blood in her body. Renfield gives in to timley fits, taking the whole asylum by a mad force and constantly refers to someone as "Master" and we realise certainly enough that here again Dracula has been the cause of the stirrings. Renfiled also manages to break out to a house time and again calling out to his "master" and we can only rightly guess that the house is the property that had been looked upon by the Count. In one co-incidental accident Renfield cuts the wrist of Dr. Seward while a wolf siezes attack after the window to Lucy's room is completely shattered. An attacking wolf which is otherwise quite calm and domesticated and has been visited by the Dracula as accounted by the Keeper of the Zoological Gardens? The wolf controlling abilities of the fiend cannot be doubted. Even the garlic that has been till then successful in keeping Lucy under the borders of safety does not come of use. To add to our horrors Mrs. Westenra dies of a heart attack and Lucy writes a memorandum in case she should die as well.
I am writing this down after having read Miss. Beaumont's blog. If Lucy's death can be linked as punishment for her breaking down the heart of two men then can it be that Mrs. Westenra's comes as a result of her interference earlier when Lucy was set to protection with wreaths of garlic and its flowers all over the room? It does bring in this notion of Karma which is quite interesting as it could have a gothic appeal to it. Be careful of what you do because what goes around comes around and if you do something bad (if not evil) it will come to get you back. It's like a warning to the reader to be careful of their intentions and what they indulge in incase they should be faced with death...as is the result in book. Not such a happy thought really.
The next day Lucy dies as well and the twisted extension to this will be mentioned in the coming blogs. But for now we are assured of her death and her amazing transformation into a youthful beauty with her colour coming back to normal as she lies on her deathbed. In her last hours Arthur bids farewell and when about to kiss her gets flung off with amazing force by Van Helsing. Why or for what reason, it is not made clear as of yet. But Lucy's teeth becoming pointed give us definite sign that she has now turned into a vampire and could be causing possible harm.
Finally some of the drama has come to an end...
or maybe not so for Van Helsing keeps us aware "It is only the beginning!"
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