Jonathan Harker demonstrates this early in Bram Stoker's Dracula. In chapter two, he clearly sees some things wrong with the Count. Dracula has a "cruel-looking" mouth with protruding and "peculiarly sharp white teeth". His "nails were long and fine, and cut to a sharp point." At the Count's touch, Jonathan cannot help but shudder. Even this early in their meeting, he can tell something is wrong. Something looks wrong, and it feels wrong.
Jonathan writes in his journal on that first night: "I doubt. I fear. I think strange things, which I dare not confess to my own soul."
But what harm could one old man do? He's just eccentric. He must not have visitors often. I'm sure you can't get good dental and nail care in Transylvania.
Jonathan could have left that first night. He could have left the next day, when he finds the castle empty and without mirrors. He could have left after the second night, when Dracula discusses evil spirits or leaves suddenly with the dawn.
He writes next about cutting himself shaving: "This was startling, and coming on the top of
so many strange things, was beginning to increase that vague feeling of
uneasiness which I always have when the Count is near. But at the
instant I saw that the cut had bled a little.... When the Count
saw my face, his eyes blazed with a sort of demoniac fury, and he
suddenly made a grab at my throat. I drew away and
his hand touched the string of beads which held the crucifix. It made
an instant change in him..." He could have left when the Count recoiled from
a crucifix and cast no reflection. Instead, he takes breakfast.
When he finally looks for a way out, there is none; he finds "doors, doors, doors everywhere, and all locked and bolted." We too often delay judgement against evil until it is too late. Sign after sign passes our notice - or, rather, is allowed to pass our notice - until we find that we, like Jonathan, are prisoners.
When he finally looks for a way out, there is none; he finds "doors, doors, doors everywhere, and all locked and bolted." We too often delay judgement against evil until it is too late. Sign after sign passes our notice - or, rather, is allowed to pass our notice - until we find that we, like Jonathan, are prisoners.
(On a related note, I'm looking forward to the upcoming Ignatius Critical Edition of Dracula. Catholic author and literature professor Joseph Pearce is the series editor, and the commentary in each volume is aimed at a traditional reading of the story.)
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