Dracula: Plot Summary (OCR A Level English Literature)

Dracula: Plot Summary

One of the most important things you can do in preparation for the exam is to “know” the plot of Dracula thoroughly. Understanding the plot of the story is vital because it serves as the narrative backbone, allowing you to connect with larger ideas such as themes and characterisation. It will also help you gain confidence in finding the most relevant references to support your response.

Below you will find:

• an overview of the novel

• a detailed chapter summary

Overview

Dracula, a Gothic novel written by Bram Stoker, was published in 1897 and comprises journal entries, letters and telegrams written by the main characters (an epistolary novel). The novel opens with Jonathan Harker’s diary entries. Harker is a young solicitor who has been sent by his firm on a business trip to Transylvania to meet Count Dracula, a nobleman. His purpose is to finalise a deal on a property that the count wishes to purchase in London. 

As Harker travels through the countryside, he meets people who are concerned for him. He is given a crucifix and other charms to ward off any evil he might be faced with as he is determined to continue. When he arrives at the castle, he meets an elderly Dracula who he describes as courteous and knowledgeable. 

Harker quickly realises that he is a prisoner in the castle. He tries to find an escape route and learn more about his evil host. One evening, he enters an old room and is nearly attacked by three female vampires. He almost succumbs until the count drives them away, as he still needs Harker alive. Dracula leaves Harker locked in the castle and he departs for England with fifty boxes of dirt. 

In England, Harker’s fiancée, Mina Murray, corresponds with her best friend, Lucy Wistenra, about Lucy’s marriage proposals. Mina travels to Whitby to meet Lucy. During their stay, a Russian shipwreck appears on shore. Witnesses notice a large black dog jumping off the ship, but the only items on the vessel are 50 boxes of dirt shipped from Transylvania.

Lucy begins to sleepwalk and one night, Mina finds Lucy in the town cemetery and she thinks she sees a thin, shadowy figure with red eyes crouched over Lucy. Mina notices two red marks on Lucy’s neck and Lucy’s health begins to quickly deteriorate. Professor Van Helsing is called to help.

Mina receives news that Harker is in a hospital in Buda-Pesth suffering from brain fever and she rushes to be by Harker’s side. Lucy is given blood transfusions in order to try to keep her alive, Van Helsing orders for garlic to be placed in Lucy’s bedroom and around her neck. One night, her mother removes the garlic and leaves Lucy prone to attack. A wolf jumps into Lucy’s room and the shock kills her mother. Lucy’s health then worsens quickly and she dies.

Mina is in Buda-Pesth caring for her fiancé who suffered a nervous breakdown as a result of his stay with the count. They get married while he is in his hospital bed and return to England to begin their lives as a married couple. 

After Lucy’s funeral, Van Helsing continues to research the cause of her illness and meets Mina. He has discovered that Lucy is a part of the “un-dead” and has become a vampire. Arthur Holmwood (Lucy’s fiancé) drives a stake through her heart as Van Helsing cuts off her head and stuffs it with garlic. 

Harker and Mina join the men in their attempt to track and kill Dracula. However, Harker notices that Mina is becoming pale and weak. One night they rush into Mina’s room to find Harker completely unconscious and Mina sucking Dracula’s blood from a gash in his chest. Mina is now slowly becoming a part of the ‘un-dead’.

The men begin to search for Dracula’s boxes of dirt and begin to sterilise them. This forces him to flee in his final box back to Transylvania. The group travels to Transylvania to pursue Dracula. The men manage to kill Dracula and, as a result, Mina is completely cured. 

The novel ends with a closing note, written by Harker, seven years after the incident with Dracula. He writes that he has a son with Mina. He states that they all feel that no-one will believe their fantastical story, but they have carefully kept all their notes and records as proof. 

