#Dracula Daily: May 15th | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

serial-serializednovelreader · 20 days

Text

Nova’s Notes - DD - May 15 + 16

That’s right! Another combo post again, definitely because I planned it that way and not because I got busy hehe.

“Once more have I seen the Count go out in his lizard fashion.”

An iconic line, perhaps the best way to start a journal entry ever. The reason we have a Lizard Fashion Day in the first place. Thank you for that, Jonathan. I also appreciate how he tracks his movements down to the measurements. This man is on a mission to make sure he sees what the Count is doing when he can and I love it. It also tells me he’s probably been doing a stakeout to see when Dracula is leaving in order to do his next step…

More castle exploring! That’s right, locked doors will not stop our good friend from checking it out anyway. It’s interesting to note that the locks he finds are “comparatively new” to the hall he originally entered through. Which means that either a) Jonathan is not the first prisoner of this castle (likely) or b) Dracula was very prepared for his visit specifically. While we already kind of knew these scenarios were coming, it adds another layer of messed up to me.

Finally, Jonathan is able to find an unlocked door that seems locked at first because it’s resting on the door and the hinges are a bit broken. Why isn’t it locked? We don’t know, but I’d like to think it’s because Dracula is so self-assured Jonathan won’t try very hard to open this door by the time he gets to it. He wants to break Jonathan’s spirit and in his mind, it’s working splendidly, lizard fashion and all.

Here’s his logic:

Why would he need to lock this door when it feels as good as locked? Jonathan probably won’t have the strength to open it by the time he gets to it and he’ll give up if he tries.

This also plays into the fact that Dracula has been a vampire for a long time…he’s forgotten what it feels like to be human and have regular strength. Who knows if he even remembers how much strength it takes for a human to open a door, or how heavy a door has to be to determine whether it’s locked or not. We know he heavily underestimates Jonathan’s determination and strength, simply because he is a human and those are weak and powerless compared to him (in his mind). I also have another theory but I’ll wait until a bit further in to write it.

It does take Jonathan a good amount of effort to open that door but he does it!! Good for him (well…not really but…). He then takes the time to describe the landscape, so you know he’s in a good mood.

“This was evidently the portion of the castle occupied by the ladies in bygone days the for the furniture had more air of comfort than any I had seen.”

I’m not sure if he means comfort in the way of being used or in the feeling, but I’m going to go with the feelings route, so I can say JONATHAN MY BELOVED!!!! He finds comfort in being around women’s furniture? Why is that? Many reasons probably but my guess? MINA 👏 “THE QUEEN” 👏 MURRAY 👏

He may not say it this time…but I just know….this man is going to kill me with his adorable ways. He does go on to say the room still has lonely vibes and makes him nervous (it is nighttime, after all), but it’s better than a room with Dracula.

Then, Jonathan gets in his ✨imagination era✨ picturing a blushing lady writing while he also writes in his journal. True parallels, since we all know you’re writing to Mina, hehe.

“It is nineteenth century up-to-date with a vengeance. And yet, unless my senses deceive me, the old centuries had, and have, powers of their own which mere "modernity" cannot kill.”

Another hard line from Harker here. If I’m not mistaken (though I likely am), he’s talking about his diary being in shorthand, and how modern that is compared to the blushing beauty of old. If we go further, perhaps he’s also speaking to his meticulous notes of “all that has happened” on his business trip, vs. the lady that probably wrote very broadly in her letters of love. It speaks to a faster-paced environment Jonathan finds himself in as a solicitor. While shorthand has always been around in some form (yes, I researched this to make a point, hopefully it’s accurate), shorthand towards his time was rapidly becoming the norm in order to capture speeches and increase efficiency; it was a social movement in its own right. So being “nineteenth-century with a vengeance” may sound cool, but I think he’s criticizing how this has turned writing from an art form into something more commercial. While he and Mina have bonded extensively over shorthand and it may very well save his life if he can use it as code…perhaps he longs to be able to write poetry or just be able to slow down and enjoy writing again. This is further proven when he ends it with remarking that ancient practices cannot be killed by the modern. This might be him reassuring himself that there will always be long-form writing (like I’m doing right now :D). Or, if we take it darker, perhaps he’s worrying about his ability to survive with his modern practices against the Count’s ancient “hunter” instincts. Or, perhaps, I’m wrong about all of this and just yapping, it’s unclear!

Anyway, let’s move on to May 16th.

