Dracula: Chapter 18 Summary & Analysis

Seward's Diary. September 30. Seward reports that Mina asks to meet with Renfield at the insane asylum, since Mina, too, believes there to be a link between Renfield and the Count, next-door at Renfield. When Mina goes to him, accompanied by Seward and Van Helsing, Renfield appears to act quite sane, and repudiates his previous "madness," saying that he (Renfield) once believed he could acquire life-force from eating live animals, but now, he understands, rationally, that this cannot be done.

Mina finds Renfield somewhat rational, but Seward believes that Renfield is only hiding his madness—or only appearing to repudiate his illness in order to disguise the influence Dracula has over him. Mina and the others leave Renfield, and Mina finishes the typing up of the documents related to Dracula—in effect "finishing" the account of Dracula up till this point in the novel.

Mina's Journal. September 30. Van Helsing calls a meeting of the "group": Seward, his "first mate," Mina, Jonathan, Arthur, and Morris. Van Helsing begins this "meeting" by going over, briefly, Dracula's history, and the nature of his vampirism. Vampires can do the following: they possess the strength of many men; they can marshal the forces of wind, thunder, and rain; they can command rats, bats, wolves, foxes, and other "lower" animals; and they must suck the blood of the living in order to survive.

But Van Helsing tells the group, too, that Dracula can be defeated—his thoughts are the thoughts of a "child-brain," although he is quite strong—it is difficult for Dracula to make and maintain complex plans of attack. Dracula can only enter a space once invited by the victim whose blood he wishes to take. Dracula can operate only at night, between dusk and dawn. And Dracula can be stopped by crucifixes, garlic, and the holy host.

Van Helsing goes on to say that Dracula has no reflection—as observed by Harker—and can slip through difficult spaces once invited into them, as Lucy did while entering her own tomb (once the garlic-and-host were removed). Van Helsing says that a comparative review of the superstitions and traditions of various eastern and western European countries reveals a common mythological understanding of the reality of vampires.

Van Helsing also states that Dracula has lived an immensely long time, and that Dracula himself fought in the battles he claimed to have involved his "ancestors" in the Middle Ages. Van Helsing adds that Dracula can be defeated—i.e., released from his vampirism—with a sacred bullet shot into his casket; with a wooden stake in the heart; or by having his head cut off. Rose bushes may also be laid on his casket to prevent him from entering or exiting it.

Morris, after this speech, walks outside and tries to shoot a bat which has flown around the house—he misses, but this reminds Van Helsing that the Count could be near them at any moment, in the form of a bat or rat. Van Helsing goes on to add that the group's goal is twofold: they must find and neutralize the fifty wooden boxes, through a method Van Helsing will demonstrate, in order to keep Dracula from repairing to those boxes to rest during the day; and once all these safe-havens for Dracula are destroyed, the group must find Dracula himself and free him from his vampirism, using one of the methods above. The group agrees to put this plan in motion, starting the next day.

Seward's Diary. October 1. 4 a.m. Early that next morning, however Seward is called to see Renfield by one of the asylum's orderlies—Renfield has asked to speak with Seward, Van Helsing, and the rest of the group. When they go down to see Seward, they realize that his reason has been completely restored—or at least it appears this way. It turns out that Renfield knows a friend of Arthur's father—and Renfield, in turn, discusses Van Helsing's scientific achievements, making it evident that he has researched the personal histories of all members of the group.

The group, after this speech of Renfield's, believes that he is sane, and is poised to accede to his request—that Renfield be permitted to leave the asylum at once, and to go far away as a free man. Seward, however, worries that Renfield is again only feigning his rationality, as a means either of getting closer to Dracula or of wreaking other havoc in London. Seward tells Renfield that he cannot support Renfield's release. Renfield responds that Seward can throw him in jail, or do anything to him so long as Renfield is not kept in the asylum near Carfax and Dracula.

But Seward ultimately decides to keep Renfield in the asylum. Renfield appears to understand Seward's hesitation, but he asks ominously, to close the chapter, that Seward and the rest of the group remember that Renfield did "everything he could" to convince Seward he had to be far away from Dracula. Renfield implies that, if anything bad is to happen to him in the near future, Seward has kept Renfield from running away and protecting himself.