Chapter Summary

Chapter 1

• Jonathan Harker travels from London to Transylvania to meet Count Dracula for business

• During his journey, strange things happen and the locals fear for his safety and wellbeing

• He fears for his safety as he travels to Dracula’s castle

• He encounters wolves and sees a blue flame

Chapters 2-4

• Harker meets Dracula and helps him to finalise his plans to move to London

• He notices that Dracula has no reflection

• Harker realises he is a prisoner in the castle

• He begins to panic and search the castle for an escape route and to understand who Dracula really is

• He sees Dracula climb down the castle wall in a supernatural way

• He enters a room and is almost killed by three female vampires, but Dracula arrives to stop them

• Dracula tells these vampires that they can kill Harker once he is done with him

• Harker tries to smuggle himself out of the castle but fails

• Dracula leaves for London aboard a ship with fifty boxes of dirt

• Harker decides to escape out of the castle by climbing down a castle wall

Chapters 5-6

• Via letters, Lucy tells Mina that she has accepted Arthur Holmwood’s proposal and rejected proposals from Dr Seward and Quincey Morris

• Mina expresses her concern as she has not heard from Harker for a month

• Lucy begins sleepwalking

Chapter 7

• A ship arrives at Whitby with the captain dead

• Witnesses see a strange dog jump off, but no one else is on the ship

• The captain’s logs recount the terror that they experienced at sea

• A body is discovered overlooking the graveyard

Chapter 8

• Lucy sleepwalks and Mina finds her in the churchyard with a strange, red-eyed figure hunched over her

• Lucy has two puncture wounds on her neck

• Dracula’s boxes are moved to his new house in Carfax

• Mina receives news that Harker is in a hospital in Hungary and she prepares to go and meet him

• Dr Seward’s patient, Renfield, escapes the asylum but is recaptured. He is found to be calling out to his master

Chapters 9-10

• Mina and Harker marry while Harker is in hospital. He gives her his diaries but she promises that she will only read them if absolutely necessary

• Renfield escapes again and Dr Seward finds him

• Lucy writes in her diary about nightmares and scratching at her window

• Lucy’s fiance, Arthur, asks Dr Seward to examine Lucy as he is worried about her health

• Dr Seward calls his old colleague and mentor, Professor Van Helsing, to examine Lucy

• Van Helsing arrives immediately but cannot identify her illness

• He asks Holmwood to agree to a blood transfusion to help Lucy

• While treating her, Van Helsing notices the punctures on her neck, so he goes back to Amsterdam to conduct some research

• Dr Seward watches over her, but falls asleep one night and wakes up to find Lucy worse

• He transfuses his own blood in order to save Lucy

• Van Helsing arrives with garlic and asks Lucy to wear it around her neck. He also decorates her room with garlic

Chapters 11-12

• Lucy’s ill mother does not understand the garlic and so removes it from Lucy’s neck

• Van Helsing transfuses his blood into Lucy in order to help her

• Lucy begins to get better and Van Helsing has to return to Amsterdam

• Renfield cuts Dr Seward and drinks his blood

• An escaped wolf breaks into Lucy’s room and the shock kills her mother

• Lucy’s garlic necklace is removed in the chaos and she is now exposed

• She records the events in a diary entry and hides it as she is afraid she is going to die

• Dr Seward returns to Lucy’s house to find Lucy gravely unwell and her mother dead

• Lucy’s appearance begins to change and her teeth appear to be sharper

• Quincey transfuses blood to Lucy and notices bats at the window

• Mina and Jonathan return to London and Lucy dies

Chapter 13

• Van Helsing covers Lucy’s body with garlic and covers her mouth with a crucifix, but someone steals it

• Jonathan thinks he sees Count Dracula in London and panics

• After Lucy’s funeral, children appear in London with two neck punctures

• Newspapers say that the children are being taken by a strange woman

Chapter 14

• Mina reads Jonathan’s diary and meets Van Helsing to give him a transcript

• Van Helsing assures the Harkers that Jonathan’s experiences in Transylvania were real

• Jonathan is reinvigorated by this and starts writing a diary again

• Van Helsing tells Dr Seward that he thinks Lucy is responsible for the child abductions