“God preserve my sanity, for to this I am reduced. Safety and the assurance of safety are things of the past. Whilst I live on here there is but one thing to hope for, that I may not go mad, if, indeed, I be not mad already. If I be sane, then surely it is maddening to think that of all the foul things that lurk in this hateful place the Count is the least dreadful to me; that to him alone I can look for safety, even though this be only whilst I can serve his purpose. Great God! merciful God! Let me be calm, for out of that way lies madness indeed.”

Sooooooo, our good friend Jonathan Harker is not doing too well. You know it’s bad when he cites Dracula as the “least dreadful person in the castle” when he was just describing the Count as a “creature” 4 days ago for his Lizard FashionTM. Plus, he’s referencing Hamlet again!!!

Jonathan decided to sleep in the Lady’s Room despite Dracula’s warning because he does not want to listen!!! Unfortunately I would do the exact same!!! Why are we like this, Jonathan???😭😭

“I determined not to return to-night to the gloom-haunted rooms, but to sleep here, where, of old, ladies had sat and sung and lived sweet lives whilst their gentle breasts were sad for their menfolk away in the midst of remorseless wars.”

More poetic writing!!! I love it and his critique of war. I why he touches on this here; perhaps he knew someone who went off to war and the repercussions for the family that he left behind? :(

So here’s where Dracula’s 3 Roommates show up (that’s how I’ll refer to them - not brides, BBC Dracula get out of here with that!!!!!). They’re the reason for my other door unlocked theory: perhaps Dracula keeps it that way to allow them some freedom (or, conversely, they figured out how to unlock it and he didn’t check closely enough).

What I noticed on this read was how neutral Jonathan is at first when describing them. It’s not until we get to their lips that we get a “voluptuous” mention (and not the last, either). Also, the lead one looks…familiar to him? I didn’t notice that before, but I saw a post about why (explained in the comments section - Stoker featured her in his prologue/first draft “Dracula’s Guest”. He may have been wanting to include her in this too and scrapped it.)

“There was something about them that made me uneasy, some longing and at the same time some deadly fear. I felt in my heart a wicked, burning desire that they would kiss me with those red lips. It is not good to note this down, lest some day it should meet Mina's eyes and cause her pain; but it is the truth. They whispered together, and then they all three laughed—such a silvery, musical laugh, but as hard as though the sound never could have come through the softness of human lips. It was like the intolerable, tingling sweetness of water-glasses when played on by a cunning hand.”

So, I think we all know this part isn’t really Jonathan. I mean it is but…spoiler alert: vampires have hypnosis in this canon and they definitely seem to use it here. It doesn’t quite work though because he still follows it up with describing their laugh as “intolerable” and obviously, he’s still scared of them. I do think it’s interesting he writes this confession down, because he doesn’t really have to. Perhaps he thinks it’s important to whatever is going on around here (because I’m sure he knows he would never be tempted to kiss/be kissed by someone other than Mina if it wasn’t by some kind of power). But it’s also interesting that he doesn’t put it that way, either: he doesn’t blame the women for putting thoughts in his head, he describes it as his own thoughts/feelings.

Personally, I think it could be one of those “I think this could be one of those things I think is true but don’t have evidence for and don’t want to write it down until I have the facts” so, until he has the facts, it’s going to be written down as his thoughts. And if he did write it down as them “tempting him with their powers” that just wouldn’t be Jonathan’s character to write something like that. Perhaps in another story from another protagonist, but not this guy. But hey, that’s just me. It could also just be they’re very pretty (which I’m sure they are and Jonathan feels some attraction 🤷‍♀️. The main reason I blame hypnosis is the push and pull Jonathan has with his description of them.

Right before the dreaded/anticipated kiss, here comes Dracula!!!!!! And he has some things to say:

“‘How dare you touch him, any of you? How dare you cast eyes on him when I had forbidden it? Back, I tell you all! This man belongs to me! Beware how you meddle with him, or you'll have to deal with me.’”

I am once again bringing this meme back because it gets me EVERY TIME. I know I should talk about the possessiveness of Dracula or how he must have already talked to them previously if he forbade them from even CASTING EYES ON HIM, but I’ll be real every time I see this monologue I just see this meme except it’s just “haha Jonathan you are — BELONGS TO ME.” If that doesn’t indicate broken humor, I’m not sure what does.

Let’s talk about the description of how Dracula looks in this moment though.

“…the blue eyes transformed with fury, the white teeth champing with rage, and the fair cheeks blazing red with passion. But the Count! Never did I imagine such wrath and fury, even to the demons of the pit. His eyes were positively blazing. The red light in them was lurid, as if the flames of hell-fire blazed behind them. His face was deathly pale, and the lines of it were hard like drawn wires; the thick eyebrows that met over the nose now seemed like a heaving bar of white-hot metal.”

