Dracula: Chapter 6 Summary & Analysis

Mina Murray's Journal. July 24. Whitby. The narrative jumps forward; Mina has traveled to Whitby, on the northeastern coast of England, to meet Lucy, her friend, and to stay with Lucy and her mother in The Crescent, a resort hotel. Mina describes the beauty of Whitby, the small river nearby, and scenes of the ocean and the harbor.

Mina reports of an old man named Swales with whom she converses, overlooking the harbor at Whitby. Although his dialect is very thick, Mina reports his speech; the old man is about to talk about the olden days of whaling at Whitby before he interrupts himself and says he has to return home. Mina promises to record more of her adventures in the coming days in her journal.

Mina Murray's Journal. August 1. Mina reports another conversation she and Lucy have with Mr. Swales, the old man she met previously above the harbor, and two other old men from near Whitby. Swales tells some of the tales of goblins and ghouls known to inhabit the ruined abbey of Whitby, then dismisses these tales as rubbish. Mina and Lucy are excited to hear these stories.

Swales, his friends, and Mina and Lucy walk through a graveyard nearby and look at names on the graves. Swales says graves and tombstones are unnecessary, mere trifles, but Mina wonders whether they aren't a service to the family the dead leave behind. Lucy and Mina sit for a moment on the grave of a man Swales informs them to be a suicide, despite the flowery language on his tombstone. Swales takes this as evidence of tombstones' unnecessary use, and their potential for hypocrisy—hiding the truth about those who lie beneath them.

Later that day, Mina comes back up to the graveyard to journal alone. She writes that she has received no word from Harker for some time, and she worries that some accident has befallen him. She wonders if Jonathan is thinking of her, wherever he is in the world.

Dr. Seward's Diary. June 5. Seward reports in his diary of his interactions with Renfield. Here, Seward notes that Renfield appears to have a great love of animals, including flies, but Seward does not understand for what purpose Renfield keeps the flies, or how he disposes of them.

Dr. Seward's Diary. June 18. Seward reports that Renfield has acquired spiders, which he feeds the flies he has previously been given (presumably by the staff at the asylum).

Dr. Seward's Diary. July 1. Seward reports that Renfield's spiders and flies are becoming a nuisance. Seward observes Renfield catching and eating a fly, which Renfield claims is full of "strong life." Seward believes Renfield eats his spiders and flies rather than "disposing" of them. Renfield also takes furious notes on his practices and studies of "animal life," which Seward does not read.

Dr. Seward's Diary. July 8. Seward notices that Renfield has begun keeping a pet sparrow, and that the number of spiders in Renfield's room has decreased.

Dr. Seward's Diary. July 19. On Seward's next visit, he sees that Renfield now has a large number of sparrows, and relatively few flies and spiders. Renfield begs Seward to give him a cat, but Seward says this won't be possible. Seward notes that he believes Renfield is a homicidal maniac, based on his desire to have larger animal eat smaller ones.

The same day, at 10 p.m., Seward finds Renfield once again begging for a cat, and brooding in the corner. Seward again refuses.

Dr. Seward's Diary. July 20. Seward walks in to find only masses of feathers and a speck of blood on Renfield's pillow—the birds are gone. An orderly tells him, later that morning, that Renfield has simply eaten all the sparrows, raw.

Later that night, at 11 p.m., Seward realizes exactly what Renfield desires. Seward decides to refer to the patient as a zoophagus, or life-eater—Seward believes that Renfield wishes to gain the life-essence and power of the animals he eats, and that, in graduating to larger animals, Renfield is pursuing a kind of experiment in "life-power." Seward vows to continue observing Renfield.

Mina's Journal. July 26. Mina writes that she is worried about two people: Jonathan and Lucy. Of Jonathan, Mina has received word from Hawkins—a one-line note saying he is leaving the castle. Mina believes this note doesn't sound at all like Jonathan, and worries something has happened to him. Mina also learns that Lucy has been sleepwalking—Lucy's mother is upset by this, and Mina fears for Lucy, since Mina has heard that sometimes sleepwalkers can walk off cliffs, or do other dangerous activities in the night, without their knowing.

Mina's Journal. July 27. Mina has been looking after Lucy, whom she believes to be in stable condition, even though her sleepwalking has not completely stopped. Arthur cannot visit the two at Whitby, because his father is sick in London; Arthur must tend to him there. Lucy awaits Arthur's arrival in Whitby and is excited for their wedding in the fall.

Mina's Journal. August 3. Mina notes that Lucy's sleepwalking is continuing, and that Jonathan still has not written. Mina is beginning to fear for Jonathan's life.

Mina's Journal. August 6. Mina notes that the weather over Whitby has been severe of late, and that the sky and everything around has achieved a shade of gray, as though a storm is coming. Mina meets with Swales, the old man, on the high rocks above Whitby, when Mina is walking—Swales apologizes for his jokes, earlier, about the dead in the Whitby graveyard. Swales says there is a wind or storm coming that "smells and looks like death," and he says he is prepared for it, even if it means his own death. Mina is horrified by Swales' comments.

Swales leaves Mina, and a coast-guardsman arrives to tell Mina that a Russian ship appears to be swinging into the port at Whitby—it looks as though no one is piloting the vessel as it approaches the harbor.