Dracula
by Bram Stoker
Table of Contents
Chapter 5 to Chapter 7
Chapter 5 Summary
The narrative turns now to England. Chapter 5 begins with a series of letters exchanged between Harker’s fiancée Mina and her best friend, Lucy Westenra. From the letters, we learn that Mina is planning to visit Lucy in a coastal town soon and that she intends to keep a detailed journal during her travels. Mina is a busy assistant schoolmistress, and she is very interested in self-improvement and in being “useful” to her husband, so she is learning to type and she practices writing in shorthand. Mina mentions that she has recently had a communication from Harker saying that he is about to begin his journey home.
Lucy is apparently an attractive and eligible young woman, for she confides to Mina that she has had three marriage proposals in a single day. The first was from Dr. John Seward, a handsome, intelligent psychiatric doctor who directs an insane asylum. The second was from a wealthy, romantic Texan named Quincey Morris, whose American slang Lucy finds extremely charming. The third proposal—the one Lucy has accepted—was from Arthur Holmwood, who has been courting Lucy for some time and with whom she is very much in love.
Following the letters between Mina and Lucy, there is a journal entry—recorded on a phonograph—from Dr. John Seward. In it, he confesses feeling depressed by Lucy’s rejection, but resolves to devote himself to his work. Seward then discusses an interesting new patient at the asylum, a fifty-nine-year-old man named Renfield, whom he believes may be dangerous.
The chapter concludes with a letter from Quincey Morris to Arthur Holmwood, followed by a brief telegram from Holmwood to Quincey. In his letter, Morris refers to his long-standing friendship with Holmwood and congratulates him sincerely on winning the hand of Lucy Westenra. He then invites Holmwood to meet himself and Dr. Seward for drinks, so that the two rejected suitors can drown their sorrows even as they toast Holmwood’s happiness. In the telegram, Holmwood...
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