Looks like those “hunter instincts” are kicking in nicely! I wonder why he’s so protective all of a sudden? Especially after telling Jonathan a few short days ago that he would basically be on his own if he disobeyed him. I saw a post the other day talking about how when Mina was compiling everything together, there are entries she could have chosen to exclude from Jonathan’s account due to either repetition or something too traumatic to include.

What could’ve happened in those three days to make Dracula do a 180? Well, we do know they talk every single night, so what could’ve said in that gap between May 12th and May 15th?

My theories are: a) Jonathan didn’t write it down, b) Mina excluded it for a reason, c) it wasn’t one thing, it was a buildup of many interactions over the course of their time together, which lends itself to d) Dracula was straight up lying when he said he’d leave Jonathan to die if he disobeyed him.

I personally think it was c/d because it makes the most sense, but if it was a or b, it’s just interesting to wonder what was said in that time span. Did he make Dracula laugh with a witty comment? Or say something that reminded him of someone else before the Count turned into a vampire? We do know that Jonathan genuinely enjoys spending time with Dracula, so the rapport must be there. And yes, I am probably am reading waaaaaay too much into it, but it is food for thought.

“‘You yourself never loved; you never love!’ On this the other women joined, and such a mirthless, hard, soulless laughter rang through the room that it almost made me faint to hear; it seemed like the pleasure of fiends. Then the Count turned, after looking at my face attentively, and said in a soft whisper:—

‘Yes, I too can love; you yourselves can tell it from the past. Is it not so?’”

Love, you say? From this vampire? Well, that’s interesting! I do believe Dracula is being sincere when he says this, but the issue is that you don’t want to be the object of Dracula’s love. It’s not like Jon or Mina’s love; it’s possessive, cruel, and demanding. You don’t keep the ones you love a prisoner, and the Count has obviously done that on multiple occasions since he told the women to “tell it from the past”. I feel sad for Dracula because it seems to me like he genuinely finds Jon interesting and wants to keep him around; unfortunately, he expresses this love by trapping him and his other love interests like Pokémon. Perhaps I would feel more sympathetic if he didn’t promise to feed Jon to the girls once he’s done with him!!!!

That’s when Jon realizes there’s a sack with something inside of it that sounds like a child…that Dracula gives to the women…ugh. This is enough to put Jon to fainting.

When he wakes up, Jon is without his clothing, but his diary is still intact.

That is horrifying to me. Why did Dracula need to undress him? I understand it’s to give the illusion that he went to bed, but still. It’s no wonder that Jonathan starts the first paragraph in a wave of panic, even though it’s to display more fear of the women wanting to suck his blood than the Count. I also find it fascinating again how he guesses that the women want to suck his blood when they never made mention of it, perhaps because the lead woman’s breath smelled like blood or because she kept her teeth on his neck? Either way, even in a “dream state” his observation skills are top tier.

I do also wonder why Dracula was originally going to “awaken him to get some work done” and then just…didn’t? Maybe he thought it would be better to just pretend the whole thing was a nightmare for Jonathan. If I was him, I probably would’ve woken him from the couch after he fainted and pretended it was a dream, but hey, that’s my gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss idea of the day and Dracula can’t have it!!!

Overall, this is probably the most telling entry we’ve gotten about Dracula so far. We know that he does indeed “love” (though it’s not a kind or gentle love), those he loves are kept prisoner even once he’s “done” with them (since he says tell it from the past — not the present and the women obviously seemed bitter about his fixation on Jonathan), and while he said he wouldn’t save Jon in a pinch, he did. We’ve seen his first display of fury and how dangerous he can actually be with his supernatural powers and what that can do to the people around him. While no one was injured — yet — it could’ve gone south had the lead woman been human. Even though he probably knew Jonathan was awake for some of this, he still chose to take him back to bed and keep him under the illusion of having slept there peacefully — though some of that was likely for safety reasons. For Jonathan, this was a horribly (and hypnotically horny) traumatic experience for him that makes him realize Dracula is not the only scary thing in this castle.

I also do wish we had gotten more with Dracula’s three roommates because they deserve it!!! They actually seem chill when they’re not trying to — ya know, suck Jon’s blood and all. I also wish we had gotten names!!!! Names would be nice, Stoker.

#i spent way too long on this #i don’t even know if this makes sense #but i did it #:D #dracula daily #dracula #jonathan harker #count dracula #novas notes #may 15th #may 16th #re: dracula #dracula spoilers #dracula daily spoilers #re: dracula spoilers #(implied anyway)

21 notes · View notes