Chapters 15-16

• Van Helsing and Dr Seward visit a child in hospital and realise that the wounds on the child’s neck are identical to Lucy’s wounds

• They both visit Lucy’s grave to find it empty

• They return to the tomb again and find Lucy looking beautiful with no signs of deterioration

• Van Helsing knows what he has to do, but wants Holmwood and Quincey to be present

• The men all agree and go to Lucy’s grave, only to find it empty

• Lucy appears with a child in her arms, which they save

• They return the next night and Arthur drives a stake through her heart while Van Helsing cuts off her head and releases the evil from her body

• Van Helsing suggests that they try to find the source and kill him

Chapter 17

• Mina and Jonathan travel to Dr Seward's asylum

• They discover Dracula’s location and Dr Seward realises that Renfield’s strange behaviour may be connected

• Harker discovers the boxes of earth and believes that some of them have been moved to other places

• After preparing all of the information, Mina gives Quincey and Holmwood a copy

Chapters 18-19

• Mina meets Renfield and he appears to be calm and rational

• Renfield wishes to be released and begs Dr Seward, but Dr Seward rejects his request

• The men commence their mission and try to locate the boxes, but they do not find them all

• Mina has strange experiences at night and asks Dr Seward for something to help her sleep

Chapters 20-21

• Harker investigates further and discovers that the missing boxes are in London

• Jonathan notes how pale and weak his wife is looking and feels guilty about keeping information from her

• The men working in the asylum hear a scream at night and find Renfield seriously injured in his cell

• The men try to question Renfield as he lies dying

• Renfield states that he let Dracula in, but tried to fight him off – Dracula violently attacked him as a result

• The men rush to Mina and discover Jonathan unconscious and Mina drinking Dracula’s blood from a gash in his chest

• Van Helsing manages to draw Dracula back and he leaves

• Mina and Jonathan wake up and Mina tells the group that Dracula threatened to kill Jonathan in front of her if she did not do what he said

• He then drank her blood and forced her to drink his

• The men realise that Mina’s fate is now connected to Dracula’s

Chapter 22

• Renfield dies

• The men go to Carfax, where one of Dracula’s boxes is, to sterilise it and thus render it useless to him

• Van Helsing tries to seal Mina’s room and tries to bless her by placing a communion wafer on her head

• This burns her badly and they realise that she is already being affected

• The men manage to seal all the boxes except one

Chapters 23-24

• Mina sends a message to the men to tell them that Dracula has left Carfax and may be headed to Piccadilly

• The men wait for Dracula at his house in Piccadilly and try to trap him

• Dracula takes some money and manages to escape

• Mina tells Van Helsing to hypnotise her to find out where Dracula is going

• The men discover that he is fleeing back to his castle in Transylvania by sea

• Mina insists on travelling with them as she states that her connection to Dracula will prove useful

Chapters 25-26

• Mina asks the men to vow to kill her if they are too late and she becomes a vampire

• Van Helsing tries to use hypnosis on Mina to track Dracula’s whereabouts

• The group reaches Galatz in pursuit of Dracula and the box

• They split into three groups in order to attack Dracula at all angles

• Mina and Van Helsing travel via train and carriage to Dracula’s castle

• Holmwood and Harker take a steamboat and travel via the river

• Dr Seward and Quincey travel on land on horseback

Chapter 27

• Van Helsing and Mina travel via carriage but their horses die

• Van Helsing places wafers around Mina in a circle to protect her and he continues to the castle to destroy it

• He successfully destroys the boxes, including the tombs of the female vampires

• Upon his return to Mina, the gypsy cart carrying Dracula and his box appear and Mina notices her group chasing after it

• They manage to intercept the cart and, during the struggle, Quincey is fatally wounded

• They successfully manage to kill Dracula and, as a result, Mina is cured

• Years later, Harker writes a diary entry stating that they have a son named Quincey and that both Holmwood and Dr Seward are happily married